Brand New to Mandolin--Advice?

[superfly6928]

Hi all,

I am a guitar player who lives in the New Orleans area and I just purchased my first mandolin (a Ratliff R5). As a guitar player with many years of experience and performing I have a great grasp of music concepts (chord progressions, time, tempo, etc.) but no experience whatsoever with the mandolin.

Where should I start? I noticed that both Homespun and Acutab have some training materials. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[Glassweb]

be yourself Chris... don't start with "training materials" and all that stuff... you've played guitar for awhile, you've probably got a good ear... maybe two... just start making your own sounds, your own chords... do it your way. seems like everybody these days wants to play like so and so and play such and such type of music and that's fine, but there's thousands of mandolin players doing that already. you don't need a mandolin camp, a mandolin teacher or any of that... find out who YOU are and what YOU have to say by sitting down with a beer or whatever (or nothing) and picking up your mandolin and approaching it as if you were a kid with a new toy. let it just flow... make sounds... don't be intimidated by the little 8 string beast! breathe and let it happen. play on brother, play on!

[Josh Levine]

I think it is important to have your own sound... but that will happen regardless. You don't have to sit around and randomly hit notes to create that. Since you have a good understanding of music concepts I would google "Pickloser's guide to double stops". It is free and will give you a good understanding of how all of the notes on the mandolin relate to each other spatially. Additionally, just knowing how to hold the pick correctly and the correct pick direction is important starting off. Thile has a great free video up on youtube, and Mike Marshall's mandolin fundamentals will get you going in a good direction with fundamentals. Also I like his mandolin school, which I think is on sale through the weekend. You can send him videos and he gives feedback on all sorts of stuff, plus there is a whole curriculum. Enjoy. Any questions you have you can usually find or get the answer here.

[Josh Levine]

wrong thread

[Glassweb]

I think it is important to have your own sound... but that will happen regardless. You don't have to sit around and randomly hit notes to create that. Since you have a good understanding of music concepts I would google "Pickloser's guide to double stops". It is free and will give you a good understanding of how all of the notes on the mandolin relate to each other spatially. Additionally, just knowing how to hold the pick correctly and the correct pick direction is important starting off. Thile has a great free video up on youtube, and Mike Marshall's mandolin fundamentals will get you going in a good direction with fundamentals. Also I like his mandolin school, which I think is on sale through the weekend. You can send him videos and he gives feedback on all sorts of stuff, plus there is a whole curriculum. Enjoy. Any questions you have you can usually find or get the answer here.

well Chris, there you go... two completely different schools of thought.

[Jim]

I would start with the 2 and 3 finger chord charts available here on the cafe also the ffcp scales. Then learn the "fiddle tunes" doesn't really matter from whom. Lots of great lessons on Youtube as well as Homespun ect.

[Paul Busman]

I'm with Glassweb- just have fun with it for now. One thing you might want to start right away is picking up-down-up-down which may be different from how you've played the guitar. On the mandolin, it will make for a much more fluid style.
A lot depends on the type of music you want to play. I do mostly Irish/Celtic which is mostly melody with some 2 or three finger chords thrown in. Play tunes that you already know. At first it may feel strange coming from guitar, but the mandolin fingerboard is more intuitive since the interval between string pairs is the same. You can transpose by shifting up or down one string which comes in handy. Mostly, have fun.

[lflngpicker]

Hi and Welcome! Whatever materials you find and enjoy, as an experienced guitar player much of the patterning of the fretboard will come to you much more quickly than someone starting from scratch. Plus, the ability to fret, strum, keep tempo, pick lead, sing and play simultaneously, and all of the other factors will make your learning curve steep and fast. Glad to have you and I hope you enjoy your Ratliff!

[Randi Gormley]

First off, welcome!
Now for a little bit of advice that isn't about playing your own thing.
The mandolin is not -- alas -- a "little guitar" which means that it's an instrument with its own technique, its own tradition and its own strengths and weaknesses. It's not just that it's tuned in fifths and has double strings -- you can always play a 12-string and play odd tunings on your guitar (you know the drill: DADGAD, drop D, etc. etc.). But holding the mandolin and the placement of your thumb and the angle of your fingers is NOT that of the guitar. The callouses you have on your fingers will not be in the right place for the mandolin, generally. You are beginning to learn a new instrument, not a smaller variation of one you already play. I know how to play various voices of recorder and I was at one time fairly proficient on the flute. That did not help me play the mandolin. It just helped me understand the theory behind what I was doing and gave me a good idea how much time it would take to absorb stuff.

So I'll suggest you hit up a friend who plays mandolin and let him/her show you how to hold the beast, where to place your fingers and what to do with your thumb. If you don't have a mandolin-playing friend, ask a fiddle-playing friend. Their technique is closer to mandolin than guitar technique is. Barring that, watch the teaching videos mentioned above (chris thile, mike marshall) to see how to hold the mandolin standing and sitting.

