View Full Version : Right Shoulder, Arms!!
Soupy1957
May-31-2009, 4:05pm
For those of you who only sling your strap over your right shoulder (you right-handed players, that is), I was just wondering how you do it? How do you play that way?
Isn't it more difficult than slinging your strap around your neck? I've been an "around the neck" player (guitar and mando) and have had a heck of a time getting used to a right-shoulder slinging.
What's your secret?
Jim Kirkland
May-31-2009, 4:23pm
Rather easy. I use a leather custom strap with lace on the outer edge, keeps from sliding too easy. The shoulder method allows me to push the mando forward, to the left and get it away from my body, for a better sound.
Charley wild
May-31-2009, 4:29pm
Rather easy. I use a leather custom strap with lace on the outer edge, keeps from sliding too easy. The shoulder method allows me to push the mando forward, to the left and get it away from my body, for a better sound.
Not only that but it looks cooler!:grin:
onassis
May-31-2009, 5:12pm
I started out over the right shoulder with a shoelace strap, but this seemed to slip all the time. So I switched to a 5/8" leather banjo strap and strung it over my neck, guitar-style. This way the mando stayed in place, but after a number of months I got wooried that the contact with my body was really muting the tone and volume. I've recently switched back to the right shoulder, using the leather strap, just choked it up a lot tighter.
I like it better than over the neck, but it's taking some getting used to. The right forearm seems to keep it from slipping pretty well, but I have to make sure it's in the right place before I start. Hard to move it on the fly! The good thing is that it's easy now to pivot the neck away from my body, and also, a little push brings the neck more vertical AND brings the body a little closer to my ear, so I can hear myself for leads without bangin' too hard.
All in all, I prefer it, but it takes a bit of experimentation.:mandosmiley:
MikeEdgerton
May-31-2009, 6:39pm
I switched from over the shoulder to just the right shoulder. I saw no difference in playing, it wasn't harder, it wasn't easier, but it made made it easier for me to change instruments on stage without taking off my hat.
Michael Gowell
May-31-2009, 7:06pm
I have two good mandolins rigged for the right shoulder, which I prefer for tone, and also - it seems to me - a wider choice of playing angles, in a 3-D sense. The shoulder position - to my ear - seems to make available a wider choice of tone.
On a personal level, I also enjoy the physicality of this position - the instrument seems more alive to me and I feel more engaged with it.
But I do sling my beater mandolin over my neck because I use it when writing with pencil & paper. As I work something out on the mando I can just let go of it and reach for the pencil to make a note of my thought and the instrument hangs there securely.
smokyt81
May-31-2009, 9:34pm
being left-handed, I sling my mando over the left shoulder, but I'm with everybody else, that's commented. I feel like my tone is better and louder. Another benefit to me personally is that it feels almost like shooting a gun(I've had a few "Rambo" moments during some heavy tremolo). but most importantly, THAT'S HOW BILL DID IT!!
Ivan Kelsall
Jun-01-2009, 12:57am
I've tried it over my right shoulder only & for me,it's just not stable enough,especially when playing 'faster' tunes. Chris Thile plays with the Mandolin strap around his back & he seems to do ok. Even with the strap around my back,holding the Mandolin away from my body,is so easy it's ridiculous,but there again,i don't usually wear a hat - unless it's raining - if it is,then i don't wear my Mandolin,
Ivan~:>
Soupy1957
Jun-01-2009, 3:54am
Lots of great stuff here gang..........Mike E. brought up the reason that I believe "Bill" did it.........wasn't it because he didn't like to wrestle with his hat when he slung his strap?
Frank Johnson
Jun-01-2009, 8:59am
Isn't it more difficult than slinging your strap around your neck? I've been an "around the neck" player (guitar and mando) and have had a heck of a time getting used to a right-shoulder slinging.
As a newbie it felt weird for me to play with the mandolin over one shoulder but it really wasn't difficult (for me) to get used to it. I agree with Michael about sometimes slinging it over my head, depending on what I'm doing at the time. I usually have it over my head when I tune or am doing something else while plinking around because it stays secure when I let go of it.
But your question made me think about slinging it reeeeal low, down below my waist, like some rock and roll stars do with their guitars. :mandosmiley:
frankmsu
Jun-01-2009, 9:17am
At IBMA last year during the mandolin workshop I noticed that most of the pros that were giving the workshop used the over-the-back method, and they unhooked their strap at the tailpiece strap button rather than going over their head. None of them were wearing hats either.
Ivan Kelsall
Jun-01-2009, 11:13pm
I think Bill Monroe did the same thing that Earl Scruggs did re.the over one shoulder thing,because of the hats they wore. However holding a Banjo weighing in at 16 Lbs or more,in the correct playing position is a much different thing,i most certainly can't pick that way,
Ivan
Dave Hanson
Jun-01-2009, 11:54pm
I use the right shoulder method for both mandolin and tenor banjo, however, I find it almost impossible to play the banjo standing up using this style.
