How did you learn to play manolin?

[alternatalie]

Hi! I'm Natalie and I'm brand new here as well as a new mando owner. I've never played a stringed instrument before, but I played piano and clarinet in grade school and high school. I'm excited to learn this new instrument!:)

I was wondering how you all learned to play your mando. Tabs? YouTube? Lessons? Pure Awesomeness? I've been trying to look up tabs for songs I know and would like to learn, but am having a hard time finding very many. I can read music, so should I find some sheet music?

My boyfriend (who taught himself guitar 15 years ago) says I can just teach myself and he can help out where he can. Sounds daunting!

I know there's a thousand questions in this post, but I appreciate you taking the time to help me out in anyway. Thanks in advance!

<3Natalie

[Pete Summers]

Who says I've learned?

But I am trying and I use mostly standard sheet music, various technique books. Pretty much, I guess you could say, I'm self-taught.
Most folks would recommend a teacher if you can find one. Video lessons are also really helpful.

Good luck, and welcome to the Cafe.

[John Flynn]

Most people who hear me play ask that very question, but I keep on playing anyway!

Initially, I taught myself mandolin using the Jack Tottle "Bluegrass Mandolin" book, although I had already been playing guitar for 20 years at that point. I initially learned guitar using the chord diagrams in a "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits" songbook, along with some coaching from my best friend from high school, who was a really good guitar player. I have taken lessons along the way and in retrospect, I strongly recommend doing a few months of lessons to get started. In teaching myself, I now realize I taught myself a lot of bad habits I had to break later.

[yankees1]

I also agree that you may need a good instructor. Band in a Box is another learning tool that I feel is very helpful!

[alternatalie]

looks like lessons might be the way to go! thank you all!

[kkmm]

I am in the same boat as the few who respond here (playing guitars for so long, then pick up a mando and play !!!).
It's good to start by taking at least a few months to one year of lessons to learn the proper technique. Then you can stop and go on with self-teaching if you desire. It took me about two months (after one year of bad habits) to re-train myself with proper techniques (different from guitar playing which I did take lessons for two years).
Since you did not have guitar background, it would be easier to learn the proper technique first.

[mandolinlee]

Hi Natalie,
Welcome to the 'Cafe. I also played piano and clarinet in my younger days. While I was in high school, an Uncle gave me a violin. The man that repaired it and strung the bow showed me the four notes it tuned to (same as mandolin). I learned to play it by having my brother play notes on the piano as I slid my fingers up and down the fingerboard 'till I found the note. When I got my first mandolin I easily found the notes at each fret and started playing the melody line on piano music.
As a piano player and clarinetist, I will assume you already know how to read music. Mandolin tuning starting at the G string (fat string closest to your nose) to the E string (skinny string closest to your toes), notes on piano as follows:

G below Middle C
D one step above Middle C
A above Middle C
E One octave and two steps above Middle C

Hope this helps.
Good luck,
Lee

[rgray]

I had two lessons and then the driving distance was too much. But those two lessons taught me some very basic info I needed. I quickly decided Celtic tunes were for me and I went off looking for tabs with sound files so I could hear what the tune was supposed to sound like. Slowdown software was a must as I tried to pick the tune out. Picked up a few books, learned a few things, but never finished any of them. Picked up some basic understanding of standard notation that helps figure out timing. When I started it would take a week or so to be able to recognizably play a new tune. Now I can have a tune down pat in minutes and rarely use slowdown software.

Have I learned to play the mando, as in really play it? I don't think so. More like I can play a bunch of tunes on my mando which has been a source of true pleasure for the last couple of years. Hope you enjoy yours.

[Mike Scott]

I think learning never stops when it comes to music instruments. You most likely have good knowledge of theory, but lack the skill needed for the technique of playing mandolin. Perhaps your boyfriend can help with that but............. Would recommend going to a workshp or two, or taking some lessons as others have suggested. In addition to learning the proper techniques, they can tell you if your mandolin is correctly set up, which is very important. Hope this helps out. Welcome to the journey.

[Alex Orr]

I had about five years of guitar beforehand, but I started mandolin with the two Greg Horne books and think they're a terrific resource.

[JeffD]

I would say whether you get lessons, or use books and videos - I would be careful about the boyfriend. "Self taught guitar player" is not a mandolin credential.

