Call it “singing with my guitar” if you will, or at least humming with my guitar! So with a “blank sheet” or progression that I have never heard I get to make my own melody line in my head and then fill in around it wit what I want verses simply jamming out over a progression I consciously pick a melody line that I can hear/conceive in my head and focus on it.
I feel that one should be able to hear for example “Red Haired Boy” like Mike posted for the first time and identify the melody and be able to play it on the fly and focus on the melody line and play around it, not just to simply fill it full of licks and fills. When there is a song that has a melody line already intact I get lost…I am just not that good yet! I do however strive to follow the melody line and go from there and that is part of my relentless practice. To elaborate on this a bit and use for example with a “blank sheet” I can say fill in parts of 'Dueling banjos", This Little Light of Mine, or other tunes or “bits” from those songs, toss in some popular licks for fills and have fun with it. I like to hear known melody lines in my head then try and fit them in. It’s probably a short coming with my playing, but a melody line already in a song gets me perplexed. I have realized that I need a “blank sheet” (progression) that has no set-in-stone melody in it so I can make my own up on the fly.Īlso with a “blank sheet” one can practice scales over it if they want.
When I do that I tend to want to follow the melody line of that song and it gets me perplexed as I am not good enough to follow the melody of that song on the fly. Here is one I like to practice over and would appreciate you guys sharing any links or resources you ave for bluegrass backing tracks. I have a pretty good understanding of scales, modes, etc but still get finger tied in my improv so soloing over backing tracks is what I am all about now. Over the past year I have really seen dramatic results in my improv, however I feel that I have a long way to go in getting that “bluegrass” sound when improvising, sometimes I fall flat on my face and I feel the only way out of falling flat on my face is to keep playing over and over and over and over lead ideas over backing tracks…call me anal but that has been my focus for the past 6 months. I was also thinking that if I do this maybe we could get the other instruments involved to set some rhythm down also, kind of like a Kompoz project but for backing tracks? So, I was thinking that I’d see what you guys have in the form of Youtube and other videos, mp3’s, etc in your resources to share? If you guys are like me and have a limited supply of backing tracks to jam over then I was thinking that maybe I’ll pull out the mic and record some guitar backing tracks, post them up here for folks to use.
I know I have searched youtube and such and not have been able to find a lot of bluegrass type tracks to practice my improv over. If you take their advice, you’ll know you have at least one other person to pick it with! Take a look at the video below to see super-picker Bryan Sutton absolutely tear through “Salt Creek.I was wondering if any of you guys had found some good bluegrass backing tracks to practice over? Not necessarily popular fiddle tunes, but instead just general tracks to practice soloing over? Don’t be afraid to ask one of the more experienced jammers if they could suggest any tunes as well. Here are a few to get you started: “Old Joe Clark,” “Fireball Mail,” “Salt Creek,” “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” “Angeline the Baker,” “Big Mon,” and “Red-Haired Boy.” Pay attention at local jam sessions, as you’ll start to notice that certain songs might be called out more. From there, you can work up a solo by incorporating the melody and adding “ornaments” like some passing notes during rests in the melody or inserting a lick between phrases. Start by learning the chord changes, then the simplest form of the melody. Learning and working through these tunes will not only give you a great place to start building your musical vocabulary, but you’ll also know material when you roll up to a jam session. Every genre of music has its standards-the songs that define the sound and style of the genre-and bluegrass is no exception.