Mandolin Chord Melody, Etude #2

[Drew Streip]

Days don't matter anymore. I'm no David Benedict, and I'll just have to live with that.



Same gear. Thanks for watching!

[Franc Homier Lieu]

Man, are you ever getting your money's worth from Aaron's book. These videos are really good motivation for me to bust out my copy and just go for it. Thanks, and please keep 'em coming!

[Andy Hatfield]

Hey, that's really great! That stuff is not easy....Good playing!

Andy

[Polecat]

Once again I enjoyed your video, Drew. Nice playing.
You don't need to be David Benedict (I had to google him to find out who he is) or anyone else but yourself - find your own style, steal what you like from anyone you like and you'll be the musician you're meant to be. That's my philosophy.

I used to play a fair bit of swingy chord-harmony stuff, but arthritis made the contortions too painful and now I mainly stick to single lines and easier shapes. Your videos made me feel nostalgic, though, so I decided to make one myself, of my arrangement of Fats Wallers "Ain't Misbehavin'". It's fairly cack-handed, but you get the idea. You'll notice I don't even touch the E-string, and the nice implied bass-lines in the arrangements you're playing are conspicuous by their absence, but the harmonies are stated in a way that I thought support the tune without getting in the way or sounding too simplified, which is what (I think) accompanying yourself in this way is about.

[Drew Streip]

That sounds great! Yep -- you struck a nice balance between simple and complex. I'm hoping to learn how to not go overboard when I start arranging my own versions of tunes. Or, rather, how to be satisfied when it sounds "good enough". Thanks for posting!