What Would You Like to Learn?

[nigelgatherer]

At present I'm thinking of the year ahead, and what I'm going to do in the six mandolin classes I teach. I've got loads of ideas, but I thought I'd spark a discussion: if you went to a mandolin class, what would you like to learn? I teach all levels, so all opinions are welcome.

[Bob DeVellis]

Nigel, although it doesn't necessarily work well in a group format, I think what a lot of people would like is help taking a few tunes they know to a higher level. Although building repertoire is important and can be a lot of fun, sometimes learning a tune that doesn't particularly stoke your fire merely because it's been assigned can be tedious. But even beginners have some tunes they play to some degree. Bringing the quality of their tune renditions up a couple of notches is often very satisfying to students and capitalizes on what they already know. I'm sure there are down sides to this approach, but it's just a suggestion for you to mull over.

[nigelgatherer]

You're right, Bob . Last year in 2 or 3 classes I asked everyone to choose a personal project which was then worked on over a number of weeks. Most people chose a particular tune, with a couple going for different techniques. There is a lot to be learnt from tunes one already knows. Thanks, Bob.

[John Flynn]

In 14 years of playing the mando and having had about a half dozen instructors, the coolest thing I have picked up, ever, was crosspicking. I had a really hard time with it at first, but then I "broke through" and now I apply it freely all the time. I have had more fun with it and gotten more compliments on my playing from it than any other single technique. This fall, I will be going through McReynolds' book and taking it to a new level. One of the things that got me to "break through on it, was to have my instructor teach me some cool tunes that required it. I didn't have luck with it as an abstract drill.

[Dolamon]

Nigel - what a delightful concept! Thinking about classes almost a year in advance ... That you aren't locked into a rote teaching program really is impressive.

One of the things which my instructor has been working on is demonstrating how to create harmonized scales. These are normally a series of moving double stops which can have slurs (normally leading to a chord change) and aren't as much concerned with the melody, but the chord structure of a tune. This is very liberating to learn to play / think this way, as suddenly, the melody isn't the only thing which can be accomplished on a mandolin. For my aging brain, it isn't always the easiest thing to fall into but, it has opened up the whole fretboard as a harmonic device.

For celtic music, in an ensemble situation, a mandolin becomes more of a harmonic device rather than just plucked fiddle or a small guitar. In some situations this will aggrevate some of the more 'traditional' minded players but generally it is appreciated (if I do it correctly). My instrctor has been working on this concept for about fifteen years and normally teaches it in two primary keys, G and D until it becomes a relatively ingrained pattern. Then other keys are explored - along with listening to a new tune to hear the changes.

What amazes me is how, in a class situation, (with five or six students) there will be five or six totally different interpretations on how to implement the technique ... and they all sound good and appropriate.

[ahollan]

Along the same line, I would like to be able to go up the neck and instantly create note for note harmony. I have moved up a third and tried to do this many times, but I can't get my head around it. The finger pattern is different.

I would like to learn a process . . . a simple, effective, fast way to do this. I'm sure there is one. Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't know how?

ahollan

P.S. Nigel, I learned to play from your net tutorial. THANKS!

[nigelgatherer]

Thank YOU, ahollan. it has been on my list to extensively update and expand that tutorial, but I have never found the time. We'll see...