Re: Crosspicking
I'm on-again off-again with mandolin, too, so can relate to your situation. From your description of your knowledge (the "basic g, c, d and some minor chords"), I would think you'd be better off focusing on the foundations of mandolin playing. Learn more chords, in open and closed forms. Learn the various movable three-finger forms for major, minor, dominant 7's, diminished and augmented - the three-finger forms can be great fun and can help you really learn the fretboard. As others have said, learn to use double stops, if you aren't already good at throwing them into your playing. Double-stops will immediately give you lots of fun flavors to add to your playing, whether soloing or in accompaniment, and they'll be important when and if you really get into cross-picking. Don't hesitate to experiment with cross-picking, of course, but put most of your focus into strong foundation. Hang in there!
Doug Brock
Kentucky KM-505, Eastman MD-505, Martin HD28, Martin D18GE, CA Bluegrass Performer (carbon fiber dreadnaught)
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