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Snowball: Tablature for Mandolin
Arranged by Mike Nelson and John Baldry

John Baldry [ About Country Gazette | About Mike Nelson ]

SNOWBALL FIRST BECAME popular in the 1970s. At the time it was a somewhat progressive instrumental tune, i.e. it had more than three or four chords. In the intervening quarter of a century it has become something of a bluegrass standard, and is presented here in an arrangement for mandolin.

I'm most grateful to Mike Nelson, of Cambridge, for getting me into this tune. Mike sent an interesting arrangement of Snowball to the CoMando mandolin players' list on the Internet. His arrangement came from a banjo break which Alan Munde played back in the 70s, at the Newmarket Grand Ole Opry. Mike had taped the show, and two decades later transcribed Munde's playing on to mandolin. In particular he used some licks based on banjo rolls at the beginning of the second part. On mandolin these are played on the third string, using open string drone notes, and the rhythmic effect is similar to Scruggs-style rolls. I liked this sound a lot, and thought it made for a really strong second part. Borrowing from Mike'sarrangement of Snowball, and a couple of ancient published tabs I cobbled together the arrangement which I now play, and which is presented here.

The first part (Part A) of Snowball is similar to tunes like Blackberry Blossom, in following a descending chord pattern. The progression is logical and should begin to make sense fairly quickly. Part A is played twice The second part (Part B) follows a (different) descending chord pattern, acting as a 'middle eight' before returning to the A-part (once through). This creates the pattern AABA, a sequence associated more with jazz, although not uncommon in bluegrass, e.g. in the Jimmy Martin instrumentals Leaving Town, Arab Bounce and Theme Time.
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More about Country Gazette:
Country Gazette were a bluegrass band who emerged in the early 1970s from the country-rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers. Their first two LPs, A Traitor In Our Midst and Don't Give Up Your Day Job are generally regarded as classics of West Coast-style progressive bluegrass. Country Gazette visited the UK a number of times in the 70s, and achieved a big following over here. Apart from their vocals, they also had a way with instrumentals. Several of these have become bluegrass standards, notably Snowball, Huckleberry Hornpipe, and Deputy Dalton (all on Don't Give Up Your Day Job) and Hot Burrito Breakdown (from A Traitor In Our Midst). Luckily both LPs have been reissued on a single CD by the enterprising Beat Goes On Records, PO Box 22, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28-6XQ, England. No other contact details, I'm afraid, but they did eventually send me a catalogue when I wrote.

Country Gazette kept going for many years with various changes in personnel - Alan Munde was the permanent fixture - but I guess the band is now defunct. Alumni include Byron Berline, Roland White and Joe Carr. Alan Munde and Joe Carr are currently active in the Music Department at South Plains College, Levelland, Texas, and visited UK as a duo in 1999 (see NWBN Vol 6 No 4).

More about Mike Nelson:
Mike Nelson is a top class musician and luthier who lives in the Cambridge area. He has been active in bluegrass and related forms of music since the 1960s and has a reputation for quality both as a guitar and mandolin player and as an instrument maker and repairer. Mike has always been generous in sharing information and ideas, as witness his website

Here you will find a mass of material on rib bending, thicknessing ribs, arching method, Chladni pattern plate tuning and truss rods, as well as pictures of instruments made by Mike and links to other makers. There are a lot of mandolin tunes in ABC Format - the page includes links to software (including shareware) that will enable you to turn the tunes into musical notation or tab and print them out. There is also a link to the home pageof the Radio Cowboys, the fine band in which Mike plays mandolin. The Radio Cowboys is the band which Pete Sayers and John Holder started for the Newmarket Grand Ole Opry, back in 1972, and they have been playing in various incarnations ever since - a real pro band.

John Baldry, Crawley, Sussex [ Write to John | About John ]

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Back Up and Push: A Tab for Banjo
Arranged for Banjo by Chris Athey

Chris Athey

WHAT A GREAT TUNE! I'd heard it played by various fiddlers for years and always enjoyed hearing it. A few months ago, the fiddle player from the band in which I play suggested we work it up. So we sat down and ever-so-carefully dissected the tune measure-by-measure, then note-by-note. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Hmm, gimme a break! One night at a gig, our guitar player said, "Dave?How 'bout a fiddle tune? Whatcha wanna do?" Dave said, "Back Up and Push" and off we went.

Groooann. The break I played that night! I don't even remotely recall how I played the tune that night, but I do know it was a break with which I was not satisfied. My licks all fell in to place but I was not even coming close to the melody. Mind you, to the average listener I'm sure it sounded just fine. After all, I was actually in tune and my licks all fit the chord changes! Get back, brother! What bothered me was that I was basically in a band setting, playing as if I were at a jam session. Like I said, I'm sure everything sounded just fine to the audience - but I knew I wasn't happy with what I was playing. So, the very next day I set to working up a break that would hit the melody - or at least come closer than the night before. That's what I try to do with all of the tunes that I play; sometimes it hits, sometimes it don't. That's the ins and outs of the game, I guess. Anyway, the following tab is the end result of my efforts.

Though the song is in played in the key of C, it starts out on an F (in that regard, it's like when you play John Hardy in the key of G, but you start on the C, got it?) And it starts out kind of tricky on that F. Forming a C on the first and second strings only, I leave my index finger in place and grab that F by fretting the first string at the third fret with my pinkie and laying the ring finger down on the second string third fret. I also use my ring finger to grab the pull-off at the end of measure one. The rest of the A-part is fairly straightforward.

The first two measures of the B-part have recurring inside rolls that are actually quite easy - they'll get really easy the more you play 'em. The tag lick at the end of the B-part might take some getting used to if you aren't used to playing single-string. And the tag-end is a bit unorthodox as the thumb will have to play the second string at the end. Just start the tag with the with the thumb and alternate each successive note between the thumb and index finger and you'll end up with the thumb having to play the second string.

Chris Athey, Ashburn, Virginia, USA.

Chris welcomes your comments  - Write to him. RealAudio and MP3's of his band, Vintage Blend are available at www.vintageblend.com

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1st March 2000