Comping Howard & Jethro's Blues transcription

I originally transcribed the guitar comping for the live recording
and adapted it for mandolin since most of it was in the Freddie Green style
of voicing. You can download pdf. of my transcription here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nhd...ew?usp=sharing

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roland Lee

I originally transcribed the guitar comping for the live recording
and adapted it for mandolin since most of it was in the Freddie Green style
of voicing. You can download pdf. of my transcription here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nhd...ew?usp=sharing

---

Here's another version you can play for another chorus...it has the same turnaround pattern of cycling in 5ths.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...mr?usp=sharing

Here's the original guitar parts for Howard & Jethro's Blues:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AM6...ew?usp=sharing

and the original sound track that I used:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T6z...ew?usp=sharing

Thanks, Roland, for taking the time to transcribe my part.

Jethro loved the Count Basie sound, which is what we were after on that track. He enjoyed playing their ensemble parts in a chordal style on the mandolin,and he gives you an earful of it on this cut. I can't think of another mandolin player who'd attempt such a thing. Someone once described genius as the ability to hit a target dead on that no one else can even see. Jethro fits that description in so many ways.

The kind of rhythm I play here is often labeled Freddie Green style, but if you pay attention to Freddie, you'll mostly hear only one or two notes, and seldom anything played on the low E string. He moved around mostly on the D string and muted out just about everything else. What I played, and what a lot of us rhythm players do, I think of as three-note rhythm. Some of us call it "chunking". Marty Grosz refers to it as "slugging". Terminology disputes aside, if you want to get to the heart and soul of the authentic Freddie style, take a look at freddiegreen.org.

I've heard some old-time and bluegrass mandolin players pump single notes, or two notes,# four-to-the-bar, and it swings like crazy. I'm sure they're not thinking of Freddie, but it has that uncluttered, primal pulse that makes you jump. It's worth exploring, mandolin-wise, I think.

Thanks for the correction John! I sometimes use references that aren't as specific and generally describe a sound...in this case, the word chunking sounds very appropriate. Thanks! Great rhythm playing too.