violin to mandolin, your experience please

[josie]

I played the violin for about 12 years and just decide to try the mandolin.
My first lesson will be next week, I don't have my own instrument yet (I'm shopping for it).
I was wondering if other members here took the same path as me, starting the mandolin after the violin... how did it go for you?
what scares me is the picking... I never played guitar (or other instrument in this group) before..

[Freddyfingers]

Not an expert on this. But, I started from a different path. Guitar. So, I had the picking and strumming down. sadly, My head was all wrapped up in guitar scales and chords and positions. It was a struggle at first. For years i approached it as a backwards guitar. Now that I know better, it flows. My guess, since you are coming from the same background, the transition from bowing to plucking will be easy, and you already know the scale and fingerings. You can do this!

[Hany Hayek]

Picking is the main difference. But it's still a lot easier than all the bowing technique with the violin. Other than for the picking you will not need any teachers. Left hand is almost the same as for the violin. I am practicing on my own. If you can read music, any violin sheet you played is good for the mandolin.
Distances on the fret board are a little bit wider than what your fingers are used to on the violin.
Mandolin is a lot of fun, you can play it all the time, even when you are tired, something you can not do with a violin where you'll lose your intonation if you are not in your best shape. Also the sound of the mandolin will not be noticed by your neighbors . You can't practice your violin at night (unless it's electric)
I still play my violin from time to time, but I am practicing mandolin 2 hours daily.
Once you decide on it and get your own mandolin you'll love it.

[mandogerry]

I played violin from age nine through the first two years of college, and then stopped cold for a long time (decades), until I moved to the land of bluegrass and oldtime music a few years ago. I thought I'd try fiddle aka violin. How could I resist? When I picked up a fiddle, though, I realized I had a lot of relearning to do, especially bowing, and it went back in the case.

But I could not resist the mandolin I tried at our local music shop, and decided to try a lesson or two. I never looked back. It is a wonderful instrument; you'll figure out the picking (way easier than handling a bow for me) and will discover all of the little nuances of the instrument. All of that classical training didn't go to waste -- I'm the one who initially plays the melody line in my groups when we try new songs, rather than just strum chords. Often I stay there. And imagine, you can get acceptable picks for less than a dollar. Try getting a bow for that!

I might get back into the fiddle some day, but really the mandolin is hard to put down. I also recently added a tenor banjo and tenor guitar to the "herd" -- same GDAE tuning on mine, and a fun switch if I feel like it.

Good luck!

[Jim Garber]

I took up both fiddle and mandolin at the same time. I played guitar for years and always liked mandolin but I also wanted to play fiddle and mandolin was the perfect middle instrument for me: the picking of the guitar but the left hand fingering of the violin.

[furuta]

I did a search on this a few days ago and was surprised to find that there was a Mel-Bay-published book on the topic--Mandolin for Violinists by Andrew Driscoll. I'm not a good enough violinist or mandolinist to be able to say much that is authoritative but my limited experience is that what Hany says is right on the mark and also that the picking isn't anything to be scared of.

[BlueMt.]

It could be worse ... you could be going from mandolin to fiddle. I played guitar first, then mandolin and then had the bright idea to take up the fiddle at age 64; it truly is the devil's box! Once you get a handle on picking and your finger tips toughen up, you'll do fine.

[Beanzy]

At least you're in the treble clef, I came to mandolin from the cello.

The plectrum is just another skill to get down, give it time and get the tutor to get pick grip, posture etc right from the off.
As with bowing the trick is a light grip and being mindful of keeping the muscles relaxed.

One thing I have noticed with some fiddle players going to plucked strings is a tendency to brush the strings with the pick, often allowing it to flop across the pairs, rather than keep the contact short and defined. Just something to be aware of.

Also your piano and forte come from the pick grip rather than banging harder on the strings using the arm to dig in.
Normally the dynamics are best controlled within the pick grip, this avoids introducing tension in the wrist and arm.

[josie]

thnak you for your posts!!!

I did a search on this a few days ago and was surprised to find that there was a Mel-Bay-published book on the topic--Mandolin for Violinists by Andrew Driscoll.

I found that last week! I bought the eBook and it's really interesting!

It could be worse ... you could be going from mandolin to fiddle. I played guitar first, then mandolin and then had the bright idea to take up the fiddle at age 64; it truly is the devil's box! Once you get a handle on picking and your finger tips toughen up, you'll do fine.

wow you have my admiration! starting violin or fiddle as an adult is quite a challenge!

