# Technique, Theory, Playing Tips and Tricks > Theory, Technique, Tips and Tricks >  Is the mandolin easier to play?

## Gregooch

Is the mandolin easier to learn to play than the guitar? It seems easier to me to learn to play than the guitar. Is that because of it's smaller size, because there are less strings?

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## tkdboyd

I don't believe there is such a thing as an easy instrument to play. If it is a quality instrument and well set up and you want to play guitar like Django Reinhardt, or the mandolin like Dave Apollon neither instrument will be easy.

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## Jim Garber

One that makes the mandolin "easier" is that it is tuned uniformly, that is, each course is one fifth higher than the one lower. Guitar is tuned in fourths until you get to the b string. Other than that I would not say easier -- they are both different and the approaches to learning them are different. For instance, I would say as a beginner you generally would play single note tunes or etudes vs. the guitar which you generally learn chords at first.

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Pasha Alden, 

Susan H.

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## Denny Gies

Jim echos my experience.  Overall I have found the mandolin easier to learn than the guitar.

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## bmac

If an instrument is "easy" you aren't working hard enough.... Growth demands hard work....

The guitar was my first "real" instrument and by comparison I found it easier than the mando. But with the mando I really worked harder and demanded a lot more of myself...

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## Bertram Henze

The instrument chooses the player, and whichever instrument chooses you will be the easiest, whatever reasons you try to invent for it afterwards.
That is because love for the instrument carries you through prolonged phases of practising with joy in your heart; the instrument you picked up for other reasons will bore you to death and make practising a waste of lifetime.

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farmerjones, 

Hany Hayek, 

MaggieMae, 

Pasha Alden, 

Phil1580, 

SplitMelt, 

Susan H.

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## catmandu2

> The instrument chooses the player, and whichever instrument chooses you will be the easiest, whatever reasons you try to invent for it afterwards.


In my case, it's the music that chooses (me)--and the instruments follow.  The instruments I've settled on are the most challenging (and the most difficult) for me--but they best execute the music I want to play...

I would love it if they were the easiest for me...but it's quite the opposite

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## SincereCorgi

Any instrument that is 'easy' in some way always makes you work hard to make up for its limitations in other ways. Guitars have a more complicated tuning, but that tuning lends itself extremely well to sophisticated chord shapes, whereas with mandolin you have to work much harder to overcome its 'easy' tuning to play a lot of chords. A pianist has to work for years to learn the phrasing and pedal technique to create legato effects that come easily on, say, a saxophone. Having said that, at the very beginning stages of learning, some instruments are definitely easier than others.

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## catmandu2

> Any instrument that is 'easy' in some way always makes you work hard to make up for its limitations in other ways. Guitars have a more complicated tuning, but that tuning lends itself extremely well to sophisticated chord shapes, whereas with mandolin you have to work much harder to overcome its 'easy' tuning to play a lot of chords. A pianist has to work for years to learn the phrasing and pedal technique to create legato effects that come easily on, say, a saxophone. Having said that, at the very beginning stages of learning, some instruments are definitely easier than others.


Yep.  Again the (OP) poses an insufficient question.  Other factors must be known if we can answer meaningfully--otherwise, it's like asking: "what's easiest--running or swimming?"  What's more difficult--piano or erhu?

But, so much also depends upon what one is learning in the beginning stages (at least two disparate approaches in guitar, for example).  Beginning pedagogy probably varies less with mandolin--with fewer variances in its "popular" deployment, etc.

Yes, what Jim said above (about the "chording" nature of the guitar).  I look at the guitar a bit more like a "piano"--and a mandolin a bit more like a "fiddle."  An instrument with a lot of polyphony is going to be much different (from the outset) than the instrument with relatively less

Yes one more thing about what s-corgi said: lots of remarks from the great horn men speaking about struggling against the limitations of their instruments, technique, etc (in the arts, it's a common problem)

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## Bertram Henze

> The instruments I've settled on are the most challenging (and the most difficult) for me--but they best execute the music I want to play...


I think multi-instrumentalists are a different breed - not applied to by my statement because they never actually fall in love with one single instrument like I do.

