Sherry not to change the subject but practice is practice. Have you worked on as called in bluegrass the G-Run? If so nevermind, if not it's a valuable little lick that opens the door to improv, you can do it in octaves and in every key ascending and descending
As I've said I've had ireal pro for several years, I've only used it a few times. Everyone is different and find different approaches to their likings, altho some things might be a hindrance to some in some cases. Personally I prefer not to play along with band/music tracks but rather by myself but that's just me. I don't have to have the chord melody going to play or practice, if anything I like it much better playing solo. I'm a home player now so everything I do is solo ha
Last edited by CBFrench; Apr-30-2021 at 8:47am.
In general, this is what I prefer as well. But there is something really compelling about forcing yourself to not stop just as if you were in a live ensemble. Learning how to recover without stopping when you stumble on the melody of a fiddle tune is a great skill to have and best practiced in this manner. Same goes for jazz, blues, bluegrass or anything else for that matter. It's work and often I really have to force myself to practice with iReal Pro in this manner and, in my opinion, it's almost always time well spent and often better than just using a metronome.
iReal Pro doesn't really play any melody which is great for learning to improvise. Most of what I do as a singer songwriter involves solo performances and derangements of tunes of my liking. I find it a lot easier to work up a mandolin solo using iReal Pro to help maintain rhythmic pulse for the solo and to help me hit those chord tones at the right time for the implied chord changes that someone else would otherwise be playing if I were in an ensemble situation. Once I've got it nailed then I can start practicing the tune without having to play along with iReal Pro. This has had the added benefit of improving my rhythm and to help keep me grounded in the chord changes for more coherent playing rather than just blowing scales for 8 or 16 bars. I now find it easier to drop back in on the down beat for rhythm playing.
I've now programmed a lot of charts for iReal Pro but like a lot of others here, I don't practice enough with iReal Pro as I would like to. Having said that, when working up a new solo arrangement for a weekly zoom open mic that I've been participating in, it's often just the thing needed to help bring a new tune up to performance standards.
-Scotty
Play that which you feel is groovy, get down with your bad self, and shake your money maker if it makes sense for you to do so.
That's cool, just didn't want Sherry to be overwhelmed trying to get together with ireal, there's plenty to work on just learning your way around on the instrument first
Thanks Scott, these charts are very handy. Been using iRealPro for years now - it's a great resource, I like changing up the backup rhythm and playing along to tunes/songs - nothing like playing Big Mon to a reggae beat...lol.
Fun to change things up once in awhile.
Northfield F5M #268, AT02 #7
These are great - thank you for posting the link and the charts!!
"Well, I don't know much about bands but I do know you can't make a living selling big trombones, no sir. Mandolin picks, perhaps..."
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