The music part is up to you. But it's always better to start from the beginning doing it right. It's less fuss in the long run than re-learning from bad habits.

[Gary Leonard]

Fretting hand, tips are more at an angle, not perpendicular to the strings. Definitely checkout some introductory right hand, left hand technique training. You don't want to be unlearning something months down the road. Like a martial art, fundamentals are extremely important here.

[zedmando]

Lots of good stuff here--I just started in January--and I've played guitar & bass for many years--so I could skip some things, but others are different on mandolin.

I really like Don Julin's books, Mandolin for Dummies & mandolin Exercises for Dummies.
That & this site, mostly--an talking with another guitar player I know who picked up mandolin.

[superfly6928]

Wow! Thanks to all for some very good and helpful advice. I got a kick out of the first two (from Glasser and JWalterWeatherman) because they were polar opposites. Both were good advice. Glassweb and Paul, I will spend some time just getting to know the instrument--just freely playing it and enjoying it's uniqueness. JWalterWeatherman, I will definitely check out the Mike Marshall stuff and "Pickloser's guide to doublestops." Jim, I didn't even realize that mandolin cafe had free training--thanks for pointing that out. It sounds like a good place to start.
Thanks also to Gary, Randi, Jim, zedmando and lflngpicker for the kind welcome and good advice.

I am excited about learning this new instrument and incorporating it into my show. The Ratliff R5 arrives next Monday!

[Nashville]

How quickly do you want to learn? How serious are you about learning mandolin? There is a fast track. The more time you have the mandolin in your hands the faster you will advance. Couple that with more productive use of time when the mandolin is in your hands. Noodling will only get you so far, but concentrated learning of melody, rhythm and technique for the mandolin will advance you further faster; also known as lessons. Noodling is important too, but needs to be paired with a focused learning approach.

Determine what learning method(s) are best for you. You mentioned learning DVDs so this might be your inclination. Homespun Tapes has some good introductory level video lesson. I recommend those by Butch Baldassari. There some good lesson sites like http://www.banjobenclark.com/ and http://www.mandolessons.com/ that are affordable. Depends on your budget. Depends on which teacher you like.

There is a ton of free stuff on the internet/youtube, but a lot of it is very amateurish, though still possible to extract some value.

If you prefer live teacher lessons then there is much available also, in person or by Skype. This is more expensive but works well for certain individuals. One lesson is about the cost of one DVD and you can play the DVD over and over again, but you can't ask it questions.

No matter what style of music you want to play, it is extremely helpful to learn mandolin repertoire. It is just a ton more fun to learn fiddle tunes than to just learn scales or exercises. Learning a variety of fiddle tunes will teach your finger muscles new ways to move. Repeat until you can do with eyes closed and without thinking. Even if you will play blues, jazz or rock, learning some bluegrass tunes and double stops will be of great advantage. Learning tremolo technique is important and essential to the mandolin, even if you seldom need it.

Then there are books with notation and/or tab. Definitely get a chord book or chart. Then there are mandolin camps. So many resources nowadays. It's great. Have fun!

[Theo W.]

First off... Get yourself a tiny-sized capo and a set of finger picks. Then you'll be ready.


:cool:

[renoyd]

Beth Patterson lives in NO and could probably get you oriented quickly to start off on the right foot. Maybe some lessons with or just meeting and jamming with her would be helpful. While her main instruments are bouzouki and octave mandolin, I imagine she also plays mandolin or could introduce you to some mandolinists she has played with. An interesting person to be sure and musically very well rounded beyond her Celtic foundation.

[choctaw61]

Pete martin has a lot of great material also.He's a member here.Check him out at Petimarpress.(nfi),Lots of great things and people here at the cafe to help you out getting started.congrats.on the ratliff I'm drooling thinking about that purchase.About time i give Audey a call myself.Welcome to the cafe!!If u don't like that ratliff just send up here to Winn parish lol.

[superfly6928]

Hi Nashville. I want to learn pretty quickly and I am a goal-oriented, disciplined guy (who tries to have fun too). I Checked Out The Butch Baldassari lessons on Homespun. They look great. I'm going to purchase them. What about the Sam Bush lessons? Yes? No?

You are right on track about building repetoire. I bought a Steve Kaufman play-along for mandolin that has 40 common bluegrass songs. Any other recommendations for repetoire resources?

Renoyd, I have been looking for local mando players around New Orleans without much luck. Thanks for pointing out Beth Patterson. I listened to a few of her tunes. Nice!

Choctaw61, Pete Martin DOES have a lot of great material. I just checked out his Web site. Wow, what a great resource!

Thanks to all for the kind advice.Now if that Ratliff would only get hear soon...;-).