Standing "O" for Marcel. This is one of the most useful, thoughtful tutorials on guitar to be found, anywhere. A bluegrass picker could devote a year to mastering the teaching here.
I have always used alternate picking. It's how I was taught 60 years ago. I do incorporate my own version of Frank Gambale's style of sweep picking and back in the 70's Clarence White and Jerry Garcia were very influential. Tony Rice through the 1980's. I play rock'n'roll but for about 5 years in the 1990's I was thoroughly immersed in bluegrass .
Hi Mate from Italy I'm just want to say you thanks, you are just a great teacher and a genius, really you explain so clear and make every thing seems easy. Grazie mille
Found this through troy gradys video on this song. He's got a great camera angle on her hands that might help ya with learning this song but that with your in depth breakdown has been a very informative watch. I play ridiculously heavy music but I love learning all form of music, I find it helps me get better at my chosen field. Great video man!
Wow! - great job. I have only recently "found" Molly Tuttle - I think she is amazingly talented. And you do a wonderful job of presenting her and her music.
Thanks for this really enlightening instruction vid -- so well explained. Was glad to hear you mention Doc Watson in the cross-picking explanation. Haven't been cued into Tuttle very long, but the first time I heard her White Freightliner, his style immediately popped into my head. Doc was a virtuoso on guitar in any key, but if you ever noticed, he most often played out of a C position, same as Molly here. If he wanted to do a song/tune in D (common for old fiddle tunes), he would capo up 2 and play out of a C position. A lot of her licks in WF sound so much like some of Doc's, or pieces of them, especially his signature walkdown tag lick (walk down 3, back up 2, down 3, etc. to resolution at root, on scale ...simplified). Thanks again for sharing.
Marcel, great breakdown on the techniques on this! I've been following Molly since before she first did this song in public at the SCBA Father's Day Festival years ago, when she was still playing with the family band! Her brother is pretty accomplished on guitar also, but he still doesn't have the finesse and range of styles that Molly is capable of. Not to mention that she is also an amazing song writer... The girl's got it all, and I've been seeing a lot more of her in the Nashville scene lately!😉😍👍
Superb breakdown with a great balance of theory and simple explanations to make your video useful and accessible to as wide a range of players as possible. 👍
There is no way I could learn this on my own, well I might if you give me enough time, but I'd miss the clever and insightful thoughts that Marcel puts in every video. Thanks Marcel, buy some fresh salmon for the cat, please !
Have you done a tutorial on how to practice with a Metronome? I looked at your suggestion about practising with a metronome and speeding up, I thought I was doing well and then realized I was counting 4 beats instead of 1 and 2 and 4 etc!
i may be wrong and this young woman’s talent outshines any specters opinion but she has a strong ear; imo, the song calls for the alternative string picking but also, she nails the tempo against the chord. she is consistent with the song rather than trying to be specific to music theory… that should be an example to people that it’s not so much technique but feeling to what you’re hearing, and transcribing that into you repeating it- like a word. or a sentence, or a paragraph, or an essay- that’s music.
Marcel - good stuff - been transcribing this so,you've saved me time! I have some brian Sutton David Grier tscriptions which I'll send you as a courtesy for you free ones. Will send them via your website when I'm at home later Good teaching too - making complex things sound simple - not easy.
Thank you for this great analysis. That video is the first I'd seen of hers and the virtuosity is inspiring. Do you have any videos that break down transitioning from rhythm to lead (and back)? That is another thing she does well in this video and I think it's a difficult moment to master in bluegrass since wide rhythm strokes in the right hand have to become smaller and more precise lead strokes almost instantly. This arrangement and David Grier's arrangement of John Henry on his solo album I think are similar study pieces. This skill has always been a struggle for me personally. Anyways, great videos, keep up the good work.
I happened to see this today, it's a video about transitioning between rhythm and lead: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-awFeDMNiKX4.html
Sweet work Marcel. You know that saying 'Good musicians copy, great musicians steal...' Q: Have you broken down Doc Watson's fave go-to flat pick piece - Hank Garland's Sugarfoot Rag? I can hear it but damned if I can steal it. Oh, in case you think I'm dissing Doc - nothing could be further from the truth. I'd lay flowers on his grave if I lived in N. Carolina...
