Adult learner took several years of lessons on viola. Never played another instrument before. Wanted to learn more about chord theory, etc., so I found the fretted equivalent of viola in mandola. Have been working on it for 10 months. Love it. The only problem is that now that I know the neck, I would like to work on learning crosspicking and other right-hand work. However, there are, of course, virtually no music teaching materials written for this instrument..or in alto clef. I have now learned to read treble clef too. I am using mandolin books. However, it is awkward to play the way it is written for mandolin. I either have to put a capo on the fifth fret and work high up on neck, which is awkward spacing for fingers....or I have to make awkward position changes to higher positions in the middle of a piece, or I have to transpose down an octave and transpose in my head as I am working. I can do all this, but it is much harder than just getting a mandolin to learn the information. My question is: Could I get octave mandolin strings to work on my mandola, without causing damage to my instrument so that I at least would have it tuned GDAE and not have to buy a mandolin to get the job done? I have a Trinity College mandola- 17 inch fretboard.
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