Rolling Stones on Mandolin?

[MandoNicity]

One of Yonder Mountain's signature songs is "No Expectations" played jam band style and the opening mando riff is ultra recognizable. . I love it! Also...glad to see so many here mention "Between The Buttons", which is my favorite Stones album, though for most Stones Heads it's much overlooked.

Ya Ya
JR

[f5loar]

Maybe my memory is fading but as I remember it when 19th Nervous Breakdown came out in 196? I thought is was pretty cool they used an electric mandolin on that song. Am I wrong?

[journeybear]

No mandolin there. Wonder if you're thinking of "Paint It Black," which features a sitar, still a departure from standard rock instrumentation. I believe the first use of an electric mandolin in rock may be credited to Seals & Crofts, or one of the British folk-rock bands like Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span or Lindisfarne, but Niles may well have a better handle on this.

However, at the risk of sending us off on a tangent, I must say the first time I heard mandolin on a rock record it was by played by Ry Cooder on The Stones' version of Robert Johnson's "Love In Vain," on "Let it Bleed." Again one of the above-mentioned bands may have gotten there first, but I hadn't heard it yet. Of course, soon thereafter there was a flurry of activity for the instrument - Jethro Tull's "Fat Man," The Band's "Rag Mama Rag," Grateful Dead's "Friend Of The Devil" and "Ripple," and surely more. As I said, another thread. But my point here is these were still acoustic mandolins. The first time I heard an electric-sounding mandolin would have been Seals & Crofts "Diamond Girl."

BTW, as much as The Beatles are nearly always cited as the most innovative band in many ways, and deservedly so, they never used mandolin - George and Paul did on later solo releases, but The Stones had them beat in at least this area.

[Ronny Stecher]

Early Stones was very bluesy largely due to them ol American Folk & Blues tours and Brian Jones. All the english bands of the day were influenced by the blues greats from those tours. The Yardbirds, Stones, Animals, Groundhogs, Etc right up to Zep and beyond.

I agree some tunes would work well on mando especially the acoustic Mick Taylor era, Dear Doctor is one I may f#rt around with after this read, but I love Spider And The Fly and can't really hear a mando doing it justice. It might tho? It's another one to play with. I've taken a mando break of late, this'll work for a revisit.

[Ransome]

We are doing Sweet Virginia and I am playing Mando on it. So far it's working out great. And since it's the re-release of Exile this week it seems fitting.

Ran$ome

[journeybear]

... but I love Spider And The Fly and can't really hear a mando doing it justice ...

Love it too, but I don't see much difficulty playing it. Like most shuffle-type blues, I try to find a key where I can use the barred G form - ie, G = 0-0-2-3, A = 2-2-4-5, etc. That chugging Chuck Berry-style chord riff is easy to use in this fingering by barring and unbarring the D string with the ring finger (A = 2-2-4-5, 2-4-4-5, etc). And 7th chords are easy to work in, too (A7 = 2-2-4-3). Seems to me the song ought to fall into place pretty easily. You probably know just what I mean, but some others newer to the instrument might not have tumbled onto this stuff yet. It's been a looong time, but I used to jam on this and "Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" with my old band mates.

[Mandobart]

As an earlier poster siad, "You Got the Silver" and "Dead Flowers" are both great on mando. I also like "Salt of the Earth" from Beggar's Banquet. I play a lot of blues, so "Shake Your Hips" from Exile works well. "Honky Tonk Women" and "Faraway Eyes" are great in a twangy style, lots of tremolo. I attempt to follow Jim Richter's style of fully translating the song to mando, and not doing a "picking on" or "Stones do Bluegrass" kind of thing.

[allenhopkins]

One of Yonder Mountain's signature songs is "No Expectations" played jam band style and the opening mando riff is ultra recognizable. . I love it!

Here's Yonder Mountain doing No Expectations:



Mandolin part doesn't blow me away, but a nice jam groove...

New Deal String Band w/Frank Greathouse did a nice job on this song, back in the day.

[Spruce]

New Deal String Band w/Frank Greathouse did a nice job on this song, back in the day.

So did Bill Keith and Jim Rooney.....

