Here’s a traditional standard given the bluegrass treatment on Bill Monroe’s 1963 Bluegrass Special album (track B3/20:41), with Monroe, Lonnie Hoppers, Joe Stuart, Kenny Baker, and Bessie Lee Mauldin comprising the band on this track. It would be hard to come up with a more rockabilly mandolin solo than Monroe’s take on this number. In the key of C, with downstrokes predominating throughout except a few alternating strokes here and there and the usual down-up-down on the triplet punctuations. An arpeggio followed by the Georgia shuffle with a 16th-note pattern leads us to the V (G) chord change at the halfway point. Heavily accented double stop C, C7, and F chords are put to good use in the second half. Two more Georgia shuffles follow, and the solo is capped with another triplet variation. Mike walks you through the complete Monroe solo in this video.
