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Thread: Help: e-strings choked off

  1. #1
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    I am having difficulty playing open E and then going to the G-string to play my first finger without cutting off the sound of the E-strings. #Seems the base of my first finger which leans against the neck snuffs the ringing out. #Any suggestions?
    "I can't understand it! He just burst in and shot my violin." ---Herman cartoon

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    Registered User mando.player's Avatar
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    Keep your left elbow close to your side, that will rotate your hand and may provide more clearance.
    Charlie Jones

    Clark 2-point #39
    Rigel A Natural

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    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    In addition to keeping your left elbow close make sure that your wrist is not bent back and curve your fingers so that the tip is going straight down onto the strings.



    "I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp

    "Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann

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    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    Not like this:
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    "I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp

    "Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann

    "IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me

  5. #5
    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    Like this:
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    "I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp

    "Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann

    "IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me

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    Thanks jbmando and mandoplayer. I'm a classically trained violinist (don't hold that against me) and so my left hand hold is similar to that on a violin neck. My wrist is relatively straight, and my left hand rests against the neck near the bone/joint of the base of my first finger.

    Here's where I'm having the problem: Marilynn Mair's new book, "The Complete Mandolinist", page 40. You're supposed to go from Open E to 1st finger A on the G-string, and that's just the first two notes of the etude...The E plays until I move the 1st to play the A...I just feel like it should ring out longer. The next measure starts open E, but goes to the 2nd finger, B, on the G-string, and the E rings out fine. Or should the opens ring out freely to begin with?

    And, since I have rotator cuff issues, I try to hold my upper arm/elbow close to the body, though it still tends to bother me at times.

    I will keep at it, perhaps I just want it to ring out longer, but I feel the two entrances should sound alike.

    Thanks again.
    "I can't understand it! He just burst in and shot my violin." ---Herman cartoon

  7. #7
    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    The use of a strap will allow you not to have to hold the mandolin with your left hand and keep space between your hand and the strings. I just tried the notes you described and my finger doesn't mute the E strings even without a strap, but I noticed that it was easier to keep the E string ringing if I lifted my hand a little so that the neck was resting lower than the bone at the base of my index finger. It's possible that your E strings are closer to the outside of the fretboard than mine are too.
    "I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp

    "Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann

    "IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me

  8. #8
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    Thanks for the advice. I actually have used a strap, but one other problem is that I have a bulging disc in my neck, and anything around it irritates it to no end. I have tried putting it over my right shoulder, but even the weight eventually gets to be too much. (This is why I no longer can play the violin.)I will find a way to do it - my problems seem pretty small compared to others who have found ways round their problems.

    When I was a kid, my dad had me watch this fiddler on the TV b/c he had lost most of his fingers off his left hand(my guess is from a saw or something). He was wonderful, and his fingers just whipped all around that fingerboard on their stubs - I'll never forget that! Haven't any clue who is was, but every time I feel like complaining about my issues, I just think of those stubby fingers. I know a guitarist who lost the tip of his left ring finger from a woodworking saw, and he's figured out how to play with it.
    Fritz Kreisler came back from a terrible auto accident, and said that he just told his hands that he was the general, they were the soldiers, and that he was in charge!

    Thanks again.
    "I can't understand it! He just burst in and shot my violin." ---Herman cartoon

  9. #9
    Registered User Barbara Shultz's Avatar
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    Hi! I'm still pretty 'new' at this and still trying to figure things out! I have struggled with my left hand (mainly pain issues) and holding my mandolin. We all have different bodies, and different issues, so not everything that works for one person will work for another.

    That said, these tips have worked wonders for me.

    I absolutely have to NOT be gripping the neck with my left hand. I play sitting down. I now use a strap on all my mandolin family instruments. However, I don't really use the strap in such a way that it is putting pressure on my shoulder or neck. To find the right position, I sat in the chair, positioned my instrument on my lap and adjusted the strap so it keeps in it that position, but it's my lap that is supporting it, not my strap. The strap is just holding it in this position. This enables me to not have to hold the neck with my left hand. On my Weber mandolins, I use a tone gaurd and an armrest. Right now, I'm playing my 1955 Martin A mandolin, which has a much thicker body, so my armrest doesn't fit on it. But, it doesn't seem to be muffled by being held next to my body, and having my arm on it. I use light pressure with my right forearm, to hold my mandolin in place, so that I don't have to exert so much pressure with my left thumb when I'm fretting.

    By using the strap, my lap, and my right forearm to anchor the mandolin, it totally has freed up my left hand.

    I had found in the other position, I had to be supporting the neck of my mandolin with my left hand, which led to ALL sorts of issues! One was that it that position, I had to have the base of my left index finger against the neck. That had a tendency (not only to HURT), but to create a more closed position, one being if I had my index finger on lets say the E strings, 2nd fret, and needed to play my ring finger on the G or D strings, 5th fret, I had to pick up my index finger. Another was that I had a tendency to dampen the E strings with the side of my hand when I was playing any other strings.

    But, with the above described position, I have been able to totally change my left hand. I took piano lessons when I was a kid, and I remember the piano teacher's lesson on how to arch your hands, like you were holding a ball, or like the letter "C". I tried that with the mandolin, and WOW! I don't have my hand touching the side of the neck AT ALL. With that arch, my fingers reach all the strings much better, and I don't dampen the E strings when playing anything, as my hand is nowhere near them!

    Another thing I can do in this position, is while I'm playing, whenever there is a brief moment that I can, I totally release my left thumb, giving it a much needed break.





    I'm not saying this is RIGHT, I'm just passing along what has worked for me!

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