For Starters-where to start?!?!

[bwatteful]

Ok I tried the search function but too many results came up that didnt have exactly what I was looking for. My question is this, I am new to the mandolin. I have been playing the guitar for years off and on, not too serious though. Where do you start with the mandolin? Should I learn all the basic chords first? Practice fingerstyle techniques? other exercises? or just start learning some songs until I get a bit more comfortable playing?

I am sure you all have different ways of going about this and I am curious as to what you would suggest.

Also, taking lessons is kind of out of the question right now. Dont really have that kind of time, but I do have at least a few hours a day to dedicate to practicing

[Earl Gamage]

Mandolin Cafe home page can get you started just fine. Look at the tabs, chords and Mandolin Lessons links on the left.

It's enough to get you playing some tunes and some practice ammunition.

[Brent Hutto]

I'm a not-very-advanced guitar player and total newbie (about a month) on mandolin. If I had several hours a day to devote to practicing I'd certainly allocate an hour every other week or so to getting some instruction. That's a lot of practice time to invest if you turn out to be doing something wrong. But maybe I'm just squeamish about my ability to come up with solid technique on my own.

As for learning chords versus learning something else, what do you want to play? I haven't spent any time trying to play chords as my plans don't involve playing with anyone else (i.e. playing backup) and four-finger chords on mandolin are way tougher to play than similar chords on guitar. Really hard, physically I mean. But if you envision needing to chop rhythm behind someone else's melodies or solos I suppose it's never too soon to get started.

For my part, I've been treating the mandolin like a fiddle. By which I mean playing melodies with single-note lines and occasional double-stops for flavor. I find that to be something the mandolin is great for doing. Just like playing decent chord accompaniment is harder than guitar to me playing good-sounding melody lines is easier in comparison.

I'd tend to think of fingerstyle mandolin (in the sense we use it in guitar) to be a somewhat advanced technique. Mandolin really seems set up to be played with a plectrum of some kind.

[bwatteful]

The type of music I want to play??? I would have to say that the genre is not a really big deal, but I really enjoy classical guitar in the sense that you play "fingerstyle" along with chords to make it sound a little more filling. By filling, I mean adding in a few chords rather than playing "one note/one string/one finger" (whatever its called) to give it that classical sound, almost as if there are a couple guys playing instead of only 1 guy. Not sure if you are catching my drift here???

Kinda like this guy here. Besides liking the song in general, I like the arrangement and this style of playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6exN...eature=related

[Jim Broyles]

What that guy is doing involves the use of a flat pick; it's not really fingerstyle. It sounds like you would be interested in cross-picking, the style made popular by Jesse McReynolds. If that's the case, I'd recommend learning chords and as many inversions as you can, and incorporate them into a style of picking which you like. Here's a great example of Jesse's crosspicking. The intro and the mandolin break are crosspicked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JXEd...eature=related

[bwatteful]

Ok great, thank you. I am familiar with flatpicking, but I didnt know they called it that when dealing with mandolins. Thanks a lot, thats just what I was looking for.

[Brent Hutto]

On guitar, "crosspicking" is a subset of "flatpicking". You can just play real fast scale-like passages on a series of single strings and be "flatpicking" (as most people use the term). The idea of "crosspicking" is that you can catch various degrees of the chord that you're harmonizing that particular passage with by using a modified banjo roll (sort of, except with just one pick) to make the rhythmic arpeggiation. It's harder than it looks!

[jibaer]

On guitar, "crosspicking" is a subset of "flatpicking". You can just play real fast scale-like passages on a series of single strings and be "flatpicking" (as most people use the term). The idea of "crosspicking" is that you can catch various degrees of the chord that you're harmonizing that particular passage with by using a modified banjo roll (sort of, except with just one pick) to make the rhythmic arpeggiation. It's harder than it looks!

you didnt seriously think that that advice was useful? you couldnt have made crosspicking sound any harder if you had tried. seriously. people these days.

I am also trying to figure out the ways of using this little thing, in the two years ive been banging away at it, the thing that has helped me progress the most is playing with other people. find a friend with a guitar or something and just sit down and play.

and the best i can tell there are three different ways to start.
Chords-melodies-crosspicking
when you figure one out the others are easier. I learned chords, and now im working on how to pick out a melody and crosspick. And what i learned from chords and how the fretboard works is helping me make sense of things.
just play and listen. cant go wrong

[Brent Hutto]

Well it's just my own opinion, perhaps a poorly informed one. I can watch Jesse McReynolds on mandolin or David Grier on guitar and it looks pretty easy. I've tried it enough to know that doing it with good timing and good tone is much harder than they make it look. I'm happy to know you don't find to too difficult.

I do think that a new player will be able to play in time and sound good on scale-like melodies quite a while before they can do crosspicking well. So my suggestion is it's a worthy goal but not something a beginner can just decide to pick up right off the bat. But other people are far more talented than I am, it's true.

[JeffD]

just play and listen. cant go wrong

That is the best way, really. There is no front door, you just dive in from where you are. Just dive in the middle and swim out to the edges. Where you start is not nearly important as getting started.

Thats my experience anyway.

[JeffD]

you didnt seriously think that that advice was useful? you couldnt have made crosspicking sound any harder if you had tried. seriously.

