Double Stops for newer players

[pickloser]

While recuperating from an injury, I began working on a sort of primer on double stops. If you have successfully incorporated double stops into your playing, then none of this will be new to you. If you have not been using double stops, then I hope you will find it helpful.

I have posted some of this before in another thread. I have made a lot of corrections and added several new sections, and I thought it would be best to repost the first parts with the new parts. I have outlined sections on minor chord double stops and dominant 7 double stops, but those will have to wait until after mandolin kamp.

I would appreciate corrections and suggestions. Happy pickin'!

[pickloser]

and here's the last part:

[TNT]

Very cool!.. I just took a quick look at the files but it all seems wery well done.. and a lot of information. Thank you!

[Dave Weiss]

Thank you very much

[Marty Henrickson]

Thanks!

[Mandophyte]

PickL,

Many thanks!

John

[Phil Goodson]

Laura,

You've done a great job!!
I guess people eventually find these things if they play long enough and seek out the relationships.
But you have given the mando world a way to communicate about doublestops that I've never heard anyone else have a good substitute for.

I can imagine 20 years from now, a teacher telling the student to go from the G uptent to the C stretchy. Makes sense. Easy to talk about.
Stick a cover page on and you've got a valuable book for the ages.

Thanks for all your work. Can't wait to discuss all this with you in more detail at KK.

[Alex Orr]

Funny. I actually started a mandolin related blog a week or two back for a class I'm taking on basic types of web-publishing. I did a video showing some of the same things but never got around to making an accompanying document. If I had, it would have looked a LOT like what you did Laura. That makes me feel good for a couple of reasons. First off, it shows me that my observations on movable double stop shapes weren't wacko. But more importantly, it puts out a really well-done set of charts for folks to reference and work from. Good work!

P.S. - The video I made showing a basic outline of double stop shapes is at:

http://basicmandolinlessons.blogspot.com/

Once again, great work.

[pickloser]

Thanks y'all for the kind words. I know I didn't discover anything new; I think my only contributions were deciding to name double stops (along with my friend Jason) and writing up what I learned. I know the write up is repetitive, but that's how I get things best.

I do think names for double stops is the way to go. We found it so much more easy to share discoveries--runs and licks starting and/or ending with double stops and moves between double stops--after we had named the stops.

And Phil, if in 20 years I hear somebody use any of these names, I will be tickled (hopefully not to death).

[Alex Orr]

Ooops. The blog I mentioned is at

http://meandmymandolin.blogspot.com/

For some reason I can't edit my old post. I thought there was supposed to be an edit button in this forum Seems to me like I've been allowed to edit all my other posts for the least couple of years. Did they get rid of the edit option?

[pickloser]

I got a request for a hard copy of this guide and was surprised to see my scale tone numbers just floating on the page without a grid. It's fine as it is, if you don't want a hard copy. If you do want to print any of it, you will need to insert the grid. (I have no idea how I ended up with blue grids that don't print.) Open it in Word. Click on "Table" at the top and click on "Draw Table" on the drop down menu. A floating box will appear, titled "Tables and Borders." On the right side of the table, the icon next to the very end will show a little box. Click on that, and choose the fully filled in with grid lines box. Highlight any fret board grid you want to print and click on the gridded box in the Tables and Borders box. The fretboard grid will fill in with the appropriate lines. The Tables and Borders box will remain, letting you fill in the grids for all the boxes by highlighting the blue non-gridded fretboard and clicking on the filled in grid icon. There's probably an easier way to do this, but I don't know it.

Sorry about that.

[mandroid]

Given : 3 note chords are a combination of 2 double stops
if Major, the interval between the 1st 2 are Major ,
the 2nd 2 are minor , with a minor chord it's the opposite .

so as the notes of a scale are harmonized naturally , stacking 1-3-5 on each,
my one theory class told me they are ... [M]or major [m] for minor
MmmMMm, (diminished for the 7th).

so, you should know by now,
2 notes on 2 strings at the same fret , side by side
the higher one is a 5th up
the lower one is a 4th down .

your open GMaj chord is dgbg, 1531
shifting the B down a fret makes it a minor chord

play around with just the major minor sound of neighboring strings as you go up the scale .

Hope that may be useful for those [Macs]with out the ability to use a MS word document.

[Pete Braccio]

You can open a MS Word document in Word for Mac, the free TextEdit program that comes with Mac OSX, and various other programs on a Mac.

Pete

[pickloser]

Thanks Pete. I'm gonna try and get somebody to turn my Word doc into a PDF file. I don't have the software. (And even if I did, I'm not sure I could do it with my very limited skills.)

[Rick Albertson]

You can easily make PDFs with Word (at least on a Mac). Simply access the Print Dialogue box, as if you are going to print the given document. At the bottom of the Dialogue box will be a PDF button. Clicking on that will create a PDF of the document.

Rick

[pickloser]

I don't have a MAC.

(I feel like I'm in a commercial, and I'm the klutzy inept PC guy.)

I would welcome it, if somebody wants to fill in those grid lines and convert the thing to pdf or whatever works for whomever.

[Marc Berman]

Here you go. I wasn't sure if you wanted the original separate doc's or one new pdf so I stuck with the separate ones.

[Marc Berman]

Here's the last one.

[pickloser]

Thanks Marc!

There's still no fretboard grid under a lot of the examples, but I think folks can still get the idea. If you want the grids filled in with lines, you'll have to use the original word documents and fill those in. I noted one way to do that a couple of posts up.

[Phil Goodson]

Here's a pdf as a single file. I think all the fretboard grids are visible.

[Chris Keth]

Here's a pdf as a single file. I think all the fretboard grids are visible.

It checks out on my machine. Thanks Philphool for compiling it and thank you Pickloser for writing. I'm looking forward to diving in when I have a chance.

[lespaul_79]

Nice work on the PDF. Here is a lesson I made for my students on G double stops. I'm sure there are some things that could be tweaked. But here ya go.
http://www.mandomedia.net/Assets/oth...leStops101.pdf

[LarryMando]

most discussion re doubles stops revolve around the fretting hand - my question is re the pick hand - - I assume a DS is picking two strings simultaneously (as compared to picking one string and finger plucking the other)

Any tips on how to perfect right hand?

(is the right hand DS guitar flatpicking also picking two strings at same time?)

[Phil Goodson]

most discussion re doubles stops ...re the pick hand - - I assume a DS is picking two strings simultaneously ...
Any tips on how to perfect right hand?
...

I usually treat a double stop the same as a single string. A single down stroke hitting both strings, or multiple downstrokes or down & up strokes. Or even more commonly, using tremolo.

[JeffD]

I usually treat a double stop the same as a single string. A single down stroke hitting both strings, or multiple downstrokes or down & up strokes. Or even more commonly, using tremolo.

Yes, tremolo'ed double stops can sound fantastic, and are something other instrument really can't do, so it sounds very "mandolinny".