Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 27

Thread: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

  1. #1

    Default Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    So like many I came to the mandolin from guitar. Are there any examples of playing convincing rockabilly on mandolin acoustically or is that something people usually do on the emando? Where is a good place to start? Thank you so much for your help!
    Rue d’Auseil

  2. #2

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Marty Stuart played on the Docabilly album with Doc Watson, playing mandolin on some tracks like this one:
    He also toured with Doc up to 1980 and there are a lot of concert tapes where they do a rockabilly medley.


    Here is one of the concert sessions with Peter Rowan doing mandola stuff during Tutti Frutti

  3. The following members say thank you to CarlM for this post:

    Ranald 

  4. #3
    Joe B mandopops's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Chicago ‘burbs
    Posts
    615

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Listen to Chicago Blues Mandolin man, Johnny Young, Jesse McReynolds on the Jim & Jesse Chuck Berry album, Berry Pickin', & of course, lots of Bill Monroe.
    Shake it up & stir=Rock-a-Billy.
    Joe B

  5. The following members say thank you to mandopops for this post:


  6. #4
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    South of Cleburne, North of Hillsboro, Texas
    Posts
    5,089

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Man, after seeing this thread a few days, I decided I had to try a mandolin rhythm on Brian Setzer's Stray Cat Strut and I have to say I'm liking it; it's more fun than playing on guitar -- for now, anyway. I throw in a couple simple note runs between a few of the chords, and am trying it like this:

    Cm
    5-5-6-8
    Bb
    3-3-5-6
    Ab
    1-1-3-5
    G
    0-0-2-3

    section two
    Fm
    1-3-3-4
    Eb
    0-1-1-3
    Db
    6-3-4-x
    C
    5-2-3-0

    chorus
    Fm
    1-3-3-4
    Fm7
    1-1-3-4
    D7
    5-4-5-x
    G7#5
    4-3-6-x

    Full chord progression/lyrics here: http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/chords/stray-cat-strut/

    Rockabilly on.
    WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
    ----------------------------------
    "Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN

    ----------------------------------
    HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
    Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
    The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
    - Advice For Mandolin Beginners
    - YouTube Stuff

  7. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Mark Gunter For This Useful Post:


  8. #5
    Pittsburgh Bill
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    i find that old country (Hank Williams - many tunes to work with) crosses over well to a rockabilly sound.
    Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
    Kentucky KM-950
    Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
    Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)

  9. #6
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,733

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Try Levon Helm, he's was a 50's rockabilly, among other things:

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...ps-amp-Rags-24
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

  10. #7
    Pittsburgh Bill
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranald View Post
    Try Levon Helm, he's was a 50's rockabilly, among other things:
    Everly Brothers also comes to mind.
    Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
    Kentucky KM-950
    Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
    Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)

  11. #8
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Manchester - Lancashire - NW England
    Posts
    14,187

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Early on in his career,Buddy Holly used a banjo on some of the Rockabilly tracks that he recorded with Bob Montgomery ( Buddy & Bob),so,IMHO,there's no reason that the mandolin couldn't / shouldn't be used in that style of music. My personal thoughts are that maybe the mandolin is a tad too trebely for such music,& that a mandola would add more texture - but there's no reason not to use a mandolin,& Rockabilly is one of my favourite music genres.

    If any of you have seen the film 'Kill Bill' - you'll have heard this tune by the Japanese girl band ''The 5,6,7,8s'' - here's the original by The Rock-A-Teens " Woo Hoo " from 1959 :-


    Ivan
    Weber F-5 'Fern'.
    Lebeda F-5 "Special".
    Stelling Bellflower BANJO
    Tokai - 'Tele-alike'.
    Ellis DeLuxe "A" style.

  12. #9
    Oval holes are cool David Lewis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    1,466

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    I should google this, but I think Major Matchbox had a solidbody mandolin....
    JBovier ELS; Epiphone MM-50 VN; Epiphone MM-40L; Gretsch New Yorker G9310; Washburn M1SDLB;

    Fender Nashville Deluxe Telecaster; Squier Modified Vintage Cabronita Telecaster; Gretsch 5420T; Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat: Washburn Banjo B9; Ibanez RB 5string; Ibanez RB 4 string bass

    Pedalboard for ELS: Morley Cry baby Miniwah - Tuner - EHX Soul Food Overdrive - EHX Memory Toy analog Delay
    Fender Blues Jr Tweed; Fender Greta;

  13. #10
    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,210

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Macabre View Post
    So like many I came to the mandolin from guitar. Are there any examples of playing convincing rockabilly on mandolin acoustically or is that something people usually do on the emando? Where is a good place to start? Thank you so much for your help!
    Just PLAY GUITAR ON the mandolin! If you've worked on the essential rockabilly players (Cliff Gallup w/Gene Vincent, Paul Burlison w/Johnny Burnette Rock N'Roll Trio, Carl Perkins, Scotty Moore, James Burton, Link Wray, Roland Janes w/Billy Lee Riley and other Sun artists, Billy King w/Sid King & The Five Strings) on guitar.... just put those licks and solos onto the mandolin neck.

