https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8snJB1_7tio
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Why not ask about the title upfront instead of making everyone click multiple times just to see your question?
Watch his left hand. He is only fretting the A and E strings for the chords and using the G and D strings for drones. It also looks like he is moving the open G shape chord (0023) up and down.
You should play around with moving the G shape up and down the neck and leaving the open G and D strings to drone. I suspect the song is in the key of G or relative to it.
Moving up the neck:
G 0-0-2-3
Am 0-0-3-5
Bm 0-0-5-7
C 0-0-7-8
D 0-0-9-10
Em 0-0-10-12
Play around with that. That what it sounds like to me.
When I first began to learn the mandolin, I hung out with guitar players who were mostly into rock and blues. When they borrowed my mandolin, this is the type of noodling they would do, i.e., not really learning full chords on the mandolin but using these partial drone chords, which sound cool in a rock or blues context. But you can't dance to it. :))
And then watching a little more closely, I see that he frets a G this way: 0-0-5-3, which may be the root chord in the tune.
So, yeah, switch around your G shape, alternating between 0-0-2-3 and 0-0-5-3. Both are G chords, but they each have a unique sound. Try this: 0-0-5-3, 0-0-7-5, 0-0-7-8, 0-0-5-7, which is G, A, C, Bm. Not saying that is his chord progression, but he is using chords like that in the tune. I only spent a few minutes on this and don't have the time or inclination to work out the song. I like tunes from the Great American Songbook and their use of "rhythm changes" instead of these simple "rock" tunes.
Watching some of his other videos I can see that he is a guitar player, first and foremost, which is what I suspected. Reminds me of Steve Earle, who uses the mandolin in a similar manner, like a rock guitarist.
Thanks to the OP for bringing up this interesting mandolin piece (How Shall A Sparrow Fly, by Ryan Bingham), and to James Vwaal for the chords.
As a player who can only seem to manage the simplest techniques, this was right up my alley.
Does anyone know of any similar pieces to direct me to? Or a source for examples of this or other simple styles?
There are other rock and blues musicians out there who use the mandolin within that context. Check out these via youtube videos:Quote:
Originally Posted by rfloyd
Ry Cooder, blues and slide guitarist but he plays a few tunes on mandolin
Eva Holbrooke, mandolinist in the band SHEL (her sisters) who plays some Led Zepplin tunes very well
Led Zepplin, they have a few tunes with mandolin, e.g., The Battle of Evermore
Steve Earle, guitarist who has written some cool (and simple) tunes on the mandolin
Jimi Hocking, another rock guitarist who has taken up the mandolin for some Hendrix tunes, e.g.,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcPz5CsTc1E
Lots of youtube videos out there for learning. E.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH7dWLeXtLs