Tremolo Practice

[StartedAt67]

I have read suggestions on picks, strings, and picking tips, but have not found any suggestions on my questions. My questions are as following. what is a good way to practice tremolo? How much of the pick should extend from form your fingers? I understand that this is probably a personal preference. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Tom C]

Not much to add, but I like playing waltzes to practice tremelos. They sound pretty and you won't get bored.

[John Flynn]

Mike Compton did a good job of teaching it at his workshop. He talked about holding the pick in a "loose fist" kind of grip between the thumb and forefinger. The grip should be loose enough to allow the pick to pivot up and down as the strokes go down and up. The feeling should be like "brushing" the strings, not hitting or plucking. The speed of the pick should create the volume, not your hand tension. The hand and arm should be as loose as they can be consistent with control. Then you should just practice your speed. Go as fast as you can, consistent with good tone and consistent timing. Also, I agree with the suggestion that you should learn some tunes that you like, which require tremelo. There is something very motivating about learning a technique to attain a sound you want to make in a tune, rather than just trying to learn the technique in an abstract way.

[glauber]

For whatever reason, tremolo has never been a problem for me (i'm not a great mandolin player by any stretch of the imagination). I think the most important thing is to stop worrying about it. Like everything else, practice slow and pick up speed slowly. Keep a loose grip on the pick, and a loose wrist.

[grandmainger]

I find that a good way to get the feel of how relax the pick should be is to play tremolo over 2 course of strings (ie a double-stop). If you don't keep super relaxed, it just sounds horribly loud http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
Make me relax double quick http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
Germain

[StartedAt67]

Thanks to all of you who sent a replay to my questions! No one mention the amount of pick that should be extended from your fingers when playing Tremolo. Any one with a suggestion on this? Any help will be appreciated.

[fredfrank]

Try a few different amounts of exposed pick and see what works best for you. With my style, I use the same amount of pick for single string as with tremolo.

I do notice that I tend to turn the pick at a slight angle to the strings instead of picking the strings at a 90 degree angle when I play tremolo, however.

[Dfyngravity]

I think you would want the same as you use when you play. It is kind of hard in mid song, mid messure to change the amount of the pick before you head into a passage that uses tremelo. I think more is better than less( I would go with in between what you think is too much and what you think is too little), it gives you move movement, more pivot, and allows for a cleaner sound.

[glauber]

Thanks to all of you who sent a replay to my questions! No one mention the amount of pick that should be extended from your fingers when playing Tremolo. Any one with a suggestion on this? Any help will be appreciated.
StartedAt67, methinks you think too much. Just play! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Amount of pick exposed... hmm, i'd say about 3 mm, but i bet it's a little different from player to player. The important thing about pick is that you hold it in a relaxed way. If it's almost falling from your fingers, it's about right. The amount of pick exposed is not that important, as long as it makes contact with the strings, of course.

How to practice tremolo: make sure you have a relaxed grip on the pick; relax the wrist. Start slow. Tremolo is just a bunch of the same note. You may want to try a metronome, and do one note per beat, then two, then three, then four, etc, but only up the speed when you're comfortable playing at the current speed. Don't try to go too fast.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Aran]

The tremolo is on my short list of things to master too!!

I like the idea of putting the tremolo to use in a tune, can anyone make any suggestions to some nice (easy) tunes to be getting started with???

[grandmainger]

I like the idea of putting the tremolo to use in a tune, can anyone make any suggestions to some nice (easy) tunes to be getting started with???
I like Wayfaring Stranger for tremolo work. It's slow and easy to learn, with lots of room to play http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif There are versions of it on Mandozine (http://www.mandozine.com/music/tabledit_search.php).

Germain

[mando bandage]

I find that my tremelo technique, such as it is, stays in better shape if I include Aonzo scales and Tim O'Brien's Arpeggios in tremelo every note as part of my warm up technique. If I skip it, and play a song with tremelo, I can tell the difference, and I'll bet the listener can too.

Only other tip is to repeat what others said: Loose grip is key. This is a little counterintuitive as the tendency is to tense as speed of the hand/wrist motion increases. Another image that is helpful to me is to stroke the strings with the pick as though it were a paint brush. FWITW



R

[BradB]

I find that my tremelo technique, such as it is, stays in better shape if I include Aonzo scales and Tim O'Brien's Arpeggios in tremelo every note as part of my warm up technique. #If I skip it, and play a song with tremelo, I can tell the difference, and I'll bet the listener can too.