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## Pasha Alden

Well I guess it depends what you wish to compare it to and if you actually can.  
With my small hands the mandolin is easier than the guitar.  However, I must agree with a previous post: every instrument will have its challenges. Someone once remarked nothing worthwhile comes easy.  Perhaps that is something for musicians to keep in mind?
So let us all strive for that beautiful gold standard?  <big smile> 
Happy playing all

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## Bertram Henze

There is proof that small hands are no excuse for not playing the guitar...

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## Mark Wilson

New to mandolin myself.  Coming from guitar, I noticed how much easier it is to 'find' a chord (even a new chord) in so many places on fretboard.  I already find myself locating new chords by ear quickly w/o use of a chord book.

One of challenges for me is overshooting a fret on mandolin.  Don't recall doing that on guitar

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## Mandobart

On a different note, I find that mandolin is much tougher on my fingers than guitar.  Guitar is "easier" to learn because there are more and less expensive instruments, resources, teachers.

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## 9lbShellhamer

I second many of the above comments. The mandolin makes more "sense" than the guitar in its tuning, and I believe the tuning of each suits its purpose. 

The tuning of the guitar allows not only strong chord formations for rhythm players, but also for scales to be played keeping the wrist in the same station. (meaning: full scales can be played on all six strings using the standard guitar one finger per fret rule), whereas in Mandolin the scales can be easily be played up to the fifth and sixth frets keeping the wrist in the same station using the two frets per finger rule. 

The guitar is an incredibly versatile instrument, lending itself to a multitide of voicings. It's an incredible instrument. 

The mandolin is not as versatile, (even Chris Thile admits its limitations). The mandolin in its tuning in fifths however is such a beautifully logical instrument!

Like someone above said already, its as hard as you want to make it. I do think that the mandolin is "easier". That being said, both can be so challenging they easily allow time for a lifetime of full time study. They are both instruments, and music theory applies evenly to both. The application of music theory is universal, and theory is a lifetime study. 

Enjoy it!

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## catmandu2

> I think multi-instrumentalists are a different breed - not applied to by my statement because they never actually fall in love with one single instrument like I do.


Yes, I think you're accurate--in distinguishing a difference--now that I think of it.  For decades I was completely absorbed with but one (flamenco guitar, and Bach), and that was it.   It's been but a decade since getting into broad musics--I didn't realize my memory is this short!

That may be a succinct way of putting it--but perhaps apt nonetheless.  It's not that I've fallen OUT of love with these...but IN love with other (more diffuse) sources, I suppose

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## Timbofood

I always love this question! It reminds me of what an old boss used to say:
"Do you walk to work or carry your lunch?"
I don't know if it's really easier to play mandolin than guitar it's "Different."
If you want to play any instrument you will find a way, the desire makes the difficulty undaunting.  No obstacle will keep you from the pursuit of learning.  Every instrument presents it's own challenges, embrace the difference.  More learning, more knowledge, more appreciation!

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Mike Bunting

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## catmandu2

> ... the desire makes the difficulty undaunting.  No obstacle will keep you from the pursuit of learning.


Quite well said

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## Pasha Alden

Well Bertram - I have to say, the guitar I still play from time to time, however, my pinkie just cannot bar chords  I have actually tried.  So I guess here is proof that in some cases it is not possible? But thanks for the encouragement anyhow!  I think I will stick to the mandolin and perhaps the ukulele?

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## Pasha Alden

In addition to my response I must then say: perhaps it is my physical limitation: that of small hands and not the instrument that is too difficult.
While I am reticent to speak about the limits of mandolins, I agree that the guitar is extremely versatile, but that the mandolin makes an exquisite contribution to music and has crossed many genres.

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Susan H.

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## JeffD

I started with mandolin. I have played with a guitar for fun and curiosity.

I think the mandolin is easier to play well, while the guitar is easier to play poorly. There seems to be a level one can reach on the guitar where you are adequate, and even useful, but its extremely hard to get any better. Its almost like you have to start from the beginning again and go a different way to make progress on it.  While mandolin makes so much sense, with so much symmetries, it seems easier to get real good.

But really, YMMV.

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Susan H.

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## catmandu2

> ...the guitar is easier to play poorly. There seems to be a level one can reach on the guitar where you are adequate, and even useful, but its extremely hard to get any better. Its almost like you have to start from the beginning again and go a different way to make progress on it.



