no argument intended, but...
for discussion let's remove what music is being played, style, ethnicity, experience level of the player, and just look at the mechanical and visual aspects of the two instruments in the original poster's question...
"tuned in fifths" has a lot to do with perceived advantage mandolin, but why? Because it allows us to envision the fretboard as symmetrical. Patterns, scales, chords are more readily visualized and located. But hey, fourths are symmetrical too aren't they? Yes, but that pattern is broken at the B string on the guitar. Also the more expansive range of the guitar means there are many more ways to play things on the guitar, more places to locate notes, phrases etc on the board.
One might the longer fret scale on the guitar would be another advantage mandolin, but lest we forget finding things in all keys on mandolin requires comfortable usage of the fourth finger when manipulating those beautifully symmetrical scale patterns. Perhaps we're thrown right back to subjectivity here.
I guess I'm mostly saying it's easier for me to see and feel my way around a mandolin fretboard than a guitar fretboard. Finding the ideas one "hears" in the mind's ear on the fretboard and sounding them happens more readily on the mandolin. We read how piano players get an assist from their instrument because they can look down and see where everything is, and the pattern on the keyboard is consistent from bottom to top..
I marvel at saxophone players, trumpet, trombone, etc. They set the standards for facility yet what are they "seeing"? I suppose they might say "oh, we have patterns and symmetry too"...but where do they put the capo?
One last notion. If one finds his instrument easier to play melodies on than on another instrument, perhaps best to allow that player to believe that. Every bit of confidence, relaxation, and accuracy counts.
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