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Introductions or Kickoffs

by Dix Bruce

Mel Bay has just published my latest book/CD set entitled "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin." It includes lessons on chords, rhythm, single note playing, double stops, fiddle tunes, playing in all keys, playing backup, transposing from one key to another, introductions or kickoffs, and tremolo. We use classic bluegrass songs and tunes to demonstrate all the concepts so by the end of the book, you'll have a healthy bluegrass repertoire under your fingers. Here's a preview of "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin."

If you play mandolin in a bluegrass band, it's likely that you will be called upon, now and then, to play an instrumental introduction to a song. These introductions are usually just a few measures long and are often referred to as "kickoffs." A kickoff can be anything you want it to be, but it's best if what you play relates in some way to the melody of the song you are introducing.

One type of kickoff commonly used is called a turnaround. A turnaround is usually played over the chord changes of I-V-I ("one-five-one"). In the key of G those chords would be G-D (or D7) - G. In the key of C they'd be C-G (or G7)-C.

This chord progression is very typical in bluegrass and is often found in the last few measures of a song. So, a great place to start in choosing a kickoff is with the melody to the last four measures of the song. Let's look at the bluegrass and old time standard "Lonesome Valley" and explore some possible kickoffs.

Play through the melody to "Lonesome Valley" below and memorize it. If you have the melody in your head, you'll find it easier to come up with a kickoff and eventually a whole solo based on the melody.

For the first turn around kickoff, let's use the melody that begins on beat two of measure 12. (Measure numbers are shown over the treble staff on the left hand side.) The lyrics at this point are "You've got to walk, it by yourself." Here's the kickoff excerpted.

As you can see, it's a simple statement of the basic melody from measures 12-16. Practice it until you have it memorized. Play tremolo on the longer notes, the wholes and halves.

Let's add a few notes, just a little tag, to the end of this melody for the second kickoff. The small italic numbers between the standard notation and the TAB staff are suggested fretting finger numbers. Again

Once you can play #2, try #3 below. It's a bit more advanced and may challenge you if you're a beginner or intermediate player. All the notes are played in closed positions, that is, they are fretted and not played on open strings. Since all the notes are fretted, the kickoff will be relatively easy to move up and down the fingerboard to other keys. I've also added double stops where you'll need to fret and play two notes at once. Pay special attention to the fretting finger numbers. Where there are two stacked numbers, the upper number refers to the higher note, the lower number to the lower note. Once more, tremolo the longer notes.

You can listen to and download all the kickoffs as MP3s. In the actual "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin" book/CD I play everything at both slow and regular speeds. To save space online we'll just give one speed.

Once you feel comfortable playing these three kickoffs up to speed, it's important that you move them across and up and down the fingerboard to other keys. In the book we spend a fair amount of time on transposing as I think it's one of the most important skills a mandolinist can develop. And, because of the way the mandolin is tuned, it's fairly easy to learn and understand. Another tune from "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin" which deals with bluegrass and transposing is available on Mandolin Sessions, "Moveable Blues." [Editor: check the archives, Feb2004]

For more information on kickoffs, double stops, and tremolo, along with other aspects of bluegrass mandolin check out "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin" from Mel Bay Publications. You can download mandolin tablature and MP3s from my web site along with playing tips and samples from all my books: www.musixnow.com. See you online!