Only other tip is to repeat what others said: #Loose grip is key. #This is a little counterintuitive as the tendency is to tense as speed of the hand/wrist motion increases. #Another image that is helpful to me is to stroke the strings with the pick as though it were a paint brush. #FWITW



R
When you play tremelo for the scales, do you start and stop the tremelo for each note, or just keep the right hand tremelo going non-stop throughout the scale?

Brad B.

[Aran]

Cheers for the suggestion cause I really like Wayfaring Stranger. So I'm gonna try and put all these suggestions to work on that tune.

[Peter Hackman]

I find that my tremelo technique, such as it is, stays in better shape if I include Aonzo scales and Tim O'Brien's Arpeggios in tremelo every note as part of my warm up technique. If I skip it, and play a song with tremelo, I can tell the difference, and I'll bet the listener can too.

Only other tip is to repeat what others said: Loose grip is key. This is a little counterintuitive as the tendency is to tense as speed of the hand/wrist motion increases. Another image that is helpful to me is to stroke the strings with the pick as though it were a paint brush. FWITW



R
When you play tremelo for the scales, do you start and stop the tremelo for each note, or just keep the right hand tremelo going non-stop throughout the scale?

Brad B.
do both, in various combinations, and LISTEN.
Same in tunes.


I'm recording stuff and when I listen back I sometimes
cringe at my playing, oh, why did I have to tremulate
all the way through that phrase. There are so many ways
of doing it, and less is definitely more in most
cases.

Grisman puts the tremelo to very economic
use. Also note the low whispering kind of tremelo
he often gets on the low strings, presumably
by slanting the pick a bit. I'm trying to get that.

[glauber]

Wow, i never thought of doing the Aonzo scales in tremolo. Need to try that.

Good song to practice tremolo: Theme from the Godfather. Cafe member Plami has done a beautiful recording and was nice enough to post the music and MP3 (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=12;t=22963;hl=padrone).

[glauber]

Easier link (http://www.plami.com/temp/Il%20Padrone.htm) to the Godfather music.

[John Flynn]

Another good tune, especially for doublestop tremelos, is Monroe's "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight."

[StartedAt67]

Again I want to think each of you for your reply and the suggestions. I tried to get the Wayfaring Stranger from the URL that was listed and could not find it on the web sight. I cannot list all of the user names who made suggestions, but,thanks for your time and thoughts.:)

[grandmainger]

Again I want to think each of you for your reply and the suggestions. I tried to get the Wayfaring Stranger from the URL that was listed and could not find it on the web sight. I cannot list all of the user names who made suggestions, but,thanks for your time and thoughts.:)
Link to: Wayfaring Stranger from Mandozine (http://www.mandozine.com/music/search_results.php?searchfor=wayfaring&tuneselectby=C&mandolevel=&category=&songkey=&artist=&transcriber=&sortby=T&sortorder=A&submit=).

You will have to install TEFView to read the .tef files. Tefview is free, and great!
You can get it here (http://www.tabledit.com/download/downlo_e.shtml).

Germain

[BradB]

Well, watching Ricky Skaggs do tremolo it looks as if the way to do it is to grip the pick really tightly and move your arm violently back and forth while shaking the mandolin. Seems to work for him.

[mando bandage]

When you play tremelo for the scales, do you start and stop the tremelo for each note, or just keep the right hand tremelo going non-stop throughout the scale?

Brad B.

I find it most helpful to keep the right hand going non-stop. That works on the really difficult part of sustained tremelo: changing strings. O'Brien's arpeggios are even more challenging in this regard and tend to take on a consistent rhythm of their own.

R

[Martin Jonas]

I think more is better than less( I would go with in between what you think is too much and what you think is too little), it gives you move movement, more pivot, and allows for a cleaner sound.
I think I disagree with that, and I agree with glauber instead: 3mm is about right, but generally I try to show as little of the pick as I can without actually touching flesh to string (whether tremolo or not). Everybody is different, but I find it difficult to get any sort of pick control and precision with a longer exposed pick section.

"Wayfaring Stranger" and the Theme from The Godfather are both great pieces to practice tremolo, especially in plami's wonderful arrangement (which I have happily pinched from him) making great use of moving into third position.

Martin

[glauber]

Well, watching Ricky Skaggs do tremolo it looks as if the way to do it is to grip the pick really tightly and move your arm violently back and forth while shaking the mandolin. Seems to work for him.
Or you could keep your picking hand very still and move the mandolin up and down rapidly! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Dan Adams]

I've only seen one reference to more coffee, and that was in another thread? Pick it like you've had a couple 'grande' whatevers... the tremelo will come. Dan