One of the big problems in guitar pedagogy.  Because of its immense popularity, prevalence in "pop" music (what permeated much of our listening experience--at one time or another), and the fact that most of the guitar in this milieu is trite...produces the phenomenon that--everyone CAN play to this level (basic few chords and progressions, picking patterns, licks) without ever discovering much about the instrument or its capabilities -- right, scores of people have made millions from the guitar--in its simplest and most basic form

When something becomes so vastly popular--it tends to be easily parodied.  The guitar certainly has, and has been done a tremendous disservice (and those who might have been interested in learning more about the guitar) for having been iconicized and suffering the perfidious effects of popular culture--relegating it (a complex instrument capable of extensive polyphony and subtlety) by the masses as a trite accessory and preeminent instrument of the dilettante.

One other thing which may or may not have been said: the guitar is an excellent instrument for *music pedagogy* (much like piano) -- an instrument well suited for formal study in Western harmony, counterpoint, composition, as well as all the popular styles

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## JeffD

> One of the big problems in guitar pedagogy.  Because of its immense popularity, prevalence in "pop" music (what permeated much of our listening experience--at one time or another), and the fact that most of the guitar in this milieu is trite...produces the phenomenon that--everyone CAN play to this level (basic few chords and progressions, picking patterns, licks) without ever discovering much about the instrument or its capabilities -- right, scores of people have made millions from the guitar--in its simplest and most basic form


I agree. What is considered acceptably good in guitar is gigantically influenced by its prominence in pop culture.

If apples are compared to apples, I would think comparable levels of good are probably equally hard to achieve on most instruments.

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## Bertram Henze

> Well Bertram - I have to say, the guitar I still play from time to time, however, my pinkie just cannot bar chords  I have actually tried.


Neither can't I. My pinkies are approx half the size of their ring finger neighbors, while people playing the guitar by the book on videos always seem to have pinkies as big as their ring fingers. But I play the big instrument anyway (OM, not guitar), cheating my way around pinky usage and in fact around most orthodox ways to play, and it works. 
That's my point - there is always another way. If you can't run like the others, just take the bus.  :Cool:

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## Darren Bailey

> I started with mandolin. I have played with a guitar for fun and curiosity.
> 
> I think the mandolin is easier to play well, while the guitar is easier to play poorly. There seems to be a level one can reach on the guitar where you are adequate, and even useful, but its extremely hard to get any better. Its almost like you have to start from the beginning again and go a different way to make progress on it.  While mandolin makes so much sense, with so much symmetries, it seems easier to get real good.
> 
> But really, YMMV.


I agree. I think it is easy to get very satisfying sounds out of a guitar after a short time of trying without much skill. The mandolin makes a less satisfying sound at first because it requires more abiity. However, after a few years the mandolin feels infinitely simpler to me but this may we be due to greater application. I think a poorly played mandolin can sound awful whereas most peope can knock something out of a guitar simply because so many great songs are based on a few simpe chords. 
There is a famous quote from Bob Dylan. He and Bono (of U2) were in the studio. Bono says to Dylan "Bob, your songs will be known long after we're gone."
Dylan replies "So will yours, ony difference is no one will be able to play them."
Simplicity isn't necessariy a sin!

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## catmandu2

> If apples are compared to apples, I would think comparable levels of good are probably equally hard to achieve on most instruments.



Well that’s one way of looking; and may be adequate for the OPs purposes.  However, there are differences between instruments (and everything concerning their implementation—which is why general comparisons of this sort have limited utility, I think)

For example: Piano is generally considered a difficult instrument.  Why?—because of its tremendous polyphony

Erhu (and violin) is also considered quite difficult—but for completely different reasons than piano

A wind instrument is also difficult.  Why?—there are many variables at play, and fundamental sound production is profoundly more complex and nuanced than it is for, say, mandolin or guitar or piano

Sometimes I wonder what the OP derives from these threads—when opinions offered range from loyalty and devotion to clinical observation.  In this case, I hope it’s at least discovered that—we’re talking about two different instruments—with many similarities (if you care) and vast differences.  If we had more information, we might better advise.  Does the OP want to play tunes and melodies?  Does the OP want to study polyphony?  Does the OP have a particular style of music in mind?  Does the OP wish to play solo, or with others?  Perhaps the OP had a theoretical discussion in mind…?

