Practicing Tips & Tricks

Daily Practice - A Reminder, A Checklist

It's absolutely critical that you practice at least something every day!  What you practice is also critical.  Just playing a few tunes, or jamming with friends is only one part of daily practice (the fun part!).

Divide your practice time into three parts of equal length.  That means, if you practice 30 minutes a day, each chunk will be 10 minutes.

First part: A Daily Scale "Set"

• each day play a different scale set from the circle of fifths (if you're practicing bluegrass music), otherwise a different tonic set using the 7 church modes
• practice 2 octaves, use 4th fingers always
• remember where to shift when playing in 3rd and 4th positions
• fiddlers: practice the 4 bowing patterns with each scale
• mandolinists: practice the 5 picking patterns with each scale
• circle of fifths: practice the major AND the relative minor with each set
• modes: practice all 7 modes
• practice the arpeggios for each scale (1,3,5,8)

Second part: New Material

• Sight read assigned new material
• Practice first measure, slowly, without ornamentation or bowing until you have the notes down, then go on to 2nd, 3rd, 4th measures
• After you have the measures well established, add any ornamentation and bowings as indicated in the sheet music or by your instructor
• Don't try to learn the whole piece in one "chunk".  It's better to master one 4 bar phrase than to play the whole piece poorly

Third part: Review & Sight Reading, having fun!

• Jam with friends/family
• Review old material, work on the hard parts
• Sight Read out of the Fiddler's Fakebook or any other book as assigned by your instructor

Practicing Tips & Tricks

Daily Practice - A Reminder, A Checklist

It's absolutely critical that you practice at least something every day!  What you practice is also critical.  Just playing a few tunes, or jamming with friends is only one part of daily practice (the fun part!).

Divide your practice time into three parts of equal length.  That means, if you practice 30 minutes a day, each chunk will be 10 minutes.

First part: A Daily Scale "Set"

• each day play a different scale set from the circle of fifths (if you're practicing bluegrass music), otherwise a different tonic set using the 7 church modes
• practice 2 octaves, use 4th fingers always
• remember where to shift when playing in 3rd and 4th positions
• fiddlers: practice the 4 bowing patterns with each scale
• mandolinists: practice the 5 picking patterns with each scale
• circle of fifths: practice the major AND the relative minor with each set
• modes: practice all 7 modes
• practice the arpeggios for each scale (1,3,5,8)

Second part: New Material

• Sight read assigned new material
• Practice first measure, slowly, without ornamentation or bowing until you have the notes down, then go on to 2nd, 3rd, 4th measures
• After you have the measures well established, add any ornamentation and bowings as indicated in the sheet music or by your instructor
• Don't try to learn the whole piece in one "chunk".  It's better to master one 4 bar phrase than to play the whole piece poorly

Third part: Review & Sight Reading, having fun!

• Jam with friends/family
• Review old material, work on the hard parts
• Sight Read out of the Fiddler's Fakebook or any other book as assigned by your instructor

Mandolin Chord Chart and Suggestions for Learning Chords

mandolin chords

MANDOLIN CHORD SUGGESTIONS FOR LEARNING

Chords are made from arpeggios, which come from scales.  I've talked before about the 7 "Church" modes, or Canonical Modes as they are also called: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian.   Of those modes, the most commonly used are Ionian (Major) and Aeolian (Relative Minor).  The intervals of the Ionian (Major) mode are R,W,W,H,W,W,W,H R=Root, W=Whole, H=Half.  The intervals of the Aeolian (Relative Minor) mode (starting on the 6th note of the Major scale), are R,W,H,W,W,H,WW.  If you assign each interval with a number, then the notes of the scales will be 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 with 8 (the octave) being a repeat of 1 (the tonic or first note).  The notes of the arpeggio will always be 1,3,5,8 - regardless of the notes of the scale, or the mode.  

For example:

G Ionian (Major): G,B,D,G

G Aeolian (Relative Minor): E,G,B,E

Using the example above for the key of G, you want to make up your chord with any of the above notes: G,B,D,G for the Major and E,G,B,E for the Relative Minor.

OPEN CHORDS VS CLOSED CHORDS

One of the advantages of the mandolin is that it can be played like a percussion instrument in addition to providing melody and harmony.  The mandolinist has to decide what he/she wants to provide in the way of accompaniment.  If the mandolinist wants a short percussive sound (called a "chop" in bluegrass vernacular), then he/she has to use "closed chords".  Closed chords indicates a finger on each string, "closing" the ringing of the strings.  Every mandolinist has to learn the "Big G", which uses all 4 fingers with fingers on the B (a string), G (e string), G (d string), D (g string).  This is a "closed chord" because all of the strings are "closed" by a finger.  If the mandolinist wants a sound that rings (like a harp, for example), then he/she will play "open chords".  Open chords have one or more string pairs untouched by fingers allowing them to ring when struck by the pick.  Using the G example, a good open G is B (a string), and G (e string), open D and open G.

Typical styles of music that use open or closed chords are:

• Celtic: open
• Bluegrass: closed
• Folk: either
• Country: closed
• Klezmer: open

I hope this is helpful, here's the video:

Daily Practice - A Reminder, Checklist

Daily Practice - A Reminder, Checklist
by Adam R Sweet

It's absolutely critical that you practice at least something every day!  What you practice is also critical.  Just playing a few tunes, or jamming with friends is only one part of daily practice (the fun part!).

Divide your practice time into three "chunks" of equal length.  That means, if you practice 30 minutes a day, each chunk will be 10 minutes.

First Chunk: A Daily Scale "Set"

• each day play a different scale set from the circle of fifths (if you're practicing bluegrass music), otherwise a different tonic set using the 7 church modes
• practice 2 octaves, use 4th fingers always
• remember where to shift when playing in 3rd and 4th positions
• fiddlers: practice the 4 bowing patterns with each scale
• mandolinists: practice the 5 picking patterns with each scale
• circle of fifths: practice the major AND the relative minor with each set
• modes: practice all 7 modes
• practice the arpeggios for each scale (1,3,5,8)

Second Chunk: New Material

• Sight read assigned new material
• Practice first measure, slowly, without ornamentation or bowing until you have the notes down, then go on to 2nd, 3rd, 4th measures
• After you have the measures well established, add any ornamentation and bowings as indicated in the sheet music or by your instructor
• Don't try to learn the whole piece in one "chunk".  It's better to master one 4 bar phrase than to play the whole piece poorly

Third Chunk: Review & Sight Reading

• Jam with friends/family
• Review old material, work on the hard parts
• Sight Read out of the Fiddler's Fakebook or any other book as assigned by your instructor