Mandocello for dummies

[Keith Erickson]

Hello & good evening to All,

Would anyone recommend a good resources for an extreme newby on the mandocello & reading bass clef?

Much obliged http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[abuteague]

Start by finding the open strings on the bass clef.

The next note up is the first or second fret.
The next note up from that is the 3rd or 4th fret.
The next note up from that is the 5th or 6th fret.
It depends on the key which fret it is.

What I find fascinating is how well that pattern maps onto the fretboard.
All your open strings on the bass clef have a line trough them.
First and second fret don't have a staff line through them, regardless of the string you are on.
3rd and 4th fret have a line through them.
5th and 6th fret don't.

So what I would do as an exercise is put a tune in front of yourself.
Practice the scale for the key that it is in so you know what fret to go to.
Then start finding each note one by one on the fret board.
The thought process goes on like this: Say, that note has a line through it, I'd bet it is open or 3rd or 4th fret... Wait a moment, it isn't one of the open ones I recognize... and they key I practiced says it is the 4th fret for that string.... OK, next...
It doesn't take long before standard notation is like tab. Like a day or so.

Eventually it would be nice to put names on each note on the fretboard, but I've found this approach motivating because you start mapping notes on the staff to the fretboard right away.

Good luck.

[mandroid]

bass clef mnemonic I remember.
GBDFA grizzly bears dont fly airplanes [the lines ]
ACEG all cows eat grass [the spaces]

[Jim Garber]

bass clef mnemonic I remember.
GBDFA grizzly bears dont fly airplanes [the lines ]
ACEG all cows eat grass [the spaces]
Important... these are bottom to top!

[mandroid]

1st ledger line above the A is middle C

[mrmando]

If you're used to reading for the mandolin or mandola, you may know that your open strings all correspond to spaces on the staff. But for the mandocello in bass clef, the open strings correspond to lines on the staff. Once I got used to THAT, the rest of it has come pretty easily. Of course I read bass clef for years as a singer, and even a little before that as an accordionist. But putting it together with the mandocello was a bit of a stretch at first.

[Keith Erickson]

WOW!!!

This is great stuff....

That mnemonic that Jim uses has helped me understand all of your responses. ...and I thank all of you for your assistance.

I guess the question would be:

...Would anyone know where I would be able to find a "Mandocello Book for Dummies" or something along those lines that would have chords & theory?

Much obliged to all http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[a12]

Kieth,
Check out the CBOM tab here for more info.
I also posted some tunes there under Bickford subject title.

[Alex Fields]

Another way to think about it is to pretend you are fretting a mandolin and reading treble, but read each note as one note lower than the one on the staff. #For example: you see a note on the line two ledger lines below the staff on treble clef while playing mandolin, you will fret with the first finger on the lowest course. #If you see the same thing on bass clef while playing a mandocello, you play open on the lowest course. #Of course the notes that sound (A3 and C2) are actually an octave plus a major sixth apart, but this is one way to train your fingers to respond to the page without having to think about what every note is. #Obviously you should learn to know what the notes you're reading are as well but that can be done sortof separately.

I first read bass clef playing piano, and soon afterward got really good at reading it through studying classical scores, usually for string quartet or piano reduction, and also through composing and arranging (I play(ed) with a classical cellist so I used A LOT of bass clef). #I later got a mandocello but never spent much time playing it so I never got totally proficient at sight reading bass clef with a mandocello, even though I could already read bass clef perfectly without an instrument...i.e. I can tell you what any note is without hesitation, can read chords and inversions and everything in bass clef, but the added step of translating that to an instrument I'm holding made it very difficult to sight read anything at speed. #I've given up on playing longer scale instruments that I can't use mandolin fingerings on (I'm selling my octave and mandocello) and I'm now sticking to mandolin and mandola...but I now read treble, alto, and bass clef fluently as a result of all this and have lately been working on jazz scores where I have to transpose mentally for sax parts.

Probably some of the other suggestions would be easier than doing everything I went through. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[violmando]

As a school orchestra teacher and a former STRINGED cello player, I use beginning bowed cello books(strung EXACTLY the same only one of each) to get folks used to reading mandocello music. Go to your nearest music store that carries orchestra method books for students and look at what they have for cello---buy a beginning book and then something with exercises or tunes and etudes; you'll be reading in no time. And those bow markings actually correspond somewhat to pick technique when your ready for it, too; otherwise, just ignore all that stuff! Yvonne in Ohio.
All for Strings is good; so is Essential Elements 2000.

[Boombloom]

Kieth,
Check out the CBOM tab here for more info.
I also posted some tunes there under Bickford subject title.
Where is the CBOM Tab?

[groveland]

The "CBOM (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=SF;f=16)" Forum under the "Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=SC;c=6)" section.

[Red Henry]

When I started learning MC, the first three or four Suzuki method cello books were a great help in getting started. I was able to transition into bass clef (and working on the Bach cello suites) from there.

Never have gotten into tenor clef, though! -- it'd be handy for learning more cello material.

Red