Adding picking to my strumming

[misterstormalong]

I sing and accompany myself on the mandolin with a rhythmic style. Having accumulated a usable repertoire, I now want to add melodic intros, turnarounds and solos etc.

Learning a song is very straightforward, goal-orientated and immediately satisfying, but I'm much less sure of how best to approach melodic development and would be grateful for any advice.

Rik

[Bertram Henze]

You let your mandolin do exactly what your voice usually does: sing a melody. It is equally straightforward and immediately satisfying (I've heard the term goal-oriented a thousand times but never understood what it is supposed to mean, though).

I am aware that there is the question of how we are used to look at our instrument: since I originally came from the violin, I have always seen the mandolin as a melody instrument, and the idea of playing chords with it seemed very strange to me at first. Apparently, you're in the opposite situation. But it will come together.

[misterstormalong]

Hi Bertram

It's more a question of what to practice: scales, song tunes, fiddle tunes, licks etc, and how to fit all that into a routine while maintaining my existing repertoire...

[Bertram Henze]

Scales are a good point to start from. Like the voice has an inherent ability* to find the pitch it aims for, the left hand should develop the same skill.

(*) that's what distinguishes good singers from bad singers

[Steve VandeWater]

I have the opposite problem from the OP. I can only pick, and chords are problematic for me. I think I started out picking because 1) I am a horrible singer, and 2) I like to hear the melody. Unfortunately, it makes playing with others very difficult. The most difficult thing for me is figuring out when to hit a chord instead of picking single notes all the way through a song.

[Dick Hutchings]

Coming from fiddle and banjo, I find chords on the mandolin to be unsatisfying. I'm just too used to playing leads. This something I've finally started working on.

To the op. Are you playing by yourself or with an accomp accompni accompanist?

[Dick Hutchings]

Oops. You said you accompany yourself. I think your picking will require a lot of arpeggios and double stops to be effective.

[Pittsburgh Bill]

I, too, am in the opposite situation of you. Sheet music can be of great value to learning melody. Once I play a song a few times from the sheet music I can then usually play it thru if I can remember the lyrics. After getting comfortable with it occasional chords and double stops just seem to work their way in. Without the sheet music to start I can almost never pickup a song.

[David L]

If you want to learn to play melodically, learn melodies! Simple folk songs and fiddle tunes is a good place to start.

[JeffD]

I think it helps to listen a lot to recordings of folks doing what you are wanting to learn. Maybe the Louvin Brothers. Ira Louvin did a lot of simple effective turn-arounds and melodic breaks that are very tasteful, and stayed within the context and flavor of the song.

[EdHanrahan]

... want to add melodic intros, turnarounds and solos etc.

Based on the responses so far, I suspect that many of us have a hard time relating, because we all come from different musical backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses.

Might I suggest, as a first baby step, that you work on adding bass runs to your strumming, connecting the root notes of changing chords? For starters, I'd only do it as a fill between sung phrases, but it can be particularly effective as "counter-melody" underneath your sung melody line.

Yes, some will argue that "bass runs" on a mandolin are too high to be effective, but I disagree. The main point is NOT to provide pretty bass runs, but to get you comfortable with inserting picked notes into what has been, so far, a stream of continuous strumming. Bass runs should be a reasonable first step... IF I understand correctly!

On the downside, the topic of "adding bass runs" is far more likely to found in guitar instruction than in mandolin instruction, and I don't have a quick on-line reference available. But here's my quick & dirty take on it:

At its most basic, bass runs use the notes of the current scale to "connect" the root of the current chord to the root of the next chord. So instead of playing:
C-note, C-chord, C-note, C-chord, F-note, F-chord... try playing:
C-note, C-chord, D-note, E-note, F-note, F-chord, etc.

Hope this helps!

[dwc]

There is a phenomenal set of method books for learning to flatpick guitar called, fittingly, "Flatpicking Essentials." Book 1 starts with basic chords and then moves on to bass runs. Book 2 looks at taking basic vocal melodies and turning them into "Carter style" arrangements. I know they are guitar books, but if you read music or guitar tab the information is readily transferable to mandolin and will allow you to play chords while singing and then add fills and runs in between the vocals. The books continue to increase in difficulty moving all the way through complex swing jazz improvisation by book 8, but books 1 and 2 have the information relevant to your topic.

[Blues Healer]

I'd recommend taking a look at Don Julin's YouTubes:

[misterstormalong]

Thanks for all the suggestions which I'll follow up. I'm basically a singer so playing a chordal accompaniment was my obvious starting point, but now I want to add some melodic bits if I can as I think it will add more interest to my performance.

Rik

[Tezzerh]

I have the opposite problem from the OP. I can only pick, and chords are problematic for me?

Same here. In fact, I've never been a fan of chord playing whether on guitar, banjo or mandolin. I find a melody much more satisfying to play and far easier on the ear. Picking a tune I know well by ear has never been too hard - as long as I know the tune well. Even greater satisfaction comes from learning to play a tune you don't already know, by reading the music. A tune that looks really complicated in the music can slot into place after lots of practice.

[Blues Healer]

i've never been a fan of chord playing whether on guitar, banjo or mandolin.

wth?

I can't imagine any player in a band I've ever seen who doesn't accompany the other players when they're not soloing.
Certainly, I wouldn't want anyone in a band who wasn't capable of understanding harmony, counter point, and basic chord structure.

[Bertram Henze]

wth?

I can't imagine any player in a band I've ever seen who doesn't accompany the other players when they're not soloing.

You've clearly never been to an Irish session.

[k0k0peli]

wth?

I can't imagine any player in a band I've ever seen who doesn't accompany the other players when they're not soloing.
Certainly, I wouldn't want anyone in a band who wasn't capable of understanding harmony, counter point, and basic chord structure.

Some people are just born to play lead. And the style in many Latino conjuntos (not to mention classical string combos) is that each instrument plays lines, not chords. When I play unchorded lines on mando I'm still aware of the harmonic structure (usually). So I do my riffs and double-stops without chording or letting drones ring (usually). Sometimes I learn the chords after I have my melodies and counterpoints worked out. Some fiddle-type tunes may only involve one or two chords. I'd rather not play only that background (usually).

[Tezzerh]

wth?

I can't imagine any player in a band I've ever seen who doesn't accompany the other players when they're not soloing.
Certainly, I wouldn't want anyone in a band who wasn't capable of understanding harmony, counter point, and basic chord structure.

I don't play in a band - just for my own amusement! Surely that applies to many users of this forum.

[John Flynn]

Thanks for all the suggestions which I'll follow up. I'm basically a singer so playing a chordal accompaniment was my obvious starting point, but now I want to add some melodic bits if I can as I think it will add more interest to my performance.

Rik

Being a singer is a good thing for what you want to do. If you can sing a melody and you can play the scale that melody is in, it is a short step to being able to play that melody. I am not much of a singer, so I have to "sing the melody in my head," but once I've done that, I can pretty quickly figure it out on the mandolin. Sheet music can be a help, but I try not to depend on it. Sometimes my eye will lose its place in a tune, but my ear never does!