Hey gang,... I just wanted to reach out and ask for some technique pointers on playing chords on my Oval Hole flat top. I'm not asking for charts or chord diagrams, but for technique. I read on another thread somewhere where someone said "...when you play chop chords on an oval hole, you get mud" and while I don't necessarily agree with that, I can say that I don't ecompletely disagree. To that effect, I've been playing about 2 and a half years now on an Eastman MD305 which to my ears has a great bark... it just has that wonderful dry pointed chop that is pretty much what you expect out of a mandolin. Say what you will about Pac Rim instruments,... mine sounds great IMHO (thats a different discussion) ... If one were to ascribe an onomatopoeia to the sound, you'd think it were emphatically saying "SHUCK." Likewise, the same technique makes the Flatty say "humph"... just a lot less power. So I wonder how I need to approach it differently.
Now I completely understand that an oval hole is an instrument intended for different styles of music, so maybe the chop chord is the wrong method for the instrument... I just don't know what that method is. I have learned in a bluegrass/fiddle tune tradition, so the chop chord emphasized on the 2 & 4 beats has been the go to... So what is the preferred method for this little guy? I love the instrument and I want to do it justice, so what works for you?
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