Mexican Trumpets
With
Chris HaighHow to imitate the twin Mexican-trumpet sound of classic country tunes like Ring of Fire on the fiddle, playing harmony lines a third or a sixth apart.
What's in the course
22 lessons (1h 51m) · 1 free
01. Old time vs Bluegrass
Free lesson11:17
02. Bluegrass: melody and fills
7:52
03. Bluegrass: Kickoffs and solos
7:28
04. Bluegrass: Chubby Wise Licks
5:25
05. Bluegrass: Roll in my Sweet Baby's Arms (Chubby Wise solo)
2:02
06. Bluegrass: Benny Martin, Kenny Baker licks
5:50
07. Bluegrass: Lost Indian (performance)
0:40
Lesson transcript
Exploring Mexican Trumpets in Country Music
An interesting feature of some country music in the 50s and 60s was the appearance of Mexican trumpets. If you listen to songs such as El Paso by Marty Robbins and Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, you'll know what I mean.
Trumpet Harmony
This style usually has two trumpets playing in harmony, either a third or a sixth apart.
- If you happen to play one of these songs, the chances are you're not going to have two trumpets in the band.
- Therefore, you will be required to sound like two trumpets, which can be quite fun.
- This feel will also work in a lot of other songs.
The Scale of Sixths
One important concept to understand is the scale of sixths.
- For the key of G, the scale starts on G with the B below it.
- As the upper scale goes up, the lower scale goes up at the same time.
It will sound like this, both going up and coming down.
If you spend a few weeks learning this scale and memorizing it, you'll find it extremely useful for harmonizing without needing to think about it.
- Once your fingers know where to go, if you play a melody, your fingers will automatically know how to put the harmony in.
- This makes it really worth spending time on.
Triplets and Full Sound
When it comes to Mexican trumpets, my knowledge of mariachi might be quite limited, but I believe there are a lot of triplets involved.
- What we get is a big, full sound that is easier to achieve than it seems, provided you've mastered those double stops in the scale of sixths.
Assignment
Let's hear that with the backing for your assignment.
Try working out a similar trumpet part for:
- Red River Valley
- Yellow Rose of Texas
22 lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Chris Haigh has been a professional fiddle player for 25 years, with experience covering many different genres. He has played on over 75 albums, working with artists including Alison Moyet, Bob Geldof, All About Eve, Michael Ball, David Soul, Oumou Sangare, The Quireboys, Riverdance, Morcheeba, James Galway and Steps.
He has played swing jazz with The Kimbara Brothers, Diz Disley, Le Jazz, The Hot Club of London, and the Quecumbar Allstars, and leads a 7-piece Soviet swing band, The Kremlinaires.
Chris gives lessons and workshops on jazz violin technique and has taught jazz violin at Middlesex, Brunel and Newcastle universities and Truro College. His writing credits include nine fiddle books, among them The Fiddle Handbook.
He also runs Fiddling Around (fiddlingaround.co.uk), probably the most comprehensive and widely visited source of fiddle information on the web.
