how to separate tremolo notes?

[PhilGox]

Hello,

How do you play two same tremoloed notes so that you really hear two notes?
I just can't do that.

For exemple:
If I want to play A~B~C~, there's no problem. (I write ~ for tremolo)
But if I want to play A~A~C~, it sounds like A~~C~
I've tried to quickly stop my tremolo to separate the two A notes but it doesn't work very well.
Is there an efficient known trick to do that?

Thanks in advance.

Happy new year :)

[Jacob Hagerty]

Hello,

How do you play two same tremoloed notes so that you really hear two notes?
I just can't do that.

For exemple:
If I want to play A~B~C~, there's no problem. (I write ~ for tremolo)
But if I want to play A~A~C~, it sounds like A~~C~
I've tried to quickly stop my tremolo to separate the two A notes but it doesn't work very well.
Is there an efficient known trick to do that?

Thanks in advance.

Happy new year :)

Awe yes. Here is something to try; when playing tremolo the notes should add up correctly...in other words it’s not a random flurry of notes. Therefore if the tremolo is mathematically correct you should be able to emphasize a particularly beat or note. So when tremoloing hear and emphasize the beat. To practice you may want to over emphasize. Practicing this will create separation between the notes.

[PhilGox]

Thanks, it's an idea to work.

I've tried emphasizing too.
I feel this can work well on measured tremolos with practice.
But I don't always use measured tremolos.
And, as tremolo is a very fast serie of notes it's hard to emphasize only the very first note.
I can emphazise 4 or 3 of them but rarely only the very first.
So the result doesn't sound very precise for me.
Do I just need more practice?
Or is there a more efficient technique?

[colorado_al]

You can momentarily mute the string just before the beat for the next note.

[Lorenzo LaRue]

....This woman on YouTube does a very good job of teaching tremolo...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxvD41asKCY&feature=related

[crisscross]

I've tried emphasizing too.
I feel this can work well on measured tremolos with practice.
But I don't always use measured tremolos.
I have the same problem. So I use a measured tremolo for quarter notes
and vary the tremolo speed at longer notes.

Home on the Range as an example

Oh give me my home: I use sextuplets with the last upstroke missing to seperate the notes
...Where the dear and the antilope plaaayyy on the long last note, I vary the tremolo speed a bit.

I hope that with practice, I'll be able to seperate even notes played in unmeasured tremolo, but until that arrives, I'll have to count.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG9fWF_Jzio&t=0s&list=PLAJYbvu5WGWAMRFPjsTAP3wwc62dFGWdo&index=9

[UsuallyPickin]

Nice discussion people …. this is an excellent example of why I spend time each day reading The Mandolin Café..... R/

[crisscross]

I noticed, that when I have to repeat a note, I tend to play the first note a little bit too short.
For fear of playing just one long note instead of two separated ones.
In the song Careless Love there is a note repetition in the sixth mesure (0:15).
I play the first a-note not as long as it could be. Gotta work on giving the notes equal lenght...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzqLdqcEvi0&t=16s

[PhilGox]

Yesss!!

This is exactly the result I'd like to obtain.

I hear your first note is a little short as you said.
But I don't hear it as a mistake or something wrong.
For me your two notes are separated in a very sweet and musical way.
I like your playing all along on both tracks anyway ;)

I'm gonna work this way and hope I will get similar results.
Thanks for your exemples and explanations ! :)

[Peter Coronado]

Great examples from crisscross! I read an explanation that I find helpful. It is like a singer taking a breath. Sing the same note for four counts. You didn’t interrupt your breath, right? That’s a whole note. Now sing the same note for two counts, then sing it again for two more counts. You had to stop your breath in between. That’s two half notes. Now do that with your pick as you tremolo.

[crisscross]

Thanks Phil and Pete! Note separation is crucial when trying to play a decent tremolo, but there are situations, that ask for a more legato effect with the notes following each other as closely as possible.
When playing instrumental arrangements of vocal tunes, if one syllable is represented by one note, then they are usually set apart a little bit. But when one syllable is sung with different notes, these notes are usually played as legato as possible.
Example: In the bleak Midwinter: The first part ends: "Water like a stone". 5 syllables, 5 notes, no legato, try to set the notes a tiny bit apart!
The second part ends: "Lo-o-ong ago": 3 syllables, 5 notes, try to play the first three notes as legato as possible.
Do you hear a difference between 0:15 and 0:35 ? You better do, or all my tremolo exercises are without avail...;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApHy1cWX8UQ&index=19&list=PLAJYbvu5WGWAMRFPjsTAP3wwc62dFGWdo&t=0s