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Author Topic: Mandolin Practice  (Read 1078 times)

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Offline Mike Brosnan

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Mandolin Practice
« on: May 11, 2015, 11:16:11 AM »
Last October I bought my girlfriend a mandolin (at her request)... She lost interest rather quickly so now I've got a new instrument! She's the only one I've allowed to hear me play so far, so I figured I'd let y'all be next in line. Be gentle. I'm just playing by ear and haven't really studied the instrument much at all. I mostly pick it up about once a week, but every now and then I get hooked on it. This past weekend I made a bunch of guitar tracks to practice with in various keys. Can't BELIEVE how easy it is to play single note lines in any key on this thing! Chords are another story... Baby steps...
Anyway, this is a rough recording of John Hardy I made with my old harmonica player buddy (he'd never played the song before we recorded this). Playing mandolin alone is boring and I've got no one to play with most of the time...  :(  So please excuse the overdubbing. In lieu of other musicians, this is the best I can do.

Just for giggles and poops... I'll also include a recording of Goodbye Sweet Liza Jane on Guitjo with a bass line played on my 12 string. The mandolin part I recorded for that one sounded too busy on top of everything else, so I cut it out. Playing solo just gets boring sometimes...

Offline EddieD

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2015, 12:18:04 PM »
I enjoyed it. John Hardy had a nice celtic feeling to it. I think you're on the right track, just keep playing it man! I really like the sound of a Mandolin. I have only played them a handful of times but enjoyed each time.

Offline Mike Brosnan

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2015, 02:15:58 PM »
Thanks Eddie. I immediately started playing Irish melodies on  mandolin as soon as I picked it up, so I think I'm carrying that with me into other music as well...

Offline frankie

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2015, 02:39:28 PM »
The mandolin sounds great, Mike - keep it up. Nice singing, too!

Being tuned in fifths makes scales very predictable and symmetrical as you've probably already noticed.. The shorter scale also means that reaches that would be deeply impractical on a guitar fall right under the hand on the mandolin. Chords will come easier - focus on the basic major chords first....  I like to think in adjacent-string pairs. You can get a LOT of mileage out of a shape that has the root on the string above and the major third on the string below. I call them "chordlets:"

C:  x23x
D:  x45x
G:  45xx
G:  xx23
F:  23xx
F:  xx01
Bflat: x01x
A: xx45
E: 12xx
Eflat: 01xx

and so on...  using the same 'adjacent-string pair' strategy, another shape that you can get a lot out of is one where the root is on the string below and the third is on the string above (inverts the relationship of the first shape:

G: x52x
C: 52xx
F: x30x
Bflat: 30xx
A: x74x
D: 74xx
D: xx52

Then there's another shape that has the 5th on the string below and the major 3rd on the string above....  I should probably stop while I'm behind, though...

Offline Mike Brosnan

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2015, 04:53:38 PM »
Awesome!  Thanks Frankie! I looked into the Jethro Burns 3 note chord thing a little bit, but your chordlets look like they're much closer to my current speed.  :)
Part of my problem with playing chords is a right hand issue. I've never used a flat pick on any instrument partially due to wrist problems. I found it a lot easier to pick out single note lines on a mandolin than on a guitar, but I still have a hard time holding the damn thing when I start mixing strumming and picking. I think I'm using my whole arm at times when I should be getting more movement from my wrists. Oh well... Just having fun. I don't expect to get any gigs through my mandolin skills. ;)

Offline waxwing

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2015, 05:37:29 PM »
I like that "chordlets" term, Frank. Especially in a small jug band setting, when a mando is called on to vamp behind another instrument soloing, full 4 string chords can be overpowering. Chordlets are the ticket.

