What is the best way to just do it your self?

[Ramdolph]

I am pretty much on my own, Highly motivated to learn the mando and very unsure which learning path to follow,any suggestions for this new guy!

[Ramdolph]

Im planning on learning standard notation. Im a banjo player and have done most of my learning by ear and some tab. I know I should'nt have let the cat out of the bag about the banjo on this web site! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Ivan Kelsall]

Randy - I'm self taught on Banjo,Guitar & i'm in the process of teaching myself Mandolin.
On all instruments,first off i went for the basic 'chords'.You need a good tuition book,& no doubt there are many people on here who could recommend one or more of them.
# Sticking with Mandolin,i just got the chords to a few Bluegrass songs to start off with & learned how to play those on the Mandolin. Because most of the chords are 'moveable',when you've got the chords off in say the key of 'G',just move up a couple of frets,& using the same chord shapes,you're now playing in the key of 'A'.
# Of course,i had a distinct advantage in being able to play 2 other instruments,so
waggling my left hand fingers around wasn't a problem,but i still had to learn the 'new' chord shapes like anyone else. You also play Banjo,so like me you're almost half way there. The idea of learning chords is that once you've got a few under your belt,you can then join in a jam session just playing rhythm. I went a whole lot further than just learning chords to Bluegrass songs,i learned a whole lot of chords for songs by my all time favourite band,'The Eagles'. I can play the chords on Guitar to many of their songs & to play the same chords on Mandolin seemed like a good opportunity to extend my 'chord base' knowledge.
# After that,i just taught myself the way maybe the majority of players have,by what Mike Compton calls the 'hunt & peck' method ie. literally finding the notes on the fingerboard that you need & playing them in the right order. It might seem laborious at first,but you say you have the motivation,just go for it,you'll get there like the rest of us to whatever level of profficiency you're capable of. If you can find a teacher near you,get lessons. In spite of my being self-taught,i have always thought that guidance from a good teacher to be a worthwhile thing to have. Whatever,keep on keeping on & enjoy the process,i'm sure that you'll surprise yourself,best of luck - & there's nothing wrong with mentioning BANJOS on here ! In fact at the risk of being cheeky,i nearly put a pic.of the headstock of my Stelling as my Avatar,i just didn't want to cause any offence,
# # # # # # # # #Saska

[arbarnhart]

For some instant gratification (my favorite kind) you can watch some begginer mandolin lesson videos at MusicMoose (http://www.musicmoose.org/index.php?option=com_alphacontent&Itemid=32&section=12&cat=22&sort=6&limit=10&limitstart=0) to get the chord foundation. Understanding what the notes are is a great idea, IMO. I have learned a lot from guitarists that I play with because we can speak about keys, chords and notes. One book I recommend to almost everyone is Mandolin Anthology by Bud Orr (http://www.melbay.com/contents.asp?ProductID=93952&Heading=&category=&catID=&head1=&head2=&sub=&sub1=&author=&contpage=93952f.html). It is not in depth instruction, but has the basics and songs for a lot of genres.

[Ramdolph]

Any other suggestions for this newby? Thanks Randy

[arbarnhart]

You might want to say what kind of music.
One can probably assume BG, since you play banjo (but so does Jimmy Page in Gallows Pole http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )

[kudzuklunker]

Hang with as many musicians as possible, jam when you can and do a lot of listening.

[Denny Gies]

My experience seemed to follow the following steps;
1.Have an intense interest in a musical genere
2.Have an intense desire to learn some instrument
3.Learn basic chord patterns; in my case on the mando
4.Play a lot so your callouses build
5.Get some CD's you like and play along.
Some of the best CD's for playing along are The Dreadful Snakes "Snakes Alive", David Grisman's "Home Is Where The Heart Is",any of the early Flatt and Scruggs stuff as there is little mandolin on them.
Good Luck and, most of all, have fun.

[MandoBen]

I would suggest starting with some old time fiddle tunes, maybe 'The 8th of January' and 'Old Joe Clark' would be as good as any to start with.

