Identifying the problems

[JiminRussia]

I have tried and tried to analyze some of the rought spots in my music playing, but it takes me forever to determie the actual cause of the problem. I have found that I have more of a problem getting my fingers out of the way after fretting a note than I do in getting to the fret for the next note. This usually results in a muted string somewhere. This took me a loooong time to figure out. It just seems hard for me to identify where, and sometimes with which hand, I'm making the mistake, especially with regard to timing. I have tried recording myself (not too much help) and playing really slowly which is fine if you want to do "Soldiers Joy" at 60 BPS, and always comes out perfect, but I was wondering if any of you guys had any tips on identifying where we are going wrong.

[s1m0n]

I was wondering if any of you guys had any tips on identifying where we are going wrong.

At the risk of taking a cheap shot, I'd say that where you're going wrong is that you're thinking too much.

Play Soldier's Joy or any other tune one click slower than the fastest speed you can play it cleanly, and then practise it like that over and over until your fingers know what to do without guidance from your brain. THEN you'll be fast. You need to cut your brain out of the loop, and the only way to do that is to play a lot. If you do it like this, you won't need to worry about fingers and frets--your fingers will get to the right place on time.

Instead of thinking about the mechanics of what's happening with your fingers, concentrate on getting good tone. Let your fingers figger out how to make the right sounds happen. You want to create an ear=>fingers circuit, not an ear=>brain=>fingers circuit.

[duuuude]

Good advice! I've found the only things I play quickly & cleanly are those played from the heart, not the brain. In other words tunes I've played over & over forever that no longer require concious thought to produce. Guess I'm just unconcious alot of the time now.
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[Bob DeVellis]

Although I agree in part, I'll also partially, and respectfully, disagree. I've found that when I consistently have a problem, its presistence is kind of a tipoff that my fingers aren't going to solve it on their own. So, I try to analyze what I'm doing wrong. One way is to play at speed but instantly stop when the problem occurs and ask, "okay, what did I just do?" Once I figure out what's wrong, then I can practice avoiding the error instead of practicing repeating it over and over. Mistakes I find myself making are finger angles that interfere with adjacent strings or keeping one finger down too long because I'm using it as a pivot for my hand position. Both of those can result in a string being partially muted when it should be ringing cleanly. Also, depending on the instrument, the best finger position relative to the fret varies somewhat. Some sound cleaner right behind the fret whereas others actually sound cleaner when the finger pressure is right between the two adjacent frets. Of course, your milage may vary.

What the other guys have said also makes sense. Eventually, it all has to become automatic with no thinking involved. We all have our own best way of learning stuff and my observations are just one more idea to try.

[Fretbear]

I have become increasing aware of two aspects lately (after more years than I want to think about) One is what Simon said; listen to the tone that you are producing, if it is not good then all the notes in the world, fast, slow or whatever, are for nothing; you are trying to produce music, which is nothing but sound, hopefully pleasant sound. The second thing is to reduce and ultimately remove struggle in your playing; you can't relax and enjoy yourself if you are struggling and tensing up; that unfortunately will only come with intense and dedicated practice. There's no magic pill....

[mandocrucian]

1) Tension. both mental and physical

2) Continually lifting left hand fingers when fretting the next note with a different finger*

2a) *sometimes this is the only way to play sequential notes on adjacent strings cleanly because of finger size vs. neck width. #A LOT of players would be better playing an instrument with a slightly wider neck.

3) Pick direction is random/disorganized, making it difficult to insert additional notes because it derails whatever pick pattern has been previously learned on that tune.

4) No substanial ear>hand connection.

5) Too hung up on playing fast; willingness to slop it for speed.

Niles Hokkanen
<span style='color:red'>Oct. 3-6: Beginner Mandolin Boot Camp</span> - 4H Center in Front Royal, VA (http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/northern/adult.html#L2)

Nov. 7-10: Advanced Beginner/Low Intermediate Mando Boot Camp - 4H Center in Front Royal, VA

[jasona]

My progression has slowed somewhat in terms of numbers of tunes learned while I have slowed everything down and worked on the fundamentals to ensure I have them down pat. Loose pick grip, loose wrist, light fretting touch, not moving fingers until they are needed, tone. I'm playing my whole repertoire over and over and over, in many cases relearning my pick direction from scratch, to ensure everything is in place. Its paying off for me however--even my chop is ringing louder with a lighter pick grip rather than really digging in.

[Jeffers]

I second jasona exactly. After playing for 18 months it was made clear to me that my pick strokes were all over the place and my left pinky was constantly reching for the heavens. It took A LOT of reworking stuff to drop these bad habits and I didn't learn any new tunes for quite a while - 6 weeks maybe? It was a real pain to do this but 8 months down the line I am reaping the benefits and playing better than ever.

Maybe your pick strokes are fine but I find getting back to basics usually irons out the problems sooner or later. If you're really struggling, how about getting some lessons somewhere? That's exactly the sort of thing music teachers are for!

[pdlstl]

2 things set me free speed-wise...

1. As mentioned above, proper pick direction is crucial. Period. End of story.

2. After coming from a guitar background, I had to learn that generally on the mando, each finger is responsible for two frets.