Dave H
Don't forget body morphology in this discussion. Some people have flat shoulders. Some have shoulders that slope up slightly. Some, like mine, slope down. I tried the right shoulder strap and it just falls off.
Frank Johnson
Jun-02-2009, 8:09am
At IBMA last year during the mandolin workshop I noticed that most of the pros that were giving the workshop used the over-the-back method, and they unhooked their strap at the tailpiece strap button rather than going over their head. None of them were wearing hats either.
Now that I think about it, my strap has a quick release button (I can release the strap without unhooking it from the button), but I always forget it's there.
Ray(T)
Jun-02-2009, 11:09am
I prefer to play sitting down so I'm not really bothered although it does seem somewhat un-natural to sling the instrument anything other than around the neck. Am I correct in thinking that only bluegrassers tend to use the single shoulder technique? This could also explain why the sound of their instrument improves whilst wearing dungarees.
Ray
JeffD
Jun-02-2009, 11:25am
I prefer to play sitting down so I'm not really bothered although it does seem somewhat un-natural to sling the instrument anything other than around the neck. Am I correct in thinking that only bluegrassers tend to use the single shoulder technique?
I think its mostly BG. I play sitting down as well, without a strap.
mandroid
Jun-02-2009, 12:01pm
I note , just like you no longer think of pushing your slipping glasses back up, after a while,
:cool:
pushing that strap back up on your right shoulder will be constant,
but something you stop thinking about doing ,after a while..
consciously.
:popcorn:
mandopixie
Jun-02-2009, 10:16pm
For those of you who only sling your strap over your right shoulder (you right-handed players, that is), I was just wondering how you do it? How do you play that way?
What's your secret?
It's a 'horses for courses' thing, I think. As someone has already mentioned, the slope of one's shoulders can dictate which stance you take. Do what feels natural and less intrusive. It's the end result that counts, so do what works best for you. If the over the right shoulder method doesn't work, over the back with a tonegard fitted should eliminate any body dampening effect.
Tried over the shoulder, but felt i had to push the mandolin with my right hand all the time so went back to over the head. Use the strap while sitting or standing as playing position is constant no matter what i do or where i sit. I put it on, play for how ever many hours and take it off whats the big deal.
Of course i don't have hat hair to contend with!!:))
mandozilla
Jun-03-2009, 12:01pm
Mon was a big man with broad shoulders and he wore a suit (padded shoulders) most of the time when he played, I bet that made it easier for him to sling on his right shoulder. ;)
Me, I don't have those broad shoulders and I never wear suits, well except maybe at weddings or funerals, so it's over the head form me and that's where I like it. I like the hands free part a lot. :grin:
~o):popcorn:
Dan Hoover
Jun-03-2009, 12:11pm
i guess over the shoulder works if you need to take it and hit the guy looking at your girl real fast??but holding it that way reminds me of a time i had to carry something else..so,its around the neck for me...plus if your a hot-shot you can swing it around your neck like a hula-hoop...
mandopixie
Jun-03-2009, 12:30pm
i guess over the shoulder works..//but holding it that way reminds me of a time I had to carry something else..
What was that..your purse? Rifle? Medication bag? Banjo?:))
woodwizard
Jun-03-2009, 1:01pm
Use to be a over one shoulder guy, (because Big Mon did it that way), for many years but read once where Roland White switched to over the head to better balance the instrument. So I tried it and liked it and I'm still playing that way. Several years that way now. I use a toneguard but the years of strapping one shoulder taught me to hold it keeping it off my body. Sometimes when I'm picking I notice even now I am holding the mandolin angled off my body. Probably don't need the toneguard. No ... it's not for sale. :)
Dan Hoover
Jun-03-2009, 7:06pm
What was that..your purse? Rifle? Medication bag? Banjo?:))
wise guy eh?ok you got me...my pourse of course...meds???thats what F-holes are for...:grin:first and last time i use one of these smile thingy's...
mandopixie
Jun-03-2009, 7:32pm
wise guy eh?ok you got me...my pourse of course...meds???thats what F-holes are for...:grin:first and last time i use one of these smile thingy's...
I suppose mine would have been the M16..if I were to play left-handed. I'm a lefty, but play righty, so I don't have any bad associations with the shoulder sling system. Ooh..I think I feel a thread coming on..
Dan Hoover
Jun-04-2009, 9:01am
I suppose mine would have been the M16..if I were to play left-handed. I'm a lefty, but play righty, so I don't have any bad associations with the shoulder sling system. Ooh..I think I feel a thread coming on..
sorry,i never had that call up...didn't mean to mislead...i've had to carry many things over my shoulder...cables,ropes,lumber..chains...now its just my wife...sometimes i wish i had a M16..M249..something?anything else to carry back then..might have worked out different..