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Thread: Using a mandola in a group

  1. #1
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    Default Using a mandola in a group

    First of all when I use the term "mandola" I refer to an instrument tuned CGDA.

    I've seen lots of videos posted here featuring the mandola. But from my experience I don't see a lot of mandolas used in groups. The first group I performed with didn't care for the sound mixed with a guitar and a banjo. Now that I'm performing with others { a bass player and one guitarist } I'm able to arrange things so it fits in better.

    I'll assume that all of you already have a mandolin - So those of you with mandolas:

    What percentage of songs do you use the mandola on vs. your mandolin?

    What type of music are you performing with it?

    Do you have trouble fitting it in to your arrangements?

    By the way - my mandola was by Laurence Smart. Greg Boyd still has some photos on his website of it. Here they are:

    http://gregboyd.com/instrument_detai...rument_key=139
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I have one that I am trying to fit in more often. As of now I use it only occasionally. Since I am in a folk-style band that often plays in D, I restrung with much lighter strings and tune DAEB. This is known as Irish tuning, and to my ears it brightens the tone. DO NOT try that with standard mandola strings! The Irish/Celtic band "Dervish" uses a mandola player rather than the more usual bouzouki.
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    Registered User Pete Braccio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Dervish has both a mandola player and a bouzouki player. John Doyle played mandola as well. Marla Fibish uses a mandola for song baking. Molly's Revenge has the guitar player switch out on mandola for certain tunes. I'm sure that their are others as well.

    You can also try tuning the mandola DGDA so that you can get nice D & G drones.
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    Registered User Pete Braccio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    BTW, that is a fine looking mandola.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I don't perform much at all.

    I play the mandola in jams and open mic sometimes, just for the diversity of it.

    I play everything I play on mandolin on mandola. Sometimes I play it up a string, sometimes I capo 2 and down a string, and sometimes I just do a harmony.

    Since chord shapes are the same, just transposed, my ability to backup is the same.
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  6. #6

    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Oh, more Irish Tuning... Apparently a banjo tuned GDAE is in 'Irish Tuning' but a Mandola tuned 'DAEB' is in 'Irish Tuning... fancy that. It might be of interest that the more famous Irish banjo players - Barney McKenna and Pecker Dunne - used 19-fret banjos and tuned them CGDA... I have a Gibson H1 which I tune DDAAEEBB and being Irish I guess I could call it Irish tuning... but it's just another alternate tuning... zouks/om's/octave mandolas/mandolas/citterns... there are no standards... and it's all for the best.

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    Registered User Tom Sanderson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Interesting thread (to Me) I have a sweet Collings Mandola strung with J76's It has a good solid bark to it, and although I mostly play at home alone these days, I think it would fit in well in a bluegrass or oldtime situation. I wish I had a chance to try it out like that but I recently relocated and don't know of anyone to play with. At home I play all the stuff on it that I play on Mandolin. Love it........

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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Quote Originally Posted by Wesley View Post
    What percentage of songs do you use the mandola on vs. your mandolin?
    In my band Innisfree, I play octave mandolin, mandola, and concertina (and a smattering of mandocello and guitar). I'd say I'm using the mandola about one-third of the time. I only use it when our accordion player or hammered dulcimer player is "doubling" on guitar; otherwise, I use the OM to get more bass/rhythm voice.

    I also sometimes use mandola in Love & Knishes, which is a trio doing Jewish and Jewish-related music.

    What type of music are you performing with it?
    Celtic instrumentals.

    Do you have trouble fitting it in to your arrangements?
    Not at all. My mandola is a large Sobell that probably has also been used as an OM or "tenor" instrument at some time. I have it strung (lightly) CGDA. I use it for alto harmonies, sometimes for doubling melodies an octave below, and for some rhythm chording. If you would like an example, here's Innisfree doing a medley of jigs: Irish Washerwoman/Swallowtail Jig/Saddle the Pony. Lead instrument throughout is Mark Deprez's mandolin-banjo; other instruments are hammered dulcimer (Barb Jablonski) and 12-string guitar (Kathleen Cappon). Please excuse the sketchy engineering quality; it was a live concert and the sound guy kept monkeying with levels.

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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Allen!!! thanks for the Jig... was very much enjoyed!
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    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    My "mandola" is actually a 10-stringer, C-G-D-A-E. So it has the range of a mandolin and mandola. Due to the larger and deeper body and oval hole, it has a very rich dark tone, with lots of sustain. I play it in jams about as much as mandolin. It does have a great voice for Celtic and Americana. And it has enough sustain and presence to get up and solo with like you would a guitar. To me, although I love my mandolin, it still feels too much like Tiny Tim to get up and play an unaccompanied tune on it.