At least you're in the treble clef, I came to mandolin from the cello.

The plectrum is just another skill to get down, give it time and get the tutor to get pick grip, posture etc right from the off.
As with bowing the trick is a light grip and being mindful of keeping the muscles relaxed.

One thing I have noticed with some fiddle players going to plucked strings is a tendency to brush the strings with the pick, often allowing it to flop across the pairs, rather than keep the contact short and defined. Just something to be aware of.

Also your piano and forte come from the pick grip rather than banging harder on the strings using the arm to dig in.
Normally the dynamics are best controlled within the pick grip, this avoids introducing tension in the wrist and arm.

Yes! I learn the violin with the suzuki method and I don't have that much music theory.. so staying in the same key is a most I would have love learn cello..

Mandolin is a lot of fun, you can play it all the time, even when you are tired, something you can not do with a violin where you'll lose your intonation if you are not in your best shape.

cool!

[JonZ]

Picking is easier than bowing, but harder than it looks. Put in quality time on learning to do it correctly.

The rest should come pretty easily.

[farmerjones]

I started fiddle and mandolin about 2 weeks apart, ten years ago.
Indeed, picking vs. bowing requires a different muscle group. I concede I will never be able to tremolo properly. I know there are folks like Ricky Skaggs that can do both with stellar chops. Yep, I'm definitely not him.

[Bertram Henze]

In a nutshell: I had 9 years of violin lessons as a kid and hated it, gave up on playing music altogether and was saved by the mandolin.

Picking is the opposite of bowing: short moves instead of long moves, high forces instead of low forces (i.e. the product of both, the work, is the same). Everything else stays much the same.
For me, a mandolin is a violin done right. Real tuner mechanisms, no awkward head position, too cool for school.

[ducky_k]

Yes! I learn the violin with the suzuki method and I don't have that much music theory.. so staying in the same key is a most I would have love learn cello..

Ha! If you're anything like me (suzuki method piano player & cellist) the biggest problem you'll have is translating fret and string numbers and then using a pick.

[Manfred Hacker]

The big advantage will be your ability to read music.
I had quit the violin 35 years before I took up the mandolin.
My fingers still remembered all the notes in first position and I was able to read and pick easy tunes slowly without looking at the fingerboard.

[Joel Glassman]

Learning mandolin really helped my fiddle playing.
On mandolin you can think of the patterns of chords and
how they relate to the melodies which weave through them.
One can play violin without knowing about chords and progressions.
Once you do though, you can play melodies and improv which
relate to the chords. It is a definite step forward, and much more
musical I think.

[UsuallyPickin]

Well it went guitar to banjo to mandolin to fiddle for my string path...... A bow is not a pick ..... Truly I thought the hardest part of learning a fiddle would be no frets .... which was difficult ... but there is an entire mind shift insofar as how notes are used when slurring or sliding and bow tricks like bowed triplets ..and shuffling. how a melody is played just involves different choices both rhythmically and melodically. A bow is not a pick .... R/

[bratsche]

There can be a measure of frustration involved if you've gotten fairly advanced with your violin playing, and proficient with the bow. Naturally, when you pick up a mando, you're going to want to play some of the most difficult pieces you already "know" - and chances are, your left hand will be right there with you from the start. But your right hand may take years to catch up and do all the things that would come naturally with a bow. Meanwhile, you might look impatiently or even disdainfully at your pick hand as being maddeningly slow and deficient until it does finally catch up.

bratsche

[lorrainehornig]

I can't speak for myself because I never played violin. However, my daughter has played violin for over 30 years and she is able to pick up my mandolin and play it with no problem. I don't think you will have trouble with picking since plucking the strings of your violin is undoubtedly in your skill set. The only difference is that you will do it with a pick. Don't be afraid...you will love it. Lots of luck to you!

[bratsche]

I didn't mean to sound discouraging in my last post - of course, if you've played violin at all, you will be able to play a certain amount of music on mandolin right away, and it will be great fun, and likely become addictive!

I don't think you will have trouble with picking since plucking the strings of your violin is undoubtedly in your skill set. The only difference is that you will do it with a pick.

Well, it's not quite that simple. A violinist does have some plucking of strings in his/her skill set, however, in pizzicato passages it's typically done with one single extended finger 'on the fly', so to speak, while the rest of the hand is holding onto the bow. And any "up / down" pattern is very seldom employed when playing in this manner, or even when one is holding the violin on one's lap "mando fashion" while plucking it.

