amstill learning and after a year have got about 12 tunes down to a good standard but wondered if i am going about it right i dont read music andeven though i can follow tab find it hard to translate wih timings listen a lot and end up doing by ear and practice have got following done
kesh
butterfly
cooleys
red haired boy
off to california
shove the pigs foot
king of faries
kid on the mountain
gander in the pratie hole
drowsy maggie
haste to the wedding
blackthorn stick
rocky road
not a massive list i know but i am proud of it!
am i being a bit random with my choice or should i start with certain tunes. i find jigs the easiest to pick up and would like to get a few more under my belt any suggestions i dont have any preconcieved ideas of good or bad tunes but like to put different ones together so any easy starters please?
also is it better to have a few new tunes on the go or keep on with one till you get it
cheers
i have also just discovered a better right hand playing position for myself and it has made a big difference to my speed and triplets!
Yes xzavier you seem to be going about it the right way. Keep listening it's the best way to learn. That list of yours is almost identical to the list of tunes I had after about a year ( great minds think alike). You should try and get into a session or two also. You don't NEED to be able to read music, Abc or Tab but it can help a little to remind you of the start of tunes when you have a bigger repetoire. I find it helps also to learn tunes in sets say 3 at a time but that's just a personal thing.
Yes, it's a good idea to learn the standards but it also depends on the company you keep. As Bernie suggests, you should get along to a session or two. If you find one that suits and welcomes you(Up to a point if not with open arms) then...discreetly...try to ascertain which are the more popular and regular tunes they play there.
Then it's easier to "fit in" and build up a relevant repertoire. By all means, learn whatever tunes you want if you like them enough. You should, but it does help if other people play them too.
Also, while there are always some tunes which are more difficult than others, "so called" beginners' tunes aren't necessarily any easier than the more obscure variety. It's just that most players start off with these because they are better known.
"is it better to have a few new tunes on the go or keep on with one till you get it"
I generally have a few "on the go" but they usually "emerge" in a half decent fashion..only one at a time. Apart from some very easy tunes and one or two which you can absorb without really trying, it can take ages..sometimes years before you can play them really well.....all the time.
Some here might disagree but I'm sure most will admit that we're always learning.
"Shove the pigs' foot..." ..great tune, they played it on the Transatlantic Sessions, of course, and it is, probably, a old-timey Appalachian tune - I certainly heard it first on the 5-string banjo. But it's all music, and the links between the 'celtic' music of the British Isles and the Appalachians, and the more recent feedbacks, make it a very acceptable tune to me.
As to developing your repertoire and style, get out to some sessions, sit in the back and play quietly, ask the name of every tune you don't know, and/or record them ( with permission ). Any worthy session will appreciate your efforts and encourage you.
Xavier - Far better to have 12 tunes played well than 120 tunes half-learned. Keep going as you are. Using your ears is *the* most important thing. Tab (or any other kind of notation) is a handy aide-memoire, but nothing more - eventually your tune memory and your ear-to-fingers relationship with develop to the level where you'll only have to hear the first few notes of a tune and the rest will come flooding back from the recesses of your brain.
"Shove The Pigs Foot a Little Further into the Fire" is the full title, I believe. It's an Apallachian tune - not Irish, but a great tune, all the same. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBIjR39WYfM
If you're serious about *Irish* music, then keep seeking out Irish tunes played by Irish musicians (including those in Emigrant communities) - in person, whenever possible. But there's no harm at all in having a bit of variety in your repertoire.
cheers guys in am grateful for replies will keep going as i am the tune is shove the pgs foot a little further in the fire i first heard on a celtic connections website and then couldnt get out my head which helps when you learn tunes the way i do
am playing in a session every month but others not local so practice is difficult
It is good to learn some standards like you have been doing, but it also useful to get to a local session, meet the people, and see what they're playing. Most sessions will gladly play standards, especially when they're encouraging a newbie, but you'll likely find that the standards don't often get played otherwise...
You may find that jigs are easier to learn (25% fewer notes!), but you might also find that they're harder to play well on plectrum instruments. Getting the rhythm right is somewhat difficult. For me, personally, I found that picking jigs with a Down Up Down, Down Up Down pattern makes it easier to get the rhythm right, since the notes aren't even in time, and both the first and third notes can be accented (which is easier with a down stroke). But picking this way also makes jigs more difficult to ornament and get up to speed...
(and Geez, ML, suggesting Boys of Lough Gowna? Ouch. I have a hard enough time with that one myself, and I've got 300+ tunes under my proverbial belt...)
LOL, that's the point. Taking one on that will challenge you more, so other tunes feel easier. Boys of Lough Gowna sounds good slow, too, and there's nothing technically "hard" about it. So why not? Heh, Rev, maybe if you'd learned it earlier in your career, you wouldn't think it was difficult.
I love the mandolin. Great that your learning. In the end I changed to fiddle as I find it easier, but that's just me probably. I still like the sound.
