This burning mando solo is from the first Acoustic Disc release "Dawg '90". Dawg has his own mando vocabulary deeply rooted in bluegrass and extended through jazz and his own unique sense of note choices. On the liner notes of Tony Trishcka's excellent Banjoland album there is a reference to Grisman's "nuclear hieroglyphics", which is as good a label as any!

Note the use of the A harmonic minor scale over the E7 chord. The notes E F G# A B C D give the scale sound of 1 b2(or b9) 3 4 5 b6 b7, which gives a great exotic flavor compared to the usual major and minor scale sounds. Also check the nifty pulloffs that begin the 2nd chorus.

If you feel your chops are not up to this tempo, try working on the solo at a slower tempo and build up speed, making sure that you are getting a good tone at the slower tempo- it is crucial to have a good sound at a comfortable speed before trying to push the envelope.