There’s an old truism that rock ‘n’ roll is in the key of E. That’s not strictly true, but songs and instrumentals in E tend to be a little more common in rock and blues than they are in bluegrass, old-time, and some other idioms where mandolin is prevalent. As you’ll discover, playing in the key of E requires slightly more complicated fingerwork than you’ve needed in the previous keys. Ethan’s lesson this month will give you the tools you need to master the basics of playing in the key of E, and he shows you how to put those skills to good use on “Brown County Breakdown,” a wonderful three-part Bill Monroe tune that will get your fingers working in that key. In this video, Ethan starts you off with an extended scale for the key of E in the first position, an exercise that requires some finger stretches to reach the notes on the higher frets as well as a basic shift to reach the low G# note. Then he shows you an extended E-pentatonic scale, which also includes some tricky finger movement.
