View Single Post
  #6  
Old 09-01-2017, 03:00 PM
ssjk ssjk is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Roanoke, VA
Posts: 325
Default

Thanks for the suggestions.

Jon – particularly valuable was the concept of the left hand “obviously not sitting on each chord shape” but releasing to allow me to get to the rest of the scale. In fact, sitting on the chord shape is exactly what I do when fingerpicking. I just move on to the next chord shape and hold that one for a while too, adding melody or embellishments as they occur to me. Intuitive when fingerpicking. Not so much when flatpicking. I’ll try it as you suggested.

Barry – I take your comment to mean “learn the basic pentatonic scales and use those instead of holding the chord shape”. I’ll try that too.

Derek – you’re right. But I was a guitar player long before I was a mandolin player, so the transfer has been going the other way for me. Probably to my detriment. In fact, it was realizing that I was still trying to throw in complete chords on the mandolin instead of sticking to the single notes that led me to ask the question.

I guess the bottom line is there is no substitute for time spent with the pick until the notes are as intuitive to me that way as they are with the fingers. I was afraid of that.
Reply With Quote