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Go to Cafe Learn-Listen/Chord Library/Pat’s Chords. You’ll find 4 finger shapes for a variety of jazz chords. Note the generic shape and then find the fretboard location that will give you the...

I think a lot has to do with what your intended purpose is. One aspect I haven't seen elaborated much on is in writing down music by hand. I use ASDowner to work out a lot of tunes by ear. I've...

My point isn't that you have to listen to a tune to play it. That's what notation is for. My point is that you have to listen if you want to play a particular genre of music and fit in with or sound...

I always find these discussions fascinating -- mostly people fall on the 'whatever works for you is fine' side of the fence, which is where I fall as well. I play standard notation and pick up stuff...

I think the note to drop depends on the context and the other instruments in the band. If there is a bass, it will probably be playing the root and the fifth. A guitar may also be playing one or...

Reading standard on mandolin is fairly easy especially given the keys we typically play in. Standard notation also presents a visual picture of notes going up or down in pitch. Reading in Eb on a...

I agree that the best answer is to listen and use whatever tools you can to get the most out of any tune or piece of music you are attempting to learn. The worst is when all you can find is TAB for...

The most obvious note to skip is -- ergonomically AND musically in this case-- the root. I would advise anyone not to use chord charts, but work out the chords for themselves, grouped in various ways...

"The person writing the tablature" today is mostly a computer program. Glancing at a piece of tab I'm usually struck, e.g., by the abundance of open strings, often in contexts where they're best...

Three note chords are common even on guitar, at least with jazz players. I rarely play more than four, if that many, at least for rhythm playing. There is no federal law that says all the strings...

Tab and notation are just tools. I use either or both, depending on what I want to do and what is available. Of course listening is important. I find it’s very easy to read for instruments tuned in...

"I guess I have a few questions:

1. When does it become advantageous to adopt a thumb at the back of the neck play style? Is it based on how frequently you need to be shifting positions? Does...

I recently made a post about getting a new Ochiai Mandola(tuned like an octave mandolin).

The scale length is 43.5 CM, or just a tad over 17 inches. The neck has a deep sharp V shape and is just...

Your left-hand thumb will partly (largely?) be prescribed by the neck shape, perhaps more so than by scale length. Also consider, e.g., players of Roman-type mandolins (Sebastiaan de Grebber may...

Drop the 4 finger chords and play like Jethro, three finger chords (mostly). On a CGDA instrument, the easy A7 is the 3 finger chord 767, which is G C# A, as Walter noted. G#7 is one fret closer to...

Niles Hokkanen recommends mandolin left hand fingering for mandola but wisely says that this all depends on the size of your hands and that smaller hands may need a different approach. Below is an...

I have several 17 inch scale mandolas, nut varies from inch and 3/8ths to inch and a quarter, the width of the fret board does affect the left hand approach. I would say I tend to use the classical 3...

I couldn’t disagree more. :)
But why listen to my poorly constructed rebuff of your statement when we have the Lord of the Dark Side to get us to think about our vocabulary and the statements we...

I learned to read notation with the "Alfred's Learn to Play Mandolin" book and another book ( I think ) was called "Teach Yourself to Read Music". I didn't find learning to read music and applying it...

As a mediocre playing by ear guitarist, I learned standard notation when I started playing mandolin.
I understand the music better in notation, but find that tab is very useful for finger...

Well, chords are chords, and are the same (or should be) in whatever book you look at. It's just a bit odd that some chords seem oddly missing from this one, as others have noted as well. The A7...

Ok thanks. So basically I might be using the wrong book. I have been watching old videos from Eddie Davis and he used that kind of complicated 7th chord but on a very short tenor banjo.

I don’t play classical music nor style so I’m somewhat limited. :(
I have an octave (20.5 inch) and have played it like a mandolin from day one.
I’d say that this is definitely the way to play...

For an A7 chord, try 1020 - that's C#GEA. This form shows up in the jbott chart as an A#7 chord, just up a fret (2131) - but oddly, not as an A7 chord.

There's an easy G7 chord form that surprisingly, I don't see on this chart.
4th string, 5th fret
3rd string, 4th fret
2nd string 5th fret
1st string, 5th fret

The chord notes, from low to...