Category: Free Inquiry

First off: I have not been able to dedicate a lot of time to the Mandolin in the last couple of weeks because of school work and home life being quite busy.

That being said, I have made some progress. My goals from the post were to:

1. Find an online learning resource.
2. Find an online tuner/tuning app.
3. Set a schedule for myself
4. Learn more about my Mandolin and the history of the Mandolin

And this is where I am at:

1. I have found an online resource! After doing some research and looking at several options I have decided to go with MandoLessons, which has a series of free videos designed for beginner Mandolin players. The instructor is Baron Collins-Hill, a self-described musician and educator based in Maine. I chose his site because all of his videos are free but also I like his teaching style. He takes time and care to explain everything so that as you learn you also gain an understanding of the instrument, rather than just playing it. I have worked through the first couple of videos in the Beginner Series which cover how to hold both yourself and the instrument while you play as well some beginner chords. The chords are G, C, and D which I coincidentally already knew from my previous experience. That was a nice little confidence boost and made me feel ahead of the game a little bit. Looking ahead at the videos it looks like I will learn some basic scales as well as my first complete song. Beyond the Beginner Series, he has a ton of other videos teaching different songs as an entire section about techniques and fundamentals. I am looking forward to putting more time into both this website and my Mandolin.
2. MandoLessons has an online tuner on its website, but it is just sound bytes of the correct notes which you can use to tune the Mandolin by ear. I am definitely not at this point yet but that can be another goal. In the meantime, while I was searching for an app I got a message from my parents asking if I wanted them to send me my old guitar tuner which has a setting for Mandolin tuning! So when that arrives in the mail I will use that.
3. The scheduling aspect has been and is going to be the hardest part of this project for me. I have never been great at setting schedules for myself and then sticking to them. So I think the best route is to take it slow. Right now I am committing to spend an hour a week (on the weekends most likely) practicing the Mandolin and I will see what kind of progress I make with that.
4. The reason I don’t know much about my Mandolin is that I inherited it from my Brother in Law who moves across the country and left it behind. MandoLessons had a video about choosing a Mandolin and compares models that cost $50, $350, and $4500 respectively. I was surprised to learn that mine is almost exactly like the $350 model which was a Kentucky. Some further research has confirmed this although the price has gone up a little since the video was published. It seems to be a pretty standard model and a really good beginner instrument so I count myself lucky in that department!
5. As for history, this is what I have learned. I had assumed that the Mandolin evolved from the Lute and I was right. Around the 18th century in Italy and Germany, the first Mandolins were built, descended directly from the Mandora- a 16th-century pear-shaped string instrument with 4 or 5 strings (Source). The Mandolins 4 pairs of steel strings are tuned to violin pitch G-D-A-E. In the modern-day, there are three common types of Mandolin: “Neapolitan or round-backed mandolin, the carved-top mandolin, and the flat-backed mandolin” (Source). The one I have is a carved-top, which is common in American folk and bluegrass music. The carved-top refers to “bent ribs or sides reinforced at their
   junction with the top and back.  The top and back are hand carved in an arch, at least in the best models. The less expensive ones may simply be stamped out and bent from laminated wood” (Source). The most interesting fact I learned was that Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, and Stravinski all composed music for the Mandolin. As I was familiar with the instrument only though American bluegrass and folk this came as a surprise.

This week I played around with Mando to see what I could remember from my previous attempt to learn to play. I discuss trying to find a Tuning App and set out questions and goals for next week.

Enjoy!