Re: Mandolin

Well I had a quick blast last night. The frets are so small, When I had a practice on the guitar it felt like I was a squirrel in a forest. In fact it made me realise that you have a lot of room for movements on a guitar.

Still the mandolin sounded sweet, and I found a tab for losing my religion that I'm pasting my way through.

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◥☼▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲☼◤ -Mr T says: Quit yo jibba Jabba! You Ain't hurt!

Re: Mandolin

I'm having a blast SleepyCreeker. But I'm sooooo confused! I have my 6-string accoustic and my 12-string Ovation and now this mandolin and it difficult to decide which to play because I love them all. The 1st song I learned on the mandolin is "Amazing Grace" because of personal reasons and now I'm working on "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin and I can play right along with the song (almost). Now when I pick up my 12-string it seems there is so much real estate under my fingers than there was before. ApeDoctor says he feels like a squirrel in a forest LOL, and I know what he means. Thanks for your posts guys! I enjoy reading them.

Re: Mandolin

bubba55, I can sympathize with your multi-instrumental woes. I (try to) play dobro and bouzouki as well. It can be confusing in jam sessions. When following the guitar player I make mistakes by trying to play a similar shaped chord on the mando instead of translating the guitar shape to the chord name. You might like trying the octave mandolin or cittern if you want more real estate on your fret board. They're usually somewhere between the mando and guitar in length. The bouzouki is fun with its 12 string-like pairings of strings. I use the same tuning as a mando. Somethings are easier to play on it, somethings harder. The neck is about the length of bluegrass banjo.  For me the hardest thing is holding my arm out in left field for so long.

Re: Mandolin

Found an A mandolin at a yard sale for $15 with a hard case. Have taken it apart to improve the braces, so I could actually tune it. Later my son dropped it causing the back to come off breaking the housing, so once again I rebuilt it. Works well, but cheap. Hope to get a slightly better one soon. Having a  blast. Never had success playing piano or guitar, maybe I am having luck because I am not medicated for ADD?

Re: Mandolin

If someone thinks big hands is a contradiction to playing mando, I encourage them to check out Mike Marshall.  That dude has cartoonishly large mits, and he's one of the best players in the world.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

Re: Mandolin

Hi,
I just tuned my mandolin to the key of d. I am wondering if someone knows of a website where I can find a chord chart to help me play in this key.
Thanks

Jinglesdog

Re: Mandolin

What do you mean by "tuned to the key of D"?  What are the individual strings tuned to?

Re: Mandolin

I have been playing mandolin for a little over a year now and can play all kinds of different music on it. Comtempory, celtic, bluegrass, and country. I play with my sister sometimes whom plays guitar. Tablature is very helpful, I took me awhile to catch on to it at first, but now I use it all the time. As for your question SleepyCreeker the strings are tuned to G D A and E.

Re: Mandolin

An old post revived but an interesting one for me. I have been playing on a mando for about 18 months or so and absolutely love it.
I seriously doubt that I will live long enough to master the little devil but I know I will have a lot of fun trying.
There seems to be some good mando websites mentioned in earlier posts on this topic and I will have a closer look at them when time allows.
I laugh at myself when I look at my huge hands on the mando neck, just doesn't look right. Maybe this is my problem, I can't take learning this instrument seriously enough to ever be any good at it, but for me, trying is enjoying.
By the way Trisch, welcome to Chordie and thanks for reviving this old post.

All the best
Bushy

Not one drop of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.
"Quincy Jones"

85 (edited by Trisch 2012-04-24 22:03:47)

Re: Mandolin

Thankyou for the welcome Bushy243, a lot of people make fun of the mandolin. Whenever people see me with it they are always asking if it is a banjo, and when I correct them they usually make comments on how small it is, but oh well. When I first picked up the guitar if felt a little strange because I am so used to holding a small instrument, but now I am used to it.

Re: Mandolin

Hello all, just got myself a mandolin a few days ago, haven't played any instrument since I was a kid and tried learning violin only for it to sound like the cat was being strangled. After only a few hours practice I can play the G, C and D chords and have found some songs that can be played with only these, but would like to find more that I can play that I know. Have also been trying out simple versions of heart of gold and wish you were here, e minor chord seems very difficult to me as I don't know how to bridge my fingers properly (I think that's what my boyfreind says the problem is, could be wrong) My other half plays guitar and I thought would be fun to find some things we can play together. He tried to teach me some guitar but my small hands found it hard to reach the chords... Any ideas for easy/basic stuff that I could learn, and I'll let him play the more complicated stuff on the guitar for now. Any help gratefully appreciated I am a complete beginner but so far already loving my mandolin, and vaguely sounding like I can play some music for the first time ever... smile

Re: Mandolin

Hi Nikki and welcome to Chordie.
Sounds to me that you are already hooked on the Mando and having a ball.
You could Google "mandolin cafe" and/or "two finger mandolin chords" for tips. Have a look at u-tube, type in Mandolin and see what pops up. Also read through previous posts here, and have a look in Chordie public song books in the mandolin section, there is heaps of info available.

Enjoy the journey
All the best
Bushy

Not one drop of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.
"Quincy Jones"

Re: Mandolin

I have a Fender mando on the way and can't wait! I've played one that belongs to a friend who comes up for a summer festival with his band... it seems really easy to find a lead melody on it out of the D and G chords. I'm a self-taught guitarist (some 45ish yrs or so) and eager to play my new mando. That said, I cannot play both at the same time, LOL! So... I have to find someone else to play guitar while I play mandolin!