MANDO
ARRANGEMENT THIEVERY, PART 2: A Case Study
Heavily-produced studio recordings are a cornucopia of material for a mandolin player struggling to find parts on a modern worship stage. My last few articles have outlined the tools and theory you need to“ steal” parts from other instruments--now we’ ll put it to work in a song. Bust out your IEMs and follow along!
U2 MEETS AH-HA For this case study I’ ve chosen Phil Wickham’ s,“ This Is Amazing Grace.” Relying on heavy use of dotted-delay guitars and layers of synthesizers, at first blush this song doesn’ t seem like a great fit for any acoustic instrument, much less a mandolin. But that’ s what will make it an excellent candidate for thievery.
Let’ s start with some assumptions: your electric guitar player is probably going to be stuck playing that dotted-delay part that that gives each verse that rolling, driving feel. He or she is also likely to switch over to an overdriven, rhythm part on the choruses. With that in mind, here is how I would approach this song on a mandolin.
INTRO / TURNAROUNDS If you don’ t have a keyboard player to cover the hook, you’ ll want to go ahead and take that yourself. Otherwise, there is a melodic riff at the end of each hook phrase that is a nice rhythmic accent. Adapted to the mandolin it might sound something like Example # 1 below.( Note that the examples are in the original key, but you can slide up or down the neck to fit your needs.)
VERSES The primary guitar part is very obvious on the verses, but listen carefully to the other guitars providing pops of color behind it. You get a little tease of those secondary parts on verse one, but verse two is where the ear-candy really comes out. Listen for those rhythmic hits that accent the beginning of each measure. There is a quick pick-up strum with an accent on the first beat. Some possible chord structures for those parts are in Example # 2. These parts can be a lot of fun to play and could also be one of those rare opportunities for a mandolin to use a delay pedal( pedals aren’ t just the domain of guitar players, but that is a topic for another time).
CHORUSES Like the Intro and Turnarounds, if I don’ t have a keyboard player to cover the hook between the vocal phrases then I’ ll play those myself. Best to play those notes as melodic movements based on chord structures so that you can be loud and aggressive--with a chorus that full you need to be heard. If the keyboard player has that hook covered then my go-to on this chorus is a very sharp rhythm accent. This means finding the
snare drum. The snare is your best friend when you play rhythm. Find the snare. Follow the snare. Be the snare. Sometimes rhythm players( of both the guitar and mandolin persuasions) are tempted to play a busier rhythm than is strictly required. On this chorus, you are better off playing less and focusing on precise hits on the 2 and 4. Think of your mandolin as a snare drum with pitch control--that’ s the mindset you want for the chorus in a song like this.
BRIDGE Finally, the bridge of this song provides a great opportunity for outside-the-norm thievery. All this time we’ ve been stealing parts from other instruments, but here we have a vocal element that we can swipe. Notice the prominent vocal delay on the two phrases“ conquered the grave” in the first half of the bridge. We practically never hear delay effects on live vocals. Play the melody that the delay is adding to the arrangement. It sounds cool and adds interest--plus, nobody else will be doing it so the part is all yours!
There you have it. A real-life example of how to use a mandolin on a song that doesn’ t at first seem like a good fit. Next time we’ ll start talking about essential gear for mandolin players on the worship stage.
TYSON BRYANT From a family of bluegrass musicians, but has adapted techniques applicable to modern worship. Has played mando in worship bands for 20 + years. Also plays acoustic & electric guitar, cajon, and just enough banjo to make people cringe.
46 Mar � Apr 2017 WorshipMusician. com