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Sure, normally that measure would transition into backup which is why is doesn’t loop completely seamlessly you’re correct.
If you wanted to loop it what you’d do is take the first note of measure 34 (open 4th string) and substitute it for the first 8th notes (open 4th string and 1st fret 2nd string) of measure 2.
If you play the first note of measure 34 and then the last 3 notes of measure 2 you’d be able to pickup into the solo again.
Hopefully that makes sense. Let me know if you have any other questions.
-Mike
I’m going to do a detailed backup lesson for this song in the future that will include singing.
But if you want to sing and loop the bluegrass version, you would just play measures 17-32 over and over. You’d skip measure 16 which is the pickup to the song.
If you have any other questions let me know.
-Mike
Sure. I can do a detailed backup lesson for Little Maggie in the future.
I’ve done some other songs you can check them out here:
https://mikeheddingmusic.com/browse-lessons/?fwp_lesson_instrument=banjo&fwp_lesson_tags=backupNormally, I don’t do tabbed out backup lessons for the regular lessons because backup is rarely if ever played the same way twice. So I usually give general techniques you can apply to the song.
But I have done some backup lessons with tabs and I can certainly add that song to the list.
– Mike
Sure. I did a little demo you can check out here:
How To Practice With Soundslice
If you have any more questions let me know.
– Mike
Brian,
You can click the “gear” icon on the video to slow the video down if it’s moving too fast for you.
Otherwise you can let me know the timestamp of the roll/lick you’re having trouble with and I can take a look and help out.
In the future, I can do a more detailed backup lesson for this song. Thanks.
– Mike
Nice! I’m glad it was helpful. Yes, these ideas could be applied to any basic chord progression you want.
– Mike
For this lesson I did a combination of memorization and reading the tab in real-time. For some of the up-the-neck backup I memorized the tab.
But for the other parts I just read the tab as I played it.
I did write the arrangement though so it might be easier for me to read it as I play!
You’re certainly welcome to memorize any parts of the tab you need to.
Otherwise, as the speed increases, you may have to look further ahead in the tab to read it in real-time. This takes practice too.
– Mike
The link above has a lot of songs that aren’t bluegrass.
Wagon Wheel is the most popular bluegrass song that uses this chord progression.
I’m sure there are probably some other ones as well. Let me think about it and I’ll post a reply if I think of any others.
– Mike
Sure, if you want to see my recommended way to work through the lessons you can do so here: https://mikeheddingmusic.com/guided/beginner-mandolin/
You wouldn’t have access to all the lessons with the Free Membership but you could still follow along if you like.
With the mandolin, you’ll be resting your right forearm on the mandolin which will allow your right wrist to move freely. So that becomes your “planting” point similar to banjo that will keep your hand in position.
It might still take a little practice to find the A and E strings accurately but keep if will be easier if you keep your forearm in a similar position each time you play.
Good luck.
– Mike
Yes, here’s a partial list of songs that use that same progression for reference:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/73-songs-you-can-play-with-the-same-four-chords
If you have any other questions let me know.
Best,
MikeBoth the slide and your picking hand should be playing an 8th note rhythm. So don’t worry about if you wait till you end the slide to play the open 2nd string. Focus on the rhythm of each hand. You need both hands to operate independently which is tricky.
Yes, you’ll definitely want to play the open string after the slide. That is how you keep the “roll” of your right hand going. If you didn’t play the open string with the slide, your right hand picking rhythm would break.
With bluegrass style slides like these, you want to keep the rhythm going with your right hand. The slide is basically extra credit.
– Mike
Glad you enjoyed the lesson.
Sure. I can try and help.
You don’t need to necessarily wait till you get up to the 5th fret to play the open third string. You need your two hands to operate independently which is tricky.
Both the slide and your right hand are playing the (2 and) rhythm. You could work on playing each on it’s own and then try and blend them together.
If you get up to the 5th fret a little faster that’s fine too, just make sure your right hand is keeping a solid rhythm.
It’s a little hard to give you advice without hearing you play it but my guess is you could be sliding up too quickly which is throwing off the rhythm of the lick.
– Mike
Thanks for the question. You could certainly try playing the open first string.
Only downside is it would make the right hand picking pattern a little trickier. That’s why I didn’t write it that way.
You’d have two notes in a row on the first string if you used the open first string in 27.
But I’m sure with some practice you could figure out a picking pattern that would work for that. You could try bringing your thumb of your right hand up to play the open first string. Then keep the rest of the right hand fingering as written.
It’s totally fine to make adjustments to the tab though to fit your particular needs!
Let me know if that helps.
– Mike
Jon,
Thanks for checking out the lesson. Sure, you could use this tab to practice playing more “linear.”
All you’d need to do is look at the tab and grab multiple notes on same string rather than going “across” the strings. You’ll have to pick notes from multiple measures of the tab but it should be fairly easy to do.
Per your other question, that’s certainly a good spot to start but like all rules they’re made to be broken. If you always had to land on the root note at the end of every phrase, it would get a little monotonous.
But that’s definitely a good practice tool you could use to improve your ear training and make sure you really know all the root notes for each chord.
But once you get that down, it would also be good practice to expand out beyond that and give yourself the freedom to land on any note you’d like.
If you have any other questions let me know.
– Mike
