The Mandolin
The Mandolin is a stringed instrument which belongs to the Lute family. The instruments origins can be traced to Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is played using a tremeo or finger picking style, rather than the traditional guitar struming motion. Mandolins have a long history, and much early music was written for them. In the first half of the 20th century, they enjoyed a period of great popularity in Europe and the Americas as an easier approach to playing string music. In recent times the mandolin has experienced a bit of a renaissance and has been popular amongst country, bluegrass and folk musicians. The mandolin is becoming a somewhat common instrument amongst Irish traditional musicians, who favour the flat-backed mandolin shape.
Featured Mandolin Lessons Teachers
Connie Murray
Mandolin Lessons Teacher
Dublin
086 3970601
Hailey Farrell
Mandolin Lessons Teacher
Dublin
086 1560008
kane O' Rourke
Mandolin Lessons Teacher
Dublin
086 0556858
Tony Mellon
Mandolin Lessons Teacher
Dublin
01 8375077
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An introductory Mandolin Lesson
Learning the Mandolin
The mandolin has a a unique part to play in a band set up, as it acts as both a string and percussion instrument. The percussion piece is governed by “the chop”, which is a time keeping note commonly played on the 2nd and 4th beats. Top tips for learning the mandolin include:
- Buy an electronic tuner to keep yourself in tune at all times!
- Use good strings and change them once a month! Dull or dead strings are hard to keep in tune
- Like in sport, always try to play with people who are better than you.
- Don't try to play too fast too soon. By doing so you will develop bad habits.
- Experiment with different picks and find the one who’s weight suits you the best
- Always ensure that you are playing downstrokes "on the beat" and upstrokes "off the beat."
