Everyone loves mountain climbers. Or explorers, or rugged captains who sail the high seas and discover new continents. We all worship large accomplishments, big leaps, and any kind of victory. But rarely, it seems, do we applaud the small steps. Or even notice them for that matter. But the truth is, all of these big conquests have humble beginnings. The climbers impressive journey up Mount Everest is actually the result of thousands of steps, and each one equally important to reaching the top.
In the famous words of the sage Lao Tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
As musicians (or those still learning to be) it is a similar process. We hear great compositions and yearn to play them, like a child gazing up at distant snowy peaks, and often become intimidated by the distance that lies ahead. But there is a secret path we can find, one that focuses our attention on our feet and keeps us from getting distracted. We can climb any musical mountain if we do it one note at a time!
I can think back to many instances where I took on a challenging piece of music, and after a few painful attempts to play entire sections was reduced to going note by note. After my ego calmed down and I gave up mastering the project in 20 minutes, I would eventually get into the “zone” and actually begin to enjoy playing smaller sections, hearing how each note related to the next. It is in this “micro-consciousness” that we have a surprising ability to work our way through any difficult passage, as well as having the time to find the best way to execute the passages.
There is an ingrained myth in the field of music instruction that beginners must start with beginner pieces, and only more advanced students can dare to take on challenging material. While this is understandable, and certainly a safe way to do things, it also imposes unnecessary limits. I would like to propose a new way of being a beginner, a wild and somewhat dangerous way, where we stand at the foot of the highest mountains and smile smugly. “I got this” we whisper, “one note at a time!”
Being a music teacher, I occasionally have students who request songs that are technically “beyond their ability level”, and as opposed to many instructors I answer with “no problem!” Usually the response is a look of mild panic and a whispered “are you sure?!”
And that’s when I go into my spiel about the one-note-at-a-time.
“Did you know you could play Beethoven’s 9th by tomorrow night?”
They laugh and shake their head. “Yeah, riiiight”
“Yes, you certainly could. If….you took an hour between each note!”
And although this gets some laughs and I have to then admit that this would probably lose even the most patient of audiences, it still makes a point. Taken in small steps, with ample time to ponder the material, we can pretty much tackle anything. It’s true. I just re-tested this theory the other day, when I asked a newbie mandolinist what song she would like to learn, and she instantly replied.
“Brilliancy!”
At first it didn’t register, and then suddenly I got it.
“Um, you mean, Sam Bush’s brilliancy?”
“Yep” she chirped back. Actually it was a text, but somehow it sounded chirpy.
My thumb hovered over several panicked emojis, as I tried to formulate a response. Brilliancy?! For those of you who are not in the know, Brilliancy is one of the more legendary fiddle tunes played by one of the more insane mandolin players on the planet. Sam Bush, of Newgrass Revival fame, featured this piece on his “Glamour and Grits” album, and basically it is a three part fiddle tune that goes for two minutes and fifteen seconds without pause, and pretty much reinvents the key of A. It is an instrumental on steroids, and bristles with sweeping arpeggios and triplets that take you from fret zero to fret 12 with dizzying precision.
Then, thankfully, I remembered my special philosophy.
“We got this!” I texted. “We’ll do it…one note at a time!”
Her response was polite, but somehow I felt a tinge of disbelief. And it was understandable. It was the same as if a toddler just demanded to ride Space Mountain at Disney World, and I had said “sure kid!”
I told her I would begin working up a TAB and get back to her, and then plunked my phone down and blew out a long breath. Of all the damn songs in the entire world, she had to pick Brilliancy! Oh well, I guess it’s time for me to stop being a mandolin wimp and take on a challenge, I self-talked, logging on to YouTube and bracing myself.
Well, things could be worse. It started out with a benevolent 4 to 7 slide, launching into a
sweet little A lick that was definitely manageable. I tabbed out these first few notes and sat back, eyeing them as a fish might regard a worm dangling on a hidden hook…
Yes, this was the trick. I would avoid the temptation to go any further, and just make sure that I got these six notes backward and forwards, until I could do them in my sleep!
It turns out that Sam Bush is such an immaculate arranger that every few notes connect seamlessly with their neighbors, so when you play measure one over and over again in a loop, it actually sounds pretty cool. It also helps to cement that alternate picking in with the right hand, because if you don’t have correct picking technique in a tune like this, you might as well wave the white flag and get out while you can. So I made a mental note to remind all students to adhere to the gospel of the alternating pick on this one, in other words, your pick goes up and down and up and down, and so on until the end of time.
Well, after a very long time of playing this measure, I began to yearn for the next section (I played it for twenty minutes), so I picked up my mandolin and clicked play…the next measure was luckily just a cute A arpeggio followed by a D arpeggio, very fiddleish. But it completed the melodic statement, and made for a pleasing practice loop. 
Cool! I proceeded to record this loop for practice, and it actually sounded pretty neat. These were the first few steps up Brilliancy Mountain! (click HERE to listen).
Now, if I could just convince my students to try to stick with just this one little bite, till it was as smooth as Humboldt butter, then all would be well!
After several more long minutes of looping these two measures, I felt a tingle of excitement. I was learning Brilliancy! I was several steps into one of the most awesome mandolin pieces ever written, and it sounded awesome! I took a break and poured some more coffee, jumping on YouTube for some more research. After some surfing I struck pay dirt: Sam Bush playing the tune solo, and on top of that, in a gondola! Click HERE to check it out, it’s really cool.
When you’re watching Sam rock it, notice how loose and relaxed his right hand is. So important to try to stay relaxed, especially when we’re in the trenches learning a piece for the first time.
Well, to make a long story slightly longer, after several hours of laboring over these videos I came up with the TAB, and it felt really good. I certainly couldn’t play all the notes yet, but I darn well sure knew what they were.
So, when you’re ready to start that climb, click HERE and you can learn my transcription of Sam’s awesome solo from Glamour and Grits, but please, for the love of Pete, learn it one note at a time!
(On another note, heh heh, we strongly encourage you to get support at JamAlong while you go through this tune, because it can reduce you to tears before you get halfway through. Text or call our mandolin guru Brae at (530) 566-3629, email him HERE, or best yet, order a custom lesson on this tune, so he can walk though every note with you on video and then jam along with you super slow. It will be a lot funner that way, we promise!)
