Scales

[Br1ck]

It occurred to me yesterday that I am much more adept at learning new tunes in the last few months. I use Mandolessons.com a lot to learn fiddle tunes and kind of amazed myself by learning Billy in the Lowground, not from the lesson, but the demo at the beginning of the lesson.

I think this is a direct correlation from playing scales and scale exercises every day for the last year or so. The scales and patterns show up in bits and pieces of tunes, and my ear can figure things out fairly accurately.

I went back and went through the lesson and only found one part I had gotten wrong. Now I played scales for a long time before this correlation finally clicked, so get out a metronome and play scales for 15 minutes a day. You can concentrate on picking technique too.

[dhergert]

Hmmm. I know my scales.

[DavidKOS]

Hmmm. I know my scales.

Do you also shed them?

[Roger Moss]

I often have to fight to work on my scales...

https://giphy.com/gifs/reactiongifs-cSJBDAJrhCZdC

[DavidKOS]

I often have to fight to work on my scales...

https://giphy.com/gifs/reactiongifs-cSJBDAJrhCZdC

There's something very fishy about that.

[double E]

I know scales are very good practice. I need to make myself sit down and do it more. Since I play other instrument I guess I think I should be able to pick up the Mandolin and play it without doing it the correct way. NOT! LOL

[JeffD]

Its an old familiar story. "All of a sudden I noticed that what was difficult before has become almost second nature." "All of a sudden I am found myself doing XXX when before I couldn't without a struggle." "I don't know what happened." "Oh and by the way I started practicing regularly, a little very day."


Practicing virtually anything 15 minutes a day will have a magical effect on playing. It really is magic how much it helps.

Anyone who has gone from only taking the instrument out once a week for the jam, or random noodling every now and then, to getting behind the darn thing every day for a short time, will undoubtedly tell you the same thing.

Practicing scales for 15 minutes a day, wow, that will make a gigantic impact.

[dhergert]

Hmmm, ok, well sorry -- too much fun.

Out of respect for Br1ck I'd like to go back on topic with a true story about playing scales...

One of the biggest influences on my playing of both mandolin and banjo has been one song, "Just a closer walk". It taught me scales, it taught me rhythm and a good bit of swing. It taught me chromatic runs, it taught me chord melody work. Even today as I'm working on learning the double bass, I'm using this same song, in every key, to learn walking chromatic scales and reinforce rhythm.

Sometimes practicing just plain scales can be too boring. If you want to practice scales, why not select a song that you like that covers all the same notes? Or 2 or 3 songs? Learn the fingering, do them in every key. Goof off with them, do them in minor keys too.

At least in my experience, doing the scales this way has really helped my playing.

[DavidKOS]

One of the biggest influences on my playing of both mandolin and banjo has been one song, "Just a closer walk". It taught me scales, it taught me rhythm and a good bit of swing. It taught me chromatic runs, it taught me chord melody work. Even today as I'm working on learning the double bass, I'm using this same song, in every key, to learn walking chromatic scales and reinforce rhythm.

As a New Orleans kid that played "Closer Walk" on banjo, can you tell me what style banjo playing and what tuning you used?

Thanks.

BTW, are you learning the Simandl bass fingerings?

If not, try them, they work well enough for the symphony players.

[dhergert]

As a New Orleans kid that played "Closer Walk" on banjo, can you tell me what style banjo playing and what tuning you used?

Thanks.

BTW, are you learning the Simandl bass fingerings?

If not, try them, they work well enough for the symphony players.

Yes, I play it on 5-string, using either classic or Scruggs finger style, or on plectrum or 17-fret tenor banjo using either 4-string 3-finger style or with a flatpick (as I also do with mandolin) using open G tuning on the 22-fret banjos and open Bb tuning on the tenor (and of course my non-standard open C tuning on mandolin). The musical style is, I'd say old-jazzish, deeply swung, not too slow, but not too fast, played as a chord melody. (Attachment is of our band, me playing on 5-string.)

Regarding the bass, I'm in process of taking what my stiff fingers can of Simandl and merging that with some other styles. I have great respect for Simandl and those who use it completely, but I'm not totally fixated on it since I'm also working on slapping and a number of other playing styles. The bass is a pretty fun instrument!

[DavidKOS]

Yes, I play it on 5-string, using either classic or Scruggs finger style, or on plectrum or 17-fret tenor banjo using either 4-string 3-finger style or with a flatpick (as I also do with mandolin) using open G tuning on the 22-fret banjos and open Bb tuning on the tenor (and of course my non-standard open C tuning on mandolin). The musical style is, I'd say old-jazzish, deeply swung, not too slow, but not too fast, played as a chord melody. (Attachment is of our band, me playing on 5-string.)

Regarding the bass, I'm in process of taking what my stiff fingers can of Simandl and merging that with some other styles. I have great respect for Simandl and those who use it completely, but I'm not totally fixated on it since I'm also working on slapping and a number of other playing styles. The bass is a pretty fun instrument!

OK, you seem on top of it all! Thank you.

Slapping the bass a la rockabilly (which they got from a 20's jazz bass style) is an art unto itself and I doubt any of the recent slappers cared what fingering they used as long as it works with that special pizzicato slap-pluck.

back to scales....

[mbruno]

Fiddle tunes are typically (though not always) very scale based - at least one part (i.e. the A part is, but the B part is not). Songs like Billy in the Lowground essentially just follow their scale with little if any the scale notes (C D E F G A B in this case assuming you play it in C). The more you practice scales in a variety of ways (straight through, runs of three notes, in thirds, in forths etc backwards and forwards etc) the more likely you are to "hear" a fiddle song riff (or entire melody in some cases).

Another good one similar to Billy in that manner is The Girl I Left Behind (though there are lyrics to that, I usually hear it as a fiddle tune) and Salt Creek's A part among many others.

Keep practicing those scales in a varied manner. The more variations you practice, the more you'll pick up some of the "scale type" ideas in standards.