How do I rock?

[Emmiemando]

I have been playing the mando for about 2 years. I recently joined an alternative rock band and need some help. They need me to play violin and mandolin and I was wondering where I can go to hear or learn some rock mando scales and such (or just cool licks I can work from).
Thanks!
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Spruce]

Go to the source...

Bill Monroe's Chuck Berry-ish (or was it the other way around??) attitude and approach towards soloing is about as rockin' as you can get...

Go for some of the live stuff like that one Smithsonian CD they stuck out a few years ago....

Great stuff...

[Pete Martin]

I read somewhere that one of Berrys biggest musical influences was Monroe.

Check out a Jim and Jesse record called "Berry Pickin". Jesse plays some cool Chuck licks on mandolin. Can get you in the right direction.

[Perry]

make sure the mando strap is strung extra low and
you make faces like this http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

seriously.....learn your pentatonic scales both major and minor (for bluesy sound) also learn some chord forms that don't have a third in it....and DON'T overplay


one of my favorites chords for
rock in A......

0
0
5
2

In reality good sounding stuff applies to any style of course their are stylistic issues in any genre but a good lick is a good lick is a good lick

good luck

[steve in tampa]

Electric mandolin with a magnetic pickup and some overdrive. A little goes a long way. Hold on the chord structure of the song lightly in the backround. Learn the melodies for lead breaks. A little is all you need. Don't even try to compete with the guitars. Just add your touch when the time is right.

[Jonathan Reinhardt]

All good advice -
Learn how to use the D and G strings (as Perry alluded to) - make them growl.
Less is more. Noodling is not the answer, although I must admit it can sweeten the mix that all that guitar/drums tends to fill up. Judiciously, perhaps. (They'll tell you to can it at practice, but slipped in here and there at a gig? depends upon your level of adventurousness!)
In my rock band the dryness/sharpness of the mandolin is the effect. so again, less is more - as a few dry phrases counter all that reverb/over-drive (and distortion) stuff. If you're lucky, you'll get a chance to do some early Memphis kind of music (50's) or other "roots" style material that won't make you just an ornament. Alternative sounds to me like room to take an active role in developing your parts.
I use an acoustic and just put a mic up close to the lower f-hole and depend on the sound person to control it from feeding back. I don't prefer to go electric at this point. There are good electric players out there (check 'em out) but also many a player who shifts to electric with less than successful results.
My main focus is acoustic and I hang tight to that. If the band needs more, I take out the Tele and the Twin Reverb/Dynacomp and just do it on that. That cuts thru.

rasa

[Tom C]

Listen to Sam Bush play Sailin' Shoes or Sittin' On Top of The World or Crossroads. He plays chords and melody at the same time.

[Jonathan Reinhardt]

Sam's "Apache", too.

rasa

[ira]

i like the advice of don't overplay- though i tend to noodle around and play long tremolo streams at times. i do try for a specific tonal and musical feel to add to the music rather than speed at the expense of class for lack of another term. one of the things that makes many of my fav. instrumentalists in the rock world- clapton, garcia, jorma, robbie robertson, etc.... is the willingness and ability to play one meaningful note where others play 10. i think this is easier with correct use of tremolo on a mando than a guitar, but we don't have as much bend and sustain capability.
play within yourself and the song.
(my, how deep)
peace

[Jonathan Reinhardt]

nice, ira!
but peace can be elusive when the drummer is on a tear.
or when the band leader says (in regards to that special phrasing you just figured out that makes the song come full circle) "Okay, drop that last measure - the drums'll get it." ah, rock and roll.
did I say I'm very fond of drummers? every once in while, in the effort to control my biases, I'll attend a drum jam just for the experience.

rasa

[luckylarue]

Take a workshop w/ Niles Hokkanen!

[Keith Erickson]

Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones gave me private lessions back in 1986 .... by way of locking myself in my room and playing along with Led Zepplin 3 & 4 over and over until I got it. I took only three days http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Anyway the moral to my story is listen to a lot of Zepplin 3 & 4. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[plunkett5]

Blues, Blues, Blues!

[Mike Herlihy]

Check out Achilles Last Stand (http://www.led-zeppelin.org/tablature/), Jeff Strawman has posted mandolin tab for all the Led Zep songs.

Great effort by Jeff.

[jefflester]

Check out Achilles Last Stand (http://www.led-zeppelin.org/tablature/), Jeff Strawman has posted mandolin tab for all the Led Zep songs.
When I first read that, I thought you were saying he had tabbed out the song Achilles Last Stand for mandolin. That would really be something!

[Buddah]

Quite frankly, there's only one way to rock. For more details, check out some pre-Van Halen Sammy Haggar. You're welcome in advance. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Bren]

Yes, you can Rock with a mandolin - but you need this special piece of equipment: Rocker (http://www.docsguitar.com/AlbumCovers/RedRockingChair.jpg)

[Mike Herlihy]

Check out Achilles Last Stand (http://www.led-zeppelin.org/tablature/), Jeff Strawman has posted mandolin tab for all the Led Zep songs.
When I first read that, I thought you were saying he had tabbed out the song Achilles Last Stand for mandolin. That would really be something!

Do you use Tabledit? If so, I have a mandolin tab I did of the song Achilles Last Stand