Mandolin, Mandola or Mancello

[BobbyMocha]

One of my goals in playing guitar is that I also want to learn to play the mandolin. A luthier friend of mine who is building an Archtop guitar for me also builds beautiful mandolins / Mandolas.

He asked me what I was interested in playing, a mandolin, Mandola or mandcello. I have no experience with any of these and would like to know from any of you players out there if you have a preference and why. I will say that I love the way it sounds with the guitar in bluegrass music but even more so when it's played all alone or harmonizing with another mandolin / Mandola and one of the three has a slightly deeper, warmer tone to it. I'm not sure which.

Any thoughts before I give him the go ahead?

[Maryc-k]

Mandola is tuned CGDA, and. Mandocello is one octave down. These will both be in the same tonal range as guitar. Mandolin is tuned GDAE, the same as the fiddle (violin). I’ve played all these instruments in various ensembles, and as lovely as mandola sounds, a lot of bluegrass tunes can be a challenge on this tuning. You really have to know your fretboard.

Your luthier friend might have some demo models around. Why not sit down and try out a few. I will say this, if you don’t care for the instrument after it’s built, a mandocello is a lot harder to sell than a mandolin.

[ben]

I'm also an aspiring mandolin-family player and have a mandolin, mandola, and octave mandolin (haven't played a mandocello). As a longtime guitar player, the most accessible of these instruments is the octave mandolin. The neck/fret spacing isn't as small and the mandolin, which is a plus for this guitar player. And put a capo on the 5th fret and you're up to a mandola tuning.

That being said, for a bluegrass jam the mandolin is the way to go. But for solo/duo/trio playing, the octave mandolin hits the spot for me.

[Rudy4]

I play or have played all the above, and built a few that are in-between.

For a different experience tonally as well as tuning I'd personally recommend mandolin. My playing partner prefers a mandola and capos his for many songs his bluegrass band performs.

I also have an octave mandolin (guitar bodied) that I love for the low range stuff, but the mandolin is a great instrument that travels well, plays easily (hopefully...), has a nice feel of intimacy when it's being played, and is easy to fit into jams or performing with a group, especially one that has a fiddle player.

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by BobbyMocha

I will say that I love the way it sounds with the guitar in bluegrass music but even more so when it's played all alone or harmonizing with another mandolin / Mandola and one of the three has a slightly deeper, warmer tone to it.

I *love* my mandolas (yes, plural).

I have mandolins, octave mandolins and a mandocello as well, but mandola is where I'm centered.

I don't play bluegrass. I originally came at it from other forms of traditional music, found some music online for mandore (tuned CGCG instead of mandola's normal CGDA), and used books for tenor banjo (also tuned CGDA) to learn chord-melody on mandola.

Octave mandolin (often 23" scale length or higher) and mandocello (often even longer) required me to get cello exercise books to work shifting and get efficient when playing melodically. Mandola (17" scale) and mandolin (13-14" scale) are much shorter and therefore easier on which to do even larger reaches.

Look up Eddy Davis (tenor banjo, mandola and tenor guitar), John Lawlor (tenor guitar) and Tony Lombardo (tenor banjo and tenor guitar) to get an idea of what can be done on mandola.

Whatever you choose, good luck!

[Mandobart]

I've been a mandolin, mandola, octave mando and mandocello player for over 10 years now. I love them all, but find I like my 10 string (5 course) instruments best. I have a 5 course mandola tuned C-G-D-A-E that covers the mandolin and mandola range, and a 5 course mandocello tuned an octave lower, covering both octave mandolin and mandocello range.

Here's the practical thing - most of these instruments are arch tops with a carved top and back. They're labor-intensive to build. They are far less common than guitars; there are probably 1000 guitar players for every mandolin player. Probably 100 mandolin players for every mandola, octave mandolin or mandocello player. Bottom line - you pay more, a lot more than you think you should, for a decent quality mandola, octave mando or mandocello. If you don't know if you'll really take to it, buy a used A model Eastman, The Loar or Kentucky mandolin to try out. If the mandolin-family bug really gets you (like it did me) you can always upgrade and trade your GAS for MAS.

[kurth83]

Decent playable mandolins, mandolas and OM's can be had for $1k or less new.

They are all gateway drugs, once you can play one, you can play them all with some minor adaptation.

I started on mandolin, and moved down to mandola and OM.

Scales longer than 18" I avoid for melodic work, but chordal work can go longer.

Single string versions of the mandolin family fit in the tenor guitar category, all of which use the same skillset to play. So learning to play 5ths tuned instruments opened up a new world for me.

And I for one prefer four course instruments, simpler, easier to manage and learn. You can move up to 5 course instruments anytime though.

And mandolin is also a gateway to violin, although not an easy one. Going from violin to mandolin on the other hand is easier, or so I am told.

