Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Guitar/Mandolin Backup

My family and I are trying to record "As The Deer. " I was wondering what you would do for backup/ rhythm. I was thinking of doing the normal "boom-chuck’ for guitar and the chops for mandolin, but then I also wanted to do the crosspicking rolls, especially for mandolin. Any thoughts?

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Ben did a lesson on mandolin backup years ago that seems like it would be good inspiration. This video seems to work it’s way into a bunch of my playing.

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/exploring-backup-ballads-in-a-mandolin

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Thank you! That’s one of the lessons that inspired me to do the crosspicking backup. Would you do both the ballad backup with the chops and normal guitar rhythm or would it make it sound messy?

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If your timing is good it should sound ok. If the timing is not right on it could get messy, or even messy sounding if the timing is good. Try it and see what you think!

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Thank you! I am working on it now, so I’ll share how it turns out.

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