Am I biting off more than I can chew?

**joni24** · Apr-15-2012, 4:12pm

OK, I "discovered" mandolin 9 months ago when I bought my first instrument. Now I'm completely hooked and wanting to learn as much as I can as fast as I can. Here's some of the stuff I'm trying to focus on: FFcP, mastering double stops, playing up the neck, learning more chords, basic crosspicking, smooth tremolos, improvising off of basic melodies, increasing my speed, improving my tone, and learning as many fiddle tunes as I can absorb. Am I crazy to want it all? Is there a recommended order in which all this good stuff should be tackled?

**Jim** · Apr-15-2012, 5:13pm

No, there is no particular order and crazy or not learning all of it is what it's all about. If you are not frustrated by taking on such a task then more power to you. I've been doing this for quite a while and your list of things you're working on is pretty close to mine. All I can say is have fun doing it, I know I do.

**billkilpatrick** · Apr-15-2012, 5:51pm

crazy is good and the answer is "no" to the biting part and "yes!" to all the rest - particularly ffcp - (it's a great tool)

- bill (sometime resident of quechee)

**Sandy Beckler** · Apr-15-2012, 5:56pm

Here's some of the stuff I'm trying to focus on: FFcP, mastering double stops, playing up the neck, learning more chords, basic crosspicking, smooth tremolos, improvising off of basic melodies, increasing my speed, improving my tone, and learning as many fiddle tunes as I can absorb.

Join the club.....

**August Watters** · Apr-15-2012, 5:59pm

It's good to work on more and varied skills, as long as you feel each is reinforcing the other. Keep your time for each activity short, and move on to the next thing before you get tired. I like to work on one idea for 15-20 minutes, and then move on to the next. I like to think of four categories for using practice time, each occupying the same amount of time:

New Rep - things I haven't seen or heard yet
Old Rep - tunes I know and am maintaining or improving
Technical/Conceptual exercises - the calisthenics of practice for mind and fingers
Improvisation exercises - built around a chord progression, melody, scale, rhythm, etc.

If you find these categories useful, you might try organizing your practice time this way, which will help to balance the way you use your practice time. Your list, for example, looks heavy on the technical/conceptual side, which is fine if that balance works for you -- but I'd be careful not to burn out on the technical exercises; be sure to get plenty of time in playing tunes!

**joni24** · Apr-15-2012, 6:32pm

Originally Posted by August Watters

Keep your time for each activity short, and move on to the next thing before you get tired. I like to work on one idea for 15-20 minutes, and then move on to the next.

Wow, thanks everyone for the encouragement and great advice! I agree that short spurts of practice are best for me: either when my arthritis kicks in or I start to get bored, I know it's time to move on to something different. The important thing for me is that the fun needs to be in the journey, not just in the ultimate goal.

**Santiago** · Apr-15-2012, 6:40pm

Short spurts of quality practice builds quality playing. Learn things slowly and cleanly not fast. Long jags of low-quality practice builds bad habits.

**JeffD** · Apr-15-2012, 6:50pm

Originally Posted by joni24

Am I crazy to want it all? Is there a recommended order in which all this good stuff should be tackled?

So yes, do all that, but make sure you play regularly with other people. Sit in on and join a weekly jam. Gets some context and reinforcement.

**OldSausage** · Apr-15-2012, 6:52pm

And eat a balanced diet containing lots of fruit and vegetables.

**John Duncan** · Apr-15-2012, 6:57pm

Get it all!

**joni24** · Apr-15-2012, 7:07pm

Originally Posted by JeffD

... make sure you play regularly with other people. Sit in on and join a weekly jam. Gets some context and reinforcement.

The best I've found so far is a monthly bluegrass jam which I attend religiously. Hey JeffD, being from upstate NY would you by chance know of any weekly jams east of Albany?

**jstout** · Apr-15-2012, 7:24pm

No guts..........No Glory.
good luck

**JeffD** · Apr-16-2012, 12:23am

Originally Posted by joni24

Hey JeffD, being from upstate NY would you by chance know of any weekly jams east of Albany?

