Edit - does not add to discussion.
Last edited by Eric Platt; Mar-15-2018 at 9:01am. Reason: Removed
I find Bb to lay on the mandolin frets very well. You have G open, A open, D open, and chord shapes move well in the first 5 or 6 frets. Chord along on Boulder to Birmingham in that key, you'll see what I mean.
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Start slow, fade early
Isn't the simple answer "That Bill did it in those keys"?
Those handy open strings in Bb become flat 3rd and flat 7th in B making B a good key for more bluesy playing. And for tunes that use the flat VII chord, it's a A, which gives lots of open strings. I still find B difficult to play in, but I think the open strings in B have lots of potential depending on the tune.
Also if you want to play a lot of songs in relative minor keys you need to know the key of Bb to play in Gm, F for Dm and Eb for Cm.
For example Lonesome Moonlight Waltz in Dm
Rob
Just to throw a wrench into everything, don't forget the other instruments. If, say, you're playing with A 2 row C/F accordion, the key choices will probably be different than with a 120 bass keyboard accordion. Or hardangfiddle. They are often tuned in an A variant and are generally limited in key choice.
That's another reason to learn all the keys.
I bought that book when I first started playing, precisely because
- there were hardly any other bluegrass mandolin books out there, and
- it featured a real breadth of styles, keys, tunes, techniques.
Around the same time, I picked up Jethro's book, Tottle's Back Road Mandolin LP (with the tab sheet inside the album sleeve) and subscribed to Mandolin World News. I was off to the races.
That may be true of B natural, but Bb really is a standard key on violin and mandolin. And for some reason Monroe didn't play much on songs in those keys. E.g., on Cheyenne he solos only over the g minor bridge. There's a more of his mandolin on gospel numbers like Wicked Path of Sin and Life's Railway to Heaven
A banjo player of course should be able to play in the keys of C, D, E, and F in G tuning, without a capo, possibly after retuning the 5th string (but a friend of mine says that E works splendidly in G tuning, without retuning.) Of course, if he can handle C uncapoed, he could also handle D, capoed at the 2nd fret, etc. but I believe in the long run it is best to play these keys open.
He comes to your jam, too? Man, he gets around.
If the tune is in D, E, F, he clamps at 7, 9, 10 - what a waste of real estate. And he kind of slinks around to the back, as if he knows his shortcomings are obvious. I quit trying to edjookate him long ago...actually, quit going to that jam, for that and myriad other reasons
Many years ago a well know professional mandolin player told me, "When you learn a new song, learn it without striking any open strings and then you will be able to play it in any key".....It makes sense to me...Like fiddle players, use one finger like a capo and plant it firmly on the fingerboard and stretch if you have to to get to the other notes...
Practice, practice, practice...
Willie
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