Double Stops

[MikeB]

I hope this is the best forum for this question....

To my ear, harldly anything defines the sound of the mandolin better than a tremolo, except maybe a tremolo played with double stops. #

Now, getting a good tremolo is a technique that takes the same kind of practice regardless of which string or how many strings you are playing on, in general.

Double stops, on the other hand seem to be more of a memory exercise than a technique. #Co-mando.com has a bunch of exericises for playing double stops, arranged by key, in I, IV, V groupings. #This is great.

But, when I play them, they just feel like a random bunch of two note 'chords', i.e., I can't get them organized in my head in any meaningful way. #For one thing, there are so many of them for each chord--maybe 10 or so. #I get overwhelmed. # I love how they sound, find nothing hard about playing them, but how do I get them imbedded in my memory (like the most of the chords are), when there are so many and they are so similar to each other (and the shapes repeat themselves on adjacent strings for different keys)?

I realize this isn't much different than asking "how do I learn to play scales?," but something FEELS and sounds different about them. #There isn't an 'ascending' or 'descending' pattern to rely on like with scales.

Anybody got any suggestions, memory tricks, or exercises that might help me with these things?

[John Flynn]

I am certainly no expert on this, but I do a lot of double stops and I am happy with them. I learn them like I learn chords. I find that most of them are parts of common chord shapes and I think of them that way. It's like that beer, "Chords Light!" OK, I know, not that funny.

I also find that different D-stops work better in different settings. If I am playing solo, I try to keep the root note of the chord in there. If I am with a group, I figure the group has the root covered and I will chose two other chord tones, leaving the root out. I have tried to practicing arpeggios, which in theory should help with double stops, but honestly, it hasn't done that much for me.

With my short attention span, I have never been able to say, "OK, I am going to devote myself to learning double stops," or for that matter any other technique. The way I pick stuff up is I hear a sound I like on a tune and say, "I want to do that." Then when I have done it on one tune, then I just start trying to apply it everywhere. Where it works, I keep it. Where it doesn't, I don't.

The way I learned them was by shapes. It may sound strange but when I play double stops I see them in shapes. Kind of like a triangle 2 patterns.

[camando]

MikeB

I agree fully with the previous posters. The double stops are most commonly the arpeggios. If you learn them you can use them all over the neck. There are only a few simple "patterns" or shapes and you will commit them to memory with practice. I am a visual learner so I have photocopies of the fret board and I put everything on them. Scales, arpeggios, double stops etc. It really helps me to learn. Also, if this makes sense, practice the arpeggios starting on the first finger and then the second finger. It too will help you learn the fretboard and be able to get you playing the doublestops all over the neck. Start first finger from the root the slide your second finger to the root. Then move first finger to the third or second note in the arpeggio. Next move the second finger to the third. Try it ....I promise it will help. Goodluck

Chris in Canada

[hellindc]

Another appoach, not necessarily better, is to learn your double stops on the two (four) bottom strings, i.e., the high ones. If you then move up (to lower strings) one (two) strings, you'll be in a corresponding key (the fourth relative to the one you played earlier). For example, if you learn to play stops in the key of G, simply moving "up" to the A strings with the same pattern puts you in C. Uh--it's not as complicated as I'm making it sound. The fact that the insrument is tuned in fifths is what makes it relatively easier to learn than, say, for the guitar.

[MikeB]

These are great, you guys, thanks! I'm taking them all in. I hope more players weigh in on this.

This website is like a library, a music store, and a school all at once. I love it.

Mike Buesseler

[Coy Wylie]

Hey Camando, is there a site somewhere with a blank of the fingerboard to printed off and used in this way? I am a visual learner too and I like your idea about photocopying all the double stops for a particular key.

