What makes Chop?

[pelone]

I love chopping on the 2 and 4----and singing harmony. Was told early on that a mando can serve as the snare drum.

[Miltown]

Some chop advice, that I've not often seen articulated on the forum, but that I recently received and is making a lot of difference in the effectiveness of my chop (and no, I don't always chop, but when I do, I want it to do it right):

Squeeze the chord shape with your left hand on the 1 and the 3, and chop with your picking hand on the 2 and the 4. Getting the timing right takes some practice, but what you want to shoot for is releasing the pressure from your left hand on the chord form a millisecond before your pick hits the strings. I've found that really produces the best woody chop sound--the one that I've been trying to get for a while now, and feel like I've finally attained. It also allows you to play a heck of a lot faster.

[Mandoplumb]

Some chop advice, that I've not often seen articulated on the forum, but that I recently received and is making a lot of difference in the effectiveness of my chop (and no, I don't always chop, but when I do, I want it to do it right):
Squeeze the chord shape with your left hand on the 1 and the 3, and chop with your picking hand on the 2 and the 4. Getting the timing right takes some practice, but what you want to shoot for is releasing the pressure from your left hand on the chord form a millisecond before your pick hits the strings. I've found that really produces the best woody chop sound--the one that I've been trying to get for a while now, and feel like I've finally attained. It also allows you to play a heck of a lot faster.

I respectively disagree. Releasing the pressure a milli-second BEFORE you strike the strings will leave no chord sound which has become a second acceptable "chop" but in my mind you can lay your hand across the strings and accomplish the same thing. I release the pressure of noting hand a milli-second AFTER I strike the strings. This way you get a percussive chop but retain some chord tone.

[AMandolin]

I second Mandoplumb

[Timbofood]

Watch the guys who really make it work and it’s very much what Mandoplumb says. Listen, listen, listen! Get the character of the sound and action in your HEAD then make the hands do the work. It’s not as hard as this thread is trying to make it. Listen to Monroe, John Duffey had the most interesting execution of the brush triplet chop ever! Wendy Miller is the guy I really listened to a lot when this was all new to me and he had chop in spades! Still does!!
God bless you Wendy for taking a rookie kid on the bus and really TEACHING me something that has been so important for me!
Don’t know if he reads this forum but, I seem to recall seeing some input from Chris so, I hope he passes that along.

[rstaight]

New to the forum and reading through this thread is interesting.

Being a percussionist in high school I understand the purpose of a chop. Because I could read music I played mostly timpani in concert band.

Makes perfect sense at least to me.

[Doug Brock]

Lol, lots of people are answering a different question than the one the OP posed. He doesn't seem to be asking HOW to chop or WHY mandolin players chop.

His question: "Does the overall flavor of a mandolin's chop mirror the tonal character of the mandolin?"

And the next part of his post: "I've only played a few Gibsons, and my recollection is they all had the Gibson signature chop. Then I read about the dry woody midrange Gibson's have. Makes perfect sense. My Silverangel has the best chop of all my mandolins, though it is deeper."