[Ed Goist]

Happy to bump this thread...
"Wild Horses" has been mentioned here several times, and here is a brilliant version.
Wonderful mandolin throughout thanks to Mike Marshall and Sharon Gilchrist. Oh, and Peter Rowan and Bryn Davies aren't to shabby either! What a band!

[Kevin Stevens]

I just got back home from seeing Bryn play with Tony Rice Unit in Stoughton Wisconsin. She was awesome, as was Josh Williams on mandolin, Rickie Simpkins, Wyatt Rice and of course Tony were awesome! I just sat there with my mouth hanging open most of the show.

[Darren Bailey]

I'll never be your Pink Suburban
My tires are broad but they ain't burstin'
All I want is for you to get gas for me
I'll never be your Pink Suburban
I drove for miles, my buns are hurting
All I want is for you to get gas for me

Am I fast enough?
My ride rough enough?
Am I clean enough?
I'm not too blind to see...

Like it.

[Ronny Stecher]

I've been trying to transpose a lot of things I know from guitar to mando, Here's my attempt at Angie by the Stones. The wind can be heard and I'm a little sloppy due to some arm issues, but you get the gist.

It's Am E7 G Bb F C Dm C Em & the chorus is G Dm Am C F G (extended chorus has..) Dm Am Dm Am Dm Am C F G.

My version is not pristine and could be tweaked. The initial chorus blast does not have the extention and I just play 2 run throughs of the main body, It's not perfect and better players with smaller fingers can do a much better job, but I figured I'd add this as I didn't see Angie listed prior. I hope you like, I just like to putz around.

[JeffD]

I was told the Rolling Stones was "old people music, suitable for paunch rockers and nearly dead hippies. Would you like some patchouli with that."

I didn't have the guts to tell these 20 somethings I played mandolin.

[Ed Goist]

As long as Keith Richards is part of the Rolling Stones they will be important to the genre.

[jab]

I dated this girl in college when Some Girls came out. I caught her singing Beast of Burden at the top of her lungs and she was (seriously) singing the chorus "don't ever leave, your pizza burnin'". I dumped her.

[journeybear]

What? You mean that isn't how it goes?

There are lots of websites devoted to misheard or misinterpreted lyrics. These are two of my favorites: http://www.kissthisguy.com/ http://www.amiright.com/

[Larry R]

Love In Vain is a great mandolin song. I just try to do a mix of chords and a little lead.

[Trevor Thomas]

"old people music, suitable for paunch rockers and nearly dead hippies"

Yep, this has been the standard mainstream line of criticism since 1977. Every article written about the Rolling Stones will normally start by mentioning their ages, in a way that they don't for hardly any other band, and certainly not for other genres. It's become cliched. You never read articles that start "Aging Motown dinosaur Stevie Wonder", or "60s Pop Relic Paul McCartney" or "Geriatric Opera singer Placido Domingo" or "One-Foot-in-the-Grave Blues Crooner BB King", do you? It's just 'byline' stuff.

In an interview I once read, Keith Richards said "I've been a 'dinosaur' since I was about 34 years old - it doesn't really bother me".

[Markus]

Played 'waiting on a friend' during last night's set. Works nice with acoustic and mandolin, a better song than initially appears. Benefits from a nice spare arrangement, has a fun progression to solo on.

[JeffD]

In an interview I once read, Keith Richards said "I've been a 'dinosaur' since I was about 34 years old - it doesn't really bother me".

[zombywoof]

Since the later 1960s, Keef has spent alot of time in Open G tuning. Keef once described his playing style as three fingers, two chords and one a*#hole or something. But as long as Keef is alive rock & roll will do just fine.

A Stones tune we have alot of fun throwing the mandolijn in on is "Paint It Black." Then again, we also use a kazoo on that one.

[Ed Goist]

...snip...One of my all-time favorite chord riffs (is there an actual musicological term for this?) is the E - D - A back to E that drives "The Last Time." It's instantly recognizable. Play it a little differently and you've got "All Right Now." Good stuff.

Brilliant stuff! And played a little differently still it's Sympathy for the Devil! Keith has gotten a lot of mileage out of the E, A, B & D chords in the key of E

I've discovered that many Stones songs sound fantastic on the GDAE tenor guitar. Great stuff!

[Jim Garber]

I always thought that Beast of Burden would sound especially good on mandolin.

[dcoventry]

You can't always get what you want......it's a nice one on mando.