About This Course
Explore all the modern mandolin techniques, from tremolo, chords and double stops, and soloing and improvisation tips, with plenty of bluegrass, old-time and swing tunes to keep you moving forward.
Try a Sample Lesson
Closed-Position Solos: “I’ll Fly Away”
Learning to play melodies and solos in closed-positions allows you to play in any key. In this lesson, you’ll learn a solo to the gospel classic “I’ll Fly Away” in a closed position (meaning there are no open strings) in the key of G. Joe starts you out by showing you the G major scale in a closed position that starts at the fifth fret and the melody to “I’ll Fly Away” in the same position. He also shows you some double stops for G, C, and D (I, IV, and V) chords you can use to fill out the melody with chord tones. After learning the whole melody with double stops, Joe shows you how you can move the closed-position melody to any key, demonstrating this by playing “I’ll Fly Away” in the keys of F and B.