[CES]

I've heard that Roland White's course is an excellent source...on my list to get but haven't gotten it yet. My wife got me Dix Bruce's "You Can Teach Yourself Mandolin," when I first got my mando. It's actually not bad (despite the cheesy cover). It has a fair amount of very basic info, but also gets into some theory as well as standard notation; all the songs have lead and backup parts, and he stresses the importance of both...all in all, not a bad launching point but also not a "comprehensive" text. I'm planning to get the new Mair book and Chen's note-reading book soon, but I'm following along on some of the reviews on that thread here before ordering...

[gnelson651]

I am self taught for the past four years but I recently found a teacher to guide me along. I've bought a lot of books and DVD's to help along the way so I can give you some of my own experiences.

I would suggest you start by learning the G major scale and arpeggios. Also learn two-finger chords (http://www.mandolincafe.com/two.html) and John Moore's Picking Exercises (http://www.mandozine.com/index.php/techniques/techinfo/picking_exercises/).

The most comprehensive book/CD set I found is Greg Horne's "Beginning Mandolin" (http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Mandolin-Book-Greg-Horne/dp/0739034715/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201468405&sr=8-2), which is the first volume of a three volume set of beginning/intermediate/master mandolin course.

I started learning fiddle tunes and ended up joining an OT fiddle jam group. I like The American Fiddle Method (http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay-American-Fiddle-Method/dp/B0001Y7EW2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1201468232&sr=8-2) books. Volume One is written in standard notation but uses fiddle fingerings that translate #well to the mandolin. But you will need to learn standard notation to continue with these books. Horne's book teaches standard notation and it is not that hard to learn.

Stay focused, play to have fun and practice atleast 15 minutes daily, an hour if you want to progress faster. I set a weekly schedule of what I want to accomplish and what to play. My schedule includes technique (scales, arpeggios, double stops, chording), a tune of the week to learn a new song (both melody and chords), and practicing of my current repertoire. Then if I have time, I just noodle or practice improvising by listening to a CD and try to play the song back.

Good luck

[Alex Orr]

You wanna play bluegrass?

My approach was to use the Greg Horne beginnner book as well as Steve Kaufman's Parking Lot Picker Books for mandolin, so you can get a start on fiddle tunes.

Again, just my advice here:

-Learn to read sheet music. It isn't that hard. Horne teaches it in the book and included DVD and you can also make yourself some flashcards.

-Learn fiddle tunes

-Start working on tremolo early.

-USE A METRONOME - if you've never used one, get McGann's DVD on using one.

-Practicing a little a day (maybe a half hour) is MUCH better than practicing a couple of days a week for a few hours.

-Have patience, and enjoy the process.

[Mattg]

I started out self taught but really learned more with my current teacher than I ever would have by myself. Perhaps I got lucky cause my instructor is top notch. But we all have our own learning styles. However, there are many great self study resources out there.

-I like the Home Spun DVDs. I have a few with Butch B. and the are great.
-One of the most useful self study tools that I have is my subsciption to Rhapsody. I can listen to dozens of versions of almost any tune I want to learn.
-I also find good stuff on YouTube and such.
-Mandozine.com has hundreds of great tunes in Tef format which you can see the notation and tab at the same time and play it in Tabledit, which is an interactive sheet music player.
- Don't forget the music moose (google it). Great lessons and play along jams.
- Matt Flinner's mando jam book with a CD. They leave long hunks of rythm in the tune so that you can try a break. Lots of fun.

[Jim]

You might want to say what kind of music.
One can probably assume BG, since you play banjo (but so does Jimmy Page in Gallows Pole )
I'm going to start working on a BG cover of Gallows pole as soon as I get home and p/u my mando.
As for learning play with friends, play with strangers,play with cds,play with yourself.

[jimbob]

I like the DVD format for a learning aid. I would suggest learning scale and arpegios. I pretty much learned guitar and banjo on my own, but after about 3 years of trying to learn the mando on my own, I found a teacher. Best move I have made in my many years as a wanna be picker.