Newbie

[Swedish-Banjo]

Im absolutly new to the mandolin, and I have been playing banjo for a little more then a year now.
What to start out with?
Actually, I find it rather easy to just play a melody by ear, though it's simply the melody, nothing more.

Should I use a hard pick, or a soft one? I find it hard to play fast on one string with a soft pick.
And how can I improve the "playing-fast-at-one-string"-technique? Are there any tricks to get it playable? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Just need to know what to do as a newbie like me. I think it's verry funny to just pluck around, and thats the reason why I bought my mando. Should I continue to just play around or what?

[Swedish-Banjo]

One more thing.
I've been thinking about playing a melody fast. If I play it at a slow tempo, I easily manage to pluck all the notes downwards, towards the floor (which is easiest). But if you play a song with A LOT of notes in a fast tempo, you have to pluck the notes both up and down, right?
Is that neccesary for me to do in this early stage? Though I dont want to learn wrong either. I want to do right from the begining. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[luckylarue]

Newbie, I recommend using both down and up strokes with the pick. Your are right, down-strokes are easier than picking "up". Sometimes I practice a song or scales using only up-strokes to improve my picking. I like a hard, heavy pick, using the rounded edge - not the point. Good luck and have fun!

[bjc]

I'm with lucky here...I use a proplec pick and use the side not the point...and yes practice up/down strokes. You won't always play like that, but it's good to have that as second nature IMHO...And welcome to our insanity...

[gnelson651]

Here is the general rule of thumb for pick direction:

Anything thing an eighth note and less is down-up-down (DUD). Anything a quarter note or more is a down stoke. However, this can change for pickup measures where you might start with an up stroke, as in down on the downbeat (1,3), up on the back beat (2,4) for 4/4 timing.

Of course this changes in 6/8 jig timing which is (eigthth notes) down-up-down-down-up-down-down. (DUDDUDD).

Go to the MC lessons session-pick direction (http://www.mandolincafe.com/pick.html) to lean more. There are other Lessons to learn more about pick diection for other timings (6/8).

Glenn Nelson
Las Vegas, NV