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Thread: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

  1. #1
    Professional Cat Herder Phil Vinyard's Avatar
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    Default Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    I am teaching an Adult Ed class on how to play in a bluegrass jam. Some of the folks are a little overwhelmed when they see a full chart of chords and think they'll never learn enough of them to play in a jam.

    I've made the attached "Survival Chords for Mandolin" to give to my mandolin players, and I'm sharing it here with my Cafe friends. My point is if you know the I, IV and V chords in basic jam keys, you're good to go. I threw in the VI/relative minor chord and the flat VII for good measure. They are all 3-string chords which are a little easier to play, and also sound good in a chop.

    Let me know if you find this useful, or of any changes you would make to the chart.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Survival Chords Mandolin.pdf  
    Phil Vinyard
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  3. #2
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    This looks useful Phil. What are the red finger marks indicating?
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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    If you look at the red dot and compare it to the fingerboard chart in the bottom right hand corner you'll see that that dot corresponds with the name of the chord, giving you the root of the chord.

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    Professional Cat Herder Phil Vinyard's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Yep, Mike is right. It's the root of the chord. The trick is, these are all closed chords so you can move them all up or down and get other perfectly useful chords.

    For example, learn the basic positions on the D Major row. Then when someone starts a tune in E major, you know you can just move the D row chords up two frets, keep the same shapes, and you're good to go.
    Phil Vinyard
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    Mandolin Apprentice joni24's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    These are really helpful, thanks! I have a problem making the 4-finger "chop" chords because of arthritis in my pinky, so these 3-finger versions should be a decent alternative. I like the fact that these I, IV and V chords are all close to each other fret-wise so there's minimum jumping around the neck. Good job.
    Last edited by joni24; Feb-25-2012 at 3:09pm.

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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Throw in the major two chord as well. It's not as common perhaps as the relative minor but common enough to warrant a mention, I think.

  8. #7

    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Thanks - I printed off a copy of that Bad Boy as soon as I opened the file

  9. #8

    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    although, now that I look it over . . . D Major I think I would label the I Chord just as D not as DM, that (DM) threw me for a tizzy for a bit.

    Also, why not the classic 4 finger G chop chord anywhere on chart?

    and what fingerings do others play for example in the Key of A - - - I tend to use the three triangular shapes for the A, D and E . . .I realize this is personal preference, and there are plenty of threads on fingerings for chords . . . and no right or wrong answers but if you are in a jam, Key of A and the tune is at your upper speed for comfort - - what (3-4 string) fingerings do you use?

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    Registered User Earl Gamage's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    I really doubt your students will think that looks any easier or less overwhelming.

    You can show one key of either bluegrass chop chords or bar chords and teach them why the chords are moveable. Just three chords and they are off and running.

    Show them the II and VI in another lesson.

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    Registered User John Gardinsky's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    It's a tall task to fit everything you want to tell a beginner about chords on one page. I think you did a pretty good job. I agree that the major "M" is confusing. Also I tend to think of the V chord of a minor key as being major but I see why you made it minor. Neither is wrong. Nice work and thanks for sharing.

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    Registered User Ray Neuman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Thank you Phil! COOL sheet!
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    4 finger G? We don't need no steenkin' 4 fingered G! For my purposes at least, 3 fingers are plenty choppy enough.

    Nice chart. I plan to play around with it later on.

    I agree about the M=major confusion. I'd go with just the capitalized letter for the name of the chord, which is much more usual.
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    Professional Cat Herder Phil Vinyard's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    I appreciate all the good feedback! Here's what I've done:

    1. The M convention for Major came from QwikChord3. I just edited that and spelled it out, and then redrew the chords (attached).

    2. I stuck to the I, IV, V, minor VI and flat VII because that seemed to cover the VAST majority of the chords we play in the jams I frequent. Here in Central Missouri, we tend to play more old time rather than pure bluegrass, so these chords fit well. Because of space & simplicity reasons I considered leaving out the flat VII, but that is such an important idiom in bluegrass that shows up even in simple songs (Old Joe Clark comes to mind) I thought it worth including.

    3. I learned about 3-string chords from Radim Zenkl one year at Kaufman Kamp and dropped using a Monroe 4-string pattern and switched to these myself. I can get a good, woody chop out of them just fine. And I think they sound better together since they tend to lie in the same tessitura.

    4. And, again, these chords are for survival. As you get better, you need to learn to add more chords, inversions, sevenths, etc. But with this set you could hold your own in most jams.

    Anyway, please try them out and send more feedback if you have any. I'm going to try them out with my beginning jam class on Wednesday & these folks may also give me a few suggestions.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Survival Chords.pdf  
    Phil Vinyard
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    Barn Owl Paul Edwards's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Hey thanks for the pdf! This is quite useful.. need all I can get!

