Applying "The Advancing Guitarist" Techniques to Mandolin

[JonZ]

Has anyone tried applying the approach in The Advancing Guitarist to mandolin?

[John McGann]

Yes, it's a great book, as are all of Mick Goodrick's books. The now out of print Mr Goodchord series is a goldmine.

One direct thing from the Advancing Guitarist: Play a standard tune up and down all on one string ("Realm of the Electric Ice Skating Rink"). It's not great for a fast fiddle tune, but if you can play over "All The Things You Are" or any jazz standard on one string at a time, it will teach you a lot about your ears, knowledge of notes on the fretboard, how well you know the actual changes to the tune (try just chord tones at first), etc.

Practice time very well spent, IMHO.

[catmandu2]

If you really want an exercise in mental mapping and position-work, do that on fretless instruments

[Dfyngravity]

Has anyone tried applying the approach in The Advancing Guitarist to mandolin?

I agree with with John, I recommend having all of the books. And just as John talks about playing on one string...great concept. It really gets you thinking outside of the box and helps you to break through the playing in patterns that many of us fall in to. Not to say you shouldn't learn patterns, because the mandolin is full of them and they are good in themselves....but they can also be a bit restraining. So I definitely recommend at least the Advancing Guitarist, you will definitely become a more rounds player for sure.

[coelhoe]

This is an interesting thread. Having played mandolin and flat picked guitar since the mid-60's, I have found that there is a great deal to be gained in taking mandolin technique to guitar, rather than the other way 'round. Up and down picking, tremolo, slides, and cross-picking styles were all profitably transferable to guitar. Also using a more rounded pick.

[Dfyngravity]

This is an interesting thread. Having played mandolin and flat picked guitar since the mid-60's, I have found that there is a great deal to be gained in taking mandolin technique to guitar, rather than the other way 'round. Up and down picking, tremolo, slides, and cross-picking styles were all profitably transferable to guitar. Also using a more rounded pick.

One thing I have found over the years to be very interesting is that mandolin players seem to be a little more disciplined or determined to be a little more technically sound than guitar players.....in general (not looking at jazz and classical players). Things like proper pick grip, posture, the way in which we hold the mandolin, ect... are all very important us......maybe it's just the folks here on the cafe, I don't know.

Anyways, jazz and classical guitarist are very technically sound though. There is a lot to learn from both styles. One of the most important being efficiency of the fretting hand. When I watch Chris Thile's left hand I alway think of a classical guitarist as Chris plays so much stuff out of chord shapes, much like a classical guitarist.