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"Nine Pound Hammer"

by Dix Bruce

I just finished writing and recording a new book and CD set entitled "Getting into Bluegrass Mandolin." It should be available from Mel Bay Pub. by late Summer or Fall of 2004. It picks up where my "First Lessons: Mandolin" left off. Where "First Lessons" was a kind of general "get-you-up-and-playing" text, "Getting into Bluegrass Mandolin," as the apt title would suggest, helps you move from being a general mandolin beginner into all the aspects of Bluegrass mandolinhood.

Here's one of the pieces from the book, a solo on the Bluegrass standard "Nine Pound Hammer."

We talked a bit about the process of taking a simple melody and turning it into a Bluegrass solo in my previous column, "Approaching Bluegrass." As you probably know, mandolinists don't just play a melody exactly as written or sung. They tend to add notes that embellish a straight melody to make it sound more "bluegrassy." Let's look at "Nine Pound Hammer," first with basic melody and lyrics and then explore a version with some notes added. Bill Monroe used this technique extensively in the Monroe Brothers with his brother Charlie and it forms the basis of Monroe's, and ultimately Bluegrass mandolin's, style. In fact, the solo is in the style of early Monroe. We won't try to play it quite as fast as Bill, at least not yet!

For the solo version of "Nine Pound Hammer," I added a lot of eighth notes. They're especially noticeable in place of the sustained notes as on lyrics like the second syllable of "ham-mer." If you play the straight melody, the sound kind of dies out, but with the constant eighth notes, it makes a complete solo. You may find it difficult to sustain the continual up and down picking on the eighth notes at first. Just play the solo slowly until your hands gain strength and stamina.

The arrows under the standard musical notation designate pick direction. We study this in depth in "Getting into Bluegrass Mandolin" but briefly, use a down stroke if a note falls on beat 1, 2, 3, or 4. Use an up stroke if the note falls on one of the "ands" in between beats 1, 2, 3, or 4: " AND 2 AND 3 AND 4 AND."

The italic numbers directly above the tablature staff are suggested fretting hand fingerings. For now, pay close attention to these and the pick direction suggestions. They'll help you develop a logical approach to playing these types of solos. Oh, yeah, be sure to start listening to Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers recordings!