    Those or the 1st generation rockabilly players - you can get a lot of that same vocab from Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Dave Edmunds, Danny Gatton (there's one track on 88 Elmira Blvd on which Gatton plays the gamut of classic/essential rockabilly licks), Albert Lee. And there was plenty of overlap with Chuck Berry, old country-boogie, and Bakersfield (Don Rich, Roy Nichols etc).

    There were chapters on Chuck Berry's style and rockabilly in the now long out-of-print "The Electric Mandolin" (written with the Richard Thompson) and there was a long mando 12-bar blues similar to that aforementioned Gatton track with the classic licks.

    So, if you don't play guitar, get a cheapo, just to learn guitar stuff from tab and get in in your head so you can transfer it to mandos. Or, skip the guitar step entirely, and go from the records directly to mando or learn to read standard notation so you can use any of the instruction books and transcriptions for the genre.

    Niles H

  14. #11
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Derby
    Posts
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    I'd love to here some Johnny Burnette but most definitely with his trademark howl!

  15. #12
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Augusta, Maine, USA
    Posts
    1,814

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    And lots of Elvis rockers are naturals. "Hound Dog," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel," "That's Alright, Mama," "I'm All Shook Up" . . . .

  16. #13
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Augusta, Maine, USA
    Posts
    1,814

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by mandocrucian View Post
    Just PLAY GUITAR ON the mandolin!
    Absolutely! But be careful who you're talking to! A lot of Mandolin Cafe regulars get highly offended by any suggestion that a mando is just a little guitar.

    Man, have I gotten dished on over that forepaw!

  17. #14
    Pittsburgh Bill
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein View Post
    And lots of Elvis rockers are naturals. "Hound Dog," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel," "That's Alright, Mama," "I'm All Shook Up" . . . .
    .......and don't forget Eddie Cochran tunes! I have found it difficult to replicate anything even close to Jerry Lee Lewis on a mandolin (but I keep trying).
    Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
    Kentucky KM-950
    Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
    Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)

  18. #15
    Stop the chop!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    europe
    Posts
    1,698
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    [QUOTE=CarlM;1657132]Marty Stuart played on the Docabilly album with Doc Watson, playing mandolin on some tracks like this one:
    He also toured with Doc up to 1980 and there are a lot of concert tapes where they do a rockabilly medley.
    ...

    Here is one of the concert sessions with Peter Rowan doing mandola stuff during Tutti Frutti
    ...

    /QUOTE]

    In my opinion Marty Stuart is a genius for finding the stuff that extracts the best sound from his instruments.

  19. The following members say thank you to ralph johansson for this post:


  20. #16
    Stop the chop!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    europe
    Posts
    1,698
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by mandopops View Post
    Listen to Chicago Blues Mandolin man, Johnny Young, Jesse McReynolds on the Jim & Jesse Chuck Berry album, Berry Pickin', & of course, lots of Bill Monroe.
    Shake it up & stir=Rock-a-Billy.
    Joe B

    To me that J&J album is not rockabilly at all. It's just a BG treatment of some unusual songs for the genre, with snare drum, like so much of their stuff on Epic. As for Monroe the only recording of his that has some kind of rockabilly flavor is Sally Jo on which he takes no solo. But the banjo and fiddle, and Rusty Kershaw's guitar, faintly indicate the possiblities of acoustic rockabilly, in spite of the insistent 2/2 of Bessie Lee Mauldin's bass.

    By that time Monroe had abandoned the 4/4 of Cedric Rainwater and Joel Price. The only 4/4 I recall on his later recordings is BG Pt 1 on the Mr Bluegrass album, a 12 bar blues in G. Frankly, I find Monroe's playing somewhat square, and not really relevant to this topic.

    Rockabilly, or just about any variety of 50's type R&R, is all about groove. The other day I tried playing along with a Carl Perkins allstar show on Youtube and found myself playing rhythmical stuff I usually don't play on the mandolin, just trying to fit the groove. But after a while I got tired of playing in A.

