Salt Creek?

[MichaelW]

Hi all. I've been learning this tune and would like some help with regards soloing over it.

I understand the concept of improvising around the melody and am comfortable with that but am scratching my head a bit about how to play more freely over the chords.

I get that it is essentially in A but what happens when it goes to the G chord? People seem to use A minor pentatonic lines over that chord, and it does indeed work, but I'd like to better understand why. Is it simply moving between A major and A minor?

I appreciate that understanding the theory behind these tunes doesn't necessarily make your playing any better, I'm just genuinely interested.

Thanks

[CarlM]

Salt Creek is a mixolydian tune, like Old Joe Clark and Red Haired Boy. A Google search on mixolydian will turn up a lot of stuff. Here is a pretty decent article on mixing a blues scale with it for soloing. It is guitar focused but the same concepts apply.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/lessons/...e-of-all/56020

[Perry]

Hi all. I've been learning this tune and would like some help with regards soloing over it.

I understand the concept of improvising around the melody and am comfortable with that but am scratching my head a bit about how to play more freely over the chords.

I get that it is essentially in A but what happens when it goes to the G chord? People seem to use A minor pentatonic lines over that chord, and it does indeed work, but I'd like to better understand why. Is it simply moving between A major and A minor?

I appreciate that understanding the theory behind these tunes doesn't necessarily make your playing any better, I'm just genuinely interested.

Thanks

Over the B section...as mentioned mixolydian mode. You can play a D major scale over the whole thing. That's one way of looking at it. Or think A major scale with a flatted seventh...so G natural instead of G#...same thing....blues licks always work over modal tunes i.e. the A minor pentatonic you refer too..

Try highlighting chord tones (thirds and sevenths) during your improv...especially during the A section which has those distinct chords...

[MichaelW]

Awesome, thanks guys. Just to double check, when you say it's a modal tune do you mean A mixolydian as in D major? So it's in D but it resolves to the 5 chord.

I love this type of tune and the way the top players blend different scales to make that classic bluegrass sound. I've never thought of them as being modal before. Looks like I need to do some further reading.

[Perry]

Awesome, thanks guys. Just to double check, when you say it's a modal tune do you mean A mixolydian as in D major? So it's in D but it resolves to the 5 chord.

I love this type of tune and the way the top players blend different scales to make that classic bluegrass sound. I've never thought of them as being modal before. Looks like I need to do some further reading.

Yes A mixolydian = D major scale some folks view it that way but really it is an A major scale with a flatted 7th

But the A section of Salt Creek is not fully mixolydian as it has that D major chord in it and the E chord plays a more prominant role in the first half of the A section then it does in the B section (and the second half of the A section) where the E major chord is a very quick turnaround.

So for the A chord and D chord you can play an a major scale and then play a D major scale (A major scale w/ flatted 7th) over the G and E chords. B section full mixolydian treatment.

Throw in some chromatic passing notes (notes outside the scale) as your ear sees fit for added spice.


Try it out with a Flatpicking Apprentice backing track:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/siftj6qtyt...20bpm.mp3?dl=0

[Drew Egerton]

One of my favorite fiddle tunes.

NFI but I am a student of the Mike Marshall class on Artist Works and I just happened to notice this. There have been 117!!!!! video exchanges done on this tune over the years. LOTS of great tips there.

[MichaelW]

One of my favorite fiddle tunes.

NFI but I am a student of the Mike Marshall class on Artist Works and I just happened to notice this. There have been 117!!!!! video exchanges done on this tune over the years. LOTS of great tips there.

Funnily enough I've come to this tune through the Bryan Sutton course. I haven't found any real in depth analysis of this tune on there though.

[Relio]

Hi all. I've been learning this tune and would like some help with regards soloing over it.

I understand the concept of improvising around the melody and am comfortable with that but am scratching my head a bit about how to play more freely over the chords.

I get that it is essentially in A but what happens when it goes to the G chord? People seem to use A minor pentatonic lines over that chord, and it does indeed work, but I'd like to better understand why. Is it simply moving between A major and A minor?

I appreciate that understanding the theory behind these tunes doesn't necessarily make your playing any better, I'm just genuinely interested.

Thanks

I recommend the Flatpicking Essentials series. It's gear towards guitar, but the same knowledge can be applied to mandolin. They have a book on flatpicking fiddle tunes. I have no financial interest, but based on your question you should buy it ASAP.