As has been pointed out—high artistic achievement with any instrument is a lifelong, challenging pursuit.  Other ways to make things “difficult”—try to make the piano* sound lyrical, with glissandi and portamento effect, like a violin; or attempt polyphony on a saxophone; push at the boundaries of convention; ad infinitum.  Or take up the erhu

*not accounting here for the “fluid piano”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Cq3pbcMkI

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## Mark Wilson

> Does the OP want to study polyphony?  Does the OP have a particular style of music in mind?  Does the OP wish to play solo, or with others?  Perhaps the OP had a theoretical discussion in mind…?


Ok.  Now the mandolin seems way the heck harder than guitar.




> Is the mandolin easier to learn to play than the guitar? It seems easier to me to learn to play than the guitar.

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## catmandu2

> Ok.  Now the mandolin seems way the heck harder than guitar.


It _could_ be.  But of course everything is relative here

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## Bertram Henze

> For example: Piano is generally considered a difficult instrument.  Why?—because of its tremendous polyphony
> 
> Erhu (and violin) is also considered quite difficult—but for completely different reasons than piano


These represent two types of difficulty for me (since I tried both piano and violin as a kid):
- coordination my brain is simply not good at; I could never get my head around doing two independent things at the same time with both hands, or any two or more body parts, for that matter. A drumkit would fall in the same category, I guess, and so would most Asian martial arts.
- a long phase of terror and pain for both me, family and neighbors until what I did began to sound like music rather than fingernails on chalkboard. Other instruments for this category would be uilleann pipes and in fact most brass and woodwind.

I would call an instrument easy to learn if mastership is an optional add-on after the fun, not the other way round.

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## Susan H.

I have tried guitar and banjo, and I try sometimes my hand at the fiddle. I have played many different kinds of music on my mandolin and enjoyed them all. The comment that Bertrand made about the instrument choosing you I think has some truth in it. While I have tried other instruments, I keep coming back to my mandolin. I'm learning many, many new things from my teacher now and it's exciting the things I can do! I can't do them on a guitar, my hands just can't seem to work there, on the mandolin, while a four finger chord is hard for me, I will eventually get it. I don't play mandolin because it's easier, I play mandolin because I love it. And it seems to me when you really like something it does become a little easier. Just my two cents...play on.

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## catmandu2

Yeah Bertram.  For me--being so tactile--one of the things that's so fun is all the different varieties.  Since the age of about 8--I don't think I've ever seen an instrument that didn't intrigue me and compel me to learn about it.  Not only do I like sound, but I love sculpture, and twiddling things with my fingers




> I would call an instrument easy to learn if mastership is an optional add-on after the fun, not the other way round.


Yes, this is a significant issue with kids (particularly) as they're typically more interested in instant gratification.  I've yet to start my own kids (age 8) off on formal instruction--even though they're generally immersed in music.  They interact with me when I play--singing, dancing, playing rhythmic instruments...and they play _with_ their ukes and concertinas...not only are they learning rhythm and melody, but they're probably acquiring other skills as well.  Fun must be integrated into didacticism for best results--especially with something so rigorous as piano and violin

Interesting--I _have_ begun to teach my daughter keyboard.  She's very intuitive musically--easily recalls melodies and sings on pitch--yet, she is only slowly putting together the sequencing on the keyboard

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## Mark Wilson

> It _could_ be.  But of course everything is relative here


Valid point.  Everything is relative

More likely the mandolin 'seemed' easier to play than guitar because I didn't have to relearn everything I had already gained studying guitar.

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## bmac

I think this is a very odd thread.... Any instrument is easy and any instrument is difficult. Chris Theil(sp?) didn't get where he is by worrying about whether the mandolin is difficult or easy.

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## bruce.b

I've often thought of getting a guitar to tune in all 4ths. This way you have the logic and uniformity of 5ths tuned instruments and the range and flexibility of guitar. You lose two very important things though. Most important, you can't use all the resources available to standard guitar tuning. If you want to play popular music you're going to have to invent how to do it mostly by yourself. You also lose a lot of the open chords that are so common. You gain so much too. It turns it into an isomorphic instrument, so, exactly like mandolin or fiddle, scales are regular and movable across the strings. You gain a lot with chords too. You have to learn far fewer chord shapes, and like mandolin they are very easy to find for yourself and to move around across the strings. 4ths tuning will also force you to come up with your own sound, IMO a good thing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/183968224067/

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## catmandu2

Bruce, have you checked out "NST"?  http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/group.php?groupid=73

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## ralph johansson

They're two different instruments with different roles and possibilities. The least significant part is the asymmetry of the guitar tuning. Guitarists tend to think in terms of chord forms and boxes, even when playing single-string stuff. The guitar is basically tuned to a chord, an em7, and you have exactly two octaves between the 1st and 6th strings. 

