beginner questions

[hmz6]

hello,

#I'm a beginner mandolin player and I just wanted a few questions answered before I pick up bad practicing habits.
#
#first, I have a question about picking. when I'm playing a song that doesn't have the "pick marks" written in, should I automatically alternate between down and up picking? or is there a system to deciding which direction to pick when?
#
#also, when should I start working on tremollo? should I wait until I get my fingering and picking techniques, or is it the sooner the better sort of thing?

thanks!

Brett
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[hellindc]

There are better qualified players here than me, but my advice is to learn up and down strokes. Now, if your playing eighth notes and one is a rest, you would probably play two successive up or down strokes.

Also, you can make a choice. Use a book that has the up and down patterns to learn. Practice that and save the music without indications for later. It will only take you a couple months to reach the point where you'll have a feel for the proper strokes.

I'd make tremelo a second priority, but it won't hurt -- especially if it makes practice more fun.

[Rroyd]

The general rule is to play down on the beat and up on the offbeat, so a measure of eighths would be down, up, down, up and so on. Two quarter notes followed by four eighth notes would be down, down, down, up down, up. The goal is for the technique to become automatic so that you always know what to do with the right hand.
There are several thoughts about tremolos; one is that the notes relate to the rhythm you are playing. For example, your tremolo would be 32nd notes or 64th notes, and you would play a specific number of notes for a given amount of time. Another view is that the tremolo lasts a certain number of beats, but the number of tremolo notes played is random. There are those who use both techniques, depending on the type of song.

[bmac]

Regarding pick stroke direction:

In Steve James' Blues mandolin video he suggests the downstroke for emphasis and the alternating down/up stroke for normal picking. I don't know if the "Downstroke for emphasis" is standard for mandolin playing but it seems to work fine for blues, at least in my limited experience. Of course if picking fast you may have to use alternating down/up strokes for emphasis.

I would suggest that now is the time to begin your tremelo practice. It takes a long time for it to become automatic and sound good so the sooner you start the better, in my opinion. I have been practicing tremelo for roughly 6 months and have only recently begun to feel it is under control... But I still have a long way to go.