mandolin = hard core practice !!!

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faderbug

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i just recently started playing the mandolin after 20 years of just guitars and basses.

fucking hell!!

the strings have more tension, the frets are very close together and they're all double strings (unison so same gauge).

all this combined makes that you have to press down hard on the strings to fret them properly. the first couple of weeks my fingertips were red and sore , just like when i started playing the guitar.

it's hard but what an exercise! when i pick up a guitar now it feels like the strings are made of silk! no effort at all.

:D
 
I've played around with a mandolin,not worth a shit at it; but you're right, fingers got sore real quick....keep practicing. ;)
 
It shouldn't be that hard to play, especially if you play some acoustic guitar. Still, proper set up at the nut is important as well as bridge height.

Keep on pickin', they can be a lot of fun, and with logical tuning in fifths, they can make more sense than guitar when putting chords together.
 
I have an old 1941 Gibson A-50. The action is good but the frets are tight. Practice practice practice!
 
the action on the ibanez is very good too, about 1-1.5 mm (no idea how much that is in inches - very low anyway).

it came out of the box pretty much set up actualy. amazing ibanez can provide basic set ups for an instrument that costs about $200!!!
 
There is a definite learning curve involved, its just building more calouses on you're calouses. I use a Washburn version of an F5 style mandolin....another band member has a 1917 Gibson-great instrument, but very fragile, I stick to my own just to play it safe!! :eek:

Heres my Washburn-it plays really nice~
 

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I played the mandolin for awhile about 25 years ago. A guitar player can fake it pretty well. ;) Every now and then I think about getting a new one (I had a cheap Harmony model) and learning it for real. Especially when I hear someone like David Grisman.
 
Fiddle tunes work well on the mandolin since the instruments are tuned the same, and be sure to change the strings one at a time. The strings on a mandolin are attached very strangely to the tailpiece~
 
I picked up the mandolin last year as the first step in learning violin/fiddle. It really helped make the transition easier. Learning two instruments for the chordal structure of one....but bowing, that is a whole other ballgame.
 
Middleman said:
....but bowing, that is a whole other ballgame.
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I borrowed a friends violin thinking that the tuning (5ths) are the same so I'd be a natural at it. WRONG.
 
My wifes neice plays violin with the Seattle Symphony....I sure hope she can help, as I can only make noise.... :o
 
Track Rat said:
I borrowed a friends violin thinking that the tuning (5ths) are the same so I'd be a natural at it. WRONG.
Click to expand...

I know what its like too to be "fret dependent". I played in a band for a few years with a violinist that must have had thousands of melodies he could whip out, name a song and he knew it, then he would add all kinds of cool embellishments on the next time around.
 
proper setup is key on mandolin, it should "not" be hard to play.... My mandolin plays like butter.

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Just a suggestion; if you ever need to get your Mando refreted, do NOT get that little tiny mando wire they usually use. Go for something along the lines of a standard Martin wire. Our mando guy at the shop always recommends bigger fret wire when he does mando refrets, and the customers are always happy with the results. It makes them noticeably easier to play.


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M.K. Gandhi
 
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