I don't like the sound of tremolo.

[Pete Hicks]

I agree with the electric mandolin comments. Tremolo is not so nice on electric mandolin, especially if it is a 4 or 5 string mando.

[JeffD]

As far as the original question about what can replace it, aside from developing long tones on the instrument, I have found that a touch of vibrato can also go a long way to providing a bit of interest to a long note that otherwise would just lie there, uninteresting. That may just be a hold-over from my violin days, but it can be effective...

I didn't know one could do vibrato on a fretted instrument. I'm confused.

[bratsche]

Sure, you can do vibrato, but it just doesn't sound as pronounced as it does on a non-fretted instrument. The degree to which it does sound is higher with less string tension and lighter action on an instrument.

I sort of agree with the OP, and am not a big fan of playing tremolo. That's ironic, since the first time someone stuck a mandolin in my hand and asked me to play, it was in an opera, and the conductor wanted the refrain of a particular aria reinforced with eight bars of mandolin tremolo (it wasn't in the score, but he "heard" it that way), and I obliged. I didn't find it difficult, because nobody told me it was difficult, I just did it. But now, I play music pretty much all of the time that doesn't have tremolo.

bratsche

[Richard Watts]

if it wasnt for tremolo id have a lot of wait time in my songs tremolo O holy night all the way through nice soft and lightly- its wonderful

[Jim MacDaniel]

Get an electric mandolin and some effects pedals.

There you go -- you can get Santana-like sustain with the right setup!

[Oggy]

Tremolo is a stylistic choice, not a necessity... let the notes ring or fill the void with other interesting notes. To say that the mandolin MUST be played with tremolo represents a narrow minded view of the instrument IMHO.

I love to play tremolo, when it's appropriate or when I choose to play in a certain style.

Now I have to go play Banks of the Ohio just to prove my point.

[mzurer]

JeffD, ever hear BB King? Lucille's got frets all up and down, but he manages.

[Jim Garber]

Even in classical music, tremelo is a choice not mandatory. I think, esp in baroque, it just clutters up the music. it is the same with vibrato on a violin or voice -- you don't need it constantly, it is like a spice that should be used sparingly and appropriately.

[Charley wild]

For medical reasons if I couldn't do tremolo I wouldn't be able to play the mandolin! Luckily I love hearing it and doing it. BUT I do sympathize with the OP. I played dobro for years and have always disliked the trill technique no matter who was doing it. I have used it a times but VERY sparingly!

[rico mando]

i am not a fan of slow songs with lots of whole note being played tremolo .i do like bills waltzs though.but the mandolin is not a sustain monster and never will be .i do play electric myself and with effects and loops i can sustain all nite long.

[yankees1]

I think you need an instructor!

[John Flynn]

I think tremolo is a great technique, very useful, and it is a defining technique for mandolin, more so than for any other instrument. When I think of mandolins being played, in any genre, I automatically think of them being played with some tremolo. As has been said, tremolo can be overused and it may be optional, but I think that a mandolin player who cannot do it well and make it sound good where it is appropriate is missing something important on the instrument. I can't think of a player I admire who does not do great tremolo and who does not regularly find ways to use it well when they play.

[JeffD]

JeffD, ever hear BB King? Lucille's got frets all up and down, but he manages.

Well perhaps it is a terminology question. I thought vibrato was moving up and down the neck along the string - as a violin does to imitate the human voice doing the slight pulsation in the frequency of the pitch, and would clearly be pointless on a fretted instrument.

Pulling or pushing a string across the neck, parallel to the string I would call string bending.

Pulsating your finger harder an softer on the string (up and down into the neck), fretted or not, would be going into and out of good intonation.

[JeffD]

I much prefer a song or tune, slow or fast, that evokes some strong emotions, rather than a tune that is designed to show off playing technique. Tremolo is one way to bring out an expressive line.

[johnwalser]

Because of the short scale length of the mandolin and almost total lack of sustain, I find tremolo absolutely necessary. Even an electric mandolin with a great sustain pedal just can't give me what my Fender Strat guitar delivers effortlessly. Mandolin will always be my fun instrument, played with gusto and a great amount of the tremolo I worked so hard to perfect.
John

[M.Marmot]

Whether it's flemenco guitar, acoustic guitar (i really hate it on acoustic), or even mandolin, I simply have never liked the sound of tremolo. No matter the tempo of the music I can just never find myself saying, wow that really fits, or that really sounds good. And I don't mean my own playing either, I mean on anything, anywhere, any music.

Just out of curiosity, seeing as your so adamant about your dislike of tremolo, whats your stance on triplets?

Thats in terms of picking now, not three siblings

[JeffD]

Pulling or pushing a string across the neck, parallel to the string I would call string bending.
.

I meant perpendicular.

[catmandu2]

Well perhaps it is a terminology question. I thought vibrato was moving up and down the neck along the string - as a violin does to imitate the human voice doing the slight pulsation in the frequency of the pitch, and would clearly be pointless on a fretted instrument.

