Learning Musical Theory

[Jared Heddinger]

Hello there Mandolin Cafe-ers!

I was thinking about theory the other day and something came to my attention. When I started playing mandolin something about it made me really want to pursue more information about musical theory. I had played a bit of guitar and piano before, but nothing really made me consider learning it up until my post-mandolin days.

My question is to you, does anyone have a similar experience to mine or am I just an oddball? and if so, what do you think makes the mandolin more prompting to learn musical theory?

[Brent Hutto]

It's tuned in fifths, for one thing. That gives you a certain inkling of what's going on that other instruments (like guitar!) don't. There is an even pattern in fiddle/mandolin tuning that makes it seem like the harmony and stuff ought to be right on the tip of your tongue...but it isn't. So eventually you start wanting to learn it.

I have sort of a "standing order" so to speak with my mandolin teacher to point out little bits of harmony within the tunes I'm working on in lessons. Plus sometimes we spend 5-10 minutes at the end of a lesson doing simple ear training exercises so I can start hearing chord progressions and such. It really does come easier when playing a mandolin than with a guitar. Still not all that easy, alas!

[Crabgrass]

It's tuned in fifths, for one thing.

God Bless whoever decided to tune the mandolin in fifths!

I agree; it's why I want to learn music theory for mando, and never will for the guitar....just show me the chords, baby. :)

[neebee]

The tuning in fifths, while I still don't understand it, is very logical and the notes seem to just be right where they should be. I have played guitar for awhile, just got a mandolin this past June. It has opened up the door to theory for me. The one thing that really blows be away is the fact that there are moveable chords all over the place. Someday I hope to understand how this works and how to shift the theory to guitar, but for now the mandolin is a magical instrument that has stung me good. My dilema is if I should be hanging with the guitars or mandolins at next years's Kaufmann Kamp.

[Bob Bronow]

I've played guitar for over 30 years but it wasn't until I picked up (and fell in love with) the mandolin that I really wanted to learn theory. Maybe it's the whole "tuned-in-fifths" thing but not only did I want to learn it, I had an inkling that I could actually understand it! :)

["Umm, fish?"]

I had a similar experience, but I just put it down to being older now than the last time I tried to pick up an instrument and my brain being better able to handle it now. But maybe there's something to the tuning.


Someday I hope to understand how this works and how to shift the theory to guitar...

Simple: Just tune the guitar in fifths. :)

[Mandobart]

Same with me. I started on the other 5ths instrument, violin, while in 5th grade. I played regularly through high school and really enjoyed it. Picked up bluegrass fiddle and guitar along the way, and bass. But like the OP I never got interested in theory until I took up mandolin 3 years ago. It wasn't just the 5ths tuning, as I was already exposed to that. For me it was going to regular jams that got me noticing the basic 1-4-5 progression of most all the songs we play. Suddenly, playing in a jam, without sheet music, I realized I needed to know the scales to pull off any kind of lead or melody. Also, I needed to learn chords, and build new chords. Finally, when I took up mandocello, transposing chords from mandolin to 'cello required just a little theory. There's still tons I don't know about theory, but I've used what little I know to play along with just about anyone, in just about any genre.

[Ed Goist]

Same with me for all the reasons mentioned.
I've learned more (though still not much) about theory in my 17 months of playing mandolin than in all of those years playing the guitar.
For me, everything about guitar chords was "shape" driven (a-barre, e-barre, etc.), while everything about mandolin chords seems based on the interconnectedness and relationship of the notes on the string courses.
In my opinion, that odd B string tuned to a 3rd on the guitar throws the interconnectedness between the strings off enough that we don't think of the guitar fretboard in terms of theory.

[Flattpicker]

I played both and had some jazz studies on guitar. It is certainly a pain to have to adjust for the "odd" 2nd string whenever you move a melodic pattern or chord shape across the fingerboard. It's a necessary evil if you're going to have your outside strings be two octaves apart, which permits bar chords, but it sure gives an appreciation for symmetrical tunings such as you find on mando and bass.