trouble picking

[mjohn15]

Can anyone help me? I've been playing mandolin for about 4 years and cannot seem to get a smooth pick rhythm. I sound very staccato and can't seem to hold a note. Any suggestions? The faster I play the worse I seem to sound. I've tried to use slow up and downs in my scales practice, but when I'm with a group playing rapidly, I seem to sink to the short choppy sound. Help!

[OldSausage]

What you need to do is work on it at a speed slow enough for you to play it exactly as you want it to sound, and gradually build up speed - over weeks, perhaps months. It takes a very long time to do what you want, and is one of the hardest things about playing mandolin. So have patience with yourself, and play it slowly enough that you can play it right. Gradually edge the speed up, and you will see small improvements every few days. The more hours you can practice each day the quicker it will happen, but I guarantee you will get better.

Also, you should get Mike Marshall's mandolin techniques DVD (#1) and work his practice routines into your daily schedule. Use it as a guide to make sure you're holding the pick and mandolin correctly. If you do his routines every day for about six months, building up speed with the metronome, it becomes a whole lot easier and more fun to play the mandolin, and you will get where you want to be.

[Fred Keller]

It's difficult to make assessments without seeing your picking in action, but I suggest starting with an objective critique of your picking hand technique. Perhaps taking a lesson or two with someone whose right hand you admire would help.

I've known people play longer than you with total lockdown of their picking hand. They were frustrated, they were discouraged but sooner or later something clicked and all of a sudden their wrists moved and the world opened up to them. Don't get down on yourself because of how long you've been playing; take a long look at your technique, get feedback on it, watch yourself in the mirror, compare yourself to youtubes, then determine if that's the issue.

If it is, you've got a clear path towards improving.

[jim_n_virginia]

yup find a good mandolin teacher to help you evaluate your playing. By "good" I don't mean a guitar player who teaches a few mandolin students I mean someone who's main instrument is the mandolin and can flat out play and hopefully teach.

And if there are no teachers in your area it would still be worth it to drive long distance and take like one 3 hour lesson/evaluation with someone who can really help you.

Niles Hokkanen used to do it, Herschel Sizemore in Roanoke will, Mike Compton there are many more.

Also when I am having trouble I slow things WAYYY down and use a metronome to work out problems!

good luck!

[mjohn15]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm more interested in quantity of tune knowledge than quality of playing and it's catching up with me. I'll dust off the metronome.

[bonny]

I'll dust off the metronome.

Attaboy.

[jim_n_virginia]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm more interested in quantity of tune knowledge than quality of playing and it's catching up with me. I'll dust off the metronome.

If you are looking for quantity of tunes then buy Steve Kaufman's 4 Hour Bluegrass Workout Vol. I & II and Kaufman's 4 Hour Celtic Workout and you will learn just about every fiddle tune in the world! LOL!

[Ivan Kelsall]

When i began playing Mandolin,i had a hard enough job just to hold the pick for more than a minute or so at a time without dropping it or it twisting around etc.(don't we all !). Eventually, i overcame that problem & i could really get down to teaching myself how to play. I've got recordings of players playing at breakneck speed on Banjo,Mandolin & Guitar,& although i'm no speed freak,i had to question whether or not,in a band context,i'd ever need to play that fast - i would hope not actually. I carried on teaching myself & developed what i think is a good picking style,which enabled me to play most of what i heard on Bluegrass I/net radio. I remember one day,
the station i used to listen to (now defunct), played a tune that was pretty fast to say the least.
I decided to give it a shot as i'd been warming up for a few minutes by then. Nobody was or could have been more surprised than me. I was able to 'pick along' at least keeping time with the music,
if not actually hitting all the right notes (i'd never heard the track before). I realised that 'speed' had simply crept up on me,in a similar manner to which an experienced driver can learn to drive VERY fast cars. It's down to practice & experience IMHO.
Before that incident,i'd never made a concious effort to play 'fast' on the Mandolin - i'll leave the burst blood vessels to the Banjo pickers (been there,done that etc.).But it will come with time.To play at speed,cleanly & with good intonation has more to do with the 'fingering' hand than the picking one (again IMHO). If you don't get your fingers to the notes,& press 'em down cleanly,then the fastest 'picking' hand in the west will not avail you one jot !!. Take your time,practice 'clean' noting & picking & it will come,
Ivan:cool:

[Nolan]

The people I've known that get the staccato sound have issues with the left hand and when they release the note, ie., their fingers spend more time traveling up and down from the fretboard and less time actually fretting the note.
Do your left hand fingers really flop around a lot when you play? Go play in front of a mirror and watch your left hand. The goal is to get a really "quiet" left hand with only effecient movements.. the really great players do this and I think it's one of the reasons when we watch them we think, "Gee, that looks easy!". Try playing with your fingers on your left hand only coming up 1/4 inch or so when you release the note. That said, I think the staccato sound can sound really cool on the right song but it would be nice to be able to turn it on and off at will.

[Mike Bunting]

Yes to the above. Leave your fingers on the board as long as you can. Play an ascending scale and leave the fingers down as you climb the scale so the notes flow into each other. If you tap your toe in 4/4 time and play 4 quarter notes, each note should sound for the proper length of time, filling the bar. By taking the finger off the fretboard to early, beginners often play 1/8 notes when the should be playing 1/4s.

[250sc]

Nolan and Mike have good advise. Let your notes ring as long as possible prior to playing the next and don't pick up your left hand fingers until you need them somewhere else. Your music will flow nicer.