Sometimes I think I have over educated myself to the point where I know nothing at all. Three college degrees, one in musical composition, along with being a graduate of the Armed Forces school of music, you would think I would know all I would need to know to answer my musical dilemmas, such as how in the world to solo over a fiddle tune. I have had such a brain block in this area. After going to two Nashville Bluegrass camps, and two discussions with two of my favorite guitar pickers Kenny Smith and Jake Stogdill I had my “head-smack” moment. The upshot of it all was summarized by Jake when he told me in a recent conversation “Paige there are only two elements of a melody… the notes and the rhythm. Start by learning the melody… then choose one or the other to mess with. Start on a different note of that first chord than the melody and keep the rhythm the same as the original melody. Or…. Keep the same notes of the melody and change up the rhythm.”
The reason I smacked my head was that is the identical strategy I use when composing a classical piece…. mess with the melody-notes and keeping the same rhythm as the original melody, or mess with the rhythm of the melody, keeping the same notes as the melody. I remember staring at the neck of my guitar as Jake was telling me this saying… “but… but… I KNEW that!” … I just had not transferred that knowledge out of my classical music composing box and put it into my bluegrass fiddle tune box.
So I dialed up the Arkansas Traveler lesson, and practiced exactly what Jake talked about, and I have busted thru that big brick wall of “I can’t solo over fiddle tunes”, and have been having the time of my life. Up to 170 bpm on Arkansas traveler.
Can’t wait for the next camp somewhere. Maybe it’s time to go to Texas.