Clinch Mountain Backstep, Marcel Ardans (Intermediate)

Information on Clinch Mountain Backstep courtesy of The Traditional Tune Archive.

Clinch Mountain Backstep is probably the most well known by the great Dr. Ralph Stanley of The Stanley Brothers. It’s a jam standard and is one of the few crooked tunes that is decidedly not a jam buster, like Cherokee Shuffle the crooked part of this tune feels very natural. If you’re having trouble hearing it, watch out for the extra two beats in the B part! This arrangement has been spiced up for the hot guitar player. Lots of Tony Rice style licks in this melody and fun minor pentatonic phrases. Enjoy!

(Intermediate guitar tabs include an ornamented version of the melody, chord markings above, and more often than not, a kick-off and a tag. Where the beginning guitar tabs had quarter notes expect there to now be a steady stream of eighth notes! These tabs, though more difficult than the beginning tabs, do not stray far from the melody like the advanced guitar tabs. Intermediate tabs without a bluegrass kick-off or tag generally come from other traditions such as Irish Fiddle Music (Frank’s Reel) or Spanish Folk Songs (La Borrachita).)