Slide Mandolin Instruction? Does It Exist?

[Texas]

Without going into too many personal details it looks like if I am going to play the mandolin I will need to do so with a slide.

I have had severe Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis since I was five years old and at fifty-seven my hands are functional, but not functional enough to play standard cords.

I have played around with a slide and have found that I can do fairly well for a beginner, but I would really like some instruction. So far I have found little to no information.

My brother (RIP) played guitar and was very good. When he passed I ended up with his guitar collection and three older Mandolins that are not great quality, but it brought out an old desire that is to play. I recently bought the Loar 520vs and am very happy with it. It fits me, but a slide will be necessary.

If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.
Texas

[Morebasser]

First, you need to find a suitable slide - ceramic, metal or glass and they all differ a lot...
I think a good idea is to try the short slide which is about half the length of a normal one and is used mostly for (guitar) soloing. I should be proportional to the mandolin neck.

Second, choose on which finger to put the slide.
If it is on the point finger, you will not be able to mute the part of the strings between the slide and the nut while playing (and that is very useful sometimes).
If the slide is on the little finger, the control and the power the wouldn't be enough, may be...

...but the most important thing, in my opinion, is to change the tune of the mandolin - for example, use some open chord-tuning (like A D F# A from low to high or G D H D... or whatever you can think of). This way you will have intervals, different from fifths like minor and major thirds and the slide will need to move less over the fretboard when playing melodies.
The strings should be changed too with suitable gauges, of course and heavy as possible.

Last, but not least - set up your mandolin for slide-playing. Shortly, this means to use very high action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard).

If you have any further questions, you're welcome!

[Texas]

Thank you for the reply. I have several glass slides that work great, so the slide action is taken care of at this point.

I am going to have to read and reread your suggestions as to tuning. This is new to me, but I will research so I understand what I need to do.

After I get the tuning complete, I will work on strings and Bridge, but for now, step one is understanding the tuning.

Thanks again...

[Morebasser]

Here is a list of guitar tunings and you may use any four strings of any of them (look for the "open tunings" - guitar players use them very often when playing with slide):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_tunings

Hope this will help

...of course you may stay on the standard mandolin tuning but it will be really hard for the left hand.

...and the easiest way is to create your own tuning

[Texas]

Here is a list of guitar tunings and you may use any four strings of any of them (look for the "open tunings" - guitar players use them very often when playing with slide):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_tunings

Hope this will help

...of course you may stay on the standard mandolin tuning but it will be really hard for the left hand.

...and the easiest way is to create your own tuning

Just so we are on the same page reference tuning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandolin#Tuning

The chart on this page shows—to me—that when pressing the tuned "G" string on the 6th fret I should get a "D" which should match the next string "D"; same 6th fret will be true for the "D" to get "A" and "A" to get "E".

Thanks.

[John Flynn]

Not exactly the advice you were looking for, but a banjo ukulele, set up to play in mandolin tuning, is very, very easy on the left hand, reasonably loud and reasonably inexpensive. You might not need a slide after all.

If you are going to play with a slide and metal strings on your Loar 520vs, I would suggest starting with four strings only and use flatwounds. Double-coursed strings can sound kind of wonky with a slide, although it can be done. Flatwounds will make for smoother sliding.

[Morebasser]

No - they mean the 7th fret
This tuning is good for simple melodies and no chording - like "O sole mio"... And if you play chords, they should be only fifths (and that is no chord and is sounding boring after the second song).

What I'm thinking of is that a good idea might be if you have a minor and a major chord in open tuning - for example (from low to high) G H D F#. The advantages are at least three - the low three strings are a major chord, the high three are a minor chord and the scales are played in three frets:

A major:

------------------------2---3-

----------------2---4--------

--------2---3----------------

-2--4------------------------

 A  H   C#  D   E   F# G#  A

[Texas]

Not exactly the advice you were looking for, but a banjo ukulele, set up to play in mandolin tuning, is very, very easy on the left hand, reasonably loud and reasonably inexpensive. You might not need a slide after all.

If you are going to play with a slide and metal strings on your Loar 520vs, I would suggest starting with four strings only and use flatwounds. Double-coursed strings can sound kind of wonky with a slide, although it can be done. Flatwounds will make for smoother sliding.

At this point the Loar sits and looks pretty. As I mentioned above, my brother (RIP) had a collection of guitars and mandolins. The mandolins are not high quality, but perfect to learn and experiment with so that is my direction.

The ukulele, although interesting, is not something I will try now considering I have at least four mandolins here in the living room.

Four strings and flat wound strings are the two items that I will probably experiment with soon.

At this point I am simply learning the basics of music so lots of reading and reading and reading. This forum is a valuable resource; I really enjoy the expertise and advise, along with my constant listening to Siri/XM channel 61 (been listening from Sat day one) and am slowly picking up a few hints here and there.

Thanks.

[Marcus CA]

I have played around with a slide and have found that I can do fairly well for a beginner, but I would really like some instruction. So far I have found little to no information.

I took an intro slide mandolin workshop from Rich del Grosso a few years ago, which was tremendous. I don't know if he has written about slide techniques much in his instruction books, but he does give online lessons. NFI.

http://mandolinblues.com/lessons.html

[Texas]

I took an intro slide mandolin workshop from Rich del Grosso a few years ago, which was tremendous. I don't know if he has written about slide techniques much in his instruction books, but he does give online lessons. NFI.

http://mandolinblues.com/lessons.html

Marcus, This sounds interesting. I will contact and ask about slide. Looks like online lessons are available. I will post back what I discover.

Thanks.