 I think the symmetry of the mandolin is a bit overrated. Some people say, to get from G to D, just move one string up; but that's a different range, too. I don't think like that at all.

Chords: the guitar has six strings, and its practical range covers all of grand staff plus one ledger line above and below, allowing a greater range of voicings (maybe with just 3 or 4 notes). You can't get very close voicings on the mando (except in special forms involving open strings).

 It's very convenent to have a seventh between the E and d strings, when playing a full accompaniment. To my ears, chords on the mandolin have a more percussive and dynamic function.

I started playing the mandolin because I wanted to play fiddle tunes, in their proper range.  Arpeggios are easier in fifths tuning, because there are fewer string crossings. 

On the other hand, long scale motions may be harder on the mandolin, except in open position.
On the guitar you stay on one string for three notes, at most. You may certainly need the pinky, but having to use only three fingers
on each string is much easier than all four, in differing positions from string to string. 

Another difference is pulloffs and hammerons. It's harder to do successive hammerons on the mandolin and really make them work; on the other hand pulloffs have more snap on the mandolin. I tend to slide and trill more on the guitar because of its longer sustain. 

Double courses allow split string effects. I used to do a lot of split string triplets, dividing one down stroke between the two strings of one course. Nothing like that on the guitar, of course. On the other hand, sweeps over three or four strings don't really work on the mando.

Tremolo can be used to great dramatic, dynamic, and lyric effect on the mandolin. On guitar they sound cheap to my ears.

It's easier to play a straightforward melody on the mandolin. You needn't do much with it. On the guitar I often feel I have to dress it up with chords to make it work.

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## Mike Steadfast-Ward

Wrong I do, what interests me is the qualities in the sound, not what shape the piece of wood is.
I play wood whistles, penny whistles, banjo, guitars both electric and acoustic, and now mandolin.

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## ralph johansson

> I've often thought of getting a guitar to tune in all 4ths. This way you have the logic and uniformity of 5ths tuned instruments and the range and flexibility of guitar. You lose two very important things though. Most important, you can't use all the resources available to standard guitar tuning. If you want to play popular music you're going to have to invent how to do it mostly by yourself. You also lose a lot of the open chords that are so common. You gain so much too. It turns it into an isomorphic instrument, so, exactly like mandolin or fiddle, scales are regular and movable across the strings. You gain a lot with chords too. You have to learn far fewer chord shapes, and like mandolin they are very easy to find for yourself and to move around across the strings. 4ths tuning will also force you to come up with your own sound, IMO a good thing.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/183968224067/


Stanley Jordan already does that, on an electric. I understand he uses a lot of stacked fourths in his chords.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Jordan

At the other end of the spectrum there are fingerstyle guitarists who use various open tunings, such as open D, open G,
and DADGAD, that offer some compelling effects, in songs with not too many chords. I've tried some of these and didn't find them particularly difficult. And then the G tuning, for instance, features the intervals of a fourth, a fifth, a minor and a major third.
Again, boxes and chord shapes come to the rescue.

In classical tuning (what I call the em7 tuning) the lack of symmetry sometimes is an advantage. If  certain three or four note chord shapes become a bit gymnastic in  some context, there may other shapes, with the same voicings, that fit better.

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## farmerjones

Easy? Banjar's easy.   :Grin:

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## Steve Ostrander

I played guitar and bass for many years before taking up the mandolin, so it's hard to be objective. I know I became proficient in a shorter time on mandolin, but that could be because of my experience with guitar. Overall, I would say that mandolin is maybe somewhat easier to learn simple songs and chords than guitar. But it is always difficult to play any instrument well. It still takes practice, dedication, skill, and ability.

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## jesserules

> Is the mandolin easier to learn to play than the guitar? It seems easier to me


asked & answered, then.

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## stevejay

> I've often thought of getting a guitar to tune in all 4ths. https://www.facebook.com/groups/183968224067/



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcHid5cucLo

Jump to the end.

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## jaycat

It's common knowledge that guitar is easier, since I first picked up a guitar at age 17; whereas I didn't approach the mandolin til age 57.

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