I am sure he is a fine boyfriend, and I would not argue that he isn't perhaps a great musician. But does he play mandolin? Is his mandolin playing how you would like to sound?


But I understand their are relationship politics here too. So by all means listen to his advice, and thank him profusely, but get some help elsewhere as well.

[mommythrice]

Congrats on the new instrument and welcome to the board!

I played flute professionally... a LONG time ago. When people saw me with the flute they would ask me to play something and I could never play ANYTHING without sheet music except for the few contest pieces committed to memory. I never learned to improvise, modulate to different keys, or play anything fun.

Now jump ahead 15 years when I first picked up an mandolin. I knew I did not want to be in that same old trap, so I purposely avoided sheet music. My best advice is just like the other posters.

(1) Get a few lessons from someone that will help you learn to play by ear. It seemed really, really, REALLY hard at first. Maybe you just need to practice singing one random note and trying to find it on your mando. Then simple songs that you already know well, like Happy Birthday or Camptown Races.

(2) The key to learning to play by ear is having the songs in your head in the first place - so you'll want to listen to lots of whatever kind of tunes you want to learn (celtic, bluegrass, oldtime, jazz, whatever...) Subscribe to Pandora.

(3) Reading some tab will help you get started. But it could be habit forming like sheet music. ;) And, in the long run, its much slower than playing by ear.

(4) Slowdowner software is helpful after you get started playing by ear, or even if you want to play chords with songs.

[Vernon Hughes]

I just slowed the record player down to 16 rpm and played it over and over and over.

[Barry Wilson]

Pick a song you want to learn on mandolin, go to youtube and "type how to play (song title) on mandolin". learn a few songs other people have written. I am a newb myself and honestly I can play chords that I don't know the actual name with but they fit when I play in say Am (I have a guitar background). I learned runs from different songs and that helped me make noise that fits to have fun.. now I want to take lessons online to get better and add some theory to what is going on

there's links at the top of this page I used as well for free mandolin lessons

[Randi Gormley]

Times have changed since I first learned the mandolin, way back in the dark ages before computers, the internet and even fuel-efficient cars. So I picked up Mel Bay's Learn to Play the Mandolin and sat down with it and went page by page. It told me how to hold the instrument, how to hold the pick and (as a flute player) I appreciated the finger-is-this-note diagrams. I got the mechanics down and the sheet-music correlation. Learning to play specific types of music came later, as did lessons. So it is possible to do some basic learning on your own.
I've found that being able to read sheet music (violin music, mostly) on the mandolin has been a huge advantage as the years have gone by. If you already read sheet music anyway, it's a pretty easy conversion from one instrument to another. You didn't say what kind of music you want to play, but some genres do mostly rely on ear training -- others, of course, don't. I normally play Irish, which is an aural tradition, so having sheet music at a real session is a big no-no. With classical music, on the other hand, I'd be completely lost without music.

[mandobassman]

Hi Natalie, Welcome! When I was learning, there was no such thing as You Tube, there were no instructors available in my area, and Tab was probably available but I hadn't heard if it yet. I learned the old-fashioned way. I listened to records and copied what I heard. I played some guitar before that, so I went to a local music store and opened a book of Mel Bay's mandolin instruction and wrote down the string tuning. After that, I figured out chords from the guitar. From there it was just listening and copying. The Seldom Scene were the hottest band at the time (mid 70's) and I probably learned more than I should have from John Duffy, but I soon realized there were better mandolin players to learn from. I copied a little of each and developed my own style, for better or for worse.

[abuteague]

A book with a DVD or CD is helpful.
I've also found that if you listen to what you are trying to learn to play 25 times, the sight reading comes much faster and you make good progress.

[EdHanrahan]

But I understand their are relationship politics here too. So by all means listen to his advice, and thank him profusely, but get some help elsewhere as well.

Oooh!! Very wise advise, because those (many) of us who came from guitar almost always made invalid assumptions early on. And too many, if not most, beginner books don't address those differences. Greg Horne's "Beginning Mandolin" was what finally straightened me out. It's part of a series of 3 books that seems to work well whether you've had prior experience or not. (Yes, some exercises are aimed at the newbies, but there's still adequate challenge for the experienced.)

