Re: Strategies for learning without teachers?
There's plenty of good advice above, but I didn't find the transition from fiddle to mandolin all that easy. Picking out notes was simple, but what I was doing with both hands was quite different from violin. As well, unlike many mandolin players, I found picking easier than chording. However, you have piano background so chords won't be brand new to you as they were to me. It's important to know that you'll be positioning your left hand differently than you did for violin. Otherwise, I don't have a great deal of advice as I didn't learn on my own. I would take a few lesson, then stop until I felt that I needed some more, then start again, perhaps with another teacher. Much of your process will depend on how easily you pick up music and learn on your own. There are free online sites to help you with basics, and you can use them as aids, taking breaks or stopping as you choose without obligations or payments to a teacher. I find Pete Martin's Mandolin Basics helpful. Here's one for the left hand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrs2549QNsg
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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