Getting into blues mandolin

[CDVA47]

Any thoughts on the best way to cut one's teeth on blues mandolin? Books to read and play through, artists to listen to, etc.?

[neal]

http://www.jimrichter.com/
Page may be a little slow, but hey, so's blues sometimes.

[Hans]

Ry Cooder, Johnny Young, Martin, Bogen and Armstrong, Yank Rachel.

[brown akers]

Mandolin Blues - From Memphis To Maxwell Street
by Rich Delgrosso - Hal Leonard Corp.
Great book of not only tunes but the history of Blues in America, basic blues theory, performance notes on the tunes and the players, including all the performers Hans listed above. Rich is well known as one of the very best contemporary blues mandolin players. The 8-bar and 12 bar examples and the various blues scales are great for starting out but there is some really complex stuff that should challenge anyone - highly recommended.

[Wendell Jeong]

Any thoughts on the best way to cut one's teeth on blues mandolin? Books to read and play through, artists to listen to, etc.?

I'm just learning some blues scales now. It has taken me about a year and a half to get there. I play guitar and the 5 note minor and major blues scales are much easier to locate and remember on the guitar. The stretch accross the fret board is much bigger on the mandolin. What I did was to record some 1, 4, 5 twelve bar on my guitar and loop them so I could play to the chords over and over. I did this in Am and Em. The Gamblers Blues song in the Hal Leonard Fretboard Maps book also helped to give me an orientation to a 3 chord blues progression in Gm. If you are familiar with St James Infirmary, the chords are basically Em B Em C B. The 2nd time thru end on the Em, the notes to the melody are almost all the notes in a standard blues progression in Em. I hope this helps as this was very frustrating to me not to be able to play the same progression as I could on my guitar.

Wendell

[JeffD]

Any thoughts on the best way to cut one's teeth on blues mandolin?

Get locked up in prison, have your wife and your mistress and your girlfriend meet you during the same visitation hour, and find out your cell mate knows your wife.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Mandolin Blues - From Memphis To Maxwell Street
by Rich Delgrosso - Hal Leonard Corp.
Great book of not only tunes but the history of Blues in America, basic blues theory, performance notes on the tunes and the players, including all the performers Hans listed above. Rich is well known as one of the very best contemporary blues mandolin players. The 8-bar and 12 bar examples and the various blues scales are great for starting out but there is some really complex stuff that should challenge anyone - highly recommended.

This book is a must, rich in history and Richs playing is great.

[mandozilla]

What everyone else said and listen to Bill Monroe too!

[Shelby Eicher]

O.K. Learn how to play your 213 - 7th chords, there are 2 of them. Learn your turn arounds and leave out the zippy-do-da notes. That's it. The rest is to challenge yourself to not to sound like a white suburbananite. Oh, and listen to the classics - Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal, Big Bill, etc. That's the best advice I can offer you.
Shelby
P.S. You could always try a cool Blues name like Les White or Lame Willie Johnson but it won't make you play better.

[bluesmandolinman]

The rest is to challenge yourself to not to sound like a white suburbananite.

actually that´s not the rest but the major part

[Steve Cantrell]

Jim Richter has some good blues turnarounds on his site right now, and quite a number of Youtube videos with some of his blues techniques. He's an excellent blues picker that blends some elements of the Monroe style into his playing--at least to my ear. Definitely worth a listen, and probably a good person to seek some advice from.

[Mike Herlihy]

The rest is to challenge yourself to not to sound like a white suburbanite.

I know about the blues last night my Château Blanc '68 was supposed to be served slightly chilled! It was room temperature!

[Perry]

There's all types of blues mandolin. Starting with the originals (Yank, Carl, Ted, Johnny) is a good foundation. If you are thinking of the old style of blue mandolin I think THE most important thing is to listen to the originals and then try and mimic them; you don't really need TAB for this and even if you had the TAB you would still need to listen to the music and try and get your fingers to mimic the sound you are hearing; this nuance can not be TABBED.

