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Stolen Klezmer Mandolin

Somebody Touched Me in "B"

by Dix Bruce

Part I

As you probably have discovered, Bluegrass musicians like to play in the key of B. I'm not sure why, but I assume it's because Bill Monroe played in B. Bill probably played in the key B because he liked how his voice and the instruments sounded in that range. Whatever the reason for playing it B, it can be a challenge for beginning and intermediate mandolinists.

If you're a guitarist, the key of B is no problem at all, you simply slap the ol' capo on fret four and play in the key of G. Mandolinists don't generally use capos and the problem with the key of B is that it requires completely different fingering positions than the more typical keys of C, G, D, and A and has no open (unfretted) notes.

That's the discouraging news. The good news is that, after all, we are mandolinists! We are at least 27% smarter than the average guitar picker and as such, the world is our oyster! The even better news is that the mandolin is so logically laid out that we can work a melody out in a closed position, like the key of B, and easily move it to a variety of other keys. In other words, once we learn something in B, we can usually move it to Bb, C#, Eb and so on fairly easily. And, once we learn one song in B, others in the same key will be much easier.

In my soon to be released mandolin book/CD set for Mel Bay Publications, "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin," I devote a significant amount of space to exploring the theory and practice of moving melodies and solos around the fingerboard and to different keys. That's because I believe a working knowledge of such things is imperative to the developing mandolinists. Plus, it's just so darned easy once you get the hang of it you'll feel like a million bucks.

Let's first learn a simple melody to an old song, "Somebody Touched Me," in the key of B. Next time we'll learn a hot Bluegrass solo to the same tune, based on the simple melody below, again in the key of B.

As you work through "Somebody Touched Me" below, pay close attention to the suggested fretting fingerings, shown below the lyrics and above the TAB staff. Following these suggestions will help you define a general hand position for playing in the key of B that we'll use with the more difficult solo you'll work on next time. Memorize the melody and be sure to listen to the MP3 recording.

For more information on transposing solos and chords from one key to another, as well as lots of other information about Bluegrass Mandolin, I hope you'll check out my "Getting Into Bluegrass Mandolin." It should be available by Fall of 2004. For information, check out my website: www.musixnow.com.