Wow, you've obviously thought more about musical theory and instrumentation than I've thought about... well, pretty much most things! lol Seriously, excellent descriptiveness there -- I watched the whole thing before I knew it, and this kind of in-depth analysis of music isn't really my thing. Also, caught that 'resets the rhythm, resets the rhythm' at 7:16, funny! I've been a fan of Molly for years, but there's apparently a lot more going on there than I was ever even aware of!
Thank you - her version is so inspiring - it’s nice to see broken down. I’m learning and loving White Freightliner Blues right now. I sing it in E too. But, I think I’m liking playing it in open E instead of C-shape, capo 4. Is that weird in bluegrass? Also when I called this in E in a jam today, some of the players seemed unhappy with that key choice. But it sings so well for me in that key! Is E strange to call in jams?
Good questions! First up, is it weird to play in open E at a bluegrass jam? Not necessarily, but it's important to know that on guitar open E and open A can sound more country, and open G and open C can sound more bluegrass. I think a lot of that has to do with voice types. A comfortable vocal range for a man is generally around E major. Bluegrass tends to have higher vocal parts so a key like G makes more sense. Now it doesn't matter what key you're in or whether you're a male or female, those shapes can still sound more country or more bluegrass. From an instrumental standpoint, the breaks evolved with the vocalists. So there's more of a precedent to play bluegrass licks out of G and C and country licks out of A and E. Is E strange to call at jams? It shouldn't be. Ultimately everyone should be able to hang. But let's talk about what everyone's going through. Guitar players can not use a capo and play in E, capo 2 and play in D or capo 4 and play in C. Banjo players can do something similar. Bass players, mandolin players and fiddle players can't capo and their bluegrass licks can rely on open strings. So you could potentially be putting them in a tough spot if they haven't spent much time in keys that aren't G, C, and D. To understand what they're going through, try making your rhythm playing sound bluegrassy in the key of Bb without a capo. It's tough. If I like singing something in a hard key, I like to have a backup in case the jam feels uncomfortable. "Is E rough? I can do it in D too!" Either their egos get the best of them and they prove the can do it in E or you sing it a little lower and you're the cool person who was prepared/didn't bust the jam. I hope that helps, that was a little bit of a simplification of a big issue. Feel free to email if you have follow up questions! lessonswithmarcel@gmail.com
Thanks so much for the thoughtful explanation! I’ve had these questions rattling around in my head for awhile:) I’ve learned so much from following your channel!
Another good thing to steal (or clone) from Molly is her DNA. Because that talent goes deeper than just practice; it's at the cellular level. lol I really found this video really helpful and well done. Thanks so much for sharing.
So, in a lot of the old time mountain dulcimer and claw-hammer banjo music you get lot of chord extensions... There's quite a but of unusual musical harmonies and chord progressions in bluegrass, largely because it comes from such modal mountain music traditions...
You can try and figure out Molly's playing all you want, but when you see her on video and watch her lightening hand strumming and riffing all at the same time while singing you know that there's quite a space between her and most players. Face it man, Molly Tuttle although relatively new on the scene has arrived for sure and you have a major star on your hands!
Marcel, I would love to see a video like this on Jake Workman. I have been listening to him a lot and would love to see a habits of Jake Workman style video. Thanks for all the great content.
Funny. I'm the opposite of this dude. I alternate on descending and up up down on ascending. No reason I just fell into that pattern. I can't do down down up on descending quite fast enough. I've tried. Oh how I have tried.
Don't get me wrong I love bluegrass. And it sounds like a lot is going on. But it's typically only played in three keys and with three chords. This is just mind-boggling. Wouldn't that get extremely boring after a few hours of playing? No wonder Bluegrass players can play Lightning Fast, they play the same notes and patterns over and over and over and over and over. Then when you want to change Keys you just move your Capo. This really makes jazz look like rocket science. But I'm still a Bluegrass fan at heart. Just sorta wish I wouldn't have watched how it is structured.
As good musicians and typists must, we have indifferential bicameral brains. That is, like porpoises, elephants and whales, we are friends with ourselves and either cerebral side can take over "watch" while we sleep. All that internal distrust, that split personality syndrome, is produced through culture and is not of personal joyous cooperation with like-minded others. I like those RU-vid Band Geek vids. They're as good as Starz on 45, and live!