My tip is just don't get pushed into thinking theres a whole bunch of tunes you've GOT to learn. Theres thousands of tunes around, you'll never know them all. Play ones you like, and when you go to a session try to find two or three that are often played there and that sound like you could manage them. I think someone once said "make haste slowly".
"It can help to find a tune that challenges you more than the ones you already know--the "harder" tune will make the others feel 'easier'."
Agreed. You might like to try out a few tunes that take you into unfamiliar keys or higher positions:
Mother's Delight (D Dorian)
Dowd's Favourite (G Dorian)
Jenny's Chickens (B Dorian)
The Otter's Holt (Bminor/D)
The Humours of Westport (F)
The Cock and The Hen (F# minor/A)
The Graf Spee (C)
Ríl Beara (E Dorian, but with a G# in the first bar)
The Beeswing (Bb)
The Golden Eagle (goes up to C on the E-string)
Seán sa Cheo (goes up to C# on the E-string)
The Contradiction (goes up to top E on the E-string)
...and a few with tricky runs in them:
The Gladstone
The Spey in Spate
The Trip to Windsor
(Incidentally, all three of these are of Scottish origin. The first two, at least, [both James Scott-Skinner compositions, as it happens] are popular in the Northern counties of Ireland. All three are finger-twisters).
Don't expect to get all these up to session standard in a few weeks - I can't play some of them still after 15 years of trying. But they're all good technical exercises - and more fun than playing scales.
a) If you can afford it, lessons would be well worth it (even if it's just a few). I have been playing mando for 4 years and guitar for 25 and just started mando lessons 2 months ago. HUGE help already-- esp with technique.
b) It is DEFINITELY worth learning to read music. Until you are very very very practiced, it is quite difficult to learn the finer details of music by ear. Think of sheet music as a backup or a clarifier. Oh and you can also, use windows media player 10 to play tunes at 1/2 speed w/o lowering the pitch-- very handy for learning.
c) practice modal scales-- ionian, dorian, myxolydian and aeolian, cos those are the Irish modes.
mandolin newbie wonders about his development
mandolin newbie wonders about his development
couple of questions if you please...
amstill learning and after a year have got about 12 tunes down to a good standard but wondered if i am going about it right i dont read music andeven though i can follow tab find it hard to translate wih timings listen a lot and end up doing by ear and practice have got following done
kesh
butterfly
cooleys
red haired boy
off to california
shove the pigs foot
king of faries
kid on the mountain
gander in the pratie hole
drowsy maggie
haste to the wedding
blackthorn stick
rocky road
not a massive list i know but i am proud of it!
am i being a bit random with my choice or should i start with certain tunes. i find jigs the easiest to pick up and would like to get a few more under my belt any suggestions i dont have any preconcieved ideas of good or bad tunes but like to put different ones together so any easy starters please?
also is it better to have a few new tunes on the go or keep on with one till you get it
cheers
i have also just discovered a better right hand playing position for myself and it has made a big difference to my speed and triplets!
thanks
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by xavier 493
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
Yes xzavier you seem to be going about it the right way. Keep listening it's the best way to learn. That list of yours is almost identical to the list of tunes I had after about a year ( great minds think alike). You should try and get into a session or two also. You don't NEED to be able to read music, Abc or Tab but it can help a little to remind you of the start of tunes when you have a bigger repetoire. I find it helps also to learn tunes in sets say 3 at a time but that's just a personal thing.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Bernie
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
"shove the pigs foot"
Gee, I don't even know that one myself.
Yes, it's a good idea to learn the standards but it also depends on the company you keep. As Bernie suggests, you should get along to a session or two. If you find one that suits and welcomes you(Up to a point if not with open arms) then...discreetly...try to ascertain which are the more popular and regular tunes they play there.
Then it's easier to "fit in" and build up a relevant repertoire. By all means, learn whatever tunes you want if you like them enough. You should, but it does help if other people play them too.
Also, while there are always some tunes which are more difficult than others, "so called" beginners' tunes aren't necessarily any easier than the more obscure variety. It's just that most players start off with these because they are better known.
"is it better to have a few new tunes on the go or keep on with one till you get it"
I generally have a few "on the go" but they usually "emerge" in a half decent fashion..only one at a time. Apart from some very easy tunes and one or two which you can absorb without really trying, it can take ages..sometimes years before you can play them really well.....all the time.
Some here might disagree but I'm sure most will admit that we're always learning.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Johnny Jay
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
"Shove the pigs' foot..." ..great tune, they played it on the Transatlantic Sessions, of course, and it is, probably, a old-timey Appalachian tune - I certainly heard it first on the 5-string banjo. But it's all music, and the links between the 'celtic' music of the British Isles and the Appalachians, and the more recent feedbacks, make it a very acceptable tune to me.
As to developing your repertoire and style, get out to some sessions, sit in the back and play quietly, ask the name of every tune you don't know, and/or record them ( with permission ). Any worthy session will appreciate your efforts and encourage you.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
Xavier - Far better to have 12 tunes played well than 120 tunes half-learned. Keep going as you are. Using your ears is *the* most important thing. Tab (or any other kind of notation) is a handy aide-memoire, but nothing more - eventually your tune memory and your ear-to-fingers relationship with develop to the level where you'll only have to hear the first few notes of a tune and the rest will come flooding back from the recesses of your brain.
