Banjo Lefty - Posted - 09/29/2017:  13:11:32

As you can no doubt guess, I'm a transplant from the banjo hangout.  While travelling through Michigan last month, my wife and I stopped at Elderly instruments for a bit.  I had wanted to look at their tenor banjos in the hopes that there would be something nice that could easily be converted for left-handed playing.  Instead, I found (and instantly fell in love with) a lefty Eastman F-shape M515L, the L of course standing for Left.  I have never played a mndolin before, although I've played guitar for decades and the banjo for the last four years.  I'm finding it easy to pick out melodies, and I can run the scales, but I'm sure there's a whole lot more to learn in terms of proper technique, never mind any kind of speed.  So what now???

MandoTom2 - Posted - 09/29/2017:  16:12:08

First, welcome to the MandoHangout!

Unlike banjos, mandolins can play in ALL of the guitar keys (C, G, D, A and E) very easily...

The key of F can work out real nice too without too much effort...

I was a guitarist before taking up the mandolin...

I knew how to read music and had my theory in the bag mostly...

So, initially, I bought as many books as possible...

I learned from Jack Tottle's Bluegrass Mandolin book first, then got a hold of some Mel Bay Mandolin Method books.

Mel Bay also has numerous "You Can Teach Yourself" books that also include the mandolin...

It wouldn't be a bad idea to also try the 'hum and strum' method...

That is humming a familiar simple melody and just strumming chords on your mando until you're comfortable with the tune...

"Humming and strumming" gets your ears (mind) in tune with the song you are playing better than reading tab or notation in my opinion.

So, find some Gospel and Christmas songs as well as some simple folk music you like and start there.

The Jethro Burns books used to say: "Learn it in C, then play the same song in G... Then D, A, E, etc."

It's all about training your ears and getting your fingers familiar with the new fretboard.

Chordie.com is a great place to find lyrics and chords that are transposeable. You hit a button and the chords change to the next key, etc., until you find the key you like.

There is also BluegrassLyrics.com

Lots of tunes, lyrics and chords...

Good Luck to you!

MandoTom2

Edited by - MandoTom2 on 09/29/2017 16:16:32

Banjo Lefty - Posted - 09/30/2017:  07:34:19

Thanks, Tom. I certainly look for those books. I can also read music -- last year I started learning some fiddle tunes for the banjo, reading them out of standard notation, not tab, so I guess I can try the same thing on mandolin.

Jimhand - Posted - 09/30/2017:  14:29:24

I suggest: mandolessons.com/