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Thread: Finger style mandolin

  1. #1
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Finger style mandolin

    Is that a thing? What about playing mandolin with finger picks like a banjo?
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  2. #2

    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    It makes my fingers hurt just thinking about it. I play banjer bare fingered, same for guitar. They won't let me near fingerpicks. Not after the nosebleed incident.

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Toomas Rannu from Estonia does some nice solo arrangements for fingerstyle both of folk tunes and classical pieces. I will port some links or you can search yourself. He is a member here.
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    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    It's one of the reasons I am prototyping nylon strung mandolins.
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    It's a highly viable technique that is largely unexplored.
    Have at it and enjoy. When you get good at it, pass on to others what you have learned.

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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan in NH View Post
    Is that a thing? What about playing mandolin with finger picks like a banjo?
    The truth is you can do anything you want; it's an instrument, not a lifestyle, and you own it...

    When I decided to go with a non-standard tuning, one with similar intervals (and chord patterns) to a 5-string banjo, I also had to decide whether to go with flatpicking or go with finger style. In my case I decided to go with flatpicking because I realized that unlike a non-standard tuning, finger style mandolin would change the whole character of the instrument, and I wanted to play acceptably in bluegrass circles. That has worked out nicely to a large extent; most people I jam with don't realize I use a non-standard tuning.

    What I didn't realize then is that flatpicking is also faster than finger style. And for me, now in my later years with RA advancing in my hands, flatpicking on mandolin takes just about zero warmup time to come up to speed, where even with 50 years of 5-string banjo experience, it takes at least 30 minutes for me to come up to speed with finger style.

    So depending on your age and hand condition, there may be some advantages to flatpicking... And depending on the genre environment you wish to play with, there may again be some advantages to flatpicking.

    That said, there may be some historical president of mandolin-like instruments being played with finger style, as @Bob Clark has mentioned, possibly including with gut or synthetic strings. I don't know the name of the instrument but I am aware of a Spanish / Latin American multiple course instrument being played that way.
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    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    In the bluegrass field it has been tried out by fearless musicians like John Duffey: https://www.bluegrasshall.org/induct...n/john-duffey/

    I have not come into contact with anyone fingerpicking the mandolin. This is probably because of the factor that the distance between the strings is small and the hands/fingers are big. If you are a mandolin crosspicker (like Jesse McReynolds) fingerpicking is probably an interesting approach.

    I have not been aware of any other musical style in which the mandolin is fingerpicked.
    Olaf

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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Wayne Henderson playing with fingerpicks at 7:14.

    if you haven't watched this before, start from the beginning, neat video. at the end Andrew Marlin is in the video as well.

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  14. #9

    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by farmerjones View Post
    It makes my fingers hurt just thinking about it. I play banjer bare fingered, same for guitar. They won't let me near fingerpicks. Not after the nosebleed incident.
    Legend has it that that fingerpick was never seen again.
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    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    I once owned a special "Radim Zenkl" model Breedlove mandola, actually designed for fingerstyle playing which Radim was experimenting with at the time.

    It had single strings instead of double courses to avoid getting your fingernails tangled up, the string spacing was a little wider than normal to help the right hand, and it had a humbucker pickup at the end of the fingerboard for volume. It was a very quiet instrument played acoustically that way, so the pickup and amplification was an essential part of the package.


    Click image for larger version. 

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    A cool instrument, but I eventually sold it because as a fingerstyle guitarist for some 30+ years, I missed having more strings so my thumb could work a bass line under melody with the other fingers.

    Four strings is limiting if you're used to fingerstyle guitar, but maybe worth exploring if you're a mandolin player with no guitar experience. The main problem you'll run into is dealing with the double courses and low volume. I've dabbled a little with fingerstyle on my Weber octave mandolin, where there is a little more room for the right hand, but getting hung up in the string courses is still a problem, and other than the 5ths tuning it has no real advantage over my guitars for this approach.

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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by foldedpath View Post
    I once owned a special "Radim Zenkl" model Breedlove mandola, actually designed for fingerstyle playing which Radim was experimenting with at the time.
    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	203065
    This is one of my white whales!! Alas, money & opportunity haven't ever intersected

    I do like fingerstyle with my GBOMs but I agree with the others on the lack of volume.
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  19. #12

    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Pierre Bensusan’s Près de Paris is one of the great all time fingerstyle albums and the second track on the b side is him doing fingerstyle mandolin.

    https://youtu.be/gK6j9bkykBk

  20. #13
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by urobouros View Post
    This is one of my white whales!! Alas, money & opportunity haven't ever intersected
    It wouldn't be too hard to get in that neighborhood by converting an acoustic mandola to single strings with a new nut and saddle, then a pickup if it didn't already have one.

    Some builders offer 4-banger electric mandolins and mandolas too. You could probably alter the saddle enough on some models to get a little more spacing between strings. That's the main consideration once you're down to 4 strings. Flatpickers want the strings closer together at the saddle, fingerpickers usually want it wider.

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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan in NH View Post
    Is that a thing?
    I have only seen one person play mandolin finger style. Years ago. A busker. I think she was playing blues-type stuff. It certainly worked for her. It was unusual and memorable. I may even have her CD somewhere.

