finger positions on octave mandolins

[darylcrisp]

one last beginner question.

20" scale on this octave A.

do you try to use one finger for 2 fret positions similar to a mandolin in first position?

my fingers are wanting to do that, but of course there is significant stretching going on, and a few things my muscle memory is trying to do is probably impossible.

or are all bets off and you just do what works most easy?

thank you
d

[foldedpath]

Do what works best. Hand anatomy, overall size, and ability to stretch is different for everyone. It's hard to make general recommendations, until you get up into crazy scale lengths like mandocellos or bass, where you really do have to go into another fingering world.

I play a 22" scale OM and have fairly large hands. For the first couple of years, I just used normal mandolin fingering because I could make it work, as long as I added a quick hand slide with the pinky to hit the high B on the E string for a fiddle tune. I think everyone does that unless you have monster hands.

Now that I've had this OM for a few years, I've started using a little more hybrid fingering. I use my first and second fingers the same way I would on mandolin, but there is more substitution of the pinky for notes I'd play with my ring finger on mandolin, depending on the tune. On a 20" instrument you may not need to do that. Experiment, and use what works.

[Explorer]

There are no hard and fast rules, so I practiced a number of different approaches. My longest fifth-tuned instrument has a 25.5" scale length, so here's how I went about learning to play on it.

One group of practice exercises consisted of FFcP (Four Finger, closed position) exercises starting at the seventh fret. I played the various scales and modes against a metronome to be sure I stayed consistent and clean as the tempo increased. Then, I practiced the same exercises starting at the sixth fret. Over time, I kept creeping down the neck in terms of starting fret, as my hand span crept wider and wider. Now, starting at the very first fret, my thumb is on the back of the neck, and my hand shifts slight up and down as I play the FFcP exercises starting at the first fret. My hand position uses the thumb on the back of the neck as a known pivot point, so it's easy to stay consistent.

Another group of exercises uses a variant of the FFcP to play chromatic scales, starting at the first fret. I play one finger per fret, then shift up to the fifth fret with my index finger and play the next four frets, one finger per fret, then shift over one string and start at the second fret, and so on. I play from the low Ab on the low string to the high Eb on the high string, and then reverse the patterns and climb back down to the low Ab on the low string. Again, all with a metronome, I make sure the shifts have the same character as the other notes.

I'll practice scales with slides of one or two frets at both ends, and/or with slides in the middle. I will do so on one string, meaning you can play a complete octave scale with two fretted notes per finger, or across the neck to keep it all in the same general neighborhood.

I play each course as a monocord instrument, practicing the various modes starting at the first fret *and* with the open string. This gets me used to seeing the instrument as four combined monocord instruments, and allows me (among other things) to maximize use of drone courses. (This monocord concept is an idea from Mick Goodrum's "The Advancing Guitarist," which is chock full of great strategies foe mastering a gpfretted instrument.)

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All this was in pursuit of my mastering the full fretboard on my six-course mandophone (CGDAEB from low to high, 25.5" scale length), but you can limit yourself to just a subset. My suggestion is doing the FFcP scales starting at a place on the neck where you can easily play two octaves of each mode across the neck along with a metronome, and then move that practice down and master the next fret lower. Your hand will slowly stretch and your confidence will grow.

Good luck!

[Bertram Henze]

Mandolin-ish fingering in 1st position for me on 21", but frequent jumps up the fretboard for high doublestops and temporary shorter-scale convenience up there.

[derbex]

On my 20" I do what foldepath does above, on my 17" more mandolin fingering, although I tend to use the little finger on the 6th fret as it's cleaner sounding.