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Red Apple Rag

beginner mandolin

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Red Apple Rag was one of the first mandolin tunes I learned, and it's been stuck in my teeth ever since! This is a great fiddle tune in G played in both bluegrass and western swing circles. The song, and this particular arrangement, is very scale based. This makes it easier to take the licks of this song and use them easily for fills in other tunes as well!

Improvisation Key of G Scales Theory

Lesson Discussion

6 replies Continue discussion
  1. Dale Hutchins ·

    Question on the tab — is that a hammer-on or a slide going into the B part? Sounds like a slide to my ear but the tab reads hammer.

  2. Gene Sowell ·

    Metronome at 60 and no faster until it's clean twice through. Boring but it works.

  3. Ben Clark Instructor ·

    You're not behind. Two weeks on a lesson like this is normal and healthy.

  4. Sam Whitlock ·

    Take the capo off and play it in open G a few times, then put it back. Helped me hear it.

  5. Nate Overby ·

    Welcome aboard — you picked a good one to start on.

  6. Dale Hutchins ·

    Recording yourself is humbling but it's the fastest fix I've found.

  7. Curtis Rhodes ·

    There's a slower jam track under the resources tab on this lesson, worth grabbing.

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