Hello again,  Just got my Mandolin this week, and have learned three 2 finger chords,   C,G,D and can change chords at a good pace,  PROBLEM IS: it doesn't sound like music, just banging on the Mandolin,  what do I need to do from here, (other than just quit, lol)

Thanks for the answers,
Debrunsky

Start working on scales, start with G,D,and A.

Learn your scales, then arpeggios, and pentatonic scales. Find an easy mandolin book with fiddle tunes*. Personally, I prefer standard notation to tabulature but either will work. For standard notation, get a beginning violin book such as "Essential Elements" available for about $7 at any music store that sells violins.

I suggest you get a beginning mandolin book. I highly recommend Greg Horne's "Beginning Mandolin" available at Amazon.com for a good price. If you can't wait for it to be shipped, go to your local music store and find something that will get you started. There are a lot of beginning mandolin books available. However, all are not equal. That is why for me, Horne's book is overall the most definitive book out there. It is also part of a series that moves to "Intermediate Mandolin" and "Mastering Mandolin" These books cover alot of material and includes many genres of music, not just bluegrass or celitc, etc.

Good Luck!  

* Why fiddle tunes you may ask? They are great for learning the up-down-up-down eighth-note picking used in a lot of genres of music. The foundation of bluegrass is fiddle tunes, celtic music is fiddle music in jig timing (6/8).  

--Last edited by gnelson651 on 2007-08-06 23:50:14 --

there are a bunch of free mandolin lessons over at www.musicmoose.org
Anthony Hanigan from Hickory Project (a bluegrass band outta pa i think) does the mando lessons.. there's a message board where you can ask him and other mando players questions too..
my biggest problem is finding time to pick.. i have way to many days that i don't even pick up either mando for more than 5 or 10 minutes.. ce la vie..

If you have never ever played any instrument before, it really would help to have some sort of mentor.  Either take a few lessons or find a local player to show you some things and give you some feedback on your hand position, how you are holding the pick, etc.

When you play those chords you have to strum some sort of rhythm.  Try strumming only in the down direction counting "1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 ... " with your strums.  If you emphasize the "1" beat a bit more than the other three, it will start to "feel" more like "music".

Then try strumming up and down counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ... " where the numbers are down and the "ands" are up.  It will be a while before you get the feel enough for the pick that strumming both up and down are easy.  Don't worry about it.  Just practice.  The right hand takes just as much work as the left hand even though you think it's simpler.

Also, if you know those three chords, try singing a simple song or just humming the melody of a simple song.  That will make it feel more like music.  Just use one of the two strumming patterns above.

Try simple kids songs you already know --
http://www.storytimesongs.com/guitarchords/Bus.html
http://www.storytimesongs.com/guitarchords/skip.html
http://www.storytimesongs.com/guitar.html  

--Last edited by kvk on 2007-08-07 08:59:37 --

I agree that finding a teacher is your best bet. However, if you are like me and there are no real mandolin teachers in your area, then books/CDs/Videos are the next best thing.

I am self taught, playing for about three years now. My only other music experience has been playing clarinet in elementary/JrHS and banjo in my early 20's. So I have some rudimentary music theory, but it still felt like I was starting over again on the mandolin.

You don't mention what type of music you want to learn. Having/knowing the basics will point you in the right direction but different genres require different approaches after awhile.

Some musicians will point you toward learning by ear.Others by using tabulature, another approach taken by most. This is a good start if you are interested in bluegrass, celtic, jazz or oldtime, but not for classical. Classical is better approached with learning scales in all positions and standard notation.

At this point, as I suggested for self-learning, find a good beginning mandolin book, preferrably with an accompliment CD. If playing by ear is what you want to learn, find music, either CDs or mp3s in the genre you want to learn and listen to them. Try to play along with the a song of choice, both for the melody and strumming. It will still behoove you to learn your scales to understand the interval sounds needed to improvise, if that is the direction you want to go.

Go to jam sessions for your music of interest. Listen and watch the mandolin players to hear/see what they are doing. Ask them questions, have them show you a favorite lick, phrase or chord. When you feel ready, jump into the jam and learn from your mistakes and surprises. When I take a break in a bluegrass jam, sometimes I'll fall flat my face, other times I'll play a lick or phrase that just came out. Then I'll go back and try to recreate that lickor phrase to file into my toolbox.

It is a matter of practice, patience and perseverance, otherwise know as "blood, sweat and tears."

Making music should be fun first of all. So stay with it, have fun with it and enjoy the ride. It is a journey, not a destination.  

--Last edited by gnelson651 on 2007-08-08 21:29:15 --

Go to http://www.mandozine.com/home.php and click on TabEdit files.  At that link there will be a selection to http://www.tabledit.com/?AfID=19329 where you can download the FREE tabedit viewer.  After you install the TabEdit viewer you can return to the Mandozine tabedit page and download some music.  Now it's up to what you want to learn - old time, bluegrass, Celtic, etc.  For starters, download Old Joe Clark.  Search for it and load it to your computer.  When you open the file in tabedit, it will allow you to print the music or if you want to you can have the computer "play" the tune for you.  That way you have some idea what it's supposed to sound like.  Learn how to play the tune and then try another.

f-d

Here's a tef I did for Old Joe Clark --

http://users.rcn.com/kvk/OldJoeClarkBeginner.tef

You need the free tefview program as FD pointed out.

You could be really brave and just listen to it and try to sound it our or look at the tab or notation for help.  Something you'll definitely want to do is go into Midi Option and slow the tempo way down.

This uses chords A, E, and G.  Remember when I mentioned the difference between open and closed chords.  For this type of tune you would use closed chords and the prefered fingerings would be--

A
9745

E
967x

G
7523

The E you only need three fingers for.  The others will be a stretch.

"Old Joe Clark" does sound better with closed chords and using a BG chop (on the 2-4 beat).

However, I think at this early in the game, using two-finger chords will work just as well. I don't know about the rest of you, but it took me about a year to really stretch that pinky for those closed chords, esp. the big, bad-ass bluegrass G chord. I started with 2-finger chords, worked into 3-finger chords and practiced the closed 4-finger closed chords until I finually got it to sound right.

I mostly jam with an oldtime fiddle group and 2-finger chords work great for oldtime (OJC is an OT fiddle tune). I will use:

A:

2200

E:

4220

G: 0023 or 40xx

BTW: I still use 2-finger chords in a bluegrass jam when there are other mandolins in the circle, mostly around the vocals.

Thanks everyone for the input, it was very helpful.