Though we're often striving to achieve similar end results, pick technique really is quite different from bow technique. Playing cleanly at very fast tempos, or executing familiar, yet complex, string crossing chordal or arpeggiated passages using a pick are certainly things that don't happen overnight, even if we can already play the identical things bowed without a problem.

bratsche

[lorrainehornig]

Well, it's not quite that simple. A violinist does have some plucking of strings in his/her skill set, however, in pizzicato passages it's typically done with one single extended finger 'on the fly', so to speak, while the rest of the hand is holding onto the bow. And any "up / down" pattern is very seldom employed when playing in this manner, or even when one is holding the violin on one's lap "mando fashion" while plucking it.
bratsche

I stand corrected...thanks bratsche!

[josie]

Bratsche: your first post really says the truth; I know that I'll try to play things that are way too difficult at first

So I hold a mandolin for the first time Tuesday... and it was a little awkward for my right hand I'm still shopping around to found my first mandolin and I'm really looking forward to start practicing... and yes I will need patience to adjust to all this.

[JeffD]

I started on mandolin and more recently picked up fiddle. I think that each helps the other. You will find yourself enjoying the fiddle even more than before because the mandolin will help you see the fiddle in a new way.

I know learning fiddle has greatly improved my mandolin playing.

I also love violin / mandolin duets. There is a great contrast in tone and how the sound starts and stops, and being in the same range you get to really focus in on those differences. I was playing Mazas duets with my fiddle teacher and the melody goes from one to the other sometimes back and forth, and what a joy to hear it bowed and then plucked. To hear the tremolo I have to do on mandolin to extend a note contrasted with the beautiful vibrato on a violin. We would try and phrase the passages similarly and it became quite the musical conversation.

I think its a great thing, and can only result in greater things.

[lottarope]

I went from violin learned Suzuki method to mando. You have some big advantages from going that way.
1 your left hand already pretty much knows what to do
2 all that ear training won't go to waste
The pick isn't all that hard to kind of get used to you'll get an ok sound pretty quickly. I do remember the point when it really occurred to me that really good mando playing was as hard as the violin. Getting a good proper grip on the pick is as important as all the time you spent in Suzuki learning to hold your bow.
Learn good form, double strings under higher tension can really hurt (injure) your hands. Lucky for you when your hands get sore you can pick up the violin for a few days and try out some of the things you are learning from mando. I feel playing both has really helped me on both instruments.
One other really cool benefit you will have is what it will do for "your" sound. So many mando players are guitar players so they tend to approach mando like a guitar and it affects the sort of sound they create as a violin player you have a chance to contribute a sound that is most likely going to sound a little different. I know when I sit in on a jam I tend to add more counter melodies, tags, fills, and drones and chop less. I believe solos/ breaks were easier for me because I came from a violin background. I'm not knocking the guitar approach to the mando just saying I like the kind of sound I get from approaching it from violin.
The other thing I like about playing both is what mando has done for my violin. Learning to chop chords has helped me find cooler double stops and know more of what to do when my instrument is not being featured. Because a mandolin has frets it's easier to learn to move up the neck and I find myself finding it easier to move up the neck on my violin now.
You're in for a lot of fun,
Buck Reule

[Django Fret]

My first instrument was the violin which included just about 3 years of classical training in which I think I did OK but upon turning age 11, I learned that playing the violin wasn't "cool". I quickly dropped it until I resumed playing "fiddle" just before entering graduate school and then had a blast and appreciated everything that I had learned. At least I had the fundamentals down and I've never stopped playing since then. I started playing mandolin about 20 years later, but it took a while to learn the differences and the similarities.

All I can really add to what has been posted before in this thread will be to consider playing your mandolin with flat wound strings since I think they will be easier on your fingers. (Thomastik Infelds are still my favorites for many reasons.) My biggest adjustments were my fingers having to deal with the double course strings, having frets, and learning how to pluck the strings with a pick to get a sound instead of bowing. (I found have Wegans to be my choice for a variety of reasons.)

If you stay with it, I think you will you find a lot of satisfaction making the transition, building on what you already know, and learning from the many fine folks on this site.

Just be warned to be very careful about MAS...

[josie]

Thanks!!

Lottarope: chords is an other thing that scares me a little... did not get too much music theory with the Suzuki method.. and have not good memories of music theory classes but that was 20 years ago

Django Fret : thanks for the reply, yes double strings is a interesting feature...
MAS? is it for Mandolin Acquisition Syndrome???