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Thread: tremolo dynamic control

  1. #1
    Registered User Zako's Avatar
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    Default tremolo dynamic control

    I don't recall seeing any threads exactly about this: A lot of mandolin performances I hear which feature really great tremolo, at least to my ears, have a sort of swelling and diminishing in terms of volume. Presently, whenever I try to pick up the volume on a tremolo, I end up breaking the smooth flow somehow. Is anybody familiar with the technique used to produce such precise dynamic control? Thanks!

  2. #2
    Registered User SincereCorgi's Avatar
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    Default Re: tremolo dynamic control

    I don't know if it's a particular technique per se, it's probably just lots of time and patience. The old mandolin methods like Bickford usually have some exercises based around crescendo/diminuendo-ing on long held notes, but they're pretty obvious and you've probably invented comparable exercises on your own if the technique interests you.

    For pretty much any instrument, a good one is to hold a note for eight bars (or twelve, or whatever) and mark out what dynamic you want to be at at the beginning of each bar, usually starting ppp and then pp at the start of the second (or whatever), eventually getting up to ff at the midpoint and then coming back down, all done as smoothly as possible. It makes you really think about how you're approaching dynamics.

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    Registered User Zako's Avatar
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    Default Re: tremolo dynamic control

    So I guess old lather-rinse-repeat method is the best here. Do you think there are any subtle changes to look for in wrist or arm motion as the tremolo changes from ppp to fff?

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    Ursus Mandolinus Fretbear's Avatar
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    Default Re: tremolo dynamic control

    The dynamics of tremolo are very subtle, or at least should be. The swells referred to probably do increase and decrease in volume, which injects some soul into it, but the important thing (as usual) is the timing. Doyle Lawson described spending days, weeks and months going from double-stop to double-stop, practicing smoothing out his tremolo, and doing nothing else but that. It's probably why he can transition so seamlessly from straight picking to tremolo and back again better than just about anyone else alive.
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    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    Default Re: tremolo dynamic control

    I don't think so, Z. The picking looks the same throughout but the pressure you exert is more intense as the increase the volume. The way to change the dynamics on a mandolin is the same whether you are picking, strumming or playing tremolo - the harder you hit the strings, the louder it is.
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