Playing for a year, still a beginner

[Thuja]

Hi everyone!

I've played the mandolin for a bit over a year now, self-taught.
I've been mainly just playing chords to accompany myself singing, trying to master all of the basic major and minor chords and then the accidentals. As I've grown more comfortable with that, though, practice has started to feel a little monotonous.

So, realizing the other day that practice is monotonous because I'm stuck in my comfort zone, I tried to get out of my comfort zone and accidentally went too far in the other direction, finding stuff that was way too advanced for me.

Since I don't have fear of a music teacher driving me to progress (why I quit piano), I'm not as advanced as I should be after a year of play. Even though I'm playing for my own pleasure, though, I still want to learn and improve. I'm just having trouble finding resources I can understand that isn't stuff I already know, if that makes sense.

So, the short version is: what are some good resources for beginners who aren't just starting out?

Thanks so much!

[George R. Lane]

Don Julins book 'Mandolin for Dummies'. A great book for the self taught.

[dadsaster]

It sounds to me like you should start working on learning some melodies. Mandolessons has a bunch of free material to this end.

[Gary Leonard]

Learn a bunch of fiddle tune melodies, and their chords. Play melodies and rhythm along with a backing track, there is a free bluegrass backing tracks website that will let you play along and slow down the tempo.

http://www.fbbts.com/Tunes.html

[fatt-dad]

learn fiddle tunes and go to old-time jams. Where are you? Sometimes it helps on these sort of posts to let folks know whereabouts you live. If it's Richmond, Virginia, I got a few resources for you!

f-d

[farmerjones]

learn fiddle tunes and go to old-time jams.

This.
Don't wait to get good, before you jam. One gets good by playing with others.
Plus, shear hours with the weapon in your hands, but a jam will tell you what you need to work on indirectly.

[kypfer]

I've played the mandolin for a bit over a year now, self-taught.
...
So, the short version is: what are some good resources for beginners who aren't just starting out?

Thanks so much!

If you can read music, there's a hatful of freely available sheet music available for downloading that'll get you started.

My favourite source of "limited range" (not limited difficulty) tunes is Jack Campin's "Nine Note Tunebook" http://www.campin.me.uk/Music/Chalumeau.abc ... there's over 500 tunes there of most flavours and genres, a good selection to help familiarise yourself with the bottom few frets on the middle two strings ... once you've got there and gained a bit of confidence you can start looking for wider-range tunes (or play the same tunes on the top two strings)

Works for me, YMMV - Good Luck

[Mandobart]

Do you play with others? That is the single best thing I have found to improve (and have fun). Attend or start a weekly or monthly jam in your area.

[BJ O'Day]

Thuja,
I have been playing 2 years now. I was getting stuck playing tunes at the slow speed I had learned them. For a challenge I attend ITM sessions. Even tunes I know well sound very different when played at the intended speed. It's good ear practice to listen to the tune the first time around, recognize it, then jump in for the repeat.
BJ

[Beanzy]

If you're not too fixed on one style then along with the Dummies book a compendium of tunes across several is probably a good idea.
I got the "Mandolin Gold" one by Dan Fox and it filled the need to explore across several genres when starting out. I like the fact that so many are well known outside the mandolin world.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've taught myself to play banjo,guitar & now mandolin, simply by listening & trying to 'immitate'' what i hear being played. I've taught myself mandolin mainly by listening to Bluegrass music on Internet radio stations & CD's & playing along with 'everything' that comes up regardless of it's difficulty. I figure that if i get 10% of it this time around,i'll get another 10% the next time around - i didn't let anything scare me off. The biggest way to fail is not to try in the first place = you have to do it.

Back in 1963 whan i started out playing the banjo,there was nothing only learning to play by ear. It took 3 years but i got it done. If you really want to do it,you'll find a way. It's not easy,but worthwhile things seldom are,
Ivan

[Thuja]

Thank you all so much, this is so encouraging!

If it's Richmond, Virginia, I got a few resources for you!

I'm not near Richmond, but I do visit every once and a while.

Do you play with others? That is the single best thing I have found to improve (and have fun). Attend or start a weekly or monthly jam in your area.

I've played a little with other musicians in my family (guitarist, singers, pianist), which has been good because it forces me to keep plowing through stuff if I make a mistake (if I'm playing alone I stop and start more until I figure out what), but I haven't gone to any jams or played with any mandolinists. I know there are opportunities, though, I just need to take them.

If you're not too fixed on one style then along with the Dummies book a compendium of tunes across several is probably a good idea.
I got the "Mandolin Gold" one by Dan Fox and it filled the need to explore across several genres when starting out. I like the fact that so many are well known outside the mandolin world.

I'm definitely interested in learning a bunch of different genres - That book seems like it has a pretty broad repertoire in it, which is great.

Again, thank you all so much!!

[Mandoplumb]

I started about 50 years ago and to a certain extent I agree with Ivan there was not a lot of help, very few books and believe it or not kids, no Internet. But there was people willing and able to help every time I took my mandolin to a picking party, at that time jam was what you put on your toast, if you had toast and you had jam. Anyway there are still pickers that are willing and able to help you , so get yourself to as many jams as you can and learn what you can as quick as you can. Life's too short to mess around and not learn because there is so much to learn and so little time.