Pulling or pushing a string across the neck, parallel to the string I would call string bending.

Pulsating your finger harder an softer on the string (up and down into the neck), fretted or not, would be going into and out of good intonation.

Vibrato is common to most all types of instrument playing; players even effect vibrato on instruments with fixed skins and string scale length and mechanical action such as drums, banjo, piano and hammered dulcimer through any manner of manipulation of keys, strings, or body of the instrument--basically any way they can. The relative mechanics employed to render vibrato vary widely--all of the examples you've mentioned are techniques that render vibrato; they range from very slight pulsations to long glissandos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glissando , which can be less than a full portamento.

[fscotte]

Just out of curiosity, seeing as your so adamant about your dislike of tremolo, whats your stance on triplets?

Thats in terms of picking now, not three siblings

Triplets are really a different thing to me. They sound wonderful in the right places. I guess when I hear tremolo I hear something wrong in the picking. Short, fast, staccato like sounds of the same note many times per beat just doesn't sound good to me.

[journeybear]

If you hear "short, fast, staccato like sounds of the same note many times per beat" when you're listening to tremolo, you probably are hearing something wrong in the picking. Tremolo is supposed to sound smooth, to a point where the individual notes almost blur into a seamless whole. Tremolo is just one picking technique, one color in the sonic pallette available for the mandolin, and you would be limiting your effectiveness if you were to dismiss it from your repertoire - continuing with the analogy, like trying to paint without blue. Of course, you don't want to overdo it - Picasso lingered in his "blue period" for just a couple of years - but when appropriate, nothing else will work as well instead.

Tremolo has uses besides sustain, too, such as varying volume, and even tempo. But it is true that it's often used to create a long note, something that is difficult to achieve otherwise on the instrument. Vibrato, achieved by either bending the string back and forth quickly parallel to the fret or just wiggling the finger or whole hand rapidly in place, may add a bit of sustain, but can also sound unnatural and be easily overused. Striking a note and letting it decay naturally can easily sound pretty plinky if you don't have a fabulous-sounding instrument. I think your best bet is to practice your tremolo technique until you can make it sound acceptable to your ears. It's in there; you just have to find a way to get it out.

I agree with those who don't care for tremolo on single-string instruments. It is really hard and thus rare for it to sound - gee, I need a better word - non-plinky. My favorite example of an exception, the best use of tremolo on an electric guitar I know, is Eric Clapton's interludes on "Dance The Night Away" from "Disraeli Gears" - there's probably some effect being used too, but it's amazing. It was partially responsible for my interest in the mandolin - I wanted to make sounds like that. This capability is pretty much a basic characteristic of the mandolin.

I'm angling for a job playing in an Italian restaurant. I may well be adjusting my opinions after playing "Santa Lucia," "Return To Sorrento," "Lara's Theme," etc etc over and over day after day.

[Bertram Henze]

If you hear "short, fast, staccato like sounds of the same note many times per beat" when you're listening to tremolo, you probably are hearing something wrong in the picking. Tremolo is supposed to sound smooth, to a point where the individual notes almost blur into a seamless whole.

Exactly that - good tremolo is an even stream with just the slightest surface ripple (like creamy peanut butter, not the crunchy one). It has much to do with pick choice and pick angle, and the mandolin should provide - irconically - a good sustain of its own which the tremolo is supposed to keep alive, not to replace it if absent.

[bratsche]

Well perhaps it is a terminology question. I thought vibrato was moving up and down the neck along the string - as a violin does to imitate the human voice doing the slight pulsation in the frequency of the pitch, and would clearly be pointless on a fretted instrument.

That is the vibrato definition I was referring to, and while it's effects on a fretted instrument are certainly subtle compared to the violin, it is definitely not pointless. You can hear it. And as I said before, it is more pronounced with low tension strings and low action (both of which I prefer to use).

As a violist, I find it hard to avoid vibrato completely, no matter what instrument I am playing. It comes so naturally to want to do it. But with mandos I generally reserve it for a long-held note within or especially at the end of a phrase, when it needs a bit of added emphasis or color. A slight vibration here and there is just another way of adding ornamentation to a note.

bratsche

[rico mando]

i thought violinists used vibrato to hide the fact that were not fully on the right note?

[ralph johansson]

Tremolo is an effect to use sparingly on mandolin, and on the guitar it's very cheap. Something I really dislike is the repeated eighth notes that BG players often lapse into in those atrocious tempos. ANyway, one player who does use tremolo to great dramatic and dynamic effect is Sam Bush. Grisman and Stiernberg use it with great restraint and economy. And Flinner hardly uses it all.

[JeffD]

ANyway, one player who does use tremolo to great dramatic and dynamic effect is Sam Bush. Grisman and Stiernberg use it with great restraint and economy. And Flinner hardly uses it all.

One of my favorite tremolos would be Butch Baldassari's.