Peter rowan/Steve earle

[Jamie M]

Hey all, so far I’ve been learning strictly old time fiddle tunes. Somehow I’ve found myself in a country soul/country rock/country ish band and trying to find my way into their songs….all of which are original to the band.

Being a long time listener to Train a Comin by Steve Earle, it strikes me that Peter Rowan’s bluegrassy/blues licks, double stops, broken chords in this album is most likely to fit best with this bands material.

So, does anyone have any idea where to find appropriate learning material for this style? It’s quite gentle and sensitive stuff and real nice.

Any help much appreciated.

[mbruno]

Do you have a sample of their playing or are you just looking to get lessons / materials to learn double stops and licks a la Peter Rowan recordings?

Which Peter Rowan songs do you think the band is closest to?

[ulohdan]

I've been there too....you just want to play traditional music but you end up in a singer-songwriter project...

A bit of a shameless plug, but here's a song I worked on a couple years ago with a rocknroll/American songwriter Aaron Burdett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBtBaRhfDUA

I think a lot of people just want to hear the mandolin chiming with the guitar. Knowing different chord voicings that utilize open strings goes a long way

And then you'll have a couple chances to fill or solo or play an arranged melody. Probably the best place to start is to listen to the words, hear the rhythm, hear the melody, hear the notes the singer is drawing out and then figure out how you can incorporate that into some tasteful noodling. You got to know your scales and arpeggios, but you also got to listen!

Aside from chiming and noodling, I think tremolo is always underutilized by most mandolin players in songwriter projects. There's so so so much you can do. Check out Yank Rachell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1sgGivtLeg


Also, when I played with Aaron, I would frequently just play old-time tunes as my solo. I'd have to make some adjustments, but most people don't recognize the tunes anyway.

[Jamie M]

Great idea about putting old time tunes in as solos! And yeah, I reckon I need to know my arpeggios so I can noodle tastefully. I haven’t really done anything in learning them. Just fiddle tunes.

Agree with tremolo. As soon as I started doing that over the guitar here and there, got the band swooning!

[Jamie M]

Do you have a sample of their playing or are you just looking to get lessons / materials to learn double stops and licks a la Peter Rowan recordings?

Which Peter Rowan songs do you think the band is closest to?

Hi. I am looking for lessons
/materials to learn like Peter rowan. I would say hometown blues or Sometimes she Forgets, both in the Steve Earle Train a comin album are the kinda stuff I like the most.

[Jamie M]

Do you have a sample of their playing or are you just looking to get lessons / materials to learn double stops and licks a la Peter Rowan recordings?

Which Peter Rowan songs do you think the band is closest to?

So….yeah, on reflection it looks like I need to learn arpeggios, chord voicing a and playing out of chord. All things which seem to fit in the bluegrass cannon. And I usually play in an oldtime string and.

I have the mandolin for dummies books which covers these elements, but it seems very complex. I learn by ear and eye rather than book…..and I got a gig with these guys on Saturday. Gulp!

[Mark Gunter]

Jamie, if you can view Tabledit files, check out this Tim O’Brien exercise that runs through the I, IV, V chord arpeggios in most keys, in a fairly musical manner.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/te/tabl...'Brien.tef

[Jamie M]

Jamie, if you can view Tabledit files, check out this Tim O’Brien exercise that runs through the I, IV, V chord arpeggios in most keys, in a fairly musical manner.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/te/tabl...'Brien.tef

Thanks mark.

I’ll see if I still have tebledit.

These arpeggios, what is the purpose of them, or more to the point how and where are they to be employed in a tune?

[mbruno]

So….yeah, on reflection it looks like I need to learn arpeggios, chord voicing a and playing out of chord. All things which seem to fit in the bluegrass cannon. And I usually play in an oldtime string and.

I have the mandolin for dummies books which covers these elements, but it seems very complex. I learn by ear and eye rather than book…..and I got a gig with these guys on Saturday. Gulp!

The good thing is those topics aren't specific to any style of playing - just to music in general. So the more you learn on these topics, the more you'll be able to play other genres too. Starting out, these topics aren't really the easiest to grasp for a variety of potential reasons. I recommend creating a practice schedule where you have a simple, straight forward goal for your practice. Note that "practice" is not noodling - you want to have a goal in mind and then build your practice around that.

For example, if you are looking to play Sometimes she Forgets in G, you'd want to know the G, C, D, and A7 chords. I'd start with learning these chords in a particular position (like the open position). Once you have that, then focusing on the arpeggios in that position. Then repeat with another position. And repeat again.

Another idea is to put them in the context of the song (i.e. G for 2 measures, C for 1 measure etc). This ultimately can get you to playing to the chord rather than the key for solos - which is a great alternative solo style. The arpeggio exercises will help you learn where chord tones are which can help you learn where chord positions are.

I have a page for scale studies on my site for my students that covers some of this. Feel free to check it out here https://mattcbruno.com/scale-studies/. If you are interested in lessons, I also do Zoom lessons

[Jamie M]

The good thing is those topics aren't specific to any style of playing - just to music in general. So the more you learn on these topics, the more you'll be able to play other genres too. Starting out, these topics aren't really the easiest to grasp for a variety of potential reasons. I recommend creating a practice schedule where you have a simple, straight forward goal for your practice. Note that "practice" is not noodling - you want to have a goal in mind and then build your practice around that.

For example, if you are looking to play Sometimes she Forgets in G, you'd want to know the G, C, D, and A7 chords. I'd start with learning these chords in a particular position (like the open position). Once you have that, then focusing on the arpeggios in that position. Then repeat with another position. And repeat again.

Another idea is to put them in the context of the song (i.e. G for 2 measures, C for 1 measure etc). This ultimately can get you to playing to the chord rather than the key for solos - which is a great alternative solo style. The arpeggio exercises will help you learn where chord tones are which can help you learn where chord positions are.

I have a page for scale studies on my site for my students that covers some of this. Feel free to check it out here https://mattcbruno.com/scale-studies/. If you are interested in lessons, I also do Zoom lessons

Thanks Matt, i may take you up on a few zoom lessons. I’m in London England, tho so not sure how that would work timings wise?

[mbruno]

I'm pretty flexible - especially since I broke my leg recently haha. I can usually do after 6pm your time (10am my time). When you're ready, just contact me through my site and we can figure out times. https://mattcbruno.com/contact/

In the mean time, feel free to browse around and ask me questions on any of the free lessons I have on the site

[Jamie M]

I'm pretty flexible - especially since I broke my leg recently haha. I can usually do after 6pm your time (10am my time). When you're ready, just contact me through my site and we can figure out times. https://mattcbruno.com/contact/

In the mean time, feel free to browse around and ask me questions on any of the free lessons I have on the site

Ouch. That’s very helpful, maybe I could send you the songs so you could give me some ideas on where to go. And we have a lesson or two. I have play oldtime back up guitar mainly, picking up a melody instrument quite recently, having not played a banjo for a good few years. Any help much appreciated in getting back into it!