MANDO
[ THE BEST (AND WORST) KEYS FOR WORSHIP MANDOLIN | Tyson Bryant ]
Today I logged in to Planning Center Online to BEST KEYS FOR WORSHIP MANDOLIN what it comes down to is that I like A and E for
see what songs are scheduled for this Sunday’s This is easy. ‘A’ and ‘E’. A small part of this the mandolin because in those keys my right
set list. It is a day or two before our mid-week comes from my bluegrass childhood. Many of hand does not need to know what my left hand
practice, but since most of my mandolin parts the standard fiddle tunes from my youth were in is doing.
are “borrowed” from other instruments (see my the key of A. I can only remember how to play a earlier articles on Arrangement Thievery) I like fraction of those songs, but the A scale woven INDIFFERENT KEYS FOR WORSHIP MANDOLIN
to get an early start listening to the songs to into them remains in my muscle memory. The usual suspects for worship stuff. G, D, C,
decide what elements I might need to focus on
Em, Am. These seem to be the keys that we
the most. Much to my surprise, I immediately More practically, though, A and E are the best all learn the chords for when we first learn to
spotted a phenomenon that is as rare as a keys because the A and E notes are also the play any instrument. We end up knowing these
solar eclipse: every song in the set list was in mandolin’s highest open strings. This is useful chords and scales fairly well. I put these keys
the same key! when you want to impress your friends with in the indifferent category because they aren’t
your epic barrage of cross-picking but still want difficult keys to play in, but they also don’t give
That almost never happens, and I was relieved to play lead/fill lines in the cross-picking pattern. as many inherent advantages as the golden
to see that if every song was going to be in Since the A and E notes end up naturally in children A and E.
the same key, at least it wasn’t a terrible one. those respective scales you can add that string Let’s face facts: 50% of the time a song’s key to your cross-picking pattern without having to THE WORST KEYS FOR WORSHIP MANDOLIN
is based on vocal needs—and that is really as account for fingering frets on them. B, F, and anything in a sharp or flat. So bad.
it should be. Another 10% of the time the key is These keys have very few open note options
critical to the fingering needs of specific guitar for mandolin. They also tend to have the most
parts. The rest of the time a Worship Team just
plays a song in the key it was written in—mostly
because it never occurs to anyone to change it.
(For all of those wondering, yes, I’m absolutely
just pulling those percentages out of thin air
based on my own anecdotal experiences).
Nobody ever picks a key because it is good for
the mandolin player.
Now, the key might not matter to a real mandolin
virtuoso, but for the rest of us mere mortals it
can make a big difference. There are some
techniques that a mandolin player can use to
[ Now, the key complex chord fingerings. When playing in
might not matter concentrating so hard on their chord fingers
to a real mandolin
virtuoso, but for
one of these keys many mandolin players are
that they don’t have much mental bandwidth
left to drop in the melodic runs that come like
second nature in the other keys. While these
keys are impossible to avoid (especially if
the rest of us your worship leader plays piano—what is up
mere mortals it in Bb?), life is better if they are few and far
with piano players wanting to play everything
can make a big
difference. ]
between.
Authors Note: Sadly, my “Same Key Sunday”
set list was not to last. By the time I made it
add great textures to modern music, but those to Sunday morning one of the songs was
techniques are somewhat key-dependent. If swapped out for a nonconformist. It turns out
you play mando, you’ll sympathize. If you’re a With the same thinking you can also add the that “Same Key Sunday” is like an eclipse in
worship leader, keep these keys in mind if you open A or E string to a tremolo technique more than one way: it makes you more excited
are putting a mandolin player in your Sunday that crosses two pairs of strings. It adds a than it should, it only lasts for a couple of
lineup. Here they are in three groups—good, harmonic, drone-type note to your tremolo minutes, and you’re lucky to see it more than
indifferent, and “groan.” without requiring complicated fingering. I guess once in your lifetime.
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October 2017
WorshipMusician.com