What to do with New Dola

[George Henry]

When serendipity smiled on me this week and my Eastman MDA 815 landed in my lap, I was left with the puzzle of what to do with it. Should I treat it as a mandola and learn from the ground up? Or should I adapt what I already know from mandolin to this uniquely voiced mandolin family instrument? I recognize that the mandola will never be my primary instrument. I've already played guitar, banjo, and mandolin or many years, and I am 70 years old now.

So I decided to forgo the thought of learning the mandola from a standard perspective. So I spent yesterday figuring out how to play some of or existing repertoire on the mandola. I decided that I would accept a capo. Even in spite of all the notes and chords shifting positions on the fretboard, I have found things workable. I am playing most tunes in a lower ovtave. I am also benefiting from the added depth and resonance of the lsrgare bodied mandola.

So far so good.

[J.C. Bryant]

Well, I love the sound of a mandola. I've also spent a lot of time trying to learn the alto clef and tried to go that way and enjoyed doing so. However, I must say that I simply enjoy playing the stuff I already know on the mandolin, a 5th lower, and all that. I just like the sound of doing so. I know I would be far less comfortable if I were to play with others and they needed to play in the customary fiddle tune keys, but I play mostly for myself, by myself and so I simply play. I enjoy it very much and especially the lower, more mellow tone of familiar tunes played lower and, yes, most times slower. I love the sound of the mandola.

[George Henry]

I've done some of that. I also discovered that I can capo on the second fret and shift down one course of strings and play my 3 string fiddle tunes one octave lower. I'll need to practice a good bit. I find my brain freezing up and thoughts of who am I and what am I doing here?

[Toycona]

I've been playing my Girouard mandola as my main instrument for the last 5 years. It's really useful in a jam or gig where there will be a good amount of singing, for example. I also play in a couple of bands with another mandolin player, so when we are together, he'll be on mandolin and I'll be on dola, or I'll be on mandolin and he'll be on OM. The point is, the dola (and OM also) is a nice contrasting voice from the mandolin. It sits well between that and the guitar.

The most important thing I've learned about the mandola is to play it as a mandola, not a low scale mandolin. Find those chord voicings and cool slightly lower runs that make it stand apart from its GDAE counterpart. Spend the time getting to know where everything is.

Have fun!

[Explorer]

Over the last year, I decided to really and completely learn my long-owned mandola. There's not a lot of material out there strictly for mandola... but tenor banjo learning materials (same tuning) are everywhere.

And, there are also some materials for tenor guitar.

So, I dove into the two excellent Mel Bay books on tenor banjo, and then started working through all those older books available for free on the internet.

I then decided to write my own chord book, stacking the voicings so there is always either the root or the fifth on the lowest string, and the third and seventh on the top. More complex chords would add the extensions on the higher strings. (I then moved, and lost the notebook, but fortunately had internalized most of the chord forms.)

That then led me to a few people, like on the following pages...

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...r-Guitar(CGDa)

Http://www.freddiegreen.org/technique/romani.html

...who have been exploring playing Freddie Green two-note chords on the two lowest strings of a tenor guitar.

This all might be beyond your particular ambitions, but perhaps some other person might be looking for mandola inspiration in the future, and decide to pursue the same path.

Wherever your interests lay, good luck!

[George Henry]

At this point I am satisfied with using my mandola as a low tuned mandolin. I am just trying to get a feel for the instrument and the fact that is a fifth off from my mandolin. My wife and I have played through much of our repertoire using the dola instead of the mandolin. It's been a real challenge, what with the differences in tuning, scale length, string tension. But it's been fun. But what gives the biggest kick is the unique voice of this instrument.

[George Henry]

I've been having a great time with the dola! After really woodshedding a lot of hours, it's finally starting to feel pretty natural. The dola is capable of some really cool dark and moody things. A fun tune I've adapted for dola is "The Gale". A really cool tune.