Hey Everyone,
I guess this isn't so much about his overall style. My question has to do with simply hearing the notes in his songs in an effort to learn them.
For example, I am trying to get the introduction to Roanoke down in a detailed way, and listening to Bill play it isn't much help. It's odd, because he's the source of it. I've slowed it down to .75, .5, and even .25 speed to try to hear the notes. What becomes clear when slowing it down is he doesn't play very clean at that speed. It's full of clicks and even some rhythmic anomalies.
What's been more helpful is listening to trusted interpreters of the song, particularly Roland White's playing with the Bluegrass Album Band, and I guess the Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza recording but Roland seems closer to Bill.
Any thoughts on how to conceptualize Bill's playing when he gets going so fast? Roland, Grisman, Compton, and others seem to be able to get it, to get the notes and the feel. I can't always, but I'd like to be able to pick up on what Bill's doing without listening to what someone else picked up on.
Make sense?
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