    I sometimes enjoy listening to, and playing along with, the stuff that Bill Haley recorded on Holiday/Essex in the early 50's, much of it with a country boogie flavor; things like Crazy Man, Crazy (in Bb), real Rock Drive (in C), Sundown Boogie (in G), and Rocket 88 (in Eb). The playing of guitarists Danny Cedrone and Art Ryerson and (to a lesser degree) steel guitarist Billy Williamson may give the TS some ideas to work from, but not exactly copy.

    Louis Jordan, of course, never played rockabilly (or even Rh&B) but I think he's worth listening to, mainly because of his solos (although the alto sax is a tritone lower than the mandolin, a halfstep higher than the mandola). He achieves great rhythmic interest with fairly modest means.

  21. #17
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Saint Augustine Beach FL
    Posts
    6,633

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Mandolinist Kym Warner kills it at 2:40.......

    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  22. #18
    TBI survivor Richard J's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Twin Cities, MN.
    Posts
    150
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    I've just seen a face by the Beatles.
    I think, therefore, I pick.

  23. #19
    Stop the chop!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    europe
    Posts
    1,698
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by ralph johansson View Post
    To me that J&J album is not rockabilly at all. It's just a BG treatment of some unusual songs for the genre, with snare drum, like so much of their stuff on Epic. As for Monroe the only recording of his that has some kind of rockabilly flavor is Sally Jo on which he takes no solo. But the banjo and fiddle, and Rusty Kershaw's guitar, faintly indicate the possiblities of acoustic rockabilly, in spite of the insistent 2/2 of Bessie Lee Mauldin's bass.

    By that time Monroe had abandoned the 4/4 of Cedric Rainwater and Joel Price. The only 4/4 I recall on his later recordings is BG Pt 1 on the Mr Bluegrass album, a 12 bar blues in G. Frankly, I find Monroe's playing somewhat square, and not really relevant to this topic.

    Rockabilly, or just about any variety of 50's type R&R, is all about groove. The other day I tried playing along with a Carl Perkins allstar show on Youtube and found myself playing rhythmical stuff I usually don't play on the mandolin, just trying to fit the groove. But after a while I got tired of playing in A.

    I sometimes enjoy listening to, and playing along with, the stuff that Bill Haley recorded on Holiday/Essex in the early 50's, much of it with a country boogie flavor; things like Crazy Man, Crazy (in Bb), real Rock Drive (in C), Sundown Boogie (in G), and Rocket 88 (in Eb). The playing of guitarists Danny Cedrone and Art Ryerson and (to a lesser degree) steel guitarist Billy Williamson may give the TS some ideas to work from, but not exactly copy.

    Louis Jordan, of course, never played rockabilly (or even Rh&B) but I think he's worth listening to, mainly because of his solos (although the alto sax is a tritone lower than the mandolin, a halfstep higher than the mandola). He achieves great rhythmic interest with fairly modest means.
    Correction: Doug Kershaw, not Rusty.

  24. #20
    Stop the chop!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    europe
    Posts
    1,698
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Charles E. View Post
    Mandolinist Kym Warner kills it at 2:40.......

    Well, he ain't no Bill Monroe ...

  25. The following members say thank you to ralph johansson for this post:


  26. #21
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Augusta, Maine, USA
    Posts
    1,814

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Pittsburgh Bill View Post
    .......and don't forget Eddie Cochran tunes! I have found it difficult to replicate anything even close to Jerry Lee Lewis on a mandolin (but I keep trying).
    Eddie Cochran: the only artist who made Elvis nervous.

  27. #22
    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,210

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    That Docabilly "Bird Dog", though played nice, is really just bluegrass

    This is rockabilly!

    The 1957 original by Billy Lee Riley is pretty good


    but Robert Gordon with Link Wray did a screamer version in 1978


    Check out Billy Lee's "Red Hot" and also the Gordon/Wray version

    how äbout Paul Burlisson on guitar?


    too tame? Then maybe some WV one-man-band lunatic "The Haze" is for you! Vintage psychobilly
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nz9jR_AuLM

    NH

  28. #23
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Saint Augustine Beach FL
    Posts
    6,633

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by ralph johansson View Post
    Well, he ain't no Bill Monroe ...
    Well Monroe never played Rockabilly.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  29. #24
    Pittsburgh Bill
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Charles E. View Post
    Well Monroe never played Rockabilly.
    Too Bad! I would be willing to bet the farm he would have been good at it.
    Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
    Kentucky KM-950
    Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
    Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)

  30. The following members say thank you to Pittsburgh Bill for this post:


  31. #25
    Stop the chop!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    europe
    Posts
    1,698
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Rockabilly on the mandolin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Charles E. View Post
    Well Monroe never played Rockabilly.
    Read #16 and you will get my point.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •