Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

And now for something completely different

My journey to bluegrass music is a bit different than most folks as I started playing folk and rock n roll, then took a turn to classical and flamenco, then spent many years involved in performing jazz and blues and finally, most recently bluegrass. Of those styles, I find bluegrass the most challenging, mostly because I prefer to approach all soloing as fully improvised at the moment without preconceived lines worked out. And also, bluegrass requires, no demands, precision along with slick creativity.

To help me with this process, I regularly put together various backing tracks using BIAB (Band in a Box). This is a great tool for practicing solo lines when you would rather spend time practicing your soloing instead of taking the time to record each instrument.

However, here is something a little different for you grassers out there. I teach various classes in improvisation including a jazz improve class. Here is a simple Blues in F using the melody to Bag’s Groove. Tunes like this are fun to practice your scales with when you are wanting to just relax a bit from your high speed picking. Enjoy.

5 Likes

Used to play this a lot back when playing in blues bands…it’s still cool for me.
F has always been my favorite key to play this type stuff in on a bass.

Haha! Fun times! I am not an improv guy… I need a map to get out of my bed, but I had a blast doodling with that. Thanks!

FWIW, For any hesitant to give it a spin, I just used pentatonic plus blue(s) notes and didn’t feel like I needed more notes than that.

Web open drive .com could not be found is this a certain web site you have to be a member of ? makes twice I failed to get it and open the link . what gives here??? ,.

Hi Ken,

The link should automatically open for anyone who clicks on it. However, your browser might be set to not open such links. Try this download link.

1 Like

Dr.

Very cool! What is the chord progression?

Just a basic I, IV, V (F7, Bb7, C7) 12 bar blues in F.

Thank you.