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Thread: Which one am I playing?

  1. #1
    Is there a "talent" knob? Christian McKee's Avatar
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    Default Which one am I playing?

    This came up in another thread, I'm just kinda moving it...

    How do you internalize the instrument you're playing, if you play mandolin, AND mandola, AND tenor-something, AND cittern, etc, etc? That is, how do you avoid playing in C when you should be in G, or A when you should be in E, etc?

    Although I've been a mandolin player for longer than anything, I now have an electric five string, a mandola, a mandocello and a tenor banjo - all of which move up from the C to A or E. The only thing that helps me now is that I tend to play the same songs on the same instruments consistently. If someone wanted me to play something I play on the five string on my regular mandolin, I'd struggle a bit. I've even recently fretted a B major or two when I meant to play an E, so the mistakes have started happening both ways.

    I suppose having a bunch of nice instruments to choose from is a good problem to have, though...

    Christian
    Christian McKee

    Member, The Big North Duo
    Musical Director, The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

  2. #2

    Default Re: Which one am I playing?

    I've run into the same problem playing mandolin, tenor guitar, mandola, and octave. I find that taking a song and playing it through on all the instruments helps to build a mental image of where the chords are located in comparison to each other across all the fretboards. It's a hell of a lot of transposing, but it gets much easier very quickly, your mind will lock down on the patterns 'this Bm is here on the mando, here on the tenor, here on the dola etc'. Thats all in reference to chords and rhythm playing though, as far as lead is concerned I never had much of a problem. That's probably due to my improvisational style, and once I get locked into a key I'll just change the arrangement slightly if it doesn't fit the scale of the instrument I'm playing(which it usually does, in one form or another). Anyway, good luck with it, it's certainly a mind #%*@, but your not the only feeling the pain

  3. #3
    the little guy DerTiefster's Avatar
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    Default Re: Which one am I playing?

    The mandolin and mandola chords match up on three of the four strings. It's just that it's the high three on one and the low three on the other. Maybe it would help to try to remember the patterns in their full 5-string glory in order to ready yourself for playing the glorious 5-string mandolin/mandola. I'm not joking, but I've also never done it.

    This sentiment seems to be oozing about in the thread from which this -very- insightful post is taken:
    http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...l=1#post858715
    The honorable Jim McDaniel observes that the mandolin capoed at the fifth fret is a CGDA mandola an octave up. So, wow!, you already knew all that stuff. You just have to make that 5-fret shift.

    Others have said that learning the mandola helps them play/use their mandolin more fully. I can see how. It shows me where I need to go.
    You live and you learn (if you're awake)
    ... but some folks get by just making stuff up.

    Michael T.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Which one am I playing?

    I find that taking a song and playing it through on all the instruments helps to build a mental image of where the chords are located in comparison to each other across all the fretboards. It's a hell of a lot of transposing, but it gets much easier very quickly, your mind will lock down on the patterns
    Yup. I added pedal steel a decade ago and now e-mando, on top of thirty-six years of bass (fretless natch ) and standard 6-and-7 string guitars, open tunings too. What's you're favorite song to play? Learn it across the board. "Stormy Monday" in A... don't change the key, just learn it. Barring gig pressures, I often spend a week on one song. David Lindley said something to the effect that "There's just one big tuning".... Play the song & not the instrument.

  5. #5
    Registered User Steve Lavelle's Avatar
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    Default Re: Which one am I playing?

    I agree with Stubhead. I play 5 str. banjo, 8 str. mando, guitar , and bass. Learning the same song on each instrument in the same key can be a big help. With the exception of banjo (drone strings are a bitch), I rarely use a capo and I think that helps your mind be more flexible and adaptable, as well.

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