Easier Tremolo!

[johnwalser]

I have been working for a couple of years determined to develop my tremolo to a higher level. Well, practice has helped greatly and I have developed a pretty decent technique. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I made a new bridge for a mandolin player that was playing at a local restaurant and he had me move his paired strings very close to each other (overall string width remained the same). He said it made his tremolo easier to play. Well, he left and when I renotched my bridge I found out he was right. Now, I will never sound like Evan, but my tremolo is easier to play. I had measured many Gibsons, Webers, Rigels, Breedloves, Collings and every other bridge I came in contact with and tried to match them. Funny what you learn if you keep your ears and mind open to new ideas.
Speaking of Evan Marshall, I am working his new book/CD on Duo-Style and it is helping my pick direction and tremolo also. What he wants you to be able to do seems ALMOST impossible, but he has broken it down into baby steps that I think will be possible for me to do. This is not for the beginner (unless they are not of faint heart) but, should improve my play over the next year. I find my "fun play" pick direction and control are already improving. I would recommend this book/CD very highly
John

[John Flynn]

That closer string pairing is an interesting concept. In addition to helping tremlo, I think it might effect the pick direction issue also. When I was in a workshop with Jody Strecker, he made the point that one of the reasons that downstrokes sound different than upstrokes (in regular picking, not tremlo) is that when you do a downstroke, you ring both strings pretty much equally, but on an upstroke, most people only hit the bottom string or if they hit the upper string at all, it is not full force. So a downstroke is actually two identical notes, but an upstroke is only one, or one and half. I wonder if putting the pairs closer would have an effect on making upstrokes and downstrokes more consistent, which I think would be a desirable thing to do.

[Martin Jonas]

I think pick direction can cut both ways. As far as I can tell, I have very little tone difference between upstrokes and downstrokes. I can't tell which is which when I listen back to tunes I've recorded and I've had people ask me whether I use all downstrokes. It's not something I've specifically worked on, but that's just how it came out. On the other hand, I think that a distinct difference in tone between up and down can be an advantage in playing, as it gives the tune a natural bounce or swing, which I feel is sometimes absent in my more uniform pick strokes. Of course, if you have a big tone difference, you have to pay extra attention to getting the downstroke in the right place for empahsis whereas with more tone consistency, there's less pressure on that.

Martin

[twaaang]

Interesting remarks on the difference in sound between down and upstrokes. I spent some time last week trying to transcribe Ricky Skagg's version of "Boston Boy" from the Ancient Tones album. I was very convinced, for example, that he played a run of cbcb in the opening phrase. However, when I happened to come across somebody else's transcription of the exact same recording (off ABC TuneFinder), the same run was all cccc. I've gone back and listened again, and I'm not completely converted, but it is interesting to see that difference in tone from pick direction might be perceived as difference in notes. I should add that I really wanted the other guy's interpretation to be right, if I ever hope to play this tune at Skaggs tempo!

I don't mean to derail this thread from its original topic, maybe somebody can point me someplace where this perception thing has already been all thrashed out. -- PDW

[sandcastlefaith]

My up and down strokes sound pretty much identical, since I've adjusted my playing technique so that now I only hit on of the strings on both the down and upstokes. This gives you less volume, but for my tastes better tone, and cleaner, crisper notes, as well as a little tiny bit more speed and accuracy.

Nate

[Jim Garber]

he had me move his paired strings very close to each other (overall string width remained the same).
I am not sure what you mean by this. I can understand notching the strings closer together but why would the string width change unless you changed the strings.

Also, you mention checking out the spacing on a number of brands oif mandolin. Does this mean that you followed those spacings or you didn't?

Thanks for the clarification...
Jim

[Salty Dog]

Jgarber, I assume he meant spacing between pairs. #I have one of my mandolins set up this way and my opinion is that it does not improve single string tremelo but does improve double stop (two string) tremelo. #A down side is that if you get the wound strings too close together and hit a ringing note too hard you can get a nasty sounding harmonic running up and down the pair as they come in contact with each other. #This can happen when they are close to parallel (bridge spacing = nut spacing).

[johnwalser]

Maybe this illustration will help. Most of the mandolins I measured were like the top example. I moved the strings more like the bottom example (not close enough to bang against one another) and have found the improvement. Hope this helps.
John

[ngzcaz]

I think the concept is fine. However,
there must be a point of diminishing
returns here when the strings are really
whacked ( Mt Dew, Jesse James, ect )
that they start hitting each other.
Someone must have experimented with this
and came up with an actual measurement in mm

Anyone ?



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[mandoJeremy]

I agree Nathan. I play so hard that I can normally buzz the strings because they are vibrating against each other on most mandolins. For light players I guess that would be okay but not for us guys with heavy right hands. That's why I actually love the Bush spacing on my Bush. I can hit some good Monroe licks that ends in an open G with some POWER and they still don't buzz.

[mad dawg]

My Freshwater came setup like this, except the the string separation for each pair increased as you move down to a lower pitched pair.