"Shove The Pigs Foot a Little Further into the Fire" is the full title, I believe. It's an Apallachian tune - not Irish, but a great tune, all the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBIjR39WYfM
If you're serious about *Irish* music, then keep seeking out Irish tunes played by Irish musicians (including those in Emigrant communities) - in person, whenever possible. But there's no harm at all in having a bit of variety in your repertoire.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
Is this it
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7905
I've just added it to my tunebook.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Johnny Jay
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
That's the one, Backfor. I got the title a bit wrong.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
cheers guys in am grateful for replies will keep going as i am the tune is shove the pgs foot a little further in the fire i first heard on a celtic connections website and then couldnt get out my head which helps when you learn tunes the way i do
am playing in a session every month but others not local so practice is difficult
thanks for you help
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by xavier 493
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
Xavier, some jigs that sit well on mandolin are:
Joe Derrane's
Tar Road to Sligo
Finbar Dwyer's Favourite
Rakes of Clonmel
Tripping Upstairs
Boys of Lough Gowna
It can help to find a tune that challenges you more than the ones you already know--the "harder" tune will make the others feel "easier."
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Will Harmon
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
It is good to learn some standards like you have been doing, but it also useful to get to a local session, meet the people, and see what they're playing. Most sessions will gladly play standards, especially when they're encouraging a newbie, but you'll likely find that the standards don't often get played otherwise...
You may find that jigs are easier to learn (25% fewer notes!), but you might also find that they're harder to play well on plectrum instruments. Getting the rhythm right is somewhat difficult. For me, personally, I found that picking jigs with a Down Up Down, Down Up Down pattern makes it easier to get the rhythm right, since the notes aren't even in time, and both the first and third notes can be accented (which is easier with a down stroke). But picking this way also makes jigs more difficult to ornament and get up to speed...
(and Geez, ML, suggesting Boys of Lough Gowna? Ouch. I have a hard enough time with that one myself, and I've got 300+ tunes under my proverbial belt...)
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Reverend
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
LOL, that's the point. Taking one on that will challenge you more, so other tunes feel easier. Boys of Lough Gowna sounds good slow, too, and there's nothing technically "hard" about it. So why not? Heh, Rev, maybe if you'd learned it earlier in your career, you wouldn't think it was difficult.
# Posted on December 21st 2009 by Will Harmon
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
I love the mandolin. Great that your learning. In the end I changed to fiddle as I find it easier, but that's just me probably. I still like the sound.
My tip is just don't get pushed into thinking theres a whole bunch of tunes you've GOT to learn. Theres thousands of tunes around, you'll never know them all. Play ones you like, and when you go to a session try to find two or three that are often played there and that sound like you could manage them. I think someone once said "make haste slowly".
# Posted on December 22nd 2009 by lestow
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
"It can help to find a tune that challenges you more than the ones you already know--the "harder" tune will make the others feel 'easier'."
Agreed. You might like to try out a few tunes that take you into unfamiliar keys or higher positions:
Mother's Delight (D Dorian)
Dowd's Favourite (G Dorian)
Jenny's Chickens (B Dorian)
The Otter's Holt (Bminor/D)
The Humours of Westport (F)
The Cock and The Hen (F# minor/A)
The Graf Spee (C)
Ríl Beara (E Dorian, but with a G# in the first bar)
The Beeswing (Bb)
The Golden Eagle (goes up to C on the E-string)
Seán sa Cheo (goes up to C# on the E-string)
The Contradiction (goes up to top E on the E-string)
...and a few with tricky runs in them:
The Gladstone
The Spey in Spate
The Trip to Windsor
(Incidentally, all three of these are of Scottish origin. The first two, at least, [both James Scott-Skinner compositions, as it happens] are popular in the Northern counties of Ireland. All three are finger-twisters).
Don't expect to get all these up to session standard in a few weeks - I can't play some of them still after 15 years of trying. But they're all good technical exercises - and more fun than playing scales.
# Posted on December 22nd 2009 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
"rocky road"
Is there something I'm missing ?lol =)
# Posted on December 23rd 2009 by scordion
Re: mandolin newbie wonders about his development
two things other than the advice offered above.
a) If you can afford it, lessons would be well worth it (even if it's just a few). I have been playing mando for 4 years and guitar for 25 and just started mando lessons 2 months ago. HUGE help already-- esp with technique.
b) It is DEFINITELY worth learning to read music. Until you are very very very practiced, it is quite difficult to learn the finer details of music by ear. Think of sheet music as a backup or a clarifier. Oh and you can also, use windows media player 10 to play tunes at 1/2 speed w/o lowering the pitch-- very handy for learning.
c) practice modal scales-- ionian, dorian, myxolydian and aeolian, cos those are the Irish modes.
# Posted on January 4th 2010 by chris stolz