Octave Mandolin

[george kraushaar]

I picked up a long neck handmade octave mandolin recently that I'm trying to figure out what to do with. My background is old time mandolin and guitar. So far I've adapted some of my old mando songs to the octave, although I have to change the fingering for a lot of them. I've discovered that open chords and doublestops seem to work best for rhythm. I've sat in with some Irish and contra dance groups where the octave seems to fill the middle ranges very nicely.

Any ideas about how I can learn to use this instrument more effectively. I know that there is at least one book on the market for octave mando, but I don't know the author.

[SurebetVA]

you might have more luck with this thread if you post it down in the CBOM section where they talk about octives...I just got a mandola I'm still trying to figure out..good luck. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Ken Sager]

John McGann has a terrific OM book. Just play it and have fun. You'll find your own niche for it.

[siren_20]

I finally got John's OM book... aside from being a great resource for tunes, it's got a lot practical information as to playing effective accompaniment, as well as fingering technique and overall approach to the instrument. It's fantastic!

[arbarnhart]

Another resource to look at is the Yahoo tenor guitar group (http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/tenorguitarregistry/). OM tuning is an alternate tuning for tenor guitars (I currently have mine that way) and while they are not interchangable (the OM sound is very different and the increased tension, typically longer scale and number of strings make some TG chord forms nearly impossible on the OM) there is a lot of good info that does apply.

[otterly2k]

I find the OM especially handy for harmony lines against the melody, and midrange fill that is more nuanced than the boom-chunk of most guitar accompaniments. Sounds like you're on the right track...

[Jim Yates]

I've found that the GDAD tuning makes the stretch less painful. Although it's usually thought of as an Irish type instrument, with your background you might have fun with some songs like Georgia Railroad or Norman Blake's Slow Train Through Georgia. I play these more of a Carter Family style than a mandolin style.