Learning the Mandolin UPDATE

As mentioned before, I am learning the mandolin. The first step I had to do was to get the thing re-strung and ready to play. When I went into Marshall Music and to the back, I asked the instrument technician if he would sting it. He strung it up and then started playing a song and asked how I got interested in mandolin. I told him the story of how my project called for us to learn a skill using only youtube and help forums. I said I was having a tough time deciding and say a “dusty mandolin” sitting by the piano and thought “why not!”. He gave me the mandolin and said “well, good luck with that”. I knew he didn’t think I’d have much of a chance at success, but I will prove him wrong!

As I took it home, I knew it would be a challenge. The first thing I had to do was re-tune it. New strings tend to stretch quite a bit (I knew this from my experience as a guitar player). As I went to youtube to hear the pitches of each string, I found the guy I had watched when I first decided to take on this task, Brad Laird. In the youtube channel “Free Guitar Videos” Brad Laird does a great job of laying out the basics of learning the mandolin. He teaches everything from tuning the instrument to basic chords (video)  to basic scales.

I have made some excellent progress. I have learned a few different chords and I am getting better at transitioning between them. Playing scales has been a challenge. The instrument is quite a bit different from a guitar and the strings and finger movements seem even stranger to me. I do not know how much soloing I will be doing, but learning a song using chords to sing with should be possible at this point.

The Help Forums have been less helpful. A lot of the comments suggest: taking private lessons, buying beginner books, or focus on a style like bluegrass picking. Also individuals are experiencing problems that I do not have, such as strumming rhythms and staying on beat while playing with others in a band. There are many problems with playing in front of others and the instrument with both hands independently. I have checked many forums including, mandolincafe.com. I am not playing in a band or group so as far as I know, I am keeping good rhythm and staying in tempo while I am trying to play songs.

The story on the “dusty mandolin”

Ben Rimes commented previously about a “mandolin just lying around” and asked about a story behind this. The story I know is my mother received it as a gift from my grandmother. My mom plays the violin and had a desire to learn mandolin. The strings on a mandolin are tuned the same way as a violin, so she thought she could easily transition to the instrument. She quickly found out that the skill-set to playing violin and mandolin were much different. Violin is played with a bow and mandolin is strummed like a guitar. Also, the finger calluses needed for mandolin are different (mandolin is double stringed each note and has steel strings). The last bit of difference that made her give up was learning the chords in a mandolin. She was used to playing one note at a time, with violin, in an orchestra. As a result, the mandolin became a nice decoration to put near the piano and collect dust. UNTIL NOW!