Beginner using Greg Horne's Complete Mandolin with questions!

[Flacomd30]

Hello all! Took up trying to learn mandolin after feeling the need to play an instrument at my family's annually lake retreat. I am using the Greg Horne book, it is a vast wealth of knowledge, but I feel I am using it wrong. I understand all the basic concepts, but for the chapters do I spend one day working on just one lesson till I get it perfect, or just keep trudging along and complete a chapter in a day?
Loving the mandolin and just trying to understand the best way to move forward in the book.

First post, so take it easy on me 😊

Matthew- not sure what kind of mandolin I have, but it makes noises that sound like notes-

[Louise NM]

I just had a look at the Horne book's online preview, and it looks really thorough! Should be a good way to get going.

First, ditch the ideas of "right" and "wrong." People learn differently, come to it with different prior knowledge, have differing amounts of time available.

Do you read music? If so, you will move faster through the early stages. If you don't, go as slowly as you need to get comfortable with standard notation. If the book also presents tab, same thing. Take as much time as you need to get that solidly established. Reading fluently will open all sorts of doors along the way.

Especially at the beginning, strive for perfection or a reasonable facsimile thereof. You are laying the groundwork for many happy decades of playing. Shortcuts or bad habits you pick up now will haunt you in the years to come. (Been there, done that.) It's way simpler to just put in the time at the beginning to get it right than to break long-established habits down the road. Stick with a lesson until it is firmly in your hands.

You will find that some lessons come easily, others not so much. Don't feel you have to get through a certain amount of pages per day. Do what you can do well, be it a little or a lot. With any method book some lessons are a small progression, others are a bigger leap. Don't get frustrated with yourself if you fly through some lessons and stumble on others.

Set aside time every day for review. Spend a day going back to the beginning of the book and playing through every single bit you have learned so far. Other days, pick and choose old lessons to review—some that were particularly satisfying, others that were crazy-making. You will quickly find that pieces that seemed tough a few days or weeks ago aren't such bearcats any longer.

Finally, please come over to the Newbies social group. Go to the Learn/Listen tab at the top, then to Social Groups, then Newbies. Plenty of us there trying to get this instrument figured out!

[Flacomd30]

Louise, thank you so much for the advice. Just take it slow, and "perfect" it! Another quick question, is there a way to get rid of string scratching? I have changed pick angle, picks, such like that and the G and D strings I always get a scratching sound.
This could start a whole new discussion ����

[billhay4]

I suspect the "scratching" sound is really buzzing. This means the strings are hitting a second fret besides the one you are fretting. It means there is a problem with the set up of the mandolin. You'll have to read up on this as there could be several causes-- action too low, neck bending, high fret, etc.
A good luthier can isolate and identify the issue pretty quickly.
If you want a quick and easy thing to try, raise the bridge on the bass side and see if that helps.
Bill

[Tom Wright]

At first you need to simply learn notes---where they are, and when they happen. The development of quality in sound is a long process. The perfection suggested above is not in tone or speed, dexterity, etc. Just ensure you know what the goal is for a given section, and don't expect to sound sweet and rich-toned.

The wound strings will sound scratchy if your pick is raking across at angle. It should be close to flat to the string. But also don't expect to find the perfect pick grip, angle, stroke, etc. That can take years. But lots of fun can be had while working on tunes.

Another long-term goal is accurate finger placement. You are learning which notes to play, but your fingers will eventually need to land really perfectly in the sweet spot, just behind the fret, even pressure on both strings of the pair, not pushing sideways, etc. Imperfect placement is why you will get buzzes and thuds, and bad-sounding intonation as well. But trust that your fingers do learn in time where exactly to land.

For now, accumulate notes and the basics of music on the mandolin---technique and tone arrive in due time.

[George R. Lane]

Louise, thank you so much for the advice. Just take it slow, and "perfect" it! Another quick question, is there a way to get rid of string scratching? I have changed pick angle, picks, such like that and the G and D strings I always get a scratching sound.
This could start a whole new discussion ����

Is it when you slide your finger from one fret to another fret or when you fret a single note? These are two different problems with two different fixes.

[Flacomd30]

It actually happens while not fretting any and all notes, at all levels of volume and tension on pick. That's why I am assuming the scratching is coming from the picks on the strings. My brother and law is a luthier and he set it up, it is not an adjustable bridge, it is a flat top, bowed back, sound hole mandolin with a classical guitar style headstock. My father and law bought my wife this mandolin ages ago, and just recently wanted to learn how to play it. It will not be my forever mando, but it will be my clunker get good at it so when I get a worth while mando it will be ohhhhhhhh so sweet!

[Flacomd30]

Tom,

Thank you for that great advice and motivation!!!

[Peter Coronado]

What happens if you strum the string with the fleshy part of your thumb or finger? Still scratchy or no?

[Flacomd30]

ToyonPete,

It does not make any scratching noises when strummed with the fleshy part of my fingers. I have slightly longer nails on my right hand for guitar, and when I hit the nail it scratches! So that's why I am thinking it is my picking action, but Tom gave good advice and all it takes is time, guess after a month of playing you can't be perfect...

[EdHanrahan]

... that's why I am thinking it is my picking action ...

It's also possible that you're using a very light & thin pick; they tend to excite the treble tones of the strings more than a heavy (thick & rounded) one would, including those generated by scraping over the string windings. Most mandolinists (at least the non-classical ones) tend to favor a heavier pick, something like a Fender Heavy or, my favorite, a Pro-Plec 1.5mm. Thin picks can be a third, or maybe even a quarter, of that thickness.

There are much heavier and MUCH more expensive picks, but that's for another day.