Don't feel bad Brent. It was a good and accurate description actually. Its just one of those things that if you understand it, the description makes perfect sense and is emminantly understandable, and if you don't know, there is not going to be a verbal description that is adequate and any description will sound intimidating. Its like one of those medical dictionary reference books. The description of scroffula may be accurate, but I always end up feeling nothing but confused, though perhaps on a much higher level.

If learning cross picking is the goal, there are many references for the way to pick the right hand. You just have to sit down and practice it over and over and over. (We're talking many cups of coffee here.) Its not so much hard as very tedius, and a long time before it sounds good. At least that was my experience.

[MikeEdgerton]

you didnt seriously think that that advice was useful? you couldnt have made crosspicking sound any harder if you had tried. seriously. people these days....

This is a nurturing community and I'm sure he did feel that the advice was useful. If you don't feel it was useful you're welcome to not read it and just move to the next subject or offer your own suggestions. By the way, cross picking does emulate a banjo roll.

Take a look at the first three items in this search.

[Flyboy]

I am a mando newbie (about 6 months) & I started with a few simple chords, developed some cross picking techniques & learned a few melodies. It all comes quite naturally & before too long you'll be able to improvise a little. Although the mandolin feels very difficult & "small" at first, it soon starts to feel quite natural. The best thing about the mandolin is everything sounds nice on it - even the most simple chord transitions.

[MikeEdgerton]

If everything sounds nice it would appear you're doing it right. It sounds like you are enjoying it and that's what it's all about.

[fredfrank]

Actually, it's all about buying more and more expensive mandolins. Now would be a good time to start thinking about upgrading your mandolin. Everyone knows that if you buy a more expensive instrument, it will enable you to play better. =^)

[John Gardinsky]

If I were you and wanted to play like the you tube link I would start with this chord: Open E string, Index on 2nd string fourth fret, Middle on 3rd string seventh fret, and Ring on 4th string ninth fret. (9,7,4,0). It's one way to play an A chord.

[MikeEdgerton]

Actually, it's all about buying more and more expensive mandolins. Now would be a good time to start thinking about upgrading your mandolin. Everyone knows that if you buy a more expensive instrument, it will enable you to play better.

Once again, everything is in perspective. You are, of course, correct.

[jibaer]

This is a nurturing community and I'm sure he did feel that the advice was useful. If you don't feel it was useful you're welcome to not read it and just move to the next subject or offer your own suggestions. By the way, cross picking does emulate a banjo roll.

Take a look at the first three items in this search.

your right. I am sorry Brent. that came out all wrong. well mostly wrong.
i didnt mean to be rude, and im aware that everything you said was true and it actually helped me to figure out a little bit of crosspicking.
but its frustrating being a beginner and trying to glean MUSIC from words on the internet. And for the first four or five months i remember being so mad at all of the things that were meant to be helping me, flying right over my head.
Im new to music. never played anything before. and i had never even really heard the mandolin before I bought one.
someone should make a page that works like the first day of kindergarden.
just like "hello, here are some examples", and "in the simplest terms we think you should learn this first. then come back when you want to know more."
I would try to write it but i dont know any ways of playing other than what i have found and am not really a good source of information.

[Brent Hutto]

It's OK. Been there, some days it gets pretty frustrating. But other days you actually play something that sounds darn good and it doesn't seem quite as frustrating. For a little while, anyway.

[fatt-dad]

From the guitar perspective, I'd think the mandolin is more about playing the melody line. Sure, you'll advance to playing other stuff, but if you want to learn "Old Joe Clark" learn to just play some basic version. There are plenty of tabs or notations for these simple old-time tunes. Look at www.mandozine.com and use their tab files. You can search by music type (i.e., old-time, blues, classical, bluegrass, etc.) and just download these types of music. The tab files are in a format called "tabedit" files and you need the "tabedit" viewer (free download) to open them. The tabedit viewer actually lets your computer play the tab notes, so you can hear the computer's rendition of the tune - gives you some idea how the notes fit together and such. You can also adjust the tempo. Great tool!

Go to old-time or bluegrass jams and write down the tunes that they are playing - get these tab files too!

Learn the "chop chords" and learn to "chop" There are really two "chop" chords, but your pinky will need to get used to them (pinky on the fourth string). Learn to quickly move from the "A" chop chord to the "E" chop chord (or the G to the D).

Work slow and them learn to speed up in due course. For jams, you'll need to start out with the chop chords to play to tempo. That's O.K. you'll need the practice.

Be patient - even after 10 years of this, the big boys will still leave you in awe. Just challenge yourself and be grateful for any progress.

f-d

[Aisha]

From my (still short) experience, learning different styles (with books/CDs, learning what is available on web sites, bits of songs by ear -challenging for a non experienced guitar player when it comes to transposing guitar parts to mandolin) prevents me from becoming frustrated and discouraged when comes a difficulty that needs a lot of practice or just seems unreachable (chop and barred chords in my case). When I can't do something, instead of trying it over and over again for hours (plus I have to deal with pain in my left fingers and forearm -still unexplained), I learn other melodies, songs, etc. in various genres (celtic, classical, etc.), using my pinky finger instead of the open strings when I learn a melody, which really helps.

Then I come back to the difficulty to check if there's progress (I could make a barred A chord sound decent, that's already something ).

[Aisha]

Ps: and I confirm the progress is quicker after purchasing the more expensive mandolin.