[fatt-dad]

in Richmond? Look me up (i.e., send a PM in advance).

Also, bear in mind, 10,000 hours is a long time. Heck, a full-time job is only 2,080 hours!

I really do believe in hours spent. If you think of how we learned to work our voice box, it was to age 2 or 3 that we could convey a cogent thought and it was age 5 before we tried to read! All that time spent in language fellowship! For some reason, we think to learn music YOU MUST READ! Nah, I'd just play, get your bearings, find folks to play with, focus on a genre and then learn to read!

Not that I'm an expert, a teacher, a professional or much more than a dude with a mandolin. . .

f-d

[Mandobart]

Yes for sure in any pursuit, its not the years - its the hours you put in that determines if you progress or not. I don't mean to alarm or insult you, but I know more than a few "permanent beginners." These are people who play at guitar, mandolin, etc., some for 10 years or more and they have not improved one bit in that time. Sometimes its a conscious decision "I just play for fun, I don't want to learn chords, I don't want to get into theory..." and on. Most often its a case of neglect, lack of real interest, lack of focus, discouragement, etc. If you practice intentionally, set goals and work towards them and play with other musicians you will get better.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Personally,i set out ''to be as good as i could be'' on banjo. I really wanted to be as good as the people i was hearing on recordings.
I moaned about my lack of progress to a work colleague one time who happened to be a very highly accomplished Classical musician. He rebuked me for expecting to accomplish in a couple of years what had taken those musicians maybe half a lifetime to achieve & of course he was perfectly correct. In some ways we're a little selfish in our expectations at times. I'd given myself 3 years to learn how to play banjo & although progress seemed slow on some days,i actually got there,formed a band with 3 friends & we opened for Bill Monroe at the Manchester Sports Guild Folk Club on Sat. June 4th 1966. I've mentioned all that before,& i only mention it once again to show that if you put your mind to something & really want to do it,you will !.

I had no expectations on mandolin. On banjo & guitar i played 'finger style',picks were almost unknown to me. I did what i'd done on banjo & guitar - listened a LOT!. I find that learning by ear,you not only learn the tune / music,you learn how it should 'sound' when it's played well. Tutor book learning such as i did for a few months on Classical banjo was always very sterile to me. I 'played the notes' from the written music,but i really had no idea if i was playing it correctly until my teacher played it for me.

My experience on teaching myself banjo & guitar taught me 3 very important things - have patience / practice hard, & only play the music that you enjoy playing. Playing 'tunes' simply for the sake of being able to say that you can play them, has never been attractive to me. If i don't like it,i don't play it ie. - as much as i enjoy Bill Monroe's tune 'Rawhide' (with BM playing it), i've heard it to distraction. That's a tune for the ''other guys''. I'll go with 'Old Daingerfield' & ' Old Ebenezer Scrooge' - 2 tunes i've not heard one mandolin player in the UK play,
Ivan
PS - My Banjo Tutor books.

[Rheatown]

Right hand exercises.
Left hand exercises (scales)
Yeah, fiddle tunes.
Have fun, but do these first.

[Bertram Henze]

Most often its a case of neglect, lack of real interest, lack of focus, discouragement, etc. If you practice intentionally, set goals and work towards them and play with other musicians you will get better.

Especially the latter. Failing in front of others is the motivation you need to get better in no time, believe it or not. Plus, it's pushing you out of that alleged "comfort zone" for ever.

[Marty Jacobson]

Right hand exercises.
Left hand exercises (scales)
Yeah, fiddle tunes.
Have fun, but do these first.

I took the opposite approach. I had fun learning everything I could by ear, and then delved into music theory and scales once I reached the limit of what I could get just by imitating and listening (i.e., when I wanted to learn how to improvise).

[Phil Goodson]

Do you use double stops frequently? If not, I'd suggest going through Pickloser's Guide. It helped me a lot.
'

[Rheatown]

Hey Marty,

I agree. You have to "hear" the tune and chord changes before you can play it. I've never met a bluegrasser (my genre) who could sight read ( classical musicians do that when they have never heard a song). On the other hand, no matter the genre, a knowledge of major triads, scales, relative keys, and "warming up" using scales makes playing tunes a whole lot easier and more fun.

[UsuallyPickin]

At one year in anybody is still a beginner unless they are a prodigy. Play daily , one hour is minimum IMO ,and for some portion of that time ten or fifteen minutes, try to play something that is "difficult" for you. That way the envelope is always being pushed..... and you will be improving. Something else..... recording yourself and backtracking your progress occasionally...... patience padawan ... R/

[Denny Gies]

Playing along with recordings (CD's) really helped me. Good luck and stay with it. If you want to get better you will. Remember how to get to Carnegie Hall.

[Marty Jacobson]

Remember how to get to Carnegie Hall.

Yep. Go north on 6th, turn left at 57th St.

[Northwest Steve]

mandolessons.com is a great resource...free but he asks for a donation if you use the lessons to pay for the site and a little for his time
on youtube there are lots of good lessons ... Don Julian, Braid Laird among others
Don Julian just started a new site for lessons, looks great and you can do a month trial.