    Thanks again!
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    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Quote Originally Posted by John Gardinsky View Post
    It's a tall task to fit everything you want to tell a beginner about chords on one page. I think you diuse d a pretty good job. I agree that the major "M" is confusing. Also I tend to think of the V chord of a minor key as being major but I see why you made it minor. Neither is wrong. Nice work and thanks for sharing.
    I agree that the 5 chord in a minor key should be major, that is why the key signature way of naming minor keys is kind of misleading. In a strictly theoretical way it is accurate to show a minor 5, but in actual practice our ears want to hear the leading tone of the major third in the dominant chord in a minor key and most minor key songs use a major 5. Also, if I may suggest, use upper case Romans for major chords, lower case for minor chords, and use + and ° or o, if you can't make a superscript circle (Ctrl + 0176 on a Windows machine) for augmented and diminished. It isn't standardized yet but there are a lot of people trying to make it the norm.
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Nice idea, however you might consider how they will move from chord to chord. For example, you use the standard 3-finger C, and from there an F keeping the ring finger on the low C, moving the middle over from the 2nd string C to the 3rd string F, and the index finger from the 3rd string E to the 1st string F, leaving the 2nd string open, is (to me) a simple shift than completely repositioning the hand as you have it. Then why not the 2-finger G with the G and D strings open, or maybe that C shape again but as a 3-finger G? Again an easy shift. I guess you are trying to avoid open strings? If these are beginners they will probably strum not chop, right? In which case open strings are good. Or, they can damp with the right hand.

    Anyway it's great what you are doing in adult ed!

  19. #17
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Good chart, but for total beginners I've taught
    "2 finger" chords first. More folk than Bluegrass,
    but a good place to start. Here's a version from the net.
    [This person left a few out ie. A= 2200]
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    I'm self-taught on mando, coming from a violin/fiddle and guitar background. With just a little theory and willingness to do things a little different, I came up with some barre chords that do the trick for D, E, F and G. Move this up to A (9th fret) and it sounds kind of thin. Note that the two-finger C and G shown above are just "0 fret" versions of these barres. Which makes me wonder why no simplified F chord (2-3-0-X) to round out the key of C?

    Key of D for example. The D (I) chord is: Lay index across all strings on the 2nd fret, ring finger on D string 4th fret, pinkie on A string 5th fret. Don't move the index finger. The G (IV) chord is ring finger on the G string 4th fret, pinkie on D string 5th fret, middle finger on E string 3rd fret. Keep the index right where it is. The A (V) chord is made by moving the ring finger to the A string 4th fret and the pinkie to to E string 5th fret. Key of D I, IV, V chords without ever shifting the wrist position. You can move this shape up the frets to get other keys. Mess around with lifting the pinkie and placing the middle finger 2 frets lower than where the pinkie was for the I and V chords and now you have the 7th version of these chords. Or lift the ring finger and place the middle finger 1 fret below where the ring was for the I and V and now you have minor version of these chords.

    This stuff ain't rocket surgery. How you teach is at least as important as what you teach. You don't have to get a bunch of different, apparently non-related chord shapes up front. By leveraging the beauty of fifths tuning with a simple shape that moves across the strings for I-IV-V (7ths and minors) and up the neck to change keys a rank beginner can jam in several keys with something they can learn in an hour or less.

  22. #19
    Professional Cat Herder Phil Vinyard's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    After my class lecture on music theory last week to my Beginning Jam class, I realized the guitars and banjos could use this guide as well. I used pretty generic chord patterns for them--real guitar and banjo folks may want to substitute their favorite patterns or (horrors!) capo up here and there.

    Again, the reasons I chose the chord patterns I did for mandolin:

    1. They aren't as easy to play as two-finger chords, but are really not much harder and I think worth the effort.

    2. Because they are all (but 1) closed position, you can chop them all easily and move them up or down to make other less common chords.

    3. They aren't exhaustive, yet I think I could have played off the chart at the jam I was at last night and had over 95% of the chords we used covered.

    4. They sound pretty good in a chord progression--no jumps between a really high pitched chord and a really low pitched chord.

    Anyway, print and use if you like, and pass on to guitar and banjo beginners if you think it would help them.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Survival Chords All.pdf  
    Phil Vinyard
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  24. #20

    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    These are great! Thank you! We have mandolin, guitar, and banjo learners in our house so I printed out the whole set.

  25. #21
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Thanks for this really useful chart, Phil.
    As a complete beginner, knowing pretty much nothing of music theory, and learning on octave rather than standard mandolin, I've found this a really helpful learning aid...
    With this, and Joel's chart above too, I find the whole business of learning manageable chording a lot less daunting.
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    For the banjo chord chart, I would just show the F, D and bar forms since those are the ones commonly used.
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  27. #23

    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    This mandolin beginner really appreciates your Survival Chords chart.

    A small matter ... I see you use red to identify the root chord. Using red for highlighting seems almost universal. Those of us with so-called red-green color blindness can have trouble with that (not so much on your chart) because of the low contrast between red and black (believe it or not). Using blue would work wonderfully for us, and presumably as well for those with "normal" color vision.

    Much obliged!

  28. #24

    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    This is awesome thank you!
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  29. #25
    Registered User Chip Booth's Avatar
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    Default Re: Survival Mandolin Chords for Beginners

    Organizing chords into keys can certainly be very useful, and I appreciate the effort out in to making the chart. I would like to point out that there is some questionable theory scattered amongst the thread. The thing that bothers me the most is labeling the vi chord as VI MINOR. My experience has been entirely that major chords are referred to by upper case roman numerals and minor chords by lower case.

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