East of Albany? You mean Mass, VT? Hmmm. Not my normal stomping grounds but I did find this: http://lakeparan.wordpress.com/music-calendar/

**Ivan Kelsall** · Apr-16-2012, 12:34am

Jim Richmond has it right. I've done exactly the same as you & what Jim seem to have done,but i've done it within the context of learning tunes.In other words i've learned 'only' what any particular song or instrumental requires. Over a period of time,all these bits become part of your bag of skills,to be used 'as & when' you need them. The only thing i've left out is the 'crosspicking' bit,which for me,has limited appeal,
Ivan

**Justus True Waldron** · Apr-16-2012, 2:00am

Joni -

Not that I am at all an expert at any of this, but your list sounds quite similar to my practice habits! My thinking is that when you play music you utilise all of these things combined, so why focus on practising only one thing for weeks at a time? It could also just be I have a short musical attention span while practising... I like to mix it up. I'd also like to second the advice to learn more tunes and play with people more. Once you have the basic understanding of how bluegrass works, learning different tunes almost allows you to mix and match phrases, which can be helpful. Playing with people gives all this work application. Are you still practising any of the stuff from Jesse Cobb? I was very into that for a few weeks, but sadly now I've been spending a lot more time arranging/planning and practising with the band I started for recording/some shows coming up. Still, even the couple weeks of arpeggios (Or "arpreggios" as Jesse seemed to say) made a noticeable difference. I'm looking forward to getting back to practising my instrument, rather than practising how to be a band... it's all good though.

**Bertram Henze** · Apr-16-2012, 2:50am

Chewing might take a while, but that's where the flavor is coming from...

**joni24** · Apr-16-2012, 8:40am

Originally Posted by JeffD

East of Albany? You mean Mass, VT? Hmmm. Not my normal stomping grounds but I did find this: http://lakeparan.wordpress.com/music-calendar/

Good find! I've gone to 3 of these already... one is my favorite monthly jam, one is open mike (and I'm not really into that), and another is almost strictly contra music with 3-4 very accomplished fiddlers. The others are 60-90 mins away, but I think it's time to check some of them out. No guts, no glory, right?

**joni24** · Apr-16-2012, 8:54am

Originally Posted by Justus True Waldron

Are you still practising any of the stuff from Jesse Cobb?

Hey Justus, nice to hear from you. So far I've logged about 10 hours on Jesse's recommended scales, arpeggios, etc. I remember he "promised" that after about 100 hours of practicing this stuff we'd become much more confident on improvising during breaks. Since that class I've discovered FFcP, which covers much of the same exercises and is even more portable across the fingerboard. For those not familiar with FFcP, here's a link: http://jazzmando.com/ffcp.shtml

**JeffD** · Apr-16-2012, 12:42pm

Originally Posted by joni24

Good find! I've gone to 3 of these already... one is my favorite monthly jam, one is open mike (and I'm not really into that), and another is almost strictly contra music with 3-4 very accomplished fiddlers. The others are 60-90 mins away, but I think it's time to check some of them out. No guts, no glory, right?

Check 'em out. You really never know what you are up for.

I routinely travel an hour or hour and half to go to a jam. Often I make a road trip out of it, load up the car with other musicians who would go but for the gas money. There is something very very cool about filling a jeep with two mandolins, two guitars, and a banjo, and associated musicians, and heading out.

Turn on Charlie Poole's "Hungry Hash House" and crank it, and head out on the highway lookin' for old timey adventure.

**pefjr** · Apr-16-2012, 12:54pm

You just have a mild case of Mandolin Fever. There is no known cure, so just get used to eyestrain from reading music, to the sore finger tips from pressing too hard on the strings, and relax, enjoy, and develop your own STYLE. Don't copy, create.

**dang** · Apr-17-2012, 8:25am

I would throw in a bit of advice here, while working on all of these exercises - USE A METRONOME!

You will be glad you did later, to get used to proper timing... Also it is almost like playing with another person except other people vary their tempo more.

**RobP** · Apr-17-2012, 1:29pm

Ok, so here is my take on this question based on my own 10-yr journey.

I think having lofty goals and vision is great. Aspire to learn as much as you can about as many aspects
playing as you can. I have found, however, that it is MUCH faster to "kinda" learn many different things
than to learn a couple of things very very well. I get discouraged when I can't play the things I am trying
to learn with the clarity and tone I would like to get, and that happens to me when I am trying to do
too many things in parallel. These days, I prioritize. I might spend a whole hour practicing one phrase of
a new fiddle tune, for instance, or a even new scale pattern. I find that my tone and clarity goals are
more important than my overall repertoire goal -- more like a depth versus breadth thing for me at the moment.
Your mileage may vary, and hey, you may also learn way quicker than I do

Enjoy,

Rob