can someone define "chop"?

[stetson]

I just want to be sure I'm on the same page with everyone else.

I'd call chop chords as 1/4 note strokes. What about anyone else?

[terzinator]

it's the "chicka" in the "boom-chicka"... yeah, if the quarter note gets the beat, it's one stroke per quarter note.

[greg_tsam]

It can also be this.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlMJfX_V6Ic

[Ivan Kelsall]

My 'chops' are a single,'percussive' downstroke on the off-beat - short & sharp. 'Full bore' in an instrumental & more laid back behind a vocal,
Ivan

[Mike Bunting]

My 'chops' are a single,'percussive' downstroke on the off-beat - short & sharp. 'Full bore' in an instrumental & more laid back behind a vocal,
Ivan

Yes, more like the "chick" of " boom- chick". You don't want to double what the guitar might be doing.

[Jack Roberts]

I may not be good at much, but I have chopping down.

Here's what I do:
I listen for the boom CHIK boom CHICK of the rhythm. Having a good bass player in the band helps.

On the CHICK I play a downstroke, hard or soft depending on the tune, using a closed chord pattern.

Right after playing the chord I lift my fingers off the fingerboard, and the CHICK becomes CHOP.

It takes practice to get e right sound, but this, I believe, is the classic chop.

If you search "bluegrass mandolin chop lesson" on YouTube there are plenty of videos showing how this is done.

The chop is one of the keys to keeping time for the rest of the band, so if you don't have a natural sense of rhythm ( I don't) practice with a metronome and tap your foot before you try it in a band. At a jam the chop is used (softly) when you are not taking a break.

[Ivan Kelsall]

You got it Jack - that's the 'off beat ' downstroke. Lifting the fingers off the fingerboard damps the strings,making the sound short & sharp. Having done the same on Banjo for 48 years,except on Banjo you 'pull up' on the strings & then damp them,it was easy on Mandolin,
Ivan

[Bauzl]

A chop is done on the off beat as mentioned in the previous posts.
It is also very percussive. That is, you lift off the fretting fingers immediatly after the stroke, leaving very little of the chord ringing but much of the percussive sound.
So you can't use open strings for chops. If you play a three finger chord make sure to dampen the e string with your pinky.
The deep strings are more important for procducing the chop sound than the high strings. You can even chop with just the G and D strings.

And there is the Gipsy Chop, used in Jazz e.g. by Django Reinhard. Here the chord can ring a little longer.

[Ivan Kelsall]

One thing i find myself not doing,is noting the 4th string if i use the standard 'D' chord shape further up the neck (E).The 4th string comes over as more of a tubby 'thump' than a true note,so i usually just play the barre chord across the strings & leave the 4th string with the barre'd note - 'B',instead of the 'E' at the 9th fret.You get less of a 'thump' & for me it just sounds better,but as in most things,it's a matter of personal taste,
Ivan;)

81348

[Gerry Hastie]

In terms of it's place in the music think 'snare drum' and this may give further ideas about where you do a wee shuffle during or at the end of phrases. Ivan's got it down it terms of the form of the chop and issues about using different shapes.

This video may be useful:

[Jack Roberts]

Before I mastered the chop, I spent a lot of time working on closed, four and three finger chords, and transitioning between them without unnecessary finger motion. Learn the chords first, and take up the chop later: you'll get much better results.

[Joel Glassman]

Sure--To cut something into small pieces with repeated sharp
blows. :disbelief: Sorry--what was the question?

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Jack Roberts - "Learn the chords first, and take up the chop later: you'll get much better results.". Errrr - If you hadn't learned the chords first,what would you be a choppin' of jack ?,:grin:
Ivan;)

[mandolirius]

When you really get deep into this you discover there are really several different kinds of chops, using all or just part of the chord shapes and with varying right hand techniques. As someome said, a lot of the time just a two finger chord, usually on the G & D strings sounds best. I use a lot of three-finger chops, chops with extra bits (more like a chop-a) and even some chords with open strings like an F chord played 5-3-O-1. You can mute the open string to make it work as a chop chord. There are more variations I can think of but they get pretty difficult to describe with words.

One thing you can try, and I used this rhythm technique almost exlcusively when I played in a Klezmer band, is to chop with an upstroke. It also works well in a gypsy-jazz setting where the guitar player is playing heavy strokes on the chords, usually accenting the lower strings. It seems to place the chop in a different spot. I haven't found it too useful for bluegrass but I'm trying to retire as a bluegrass mandolin player anyway. I bought me a bass and am migrating to the other side of the beat!

[Bertram Henze]

http://www.readydepot.com/catalog/Pork%20Chop%20can%20md.JPG

[AlanN]

chop with an upstroke.

Early in my playing days, I saw a guy jamming at a festival doing this exclusively. I was intrigued.

[Jeroen]

it's the "chicka" in the "boom-chicka"

I hear many mandolin players do a "ka-chick" instead, hitting the unmuted and hardly fretted strings strings with an upstroke somewhere between the ghost boom and chop chick.

For some reason I used to do that too, but I wonder if anyone actually likes that sound.

[Mike Bunting]

I hear many mandolin players do a "ka-chick" instead, hitting the unmuted and hardly fretted strings strings with an upstroke somewhere between the ghost boom and chop chick.

For some reason I used to do that too, but I wonder if anyone actually likes that sound.

I think that it clutters up the sound.