Erik, Very nice posting. I also have used a capo sometimes. But usually I can't find it.
Recently I had worked out a part (for the Motown hit "Heard it through the Grapevine"!) in E, which used lots of open strings. It sounded really cool. Then we got a new singer and the tune went to D! Rather than relearn it and lost that ringing open string sound, I tuned the whole thing down a whole step, and the mando part sounded even better! A bit more sinister. I liked it a bunch. (this wasn't a regular mando - it was my oldest mandonator). Topher On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:17 AM, erik berry <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am a proud capo user. In five years of professional play I've worn > one out, which is kinda crazy, lost three and had to begin using a > spare. I know all my keys and can play without one, but some songs > call for open strings---only they're in Eb. Once in the studio after a > take on a song in D my leadsing guitarist said, "it's too low, I'm > capoing up. Roll tape." I had to capo up too, time is money. My final > view on the capo is unless you only use open strings to tune--and you > never play an open string even in the key of G or A, only then it's > understandable to be down on them. > > Now addressing Adam's question about solo construction, in my > experience I have found that each songs benefit differently from the > mandolin taking the lead. Sometimes restating the melody is what's > called for. Sometimes it's a spontaneous expression of the moment and > sometimes it's another melody, different than the vocal or main line, > but consistent. Over the years I've found that on some of our older > songs my solos have gelled into little compositions. Taking a cue from > that I've started sitting down and working up stuff for our newer > songs. What I like about winging a solo is sometimes it's awesome, but > what I don't like is that sometimes it's not awesome; sometimes it's > bad. Having a composed solo takes some of the guesswork out. As I've > gotten older I've lost some patience with myself when I improvise a > bad solo. Now I sort of feel that if I'm going to step into the > limelight, it had better be worth it. > > There's a David Grisman quote where he calls improvising solos "fast > composition." Over the years I've had to be a hard taskmaster on > myself and decided that I'm not that good at fast composition so I've > worked on my slow composition. I think both approaches have their > place, but I'm definitely better at one over the other. > > And having said that, every now and again I completely left field a > solo that I've been playing the same for months, just to shake up > myself and my bandmates. It's generally worth the look on their faces > when a familiar kickoff is replaced with something else. > > erik > > PS--Having reread Adam's original post, I don't think there's too much > difference for myself between the studio and the stage. I would like > to share a story, though, that combines all these topics. > > On one of our records I really wanted to take an "autoharp" solo, but > didn't know any players or anything so I wrote one on the mando. I > tuned the instrument funny, I think AEAD, then capo'd it on the > seventh fret and overdubbed the solo as the melody with as many open > ringing strings as I could. It sounded cool and is still one of my > favorite studio moments. However, when I came time to play live, there > was no way I play this song and then solo with my retuned, seventh > fret capo so I'd have to wing it. And it always was bad, especially > compared to the studio track. Finally we rearranged the whole song so > I'd take a solo over the verse, which enabled me to play the vocal > melody but witha regular tuned mandolin. Problem solved, circle > completed. > > Whew, maybe I'll take a breath now. > > > On Nov 17, 7:55 am, Mando Chef <[email protected]> wrote: >> guys and gals, >> >> I went to a workshop on sunday and the question came up, is it ok to >> use a capo? I am not one to use one but the instructor said when he >> laid the track on guitar he didn't remember he was in Bb, so he put a >> capo on the first fret to use the mando solo he worked up in A >> originally. Now I have seen this guy play guitar, mandolin and banjo >> in every key uncapoed so I know he could have done it but he had >> worked out a solo and wanted to use it... >> >> How do you folks work up a solo for professional be it performance or >> recording(is there a difference) -vs- just an off the cuff jam scene. >> >> I am not at the point really of knowing the difference. >> >> Adam > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