  22. #15
    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Oh come on! It's not something "brand new".

    I've been using right hand fingers for 40 years, usually in the hybrid Tele pick+finger(s) style of guitarists like James Burton, Richard Thompson, Clarence White, Jerry Donahue and innumerable others. As far as my understanding goes, Ry Cooder has often used RH fingers in his mandolin playing, as other guitar players probably have (Ian Anderson, Martin Carthy. Richard Thompson, Duke Levine, Fred Tackett, David Lindley.....) The thing is, you may not hear it as such (because it is so integrated) unless you see them doing it.

    Never liked metal or plastic fingerpicks - don't care for the sound, and they are cumbersome. There are far more tonal options available just using the flesh (or sometimes the nail).

    For "pure" blues fingerpicking (ala Mississippi John Hurt, Rev Gary Davis etc) which is a solo instrument style, going lower is always an advantage as you are playing both bass and treble parts. And if you are singing, it's best to get below (or try to) the vocal. But Ry Cooder, Yank Rachell, have demonstrated that you can conquer the register and pull things off, especially if you are able to keep a solid rhythmic groove going. If you're gonna mess with Bert Jansch's "Angi", it's better to do it on a mandola.

    I don't particularly think that I've done anything really radical or revolutionary on the mando; I've just incorporated a lot of vocabulary and techniques in usage by other instruments and put them onto a mando and made them sound like they belonged there. But then again...I really should have been a guitarist and fiddle player. Oh well, no use cryin' over spilt beer.

    (Take a listen to some of the Soundcloud tracks if you think I'm just blowing smoke.) Or do a search in the Cafe search window with my 'name and topic' cause I've commented on this stuff for 20+ years.

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    Registered User Chris Fannin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Remove 4 strings and voila... except this is a mandola...

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    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Not mandolin, but my 10 string mandola, octave mandolin and 10 string mandocello all have wide enough fretboards and string spacing to finerpick. And I do flat pick/cross pick and finger pick them all, using bare fingers. I never liked the sound or feel of metal finger picks and I work with my hands too much to cultivate luxurious classical finger nails.

  26. #18
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Here are two of Toomas Rannu's most recent posts:



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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    I started playing my own form of fingerstyle on guitar as a teenager, and it's been the most comfortable and expressive way for me to play anything with frets ever since. It's not that hard on mandolin after a little practice. It just comes naturally to me, and I prefer the subtlety it allows me to bring out. I started on violin so maybe using the fingertips for pizzicato made it seem natural.

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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin


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    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan in NH View Post
    Is that a thing? What about playing mandolin with finger picks like a banjo?
    After fingerpicking guitar for so long, I just couldn't get used to flatpicking my mando. Hopelessly awkward. So I finally gave up and put on my fingerpicks. (Bare-fingered on mando is just about impossible for me.)

    The finger picks work fine, but I felt I needed to come here and confess my sin. One of the folks here said Wayne Henderson plays mando with fingerpicks (see video above), which was all the vindication I needed.
    Last edited by Charlie Bernstein; Sep-06-2022 at 4:02pm.
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    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    It's a highly viable technique that is largely unexplored.
    Have at it and enjoy. When you get good at it, pass on to others what you have learned.
    Without claiming to be good at it, I'll tell you what I've learned: It's a lot easier than flatpicking! For this boy, anyhow.

    One advantage: You don't have to do the flatpicker's up-and-down thing. I'm left-handed. My right hand is too stupid for that. With finger picks, the thumb always goes down and the fingers always go up. Simple, and especially handy for tremolo.

    Folks here are always curious about picks, so: I use the same picks for flattop, dobro, and mando: brass Acri finger picks and delrin Fred Kelly thumbpicks. They're comfortable, they're loud, and they stay on.
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    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Randolph Millsap View Post
    I started playing my own form of fingerstyle on guitar as a teenager, and it's been the most comfortable and expressive way for me to play anything with frets ever since. It's not that hard on mandolin after a little practice. It just comes naturally to me, and I prefer the subtlety it allows me to bring out. . . .
    Yup. Same here. Never had a teacher to tell me not to.
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by foldedpath View Post
    It wouldn't be too hard to get in that neighborhood by converting an acoustic mandola to single strings with a new nut and saddle, then a pickup if it didn't already have one.

    Some builders offer 4-banger electric mandolins and mandolas too. You could probably alter the saddle enough on some models to get a little more spacing between strings. That's the main consideration once you're down to 4 strings. Flatpickers want the strings closer together at the saddle, fingerpickers usually want it wider.
    I have four & eight string electric mandolins and one of the Airline mandolas too but the Zenkl being a hollowbody seems like it would have a unique tone to the others. Converting an acoustic is a possibility but it'll be a good while before I have time to consider it.
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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Finger style mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by dhergert View Post
    The truth is you can do anything you want; it's an instrument, not a lifestyle, and you own it...
    Exactly! It's pretty easy for me. But then, I let my fingernails grow on my right hand. Not just for this purpose, but also for brush strokes, softer strokes, and whenever I want to make a long tremolo without sounding harsh. Or if I can't find a pick.

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