Yet another right hand question!

[NickG]

Just started playing and am trying to develop good habits (or rather not develop too many bad habits!) at the outset.

Everything I am reading seems to advocate allowing the right hand to graze just behind the bridge for best control etc. The issue I am having is that I can't seem to figure out how to rest/graze the right hand and simultaneously pick near the "sweet spot" without dampening the sound of the strings. My hands aren't particularly large or small, by the way.

What I end up doing is having the right hand float, not touching at all, while picking, which is fine now, but might not be that helpful later on.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Phil Goodson]

If grazing happens and it helps, good. Keep it up. If you have to try to make it happen or if you don't need it to hit the right notes, don't worry about it. Lots of folks don't graze and some graze and don't even realize it.
Make music.

[Mandoplumb]

If you can float your hand and hit the strings you're after you are ahead of the game IMHO, wish I could I let my pinkie brush the pick guard (or top of mandolin which is not good for finish) so I have pick guards installed on all my mandolins that don't have one.

[Ky Slim]

I agree with both of these suggestions. Don't worry too much about it. The more that you play the skin on the heel of your right hand will become more sensitive to the feeling of the strings vibrating against it. Eventually you will only dampen them when you mean to. You'll get it. Have fun!

[Maczart]

You may also consider adding an armrest to your mando. I also had the same problem of being unable reach the sweet spot without dampening the strings at the bridge (small hands). I installed a McClung-style armrest from Hill Country Stringworks (NFI) and the angle of the McClung made it easier and more comfortable to reposition my right hand closer the the sweet spot. A word of caution though : Some people love armrests and some people hate 'em, so YMMV.

I agree with the others in that, as you become more experienced you will become more precise in where you place your right hand relative to the vibrating strings. Kudos to you for your efforts to avoid picking up bad habits early on.

[JeffD]

I just let the bridge brush my palm right down near the wrist. The sweet spot on my axe is just on the up side of the sound hole, which is more or less where the hand seems to fall.

[Amanda Gregg]

The issue I am having is that I can't seem to figure out how to rest/graze the right hand and simultaneously pick near the "sweet spot" without dampening the sound of the strings. My hands aren't particularly large or small, by the way.

What I end up doing is having the right hand float, not touching at all, while picking, which is fine now, but might not be that helpful later on.

The issue you are having is precisely the problem with resting your right hand anywhere on the mandolin, for any reason. If you restrict motion, not only do you lose access to the fabled "sweet spot" but also the entire range of sounds you can achieve by picking closer to the bridge vs. farther away (experiment, if you haven't already).

If you already have a free right hand, why disrupt it? Many students are advised to try resting their hand on the bridge for support because they are mere mortals and struggle to achieve right hand control. Achieving control with a free hand is worth the effort.

[Beanzy]

Yep, if you don't need stabilisers on your bike why put them on after you've learned to ride?

[bratsche]

For some people's anatomies, it's a tricky compromise, but we must compromise nonetheless. I brush the heel of my hand against the bridge, not because I want or need it as a reference point, but because I must, in order to keep my wrist straight. Adding armrests to my instruments (of my own design) raised my arm slightly, which reduced but didn't altogether eliminate the amount of contact with the bridge. However, if I arch my wrist outward, in order to completely avoid touching the bridge, my picking changes from a desirable up and down motion, making possible very tiny, precise movements of the pick, to a more "swinging" curved trajectory, with which which I've found there is very little economy of movement possible. So I put up with the contact for that reason.

bratsche

[jshane]

Amanda is right. AND, if you dont rest your hand anywhere you are free to move--- not only to hit the "sweet spot", that you describe, but all the OTHER sweet spots that each have their own particular, and desirable, tones and colors.

[Bertram Henze]

+1 to the above. Why learn to swim when you're walking on the water already?

[ralph johansson]

The issue you are having is precisely the problem with resting your right hand anywhere on the mandolin, for any reason. If you restrict motion, not only do you lose access to the fabled "sweet spot" but also the entire range of sounds you can achieve by picking closer to the bridge vs. farther away (experiment, if you haven't already).

If you already have a free right hand, why disrupt it? Many students are advised to try resting their hand on the bridge for support because they are mere mortals and struggle to achieve right hand control. Achieving control with a free hand is worth the effort.

Grazing is not the same as resting; when done right, without applying any pressure to the strings, it in no way restricts motion.
To many players it results in the most natural arch of the wrist, i.e., almost none at all.
The same holds for brushing (on a pickguard), as opposed to planting.

Again: http://www.mandozine.com/techniques/...righthand.html

I hesitate to hand out advice to a beginner on a forum; it may very well happen that as the TS picks up speed he will have to modify his technique, and find out how to to straighten his wrist without damping the strings. I have small hands so I know it can be done.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I'd feel pretty safe placing a bet that for the majority of mandolin players,the 'sweet spot' is just out of reach if we rest our wrist just behind the bridge. Personally,i'm pretty close to it on my Weber & Ellis,but on my larger (& a tad longer) Lebeda,the sweet spot is about 3/4" further away from the bridge & i just have to stretch a bit to try to get closer to it. I've tried 'floating' my right hand when picking,but it's not very stable, & the errors i make are far worse than not hitting the 'sweet spot' all the time.I just do my best the way it is,
Ivan

[Pasha Alden]

I have tried to rest my hand on the bridge, but due to my rather small hands right hand freedom works better for me. Not seeing how you picking, it demands a bit more concentration, but a free right hand works the best for me as I found exactly what several posters have stated to be a problem: a hand planted at the bridge, I cannot get to the sweet spot. What I would like to find is a video or book that can assist with producing different sounds on mandolin. That apart from playing on the sweet spot or nearer the bridge. I am wondering aloud: can the pick be used in a different way, just like the fretting fingers in hammer ons, etc?