Big Mon | Advanced Bluegrass Fiddle

Big Mon

from: Advanced Bluegrass Fiddle with Chad Manning

This lesson is part of the course Advanced Bluegrass Fiddle with Chad Manning.

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About This Course

Learn fiddle in the styles of Kenny Baker, Stuart Duncan, Vassar Clements, Bobby Hicks, and other bluegrass greats by learning classic tunes, with improvisation exercises and advanced techniques.

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Bill Cheatham

In this video, Chad talks about some some approaches to improvising on “Bill Cheatham” and shows you a few variations. He shows you the “target notes” in each part and how you can think about creating lines that get to those notes, giving you some specific examples that illustrate what he means.

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Play-Along Tracks for most tunes so you can practice what you’ve learned

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Big Mon

“Big Mon” Play-Along Track

Big Mon

Bill Monroe’s bluegrass fiddle tune “Big Mon” is a jam session favorite. It’s in the key of A, but often uses the A Mixolydian scale, with a G natural instead of a G#. Chad plays “Big Mon” through and then takes it apart phrase by phrase, showing you the bowing patterns and some of the drones he uses. “Big Mon” is generally played as a two-part tune in jam sessions, but there’s a third part (which can also be thought of as a variation on the A part) that is often played by the fiddle. Chad shows you all three parts in this lesson, and finishes by playing it all the way through at a slow tempo so you can play along with him.

"Big Mon" (Available to subscribers)

"Big Mon" Melody MP3 Download (Available to subscribers)

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