NEWBIE...again

[POWDER]

Hey pickers
I am new to Mandolin Cafe and excited to be part of this. Over the YEARS I have picked up the instrument for awhile trying to learn, and then at some point always seem to put it back down. I'm trying once again...lol. Sometimes I feel like I'm all over the place. Learn chords, then next day learn songs, then next day learn scales, etc...etc... Any advice? Should I stick to just one thing for long time before moving onto next? I'm guessing everyone is different when learning. Another thing I struggle with is "remembering" a tune. I'll learn a song, can't get it out of my head... but then it will suddenly leave my head and I can't "hear" it anymore right off the bat. And will have to listen to someone play it before it comes back to me. Not sure if that makes sense but maybe someone out there knows what I'm talking about?!! I hope I'm not the only one who suffers from this!

[UsuallyPickin]

Sadly yes it makes sense.... C'est la Vie … Passive listening , ie music in the background while doing other things , when you are able to hum a tune from memory then it is much easier to learn to play, always the chords to a song or tune first, like the foundation of a building, gotta start at the bottom …Then work the melody and listen to where the chord changes happen.... When practicing play scales, arpeggios ie. chords played one tone at a time and chords in the groups they work together in ….. examples G C D and Em or C F G Am are the most used chords in songs and tunes in the keys of C and G... that helps you start on the long and winding road of improvisation and helps your hands to move around the fretboard without thinking too much. This is like the first few rungs on a ladder there's always lots more climbing or in this case to learning about music and playing. Patient practice will get you where you want to go. R/

[POWDER]

Thank you for your reply! Oh yeah, patience...

[Ranald]

Welcome, Powder.
All your issues sound familiar to me. I sometimes go blank on tunes that I've played on the fiddle for decades, and newer mandolin tunes as well. And I find that I have to keep playing mandolin or fiddle tunes, complex tunes especially, or else I'll be re-learning them (which gets easier each time). On the other hand, I sometimes pull a tune out of thin air that I'd forgotten I'd learned. People have many different learning styles, so you have to find what works for you -- though I have to discipline myself not to decide that the boring parts of practice don't work for me. My daughter had a fiddle teacher who was one of two young fiddling sisters close together in age. I commented to their mother that Danette was a great teacher for my daughter, never letting her get bored. The mother said, yes, that's what Danette's like. Her sister didn't want to work on anything new until she'd thoroughly mastered an exercise or a tune. Danette would have quit if she was made to do the same tune for more than fifteen minutes. The sisters were both fine fiddlers, so "go figger."

[POWDER]

WHEW!!! Not just me. It actually makes me feel better and motivated to keep pressing forward. And I had a feeling that everyone is different learning and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. I'm so happy to have joined this group.

[Randi Gormley]

Some people like to have a goal to aim for, others like to just go where their whim takes them ... it's just personality. There are certainly mandolin method books that you can use as the textbooks they are -- they build repertoire in specific ways. And it doesn't hurt to have a teacher whose philosophy of learning/playing matches your own. And to keep you honest, if it comes to that.

Me, i advanced fastest when i started playing with others. For me, that meant learning fiddle tunes (as opposed to chords. I still can't play more than 4 chords and they're generally two-finger chords, but the music I play doesn't use them) and most of that is just listening and playing them over and over.

[Paul Busman]

I think a lot depends on what kind of music you want to play. I play mostly Irish, and tune is the big thing with an occasional 2 or three finger chord. I have absolutely no desire to learn a 4 string G chop chord . Blugrass people seem to be more concerned about chords.
I'm mostly a noodler on mando and tenor banjo. I never know what is going to come into my head and from there into the instrument.Last night it was Black Dog by Led Zeppelin-- great solo in there!