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    Registered User dulcillini's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Wesley: I have a mandola that I love. Great sound. While the percussive chop chords not easily played, I believe there is indeed a place for a mandola. I think it is simply a matter of making your niche. There just are not many mandola players out there so the folk and bluegrass communities are just not factoring in a mandola or writing arrangments that include them. The volume and sustain is such that you can play very nice, clear chords. I definitely think there is a place for us. We simply have to make our own path. That is my strategy. Many people have a mandola as a second instrument. To me, it is my first instrument and the mandolin is my second. I think you have to think of it that way and then you can begin to see how you might fit in with a group. To my knowledge, there is only one lesson book published specifically for mandola. Many people use the MelBay book for tenor banjo when learning the mandola. Right now I am working on playing farther up the neck on the high A string. You will be pleasantly surprised how many mandolin notes are up there ! I had the action set as low as possible on that string so I can hit double stops high on the fretboard. It is a slow process, but I am gradually catching on. I think mandolas are a joy to play and the sound will turn some heads. Some very astute historians on this site have commented that the original mandolin, was in fact what we know as a mandola today. If that is in fact true, then you are going back to your mandolin roots !!
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I should have mentioned that years ago I saw a Peter Rowan concert. The Two High String Band was part of his group at the time. Since he had a full time mandolin player on stage Rowan played his mandola the whole night. So they still had a chop sound whenever the mandolin player was soloing. So it worked pretty well in that situation.

    I find myself playing my mandola more aggressivly than I did in the past. I'm really digging into it in this situation. And instead of using it to chop, I'm using a more precussive attack and muting it with the heel of my hand.
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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Quote Originally Posted by Kip Carter View Post
    Allen!!! thanks for the Jig... was very much enjoyed!...
    You're welcome. I particularly enjoy putting in "Chinese" harmony on the "B" part of Swallowtail.
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    Registered User zookster's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I tune and play my mandola in standard (CGDA), and perform with a Celtic group. While much of the technique is the same as a mandolin, you have to transpose the keys mentally (let's see....everyone is playing in D. I've got to pretend we're all in A.....).
    I typically relearn a tune in the same key with different fingering, and do duets with the concertina. For tunes like "The Luck Penny" and "Gold Ring" the tonality is so much richer and deeper than a mandolin. Because I also play a variety of other stringed instruments in the band, I only use the mandola about 10% of the time, but it's a great change of pace and also works well with song accompaniment. For the record, I have a 1915 H2 that I've had for a number of years. Bought it off a retired mandolin orchestra player. I think all mandolin players should seriously look at trying out a mandola.

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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I play mandola most of the time right now and I love it. (I'm waiting for my custom mandolin to be finished.) I find that mandola has a better range for accompanying my singing. I play a 1914 Gibson mandola, A shape. I think it might be called an H2 but I'm not sure on that.

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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I play mandola almost exclusively with a mandolin ensemble. Some tunes are just not suited for mandola. Others, you need to find where the mandola voice fits in with your group. I generally plan a collings mandola (I have a few), and a Trillium mandola which is a 19 inch oval hole scale. This mandola I use mostly for Celtic and it can be heard at least five blocks from where we rehearse. I use it for more Donal Lunny type rhythm.

    I play mandolin on bluegrass tunes that are just not suitable for tunes in A or other keys. I will play one of the Collings mandolas on bluegrass tunes if I am playing chords, which I really enjoy.
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    I've been using mine playing trad acoustic country/bluegrass music with 2 guitars, fiddle, bass. I mainly play chords and fills, and it sings right out when you play a lead on it. It adds a richness to the guitar voices that I don't find with a mandolin which tends to stick out more timbre-wise. I can play a few fiddle tunes on it.

    Of course, I use it in my original instrumental music too for rhythm, lead lines, and harmony/counterpoint lines.
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    In my current band, a solid 90% of the solos are me on the mandolin, as the guitarist prefers not to play too many solos. I reach for the mandola pretty consistently for tunes where he solos, and also on most ballads. I like having the extra bottom end and richness if the rhythm guitar is going to drop out, and the same goes for the slower tunes.

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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Glad for this thread... I love my Weber mandola but I'm still working to integrate it into my style. The other day a word came to me while I was playing - plaintive. Seems like it has that lonesome sound built in.
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Not ot one, though I heard it used really well last summer while passing an OT jam, which had a couple of guys with fairly low voices (think one was actually a natural bass voice) and a wonderful female singer with a high, slightly nasally, voice. The mandola just slotted in perfectly playing the tune where a male tenor voice would normally go and sounded realy rich and was like 'singing'. It really filled out the sound just below where she was singing and where the boys voices were. (Other instruments were bass, her guitar and a fiddle)

    Definitely think you can make a space in most folk genres for their nice ringing tones, as long as there's not too much mid-tone stuff going on. I also reckon that they do a lovely job of accompanying solo male voices if played for the harmonies, leaving the tune to the voice.
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    Default Re: Using a mandola in a group

    Once I started playing mandola in my band Hobbyhorse, I stopped taking the mandolin to gigs. I rearranged my mandolin songs for mandola and we are really happy with the sound. I still play mandolin, as well as mandola, on our recordings if it is called for.
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