Guitar to Mandolin?

[Adyn]

I am currently learning to play guitar... I reaaaallly want to play the mandolin. I am enjoying the guitar quite a bit, and have several relatives helping me as well as attending a class (I have like NO background in music LOL this is all new to me)

What I am wondering is if playing the guitar will be of any help when I eventually get brave enough to try mandolin. Would it be worth waiting till I am proficient (somewhat LOL) on guitar? Or does it even matter?

[mandoBob]

learning guitar will help you get familiar with how to play a fretted instrument...your hands will know what to do with strings and frets and picks and such, which is a very good thing for hands to learn.
as you know, it's not hard to find folks to help you with the guitar, so it might be easier to learn in that sense. also I've found that the guitar is usually better to sing with if you're into that.
but the chords and fingerings are different on a mando as you may know, so you've got to learn all that over. it make's more sense tho (at least to me) b/c there's no B string to mess everything up.
I'd say get a mando as soon as you can. if you can afford or borrow one, go for it! I find it much more fun and interesting than guitar (and it's at least not quite as normal). in our house the rule is, the more instruments, the better!

[mandofocus]

I toatally, totally, totally agree with mandobob. Get one quick.
the guitar also helps in the fact that the frets are smaller and closer on a mandolin so after learning guitar, you be a little bit faster at mando. the tuning is different because they tune on the 7th fret as opposed to the 5th. also the chords are MUCH, much, much, much different. I got to used to the guitar and still keep wanting to use those chords instead of the mando ones.
mando is so much more fun to play because it just has that different sound to it that makes it more playable (Ireally don't know how to explain that).

-PJ- :cool:

[OrnotMajestic]

While different, mandolin chords are very easy to learn. And i do believe that banjo and violin have the same stringing...as in they 4 strings are the same notes.....

I've fiddled around with a mandolin many a time....once i memorized about 15 chords, i was able to do ok...though you do strum/pick it quite differently....

[Bart Simpson]

Hey MandoBob I didnt know that penguins could play banjos

[mandoBob]

oh indeed Bart!
Not only can penguins play banjos, but I've found that they can also play guitars, kiwis can play mandos, chickens can fiddle, and ostriches can sing.
anyone mystified yet?
http://www.reddotfilms.com/film.asp?film_id=3

oh and to get back on topic, I think majestic meant to say mandos (not banjos) and violins have the same stringing ...banjos are a whole different world.
and yes most beginning mando chords are really easy.

and I would HIGHLY recommend getting our own Chris Thile's instructional video. It's one of the best and one of the only on DVD too.

[OrnotMajestic]

*smacks forehead* Yeah, thanks bob....i meant to say mando not banjo and violin....i must've been thinking about a different thread while writing...[bang]

[Taipan]

Well, I'd agree with all that because my Dad played guitar forever, and he really struggles with the fingering on my mando, mainly because it's so much smaller. also, I asked the same question to these guys when I was thinking about it, took the same advice they gave you and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

[Acousticjazz]

I definately agree with everything that has been posted so far. I would add just a couple of things. Your practice with guitar so far will help with understanding music theory and how music works. Also if you think about it, mandolin is the bottom 4 strings of a guitar in reverse. So chords are played similar to guitar, just upside down and backwards. Hopefully this makes sense. Anyhow, I teach private guitar and am majoring in music and have messed around with the mando a bit and found that a lot of my guitar work helps with learning the mando. Good luck!

[Adyn]

Thank all of you for the advice, I really appriciate it!! It all pretty new to me :D I am actually taking a music theory class next semester, somehow not knowing how to read music has always bugged me and I'm going to finally do something about it ;)

upside down and backwards? Holy cow LOL I didn't know that! I should be getting my guitar soon (currently renting) and I will probably start looking at Mandolins in a few months, I actually think I can rent one too, which has worked out well with my guitar.

Would you guys suggest having personal instruction over dvds/videos etc. ? I'm not sure what'a available around here for instruction, so maybe that would do until I can find someone?

*getting very excited about the prosect* :D

Thanks, Mr.Thile... I really needed another thing to spend money and time on [lloll] I was blissfully unaware that such an instrument would call to me until NAWWAL... ;)

[mandoBob]

generally personal instruction is way better than videos, but if you're like me you cant afford to pay someone that much every week (even tho it IS worth it usually), so you're doomed to watch videos and play back CDs over and over and get some neato free software and find some sheet music (and/or tab) and just sit (or stand) and pick and pick till those within close range kindly ask or beg you to shut up already.
it may depend how motivated and/or entertained you are by your feeble beginings.
here's some way cool stuff that's helped me a LOT:
TablEdit:
This is a great program that will help you learn songs whether you read standard music or tab. There are TONS of tunes available, and you load one in and it plays it back for you via MIDI (not great, but effective). It shows you the fingering as well as a bouncing ball kinda thing to show you what note it's playing (in standard or tab or both). And you can print it out too. And the best part is you can slow it down or speed up and loop sections etc. It's also fun to change the mando sound to steel drums or whatever, just to get a laugh (if you're weird like me). It's not perfect, but it's really helpful. You can make your own tunes with the editor, but I just use the (free) viewer to learn tunes that other folks have put down.
Here's the viewer page:
http://www.tabledit.com/tefview/
Once you got that, you're going to need some songs, and there's a lot of great ones here:
http://www.co-mando.com/music/tabledit/index.cfm
You can download various categories or search for one tune, or grab the whole lot. Try it out.
Here's a couple other good links:
http://www.musictheory.net
http://www.metronomeonline.com/metronomeonline/default.asp?style=cool&bhcp=1
http://www.thepatsite.com/software/metrognome/

Enjoy.

[Danny & Kirsty]

Just a wee note about Guitar/ Mandolin conversion.
I played the guitar for a few years (never getting anywhere fast) but a year ago I picked up a Mandola (C G D A) and have found that by jamming with people you pick stuff really quickly. Recognising the chords that people are playing on the guitar definately helps and before you know it- youre doing alot better than you thought you would and learning new things faster.
Steep learning curves keeps you on the edge!

[pltees]

adyn, i highly recommend learning both instruments. the skill learned playing one will translate to the other. but, the best thing is that if you can play both, you have an option. if most of ya'll are like me, all my buds play guitar, so, when i bring my mando out, it makes me unique and adds a really great sound and different aspect to our jam sessions. so, instead of three or four of us sitting around all playing guitar, now you add a different and welcome sound to the jam. plus, it just looks and sounds cool. i mean, how awesome is it when you are playing some NC and you jump in with your best impersonation of CT (seriously butchered, of course :D )