Jim Mills is one of the leading
proponents of the straight-ahead
Scruggs-style sound, and his solo
on the Ricky Skaggs tune
The Road To
Spencer is a great example of how he
applies this approach to a mandolin/
fiddle type of tune. Instead of following
the melody as stated by the mandolin,
Jim chooses to blaze through the chord
changes with a seemingly endless stream
of bluegrass licks that kick the tune into
overdrive.
Throughout the tab, you’ll find that
Jim uses hammer-ons and pull-offs
between the 1st and 2nd frets of the 2nd
string, a very cool sound that is heard less
frequently than some of the other basic
left hand techniques. Mills also doubles
his thumb on the 4th string on the first two
notes of measures 8, 16 and 32.
It is important to notice that this tune is
played with a bounce rhythm, meaning that
consecutive eighth notes are played with
alternating long and short spaces, rather
than being separated by equal amounts of
time. This is one of the reasons why the
double thumb technique on the 4th string
works. It is harder to use the same R.H.
finger twice in a row, so the notes played
with two thumb strokes have a natural
tendency to create a long space, which is
then followed by a short space as the index
finger quickly plays the 3rd string.
Practicing playing with a bounce
rhythm in your right hand is important,
especially for situations like the C lick
starting in measure 19. If played straight,
the repeated three note figure consisting of
a hammer-on on the 4th string and a note
on the 2nd string is played exactly the same
each time. However, when played with a
bounce, the hammer-ons are played across
alternating long and short spaces, making
the lick both more rhythmically interesting
and a little trickier to execute accurately.
If you have the ability to slow down
recorded music, I would recommend
playing along with the tune to get the feel
of the rhythm in your hands. You can find
a video of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky
Thunder playing
The Road To Spencer
on YouTube. A banjo arrangement of the
melody as played on the mandolin was
published in the April ’09 issue of
BNL, so
you may want to check that out as well.
Key of B. G tuning, capo 4th fret, Tab by Ian Perry
continued