[AuntieDiluvian]

Two mandolins, a mandola, and a mandocello create a mandolin quartet, which can be a TON of fun.

When I was in college, one of my professors had a full set of them, along with a bunch of early 20th century music for them. My absolute favorite was "Funeral March for a Marionette" - what a kick to play that and see people's reactions.

I find myself thinking more like fiddle/violin when playing mandolin than guitar - that's the tuning and the way the music is written, so......

[Earl49]

I've often thought about taking up the mandolin, but find the standard mandolin scale and nut width pretty tiny. I got to play Radim Zenkl's custom mandolin at a music camp and it has a much wider fret board than normal, and a slightly longer scale length too. That was a joy. If I were to ever get at all serious about mandolin, a custom instrument like that would be best for me. Octave mandolin would be a cheaper and easier test drive. Mandola and mandocello have never been seriously considered, given the different tunings and my goals.

I have seriously pondered octave mandolins on several occasions, even though it is not quite the same tonal range. Similarly, I play tenor ukulele because the soprano uke is too small for my comfort. Soprano ukulele is VERY similar to the mandolin except for the tuning. I had a friend who used to take inexpensive soprano ukes and re-string them for mandolin tuning, and then sold them as budget "travel mandolins". My ukulele often goes to bluegrass jams. If we are guitar-heavy that night, out comes my uke and I play it with chops on the 2 and 4 beats. But if there are other mandolin players present, I go back to guitar.

[archerscreek]

The mandolin is a great instrument. The tonal range is so sweet and pure and beautiful and yet piercing at the same time. There is also something so soothing about placing the tips of your fingers and brushing a pick over a mandolin's courses of strings as opposed to the single strings of a guitar. And that teeny little neck and fretboard quickly change over from being a source of frustration to a source of intimacy, passion, emotion, and joy. I love the mandolin. I will undoubtedly upgrade and spend more $ than I ever imagined I would on a musical instrument. I doubt I would be this satisfied and enthusiastic if I had chosen anything other than the mandolin as my second instrument to the guitar. But I love bluegrass, too. Fast forward to 1:45 in the video.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MM3ha4HX9zM

This is why you get a mandolin. How fun is that?

[M Sarad]

I bought my Gibson F9 mandolin about a dozen years ago. It took my five years to finally give up trying to flip it. I got the books, learned the chords, and still can’t pull off playing it well.

Nonetheless, it’s a keeper.

[leew3]

Count me as a hearty endorser of mandolin. After playing guitar for over four decades I picked up mandolin a couple years ago and it's great fun. Mandobart is right on target with trading GAS for MAS. I have 8 acoustic guitars, but only 1 mandolin...so far but find myself looking at many very expensive mandolins online!

[cu4life7]

If I were in your shoes I would go either Mandolin or Octave Mandolin. Don't worry too much about how similar it is to guitar, but you want it to be different, right?

Mandolin is fabulous instrument and is very versatile. Just like the Violin. Mandola is like a viola. Good in a group setting, but not very common to be used on its own. Not as versatile.

Octave mandolin is an interesting instrument to me. I don't own one yet, but would love to add one of Northfield's octave mandolins at some point. Beautiful instruments, which their own unique voice and a very Irish old world sound to me.

All that said, I am not too familiar with Mandocello. I imagine it falls into the "better in a group" category.

[rpguitar]

I'm another newbie mandolin player (1 year) with 43 years of guitar along the way. You answered your question in the first sentence of your post: "One of my goals in playing guitar is that I also want to learn to play the mandolin."

Then definitely get a mandolin. It's a pure, beautiful little thing as mentioned by someone in this thread.

The other instruments are considered members of the mandolin family, not the guitar family. They are really seen as alternate voices for mandolin players, not ways for a guitar player to approach mandolin without actually playing the mandolin itself.

The guitar is a superior chordal/harmonic instrument to all of the lower register mando relatives that are mentioned. There's a reason it's by far the most popular and those others are quite infrequently spotted. Not that they aren't cool or don't sound good. Sarah Jarosz is a wonderful OM player (also mandolin ).

The 5ths tuning is deceptively challenging to navigate when playing single note solos, with lots of big finger stretches. Those stretches are doable on mandolin (still tough!), but increase the scale length and string diameter and... ouch! As a result, octave mando becomes a primarily chordal instrument, but you already have a guitar, so...

Mandolin first, then if you get hooked, approach the others from the perspective of a mandolin player. Don't start with the others.

[shufflebeat]

I alternate between guitar (drop D) for chordy stuff and mandola (CGCF) which lends itself to melodic/harmonic supporting roles.

My experience of mandola and bouzouki players in Irish music is that tuning is a "bottom up" philosophy without hard and fast rules from above. It does make for a wide variety of styles but means I find it nigh impossible to watch anyone else play.