This CD is a great introduction

http://www.amazon.com/Mandolin-Blues.../dp/B000003ORG

All the sources mentioned above are good. Also Steve James who I think nails his blues tremolo has (2) DVD's on Homespun; the first one is a great all around introduction to blues mandolin. Ry Cooder also really gets the old blues sound going in his playing. Rich DelGrosso's last album has some really great playing on it.

And finally for a bit of a different take on blues mandolin this booklet has some really cool ideas in it.

http://www.astute-music.com/shop/pro...roducts_id=116

Here's the author playing one of his tunes:

[gda(v)e]

Mandolin Blues - From Memphis To Maxwell Street
by Rich Delgrosso - Hal Leonard Corp.
Great book of not only tunes but the history of Blues in America, basic blues theory,

...

Rich does workshops throughout the country. If you get a chance to attend, I highly recommend it. He's an excellent instructor and his classes are really fun.

[CDVA47]

This is a fantastic list - I clearly have my work cut out for me! Many thanks, all.

[bluesmandolinman]

And finally for a bit of a different take on blues mandolin this booklet has some really cool ideas in it.

http://www.astute-music.com/shop/pro...roducts_id=116

That´s Michael Reichenbach who is here on the cafe too.
He has another publication I would recommend : Variety of Blue
Check his website : http://www.mandoisland.de/eng_index.html

Indeed some cool ideas. Very different approach to Blues Mandolin.

[hank]

Check out the thread 10 blues turnarounds in E. Jim and Rich are planning a workshop together.

[Mandostringer]

I'm in an americana band with a STRONG emphasis on blues. Our guitarist is a fingerstyle country blues guitarist (a la blind willie McTell). Obviously, no one's going to learn any style of music without listening to it intensly. However, I have found that (assuming yer ear is experienced at learning that way) the best way to learn new styles is to closely assymilate with an experienced player in that vernacular. It gives you the opportunity to hear (and see) how certain phrases are placed, and the different inflections that are indigenous to certain musical and geographical contexts. In short: Find some blues cats and jam with 'em. I'm a blues purist, but I find these various delta style blues idioms to be particularly well suited for the mandolin (and just a stones throw away from some good ol' honky-tonk!) also, if you know how to read sheet music, there's all sorts of great transcriptions of Rev. Gary Davis and the like out there. It'll definately give you your beginners mind back as it takes some VERY creative interpretation to adapt some of those drop-tuning dead-thumb licks to a mando's range, but the opportunities are endless!

[Don Stiernberg]

Don't forget Rich DelGrosso also writes a column on blues mandolin for Mandolin Magazine, in addition to renowned workshops, excellent recordings and performances, and private lessons via computer.
Check out his site and one way or another he will lead you blues on the mandolin. He performed with the masters, learned his lessons well and is a great guy who can get the music over every which way.

[ald]

Rich DelGrosso and Jim Richter, in their different ways, are the best thing since sliced bread, as far as blues mandolin are concerned

[Ken Olmstead]

Rich is THE authority when it comes to blues mandolin! He is a great teacher and a truely nice guy. He has hung out and played/learned first hand from many of the greatest blues mandolinists of all time! His book would be a great starting point and if you want to eventually be the "real deal," lessons from him over the internet is truely an advantage of modern technology! May do it myself...

Mr. Richter is no slouch and judging from his videos on the subject, is an excellent teacher as well!

[journeybear]

... The rest is to challenge yourself to not to sound like a white suburbananite ...
P.S. You could always try a cool Blues name like Les White or Lame Willie Johnson but it won't make you play better.

I'm sorry - who's playing the blues these days? White suburbanites! I say, embrace this, as Martin Mull did:

I woke up this afternoon
Saw both cars were gone.
Said I wake up this afternoon
Saw both cars were gone.
I felt so low down deep inside
I threw my drink across the lawn.

Also, this is a good read: The Blues Explained

Finally, I did try a blues name, Mandolin Steve, and it's only gotten me so far. Seems people have a hard time pronouncing "mandolin" for some reason. And people are always asking me, "What's your last name?" To which I reply, "Steve." No one seems to get it.

[JonZ]

I think if anything this list illustrates the dearth of blues mandolin learning material.

