Mandolin for Beginners, Lesson 1 – Mandolin Basics

We start with the basics.

Lets hold the mandolin.

That is a nice sketch from an old mandolin method by De Cristofaro, showing how to hold a bowl back mandolin. Yes, I will be using my old bowl back for these lessons, as I am still working on selecting and buying a nice Weber mandolin. But this is another story for another post. If you are using a modern A-style or F-style mandolin, no worries, I have instructions for that too.

Here is Alexandra holding the mandolin. Not bad. I need to correct her posture a little bit, as she seems not to be able to stabilize the mandolin in her lap. I will now show her how to position her legs. This is how I explain it:

• Place the mandolin in your lap, so it rests on your thighs

• For bowl back mandolins, you need to elevate your right leg. You can do that by crossing your legs, or by using a footstool, similar to the one used by classical guitarists.

• For f-style mandolins, you normally need to elevate your left foot with a footstool.

• Try to position the mandolin in a way that is not pressed on your clothes, or it becomes muted. You can do that by leaning slightly forward.

This is another nice old image showing how to properly hold the bowl back mandolin with the right foot elevated. Source: mandolin method by Carlos Munier.

And this is how Alexandra sits after the instructions. Notice the crossed legs. Now the mandolin is steady in her lap.

Now it is time for fun! I give her an octave mandolin with a long fretboard and ask her to hold it. She immediately understands why we need to elevate the right foot (or left for f-style) with a mandolin, but not with an octave.

It’s the size dad!

Here is  Alexandra holding the octave mandolin.

We are ready to move on to the right hand.

This is how to hold the pick.

And here is Alexandra holding the pick. Now it is time for a small lecture. This is how I describe to Alexandra how to properly hold the pick:

• The right hand must be relaxed. I repeat, relaxed!

• With the thumb pointing up, make a loose fist with your hand.

• Place the pick on the side of the index finger, near the top knuckle.

• Place the pad of the thumb over the pick.

• That’s it! Hold the pick loosely. This improves speed and tone.

This is another picture from Carlos Munier method.

I am sure Alexandra has not yet fully understood the importance of holding the pick loosely but I guess that is ok for now. Let’s move on to use the pick to actually play the mandolin.

The mandolin open strings are named G, D, A and E, from the the thickest to the thinnest.

Alexandra plays them freely with the pick and she is having fun. I let her do that for a while to relax, and I enjoy it too!  I then ask her to repeat the names of each string while playing, to make sure she remembers them.

This is how to read tabs:

• The four horizontal lines in the tab represent the four strings, with the thickest string (g) being the lowest.

• Numbers on the lines represent frets (and not fingers!)

I show Alexandra the tab below and ask her to play it three times, while at the same time naming the strings.

Now it’s time for the first exercise.I want Alexandra now to try picking upwards and downwards, so I explain how we use small marks like “^”  to denote downward and upwards picking.

I now give her the first exercise. She has to hit each pair of strings four times, downwards-upwards-downwards-upwards before proceeding to the next pair. That is easier done than said, so she has no problem with that.

Here is exercise #1, playing just open strings with the pick upwards and downwards.

Now it is time to move on to the left hand.

I show Alexandra how the left hand is placed on the mandolin.

That is another image from an old mandolin method by De Cristofaro, showing the right hand. Now it is time to stress the important points.

The first thing to understand regarding left hand positioning on the fretboard, is that each finger is “responsible” for two frets. So, when you play in the first position (frets 1-8):

• the index finger covers frets one & two

• the second finger covers frets three and four

• the third finger covers frets five and six

• finally the fourth (little) finger covers frets seven and eight

The image below explains the above (click to enlarge).

Of course you may wonder why use the little finger when the seventh fret of a string is the same note as the adjacent string played open? (e.g. when the 7-th fret of fourth (g) string is the same with open third (d) string?)

The answer is that a fretted note sounds different than an open one.

Here is also a link to my article left hand for beginners – you can find there more details.

Alexandra has a guitar background, so she finds the small mandolin awkward, as she can not place her left hand as she does with the guitar. I explain her that placing the left hand on the mandolin properly and especially the thumb is vital, as it will enable her to reach all the frets.

The mandolin is not like the guitar where the thumb must be lined in parallel to the other fingers. This is how to do it, and the important points to remember:

•  Position first the thumb of the left hand by placing the pad of the thumb on the neck where it’s fastened to the fingerboard

• The wrist must be straight and relaxed

• The entire arm, from the neck all the way down to the fingertips must be relaxed

• The only points of contact with the mandolin neck must be the pad of the thumb and the side of the first finger, somewhere between first and second joints

• The fingers must not be parallel to the frets. The mandolin frets are small, so it is not like the guitar where the fingers are parallel to the frets. It is played more like a violin (see a video of a violinist and you will see what I mean)

• Make sure you have a space between the left palm and the back of the mandolin neck. This will help you have a relaxed left hand.

• The fingers (except the thumb) must be curled to avoid muting other strings.

This is a nice picture from Munier method, illustrating how to properly place your left hand on the fretboard with curled fingers to avoid muting other strings.

This is Alexandra left hand, good enough to proceed to do some practice.

This is the exercise. I ask Alexandra to play it slowly three times. She is confused with which finger to use for each fret, so I explain that again and I show her the reference diagram.

Once she seems to understand which finger to use, I tell her she needs to practise this exercise, as homework, for the next lesson.

That’s it! I cross my fingers and hope that this was easy enough to follow and it will not scare her off! She looks happy!

Here is Alexandra during the lesson. Try to do what she does, using the tabs and instructions above. If you have any problem, please leave a comment below!

What do you think my chances are for Alexandra wanting to continue the lessons? Please leave a comment to give me motivation to continue!