[camando]

Hi Willard

I can try and scan one and send it to you but the quality might not be great. I took an hour or so and made up a few different styles i.e. first 7 frets and whole board, 12 on a sheet six on a sheet etc. Then I got my lovely wife to photocopy at work. I have a friend who is really computer sauvey, he might be able to put it on the net, completed. Although, for me a lot of the learning goes on during the creation of the thing. Some other members might chime in with a site. I just have too much time on my hands due to shift work!! Oh, Willard I don't really photocopy all the shapes for each key. I just have the different formations showing root-third-fifth. When you understand that, it is easy to apply all over the fretboard and in many keys. It can start to get complicated when you start talking perfect fourths or fifths but as an earlier poster mentioned "learn the shapes". Goodluck

Chris in Canada

[Dfyngravity]

My suggestiion to learning double stops is to memorize your fret board (note wise) atleast up to the 12th fret. Not only will this help you with your double stops but with all aspects of playing. Now for some basic music theory. All major and minor chords are made up of 3 notes. The majors are the I, III, and the V of the scale of the chord you want. So if you want a G chord, it is made up of a G(I), B(III) and a D(V). The minor chords are made up of the I, a flat III and a V. So for a Gm it would be G(I), Bb(bIII), anda D(V). If you want a 7th you just add in the flat 7th of the scale or if you want a major 7th you add in the 7th of the scale. Now back to double stops. Double stop are two not from a chord. They will almost always be a (I,III), (I,V) or a (I,VII). Now you will find others too, but these are the most common ones. Ok, now the you understand how they are formed and you have memorized the fretboard just put the two together. Essentially you will be memorizing just patterns like the last couple posting have said, but there are also many double stops that don't come from a normal chord pattern and this should help you. You won't have to memorize all the double stops because you will know where are the notes are and can just put em' together. And I really would memorize the fretboard, I did it and it has improved my play tremdously. Now I can play up to and past the 12th fret just as comfortably as if I were in first position. Hope this helps some

[mandroid]

General music theory:
Scale harmonizing up the pairs of adjacent strings.
If you stack 3 notes 1 3 5 , of the notes of the key 135 is major interval 1>3 (3>5 minor)
246 2>4 is minor (4>6 maj)
scale based triads are MmmMMmo, the 7th one is diminished, made of 7 9 11, or 7,24 (next 8va.)

[Coy Wylie]

Hi Willard

I can try and scan one and send it to you but the quality might not be great. I took an hour or so and made up a few different styles i.e. first 7 frets and whole board, 12 on a sheet six on a sheet etc. Then I got my lovely wife to photocopy at work. I have a friend who is really computer sauvey, he might be able to put it on the net, completed. Although, for me a lot of the learning goes on during the creation of the thing. Some other members might chime in with a site. I just have too much time on my hands due to shift work!! Oh, Willard I don't really photocopy all the shapes for each key. I just have the different formations showing root-third-fifth. When you understand that, it is easy to apply all over the fretboard and in many keys. It can start to get complicated when you start talking perfect fourths or fifths but as an earlier poster mentioned "learn the shapes". Goodluck

Chris in Canada

Thanks Chris, if you ever get those fretboard blanks on the internet somewhere, be sure to let me know. I guess I will have to do it your way and draw them out for myself. Outstanding idea though as I am also a visual learner.

[Coy Wylie]

I created what I was looking for in a Word file. If anyone wants it they can PM me and I'll email the file.

[tiltman]

I play most of my double stops out of the pentatonic scale of the root.
There is an excellent book by Niles Hokkanen (probably mispelled) about pentatonic scale theory which has helped my playing considerably.

[John Zimm]

I guess I play them a little less well thought out. What I do is think of the key I am in, and just remember that if I am playing a doublestop I have to keep the sharps in mind. In this way I have learned doublestops just by playing around, remembering a few patterns, and seeing what I like. It helps to play a melody on a single string and then harmonize it with the next highest string. This helps you learn what sounds good and what sounds sour.

-John.

[brianf]

I find that all the notes you want are in the chords. Double stops are just the chords, with one or two fingers lifted.