Dawn Watson

Developing Interesting Solos

Music for this workshop

One of my all-time favorite bluegrass tunes to sing and play is "Out in the Cold World" or "Wandering Boy." Bill Monroe recorded this song decades ago in the key of C.

When I'm coming up with a solo for a song or tune, the first thing I do is try to learn the melody. Once I have that down, then I start messing around with how to play that melody on the mandolin in a way that interests me. As I look at this solo that I came up with for "Out in the Cold World," I notice that it is very vocally oriented. The solo follows the phrasing of the song's words, sometimes holding on to a double-stop group of notes, marking time, until the next vocal phrase begins.

The solo starts with a few pickup notes climbing into a good C chord double-stop. It's fun to slide into the first measure from one fret (or a half step) below each note of the double-stop, powering into the solo. Measures 1 and 2 also capture some of the song's melody notes.

Measure 3 alludes to the melody slightly, but it's also a neat little lick to take you from the F chord back to the C chord. Also, because it uses no open strings, you could move the lick in measure 3 to any key. Similarly, measures 5 and 6 follow the melody, but could also be moved around to other keys by moving them up or down the neck. Measure 7 contains a snappy hop and slide from the C chord to the G chord.

Measures 9 and 10 start the second half of the solo, and like measures 1 and 2, are designed to propel one through the next several measures. Measures 11 and 12 are melody-oriented. Measures 13 and 14 are a good C lick, and make use of the tension between the open E string, which is the third of the C (major) chord triad, and Eb (sixth fret on the A string,) which is the flatted third.

The solo ends with a fun flurry of notes over the C chord. Measures 17 and 18 are easy to play because of the open A string, and this lick can be transposed to the key of G by playing it identically starting on the seventh fret of the E string.

So there you have it. I hope you can apply some of these ideas to your own solos. See you next time.

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