Indiana

Part I:
In October and December of 2003 I posted a couple of articles on  Mandolin Sessions® about the great old pop and jazz standard “(Back Home Again in) Indiana.” The first article taught the melody, the second taught the chord progression and closed position moveable chord forms. I used “Indiana” in my latest book/CD set, “Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm II for Mandolin” and thought we’d give the song another look. In this column and the next we’ll explore two additional versions of “Indiana,” one in the key of F and one in the key of Ab. We’ll focus on learning the melody in a moveable closed position, with no open string notes, and then practice moving that melody to just about any other key.

“Indiana” is played by swing and jazz musicians all over the world. It’s a great tune to know in any key. And, it’s so popular with musicians of every style and stripe, singers and sax players, guitarists and clarinetists, that you may find it necessary to be able
to play it in more than one key.

I’m a big believer in learning to play songs in a variety of different keys. I’m sure you’ve experienced the jam session tragedy of not being able to play a particular song in different key than you learned it. For example, a singer might perform the song in the key of G while you know it in the key of C. The vocalist can’t change his or her range to accommodate you; you have to be able to transpose what you play to their key. The only way to build that skill is to practice learning a melody and then transposing it to other keys. Let’s first learn the closed position (no open string notes) melody to “Indiana” in the key of F with specific fingerings and note positions. Next time we’ll move that melody up the fingerboard and up in pitch to the key of Ab.

Learn the version of “Indiana” below. Pay particular attention to the location of notes shown in the tablature and also the suggested fret fingerings printed under the lyrics. These will help you define the region that the melody fits into. You’ll need memorize the melody and this position. Next time we’ll try to move this position up to the key of Ab. You’ll find it very difficult to do that unless you can close your eyes and play the key of F version from memory. You need to feel where the notes are.

To help with the memorization and to give you a preview of my new “Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm II for Mandolin,” I’ve posted audio excerpts that you can download and play along with. One will be at a slow speed with just guitar backup, the other a regular speed band version with a Gypsy Swing backup band. Practice with the slow version first and gradually work up to the full speed band cut. That’s how the whole “Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm II for Mandolin” project is set up: you read along in the book and learn chords, melodies, lyrics, etc., and them practice playing them with the recording, first at the slow speed, then up to speed with the band. It’s a fun way to learn. Of course the posted audio cuts are much shorter than the full-length versions where the song is played several times through. You can download the play-along audio excerpts in the key of F from: http://www.musixnow.com/Indianamandosess2.html. For complete info on “Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm II for Mandolin” and “Gypsy Swing and
Hot Club Rhythm for Mandolin” log onto my web site: http://www.musixnow.com. My Gypsy/Swing book/CD sets are distributed by Mel Bay.

Dix’s latest projects are “Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm II for Mandolin,” “Gypsy Swing and Hot Club Rhythm II for Guitar,” and The Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook series with separate editions for mandolin, guitar, banjo, and Dobro. His newest DVD is “Swing & Jazz Mandolin: Chords, Rhythm, and Songs.” It’s designed to get you up and swinging on the mandolin! Build a repertoire of moveable chords while learning eight great songs played by swing/jazz musicians all over the world. Log on to www.musixnow.com for full details.