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Thread: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

  1. #1
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    So I've been playing mandolin for the last six months, swapping back and forth between that and my guitar. And I've come to some conclusions:

    Playing mandolin is easier than playing guitar, but sounding good while playing is easier on guitar than on mandolin.

    I find that when my tone is suffering on mandolin, it's because I'm not fingering the note close enough to the fret.

    When I'm having a "bad tone day," I can usually fix it by running scales.
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  2. #2
    Gibson F5L Gibson A5L
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    Well ... Perhaps playing an instrument tuned entirely in fifths is a bit more natural because if it works here it works it will work elsewhere. Meaning scale patterns arpeggios and pentatonic scales have the same form / pattern wherever you start them ascending or descending. No 1/2 step off B string makes a world of difference. Finger placement is "the thing" on a string instrument. Tone and timing ..... Running scales and their children ie. arpeggios and five tone not only make your playing better tonally but are the pathways to open improvisation. Sounding better on guitar than mandolin ... who knows. I do enjoy playing both. Take your time and enjoy the process. Be careful though, adding a mandolin to your stable is a gateway to fiddling...... then you are well and truly lost in the strings.
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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    My friend the late mandolin virtuoso Eddie Connors once told me "Mike, the guitar will give you something. On the mandolin you need to reach and take it."

    I pretty much believe that.
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  5. #4

    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    Assume we're talking about - 'steel string, folk-style, chord strumming/plectrum' guitar..?

    Flamenco/classical guitar is one of the more technically challenging and demanding instruments. Without good technique, the sound production will not be satisfactory. Strumming chords on a guitar is one thing, but worlds away from other forms of guitar playing.

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    Registered User DougC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    Technique is certainly the issue here. Has the OP played more guitar than mandolin?

    Lower pitched instruments have more fundamental harmonics so I'm guessing that that this "good tone" is easier on guitar.
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  7. #6
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    Quote Originally Posted by phydaux View Post
    So I've been playing mandolin for the last six months, swapping back and forth between that and my guitar. And I've come to some conclusions:

    Playing mandolin is easier than playing guitar, but sounding good while playing is easier on guitar than on mandolin.

    I find that when my tone is suffering on mandolin, it's because I'm not fingering the note close enough to the fret.

    When I'm having a "bad tone day," I can usually fix it by running scales.

    *****

    Some of us were never destined to play guitar, so yes, the mandolin is much easier to play, at least for this data sample of one. As a young man, I was a reasonably talented violinist, but gave it up mostly because of social pressure. Periodically, I would pick up a guitar, hoping to be a very cool fellow at parties or in a park. That didn't work. Too much distance between frets. In my 50s, I was asked to serve as an interim CEO for 17 months, so I brought a pretty decent Martin guitar with me into the hotel where I lived during that assignment. For almost a year and a half, I set aside 30 minutes a day with that instrument. At the end of my stay, I still could not play guitar. Rather embarrassing. I ended up giving that guitar to a dear friend who could play it well from Day 1. In my 60s, I picked up my violins, started lessons after 45+ years and was getting somewhat decent in a few months. But, I really wanted to sit and play for fun. My violin teacher told me about the mandolin and that was it for me. The first time I ever touched a mandolin, I was immediately playing Bach. I have now been playing the mandolin for about 5 years and do find it delightfully easy to play. I now spend at least two hours of day playing, all for fun.

    On "bad tone" days, it can be that I am not hitting the strings quite right with my left hand, but more often than not, in my case, I need to adjust the hold on my pick, adjust the angle of the pick, or turn it slightly so that it strikes the string at a slightly different angle. Also, the tone suffers if my pick is not hitting the strings in the sweet spot.

    Or, I've just played too long that day and it is time to put up the instrument and go crash. That only happens about once a day.

    I might well have enjoyed playing guitar, but I am really happy and content that I found my mandolins.

    Cheers!
    ---
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  8. #7

    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    When I was a teenager, I wanted badly to play the guitar. And now, after years of practice, I play the guitar badly.

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  10. #8
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    Sustain and deeper, richer voice definitely makes guitar playing a different animal compared to mandolin. A beginner, if his/her timing and sense of rhythm is good, may find it much easier to sound “good” by simply comping and singing, as opposed to doing basically *anything* with solo mandolin.

    They’re both really cool instruments. Pulling really clean tones can be difficult for most of us on either of them. It takes some devotion, practice and attention to technique on both.
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    I'm new on mando, but find it to be pretty similar to guitar (played with a pick, of course.) I'm a well-seasoned guitar player with good instruments, playing a variety of styles & techniques. I struggle a bit more on mando but mostly because it's new to me, not as high quality as my guitars, and also needs quite a bit of tuneup (especially lowering the nut.) I have more trouble with mando chords; playing lines comes pretty naturally. Improvising, I keep catching myself playing the wrong interval on the next higher string, of course.

    Regarding the tone, well maybe I'm tone-deaf. Or maybe the mando I made just sounds sweet (when I press firmly enough and don't fumble.)

    Anyway, I wouldn't make either of the generalizations in the OP. Worth thinking about, though.

    TBH I struggle with articulation on guitar, but mostly because I'm a perfectionist and also clumsy.

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    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    I do n’t find one or the other harder to get a good tone from in general. I do find fret wear, nut and string setups, etc can have more of an impact on that.
    As to a Violin/Fiddle, I still can’t just pick one up and play something on it that I can play on a Mandolin. Seems it should be very easy but as soon as I try the notes seem to elude me! Completely! Hahahhaha
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  13. #11
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    I believe that people think they can get away with sloppy playing easier on the guitar than on the mandolin. Over the years listening to sloppy playing on the guitar is just as painful for me as listening to sloppy mandolinn playing. At times I am guilty of both. I find it´s a shame when people do not feel the incentive to correct their faulty playing.
    Olaf

  14. #12
    Registered User Paul Cowham's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin vs Guitar - Do you agree?

    I've played guitar longer than mandolin and get more gigs on the guitar, I practised guitar a lot from about the ages 16 to 23 although the first instrument that I learned as a youngster was the violin (which I no longer play), but that definitely helped with the left hand on the mando. I only started practising the mandolin in my mid 30s.

    I think a big difference between the two instruments is that there are fewer ways to play the mandolin than the guitar. With the mandolin there is nowhere to hide, you have to be a really good picker with a plectrum. On the guitar, it seems to me that there more tricks or approaches to the instrument, which means that you can kind of get away with it a bit more, particularly by employing left hand techniques such as bends, hammer ons/pull offs. Then there is obviously the whole world of fingerstyle guitar - not a technique used on the mandolin unless you're Radim Zenkl. Guitarists often use things like alternative tunings, which is again not something that mandolininsts really do.

    You also have to be more accurate with the left hand on the mando and the higher string tension can present challenges.

    The mandolin is more logical though, and the shorter scale length/greater interval between strings means that scales seem to make more sense which is greatly helped by the symmetrical tuning, somehow jazz is less daunting on the mando than the guitar.

    Sight reading music is easier on mando too I think, particularly if you are using alternate tunings in the guitar.
    Last edited by Paul Cowham; Apr-04-2022 at 5:22pm.

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