Topic: Blues Mandolin Instruction

[jcav]

Anthony Hannigan touches on some blues riffs in his lessons over at www.musicmoose.org
Best of all, all the lessons on there are totally FREE.
Guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, harmonica. and coming soon, dobro and bass.
Check out Nashville musician Paco Shipp's lessons on harmonica.

j

[tenderfoot84]

hi arbarnhart,

i also bought the homespun mando dvd. i agree that it does only really teach you to play the songs as transcribed, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. i only really play "divin' duck", but on the sleepy john estes record, yank rachel does a whole bunch of other stuff that isn't in the tab book for steve james' dvd. it's really fun to pick these out. you'll probably notice as soon as you hear the tune that in the dvd the mandolin line follows the vocal line for the first few bars, but it's played very differently on the original tune. also try to incorporate bits from other songs to shake it up a bit. i'm addicted to putting a walkdown on the 3rd course of strings from the 5th to 3rd fret at the end of the first vocal line. it's stolen from statesboro blues when blind willie mctell walks down from the d to d7th chord.

it's a really nice to muck about with and to embarrass yourself by trying to sing like john estes.

[uncle bud]

I haven't seen this mentioned much anywhere but Steve James has a Blues Mandolin Vol 2 DVD out from Homespun now.

http://www.homespuntapes.com/shop/product.aspx?ID=1425

[samjessin]

I am also working on learning blues mandolin.  I like a line in a Sleepy John Estes song (not verbatim) "I'm sorry I've been so long in writing to you, I've been spending all my time trying to learn to sing the blues."  Along that line, Faster Women, Older Whiskey, and More money might help in the quest, especially if their supplies dwindle for a time and are abundant for another. 

I would like to check out the Steve james and rich delgrosso' dvds.  I actually just met steve james for the first time last week and enjoyed his company, he sort of convinced me to buy one of his dvds.  Playing along to recordings, I always find to be sometimes extremely productive and at other times extremely frustrating, but all in all the best way to learn phrasings and to enjoy the music I am learning because if I am stuck I can just stop and listen.

Sam

"Honey honey honey honey, what you trying to do, why don't you signal when you are though."

[uncle bud]

Hi Sam,

The Del Grosso material is a book, not a DVD, just to clarify.

I wonder if the Steve James DVD would be too simple for you. I learned a lot but am a rank beginner and you have more chops. Can't comment on vol 2 since I don't have it. At first glance, it seems to be more "idea-based" than "song-based", though don't know for sure.

[Johnm]

Hi Sam,
This is not so much a blues mandolin suggestion as a blues mandolin repertoire suggestion.  I wonder if you have listened to Lonnie Coleman's two titles, "Old Rock Island Blues" and "Wild About My Lovin".  I've been listening a lot to "Wild About My Lovin'", especially, on the JSP "A Richer Tradition" set, and it is just great.  Lonnie's time is terrific, really strong and so straight-up-and-down, and he is perfectly synched with his backing guitarist.  He has lots of really forceful down-picking that flows naturally into intense tremolo, like Bill Monroe's blues playing.  I can't imagine these are transcribed anywhere, but since you've made it clear that you are fine with working by ear, I thought you might want to check those cuts out.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

I agree, John. I was just listening to Old Rock Island Blues recently for the first time in quite awhile. It's also a great one and made me regret not picking up my mandolin more often. Also, I think that these 2 songs would be pretty easy to figure out, if not execute with quite the assertiveness Coleman manages.

[samjessin]

Oh, ok, the Rich Delgrosso thing is a book, that makes it easier, because I am not good at learning with Dvds too much pausing and rewinding and whatnot.  Are there any digital copies available?

As far as too simple.  I really like to work on simple stuff.  I am playing with a beginner guitar player and a beginner uke player who both live in my house and like learning odd tunes and waltzes.  Playing that stuff really slow has really opened my eyes to the possibilities (and my immense shortcomings) of tremolo.

I have been working out of the bickford mandolin method.  I really enjoy how it is breaking down what I know (the author's stern tone is nice too!) and making me start from scratch.  The muscle benefits are really noticeable.

Lonnie Coleman, a richer tradition.  I actually just downloaded some of the tracks from a richer tradition (no lonnie coleman) but I will pick up the rest of the collection when my emusic renews itself.  

Thanks a lot!

[uncle bud]

BTW, Sam, if you haven't checked it out already, do look through this thread http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=282.0

It's the mother of all mando threads on Weenie Campbell. It hasn't been updated in awhile but still lots of info there.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
As long as we're on a repertoire-suggesting roll, you might look at the music of the East Texas Serenaders for "odd tunes and waltzes", Sam.  They were a great band that did some wonderful tunes in less commonly played in keys.  "Babe" is a beauty (in B flat, I believe) and "Shannon Waltz" is a beautiful tune in F that transfers very well to mandolin.  A buddy of mine who is a great mandolinist plays it really nicely.  Another odd waltz is Sweet Papa Stovepipe's "Mama's Angel Child" (there's no mandolin on the original), which can be found on the JSP Set, "The Paramount Masters".  The song is discussed and the progression worked out in the "Persistence of Pre-Blues Material" thread on the Main Forum.
All best,
Johnm

[Doc White]

The new Rich Del Grosso CD is out called Get Your Nose Outta My Bizness. There is some great playing and some great tunes. Most of the tunes are Chicago influenced but he funks a couple up including Walking Blues.

[Rivers]

I ordered the Rich Del Grosso book and am looking forward to working with it.

As of yesterday I have Steve James' first DVD and have done one session with it. As a country blues guitar player just now picking up blues mandolin I'm finding it's pitched pretty perfectly for me. I made what was, to me, a ton of progress in just a few hours, and it got me over the confidence hump of wrangling a completely new instrument. I like John Sebastian's occasional understated guitar backup on it too, gives you ideas on arranging and accompanying guitar / mando duets.

I think if I could play everything on the SJ volume 1 perfectly and assimilate all the ideas therein it will be a great jumping-off point. I will take my time getting there and enjoy the ride.

I noticed that Steve has done a second blues mando DVD which I've also ordered.

[uncle bud]

The Bickford method mentioned earlier on in this thread by samjessin was published in 1920 and is in the public domain, available online at the Internet Archive in PDF, as well as epub, kindle format etc.

http://www.archive.org/details/bickfordmandolin01bick

I haven't worked from it but there looks like there is some good technique material.

[Rivers]

Thanks for the link Andrew, it's extremely cool to be able to access that on line.

[Annette]

Mike Compton is another very bluesy bluegrass mandolin player - when I saw him at Sore Fingers he used a tenor guitar for his number in the teachers concert and it was bliss!

Annette