Re: Teacher recommendation for left hand technique
Originally Posted by
Peter Barnett
Mike Marshall has videos on technique. Also, online lessons.
My mandolin teacher, Kaden Hurst, also does Skype lessons. He stays on my ergonomics. Skype might actually be best for ergonomics because he is seeing me straight on in the camera.
One of Mike Marshall's super helpful recommendations to get a sense for general left-hand technique is to hold your mandolin up to your chin pretending it is a violin and see how your fingers naturally fall at an angle in relation to the strings. Much of good left-hand violin technique is a good guide to the mandolin as well; your left hand is better served to approximate violin technique more than guitar technique (although playing 3 to 4 note chords naturally crosses over into guitar-technique territory).
In addition to all the usual advice a good teacher is likely to give you, I have benefitted much recently from many interviews I've read with guitarist Julian Lage on ergonomics. Most everyone agrees that tension is an enemy, but often people focus only on the right hand in regard to tension. He suggested working on using the smallest amount of pressure necessary to fret a note clearly with the left hand. I have started consciously working on this and it is amazing how little pressure is needed when your technique is good, and I have found I get much less fatigued playing, can play faster, etc. when I lighten my touch on the left hand. Essentially I am working to counter-act the formula I've created: hard grip = clean note.
It is not surprising, since they are human, but I've found with advice on technique and ergonomics that even pros don't always practice what they preach, and consider the topic to different degrees.
"Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man."
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