Another 2 string idea that Steve James teaches and is very useful and very bluesy is the 3rd with the flat7th notes. Fer instance, a G might be 4-3-X-X, which would be a 3rd (B) and a flat7th (F), or X-3-2-X, a flat7th (F) and a 3rd (B), or even X-X-2-1, same notes as the first form. The neat thing is the interval between the 3rd and the flat7th is a tritone, exactly half an octave, or 6 frets. So X-3-2-X could actually be a G7 or a C#7, since, without the harmony of the other instruments, we don't have the root. And by dropping that X-3-2-X down one fret from a G7 to X-2-1-X, we have a C7 (E, Bb), or by raising it up one fret to X-4-3-X we get a D7 (F#, C). So, as Steve likes to point out with 2 fingers and 2 strings using one chord position moved up or down one fret, you can play the blues.

But another nifty thing to notice is that dropping this form down one fret is essentially taking the chord down a fifth. So if someone was playing a Fuller rag in C the III-VI-II-V-I could be played by starting at X-6-5-X (E7) and walking down a fret for each chord finishing at the X-2-1-X (C7). Of course, this would get pretty boring played over and over, but as a jumping off point it's pretty handy.

Fun playin', Mike. Nice relaxed tremello.

Wax

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Offline Mike Brosnan

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2015, 07:12:13 PM »
Fun playin', Mike. Nice relaxed tremello.

Thanks, Wax! My wrists force me to use a very light grip/touch with the pick, so that helps with the relaxed tone I think. Trying to play raggier stuff with a bit more commitment is another story.
:)
'Preciate all the chord help too! One of the things I love about this instrument is that it's helping me understand theory in a way that just clicks more than it originally did on guitar. I have Steve James' mando DVDs but haven't really had time (or space) to work with them much. I do remember him talking about the basic 4-3-X-X type chord(let)s. I messed around with 'em a little bit but didn't fully realize how useful they can be. Good way to work up to the Jethro Burns technique.   
;)
I wish I had started this sooner! I got a long way to go, but... It is unbelievably easy to sound at least halfway decent on a mandolin! I was way too intimidated by the flatpick thing for way too long.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 11:22:59 PM by Mike Brosnan »

Offline Lastfirstface

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2015, 07:53:45 PM »
Fellow mandolin player here. The "chordlet" approach Frankie was describing is a great way to start finding your way around the fingerboard, and its easy to expand those double-stops into three-course chords in the Jethro Burns style you were mentioning.

Offline RobBob

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2015, 07:52:34 AM »
The chordlet is also called a doublestop and as you learn your chord forms you can look at any two contiguous strings and see more of these doublestops.  Mandolin players will often play two notes to add to the pulse of the music without drowning out other instruments while adding to the overall texture of the sound.  Rich DelGrosso's Mandolin Blues book is full of great chord passages that can be used in other genres as well.  Doublestops are not chords, you need three notes for a chord, but they can be what rockers call powerchords, using the I and V of the scale.  Keep on keeping on!

Offline alyoung

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2015, 04:43:53 PM »
Thank to all who posted on chordlets/doublestops -- you've legitimised my mandolin playing. I've always used them, but until now I thought I was cheating or being lazy. Now I find they're a legitimate technique. Great.  :)

Offline One-Eyed Ross

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2015, 08:26:24 PM »
As a sometime mandolin player, it gets addicting.  You'll develop Mandolin Addiction Syndrome soon.  It's a great instrument, and just a lot of fun to play.

As an aside, try to work up to sight reading for it, at least in first position.  It'll make music a LOT easier for you....

Also, give Mandolin Cafe a browse...  This link takes you to the Jazz, Swing, Blues section:  http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?42-Jazz-Swing-Blues-Bossa-Choro-Klezmer-Ragtime
SSG, USA, Ret

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Offline Mike Brosnan

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Re: Mandolin Practice
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2015, 09:47:55 AM »
Thanks for the encouragement folks! I've checked out the mandolin cafe here and there but I need to start digging deeper. I just started working graveyard shift at a really mellow mental health facility so I think I'm gonna have a lot of time to improve my mandolin skills! (As long as I practice quietly...)

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