B.B King box on mandolin?

[Mad Martigan1]

Hey everybody, I been working on some blues mandolin, specifically the Tracy Chapman tune “Give me one Reason”. A lot of guys use a BB King box and an Albert King box on guitar to solo over the chords..On mandolin I’m not sure what to use. Is there an alternative to these popular blues boxes on mando that y’all can recommend? Thanks ✌🏻 🎸

[Andy B]

The BB Box is based in part on major and minor pentatonic patterns. Niles Hokkanen, who posts here occasionally, wrote a pentatonic mandolin tutorial with the mandolin patterns called The Pentatonic Mandolin. He also wrote a book on mandolin position playing called Bluegrass Up The Neck, which is one of the most useful mandolin tutorials I have used. In my view, these two books cover the mandolin patterns very well.

[Joed]

It appears to me that this BB Box business is talking about using a particular range on the guitar as a sweet spot for sound. This depends on the guitar, the strings, the tuning, the amp and how you're hitting it allot more than the spot on the neck. I guess it's sombody's rice bowl though. On mandolin there may be keys where the available open notes make certain keys attractive at times but I don't think this area of the neck stuff applies.

[Mark Gunter]

Andy has described it, the OP should learn some pentatonic scale and blues scales on the mandolin fretboard and learn some blues licks, as well as contrive his own blues licks by noodling in the patterns.

The so-called BB King box applies to the guitar neck, and it is called that because BB King does a majority of his playing in that position. There’s nothing magical about it other than BB’s talent and feeling.

[Joed]

BB like to play in B.
Wes in D. Both played with organ bass allot so that had something to do with the keys they liked.

[Joed]

G minor is a pretty good box for minor blues on mandolin. The instrument is well suited to it. Try "As the years go passing by" as done by several Kings, or "Thrill is gone"..Try em in Gm.

[Perry]

Hey everybody, I been working on some blues mandolin, specifically the Tracy Chapman tune “Give me one Reason”. A lot of guys use a BB King box and an Albert King box on guitar to solo over the chords..On mandolin I’m not sure what to use. Is there an alternative to these popular blues boxes on mando that y’all can recommend? Thanks ✌🏻 🎸

This may help