How Would You Play This Double Stop?

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I'm trying to force myself to play double stops and wonder where and which fingers you would use to play this one.

The piece I'm working on is Amazing Grace in G. It's written without double stops, so I've added some. In measure 10 (first syllable of "once") is a D note (tab shows 5). I've added a G note (tab 5?) to make the DS.

So, would you play both these notes in the 5th fret, and, if so, do you have a choice of barring the 2 notes (with which finger?) vs. using 2nd (middle) and 3rd (ring) fingers? Is there a better way to play this DS?

[ajh]

I would look at the fingerings just before and just after that particular fingering and try them out....watch the ease and flow.

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I would look at the fingerings just before and just after that particular fingering and try them out....watch the ease and flow.

That would be a C (tab 3) and a B (tab 2). (It's probably obvious I don't read tab, at least not well.)

[Bruce Clausen]

The fingering might depend a little on the string spacing on your mandolin. If you're playing B and C with fingers 1 and 2, it should be easy to get the G/D double stop with 3rd finger. But won't be if the strings are too far apart, or the action too high to comfortably press down four strings at once. That's not a bar, by the way, but four strings under one fingertip. Getting two notes at the same fret with two fingers works well on guitar, but not so much on mandolin unless your strings are spaced quite wide.

Another option might be to get the D with 1st finger, and add a B below (3rd finger on the D strings), plus maybe open G below. Then you've got fuller harmony, but at the cost of a change of position. Good luck!

[Bill McCall]

When I sing the melody, the 'once' note and the note before it is D. In the first strike its the fifth the G chord, but the second strike its the root of the V chord, ie, the D chord. So to me, the D on 'once' is now back to a G chord and short be harmonized to a G note, ie, 3rd fret on the E string. If you play the melody only on the G and D strings, you'll hear the D/G harmony on the 11/12 fret. I just worked it out slowly and it sounds pretty correct to a non church goer.

Folks more familiar with Gospel tunes will surely suggest a better solution.

[JeffD]

I might be tempted to try the G above on the E strings. Harmonies above the note can sound pretty cool on mandolin.

[journeybear]

There's some sort of old school attitude concerning the use of fifths. It's somewhat frowned upon, not sure why. And here we are. playing an instrument that's nothing but fifths. It's a constant struggle.

I'd avoid the G-D double stop. (And that isnt short for "goldanged" or anything else. ) I'd look at where the melody is going. It's heading from that D down to B, then G, then a lower D. Also, the chords are going G - G7 -C - G. I'm liking the following way of correlating all that:

G - F - E - B
D - B - C - G

I sure don't know how to write that. That last DS is arbitrary, but the melody is heading lower, so I thought the DS should, too.

3 - 1 - 0 - x
5 - 2 - 3 - 2
x - x - x - 5
x - x - x - x

Does that make more sense?