Q - What is it that most beginner books imply but never state overtly, leaving the guitarist to fumble?
A - Guitarists hold their fretting hand so the fingers reach across the frets, one finger per fret. But mandolin is more like violin: The hand is held at an angle such that the fingers extend and retract along the length of the neck, two frets per finger.

Sounds simple, but it's a huge difference, especially at the beginner level. Enjoy!

[mandobassman]

I would agree with Jeff about the self-taught method. As I said in an earlier post, I taught myself, but that was because I didn't have a choice. Nowadays, there is really no excuse for not having lessons. Even if you don't have a instructor in your area, lessons are available on-line, either as pre-recorded lesson videos or via Skype, where you can have a instructor teach you over the internet. Lots of Cafe members have mentioned how much they learned using Skype.

[abuteague]

Good one Ed.

Two frets per finger results in such disbelief from guitarists sometimes that it is almost comical. Even though they know how long I've been playing they suggest that I give up two frets per finger in favor of something else they invent on the spot. Then they say something about how small and crowded it is and how I must have such small hands to play mandolin. When I show them my hands, more disbelief and head shaking. Amazingly I've had this exact experience MULTIPLE times!

I've also had guitarists tell me they can teach me mandolin despite having no experience on it because it has strings. I haven't taken them up on it.

[JeffD]

I think it might be easier to be a self taught guitarist than mandolinner. The guitar is so much in our culture that even air guitar players can have good technique.

Boyfriends are always wanting to teach their girlfriends something. (It might be the other way too, but the politics are different.) How many relationships hit the rocks because he was teaching her how to drive a standard. Or better yet - teaching her how to canoe. OMG. Spouses should never canoe together. Unless the canoe is really long and the paddles are really short.

[KennyE]

Long time guitar player here. Short time Mandolin "player". My singer sort of plays at mandolin. She showed me a couple of chords. I got a book that had chord finger charts and have gone on from there. Interesting, to me anyway, is how quickly I could relate the mandolin chord structure to guitar chord structure. Once I got that down it's been relatively easy to get a decent groove going. In fact, the mandolin has helped my fiddle playing. Sometimes I figure the song out on mando first, then move it over to the fiddle. However, all that said, I'm nowhere near where I want to be. It's got me thinking more and more that if I want to really get a lot better, it's definitely lesson time. Did the same with guitar. And it doesn't take years and years of lessons. Perhaps just enough to get over a hump, open a couple of doors, etc.

Best of luck to you in getting it going, Natalie. If you understand chordal relationships, getting started shouldn't be that hard. But getting good .... well, always walking that road.

[Smokey's Mom]

Beginner here. I've never heard of the 2 frets/finger. Not surprising, as I've never really heard of much of anything, yet! Do you mean that guitarists concentrate on reaching ACROSS the neck, and mandolin players concentrate on two frets/finger going DOWN the neck? Thank you for your help! This is a interesting fact, I read the post to my guitar-playing husband and he was also intriqued. He is one of those guys that thinks his hands are too big to play mandolin.

[JeffD]

Perhaps its time to show "that video".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmagoBQunZI

[EdHanrahan]

... I've never heard of the 2 frets/finger. ...
You're welcome!

Thanks for the great video, Jeff! You (and Mike!) saved me from babbling a response that could have become incomprehensible.

I think it's Sam Bush's similar Homespun video where he demos:
- 1st finger on frets 1 & 2
- 2nd finger on frets 3 & 4
- ring finger on frets 5 & 6
- pinky finger on frets 7 & 8 ... and 9, and 10, and maybe 11, all with his first finger still on fret 2!
(That doesn't mean that players never move up the neck; it's just a demo of the flexibility that's possible.)

There IS a corollary that some have pointed out here, and that did help me "get it":

- On guitar some fingers, at some frets & on some strings, are not part of the key being played and are rarely used. For example, in C there's little call for "1st finger, 1st fret" on the 3rd, 4th, or 5th strings, as Gb, Eb, and Ab just aren't part of the key. Whereas...

- On mandolin, in all standard closed positions and all common 1st-position keys (C, G, D, A, at least), each finger is responsible, on each string, for one and only one note of the scale.

No, that's not critical info, but it's nice to know that all fingers get an equal vote in the matter, sort of ... democratic!