and-here's-a-G

A guitar bass run is a string of quarternotes that culminate in the boom of the next boom-chuck.  You play them where you'd normally be chucking -- boom-run, boom-chuck instead of boom-chuck, boom-chuck -- and you use them to move from one chord to another.  Starting on a G chord and going to a C chord, it's g-chuck, a, b, c-chuck.

That's music theory and it's about guitars.  Nothing to do with mandos, right?  Maybe, maybe not.

Play the g note that starts Yankee Doodle.  Now in eighth notes, play a scale from the open d on that string up to the g: up-down-up-down, d-e-f#-g.  This is sort of a bass run, right?  And you could use it to lead into a G chord, right?

Or even a G note, right?

Called it mac-a-ron-i (d-e-f#-)

Yankee doodle went to town ...

This much is just a little lead-in: a flourishy entrance to a piece of the melody.  Heck, even fiddlers can do this much.

(You can do it on guitar, too, if you're quick about it. G-chuck, g, a, b-flat, b, C-chuck.  That's down-down, down, up, down, up, down-down.  Don't overdo it, though, because the chord structure and rhythm will evaporate and you'll become disposable.)

But here's where playing mando pays off.  As the monkey in the middle you don't have to play chords or melody, you can play runs in place of either and change the texture of the tune.

Overdo it all you want.

Before I illustrate, let me spell out a second "bass-run," for D.

This one starts on the open d string and ends on the f# note: d-e-f-f# .  Play the f with your index finger, then slide it up to the f#, but pick each note so the run's still up-down-up-down.

The V chord?  The C?  Just move that finger motion down to the fourth string and play g-a-b-C, up-down-up-down.

Now string 'em together.

Yankee Doodle went to town  (G-run, G-run, G-run, D-run)
Riding  on a pony (G-run, G-run, G-run, D-run)
Stuck a feather in his cap (G-run, G-run, C-run, C-run)
And called it macaroni (D-run, D-run, G-run, G-run)

Emphasize the last note, so it's really up-down-up-DOWN. The first three notes are just lead-ins, and the last note ends on the strong beat.  Instead of "G-run," think of it as "and-here's-a-G."  The first line of the song is really this: and-here's-a-G, and-here's-a-G, and-here's-a-G, and-here's-a-D.

Played alone, it sounds dopey.  Oh well.  So does a bass.  Wait and try it in a jam.

You give a particularly punchy feel to a Mississippi tune by playing continuous C and F runs on the bottom string.  You're staying out of everyone else's way, but you're making the tune click right along like a railroad train.