• Rich Delgrosso is good, but I don’t like how a lot of the songs in his book are “in the style of” exercises, created by Rich, rather than actual songs by a blues artist (at least that’s the impression I get—could be wrong)

• Steve James is also good, but you get about 5 songs per DVD.

• James Reichman is good (and free!), but content is limited.

Compared to how many materials—songbooks and methods—are available for bluegrass and old time mandolin, the pickins are pretty slim when it comes to the blues. I think a “50 Blues Tunes Every Suburban White Boy Should Know” would fill a great demand. (In fact I recommended just such a project to Steve James, and it sounded like it was in the works.) I know that when I bust a blues tune at our local jam, everyone lights up: “Hey, no chopping!”

For now I use my little Tascam DR-1 to slow down the original recordings and learn from them.

[JimRichter]

Thanks to those that recommended me. It's much appreciated.

Some clarification:

Rich and me aren't doing a workshop together. I'm sponsoring him for a mandolin camp here in Bloomington, IN the weekend of December 4/5th. More details to follow. It's too early to send out a notice yet. Will do so early August. However, there will be a gig that weekend where I will lead (on guitar) his backing band. That'll be a blast.

About Blues Mandolin (as a genre of mandolin music)--A treatise by Jim Richter:

I think there is an inherent problem in the discussion of blues mandolin.

Because, as someone said, blues mandolin is such a small nook of the mandolin playing universe (especially in terms of education), it is easy to consider blues mandolin as one cohesive style. Not true.

If I get into a jam with Blues guys (or maybe I just want to discuss Blues music), I need to be specific about the style of Blues I'm playing. Because, again, all Blues is not the same.

For example: west side Chicago, south side Chicago, Memphis, Delta, North Mississippi, West Coast Swing, Texas, Swamp (Excello), Piedmont, country blues, rock-blues, Kansas City, etc.,

All those styles of Blues are very different--some are similar, but each has its own different interpretation of the blues shuffle, how time is manipulated, choice of blues scale, etc.

The trapping of Blues Mandolin, as I said, is that it is a style firmly rooted in the country blues playing of Carl Martin and Yank Rachell, and its only as modern as Yank's later playing and especially the playing of Johnny Young.

Rich--more than any other player--has the deep blues history, the teaching chops, the apprenticeship with the masters, and the name recognition. And this is no knock to Rich, his playing stays firmly rooted in blues mandolin repertoire, especially the playing of Johnny Young.

What has been said about Rich can be said about Steve James or Ry Cooder, but in a much more limited sense. James, I think, is a much better National steel player than mandolinist, and his style is rooted in country blues. Cooder is rooted in country blues.

Gerry Hundt totally has the Chicago Johnny Young style down.

Bert Deivert--excellent blues mandolinist rooted in traditional and established blues mandolin style.

As far as myself, my overwhelming drive has been to broaden what one understands blues mandolin to be. It is more than the playing of Yank Rachell or Johnny Young. And, no offense to Rich because I love him as a person/player/educator, it can go beyond his Hal Leonard book or James' DVD.

I love horn players and the guitarists influenced by horn players: Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Hollywood Fats, Jr. Watson, Rick Holdstrom, Kid Ramos, Freddie King. I love the slinky west side playing of Magic Sam and Otis Rush. I love the swamp/Texas rock of Jimmie Vaughn and Slim Harpo.

In my playing I strive to introduce new ideas and concepts to blues mandolin playing, while still having a respect for tradition. I love Diving Duck, but I'd rather play Robert Cray's Phone Booth or Freddie King's San-Ho-Zay.

So, in my opinion, to advance blues mandolin playing--especially in terms of education and repertoire--it necessitates moving ourselves beyond the style of Johnny Young. Take the time to transcribe a BB King or Guitar Watson solo for mandolin to get you rethinking position, note choice, how to get sustain without use of tremolo.

As I've told several Blues-purists (many of whom are my friends), blues is not a museum piece.

[hank]

"In my playing I strive to introduce no ideas and concepts to blues mandolin playing, while still having a respect for tradition."


Jim am I misreading the word new where no is located?