In additions to the 132 pages of regular entries at Jazzmando (and 454 pages of news items) we do a regular "Tips and Tricks" entry somewhat weekly. These are all available for you hunt through. We thought it would be better, however, if we updated our catalog listing, so as of this entry, we have most all 145 now listed by category in our page archives. See below for a list categorized by subject.

Check out these Tips and other past submissions you may have missed:
Fingers
Ears
Brain

Also, don't miss our ever-increasing archive of past issues of Mel Bay's MandolinSessions.com, a free webzine educational service.
For an entire listing: Jazz Mandology.

Posted by Ted at 06:00 AM

March 20, 2008 | 3-note Chord Library

We continuously mention a huge advocacy for 3-note chords. Maybe you've already got your own stock of them under your fingertips, and are fluent with transpositions seamlessly across strings and up frets. This is an incredibly valuable skill, and if you don't now, the more you work with these, the more automatic they will become.

We've been privileged with a great PDF resource we want to pass on to you. JazzMando Research Assistant and designated Deputy Chord Curator, Charlie Jones has generously submitted an intensely thorough catalog of 3-note chords. This can be enormously helpful, even if you already know the variations of major, minor, 7th, etc. Of course if you have these voices down, you can take the next mental step of adding extended voicings, 9ths, 13ths, and 11ths. Put the 3-note chords in the lower string and your pinky is right there on the E-string to add some color, too.

Entirely usable: Download 3-Note Chords PDF

Thanks Charlie!

Posted by Ted at 01:03 PM

March 13, 2008 | Itching for a 5-string?

The standard four-course paired tuning (8-string) of the mandolin presents wonderful opportunities for transposing modes, chords, and licks across the string and up the neck. So what happens when one contemplates picking up a mandola (tuned a fifth lower), or tackles a 5-string (or 10) mandolin? What happens mentally and physically when we either replace everything by one fifth, or add the ranges of a fifth?

Perhaps the biggest mistake a 5-string player can make in approaching the instrument is to try to run 5-voice chords (all five strings simultaneously). We see requests for chord charts for these frequently, and it shouldn't be baffling why these are uncommon. First, it's easy to transpose 3- and 4-note chords down another string, and second, the open fifths tuning extended to five voices really doesn't lend itself well to a full five voices. Think about a piano; eighty-eight keys and are they all played at the same time? No, and rarely are all ten fingers used at a time to play chords, either. We need to take the same approach to both 4- and 5-string mandolins, learning to mute adjacent redundant adjacent strings or unnecessary chord tones. If we learned any thing from listening to Jethro Burns, it's that 3-note chords rule!

This should put the novice 5-string player at ease. Don't think of covering five notes, think of playing the 3-and 4 note chords you already know, mute the E string and move them to the lower four strings of the 5-string, and you're not learning a new instrument, you're simply expanding the one you already know! This is not only good, it's better!

Try this for a mental exercise on a 5-string: play the closed position chords you already know, and move them up 7 frets and down a string (lower). If you did it right, you are playing the same chord, but you've just opened up a new way of thinking chords. Move them down two frets, you have the same chord only a whole step lower; down four frets and you're two whole steps lower. You get the idea; move these down and you've just rewired your brain for a new way of grabbing chords you never dreamed of.

In the treble register especially, 3-note chords do the trick in communicating the defining notes of the chord (3rd and 7th), and either the root or another color note of the extended chord (9, 13, +11, etc.). Assuming you're playing with a bass instrument or guitar, the root is probably already covered in the ensemble; in the interest of chord economics, you're free to leave it off and play some other juicy chord tones. Smart voicing also means not duplicating chord voices, so rarely will you play all five strings, except for some kind of special effect.

Our friend, mandolin software innovator Craig Schmoller has a terrific resource page at Groveland Software, the support site for his critically acclaimed Mando ModeExplorer software. (You do have a copy of this, don't you?) Bitten by the Cittern bug last year, Craig plowed into new ways of tackling the jazz potential of its standard CGDAE tuning. Duh, it's the same as a 5-string, except for the double courses, so it's worth your time to look this up and glean even more insight into this potential:

Read more: Cittern Lessons

Purchase a copy of Mando ModeExplorer.

Incidentally, we've put Craig on the hunt for even more sonic opportunity for the 5-string instrument. Stay tuned here (and at the Groveland Software site)!

Posted by Ted at 01:31 PM

March 06, 2008 | It don't mean a thing, if it ain't...

We've had some requests to offer insights into the area of rhythmic interpretation, the perpetual question, "How can I swing?" The short answer has always been a subjective and not always helpful, "listen, listen, listen," but we'd like to suggest there are also concrete practical principles to consider. Yes, you want to listen to great music. Immerse yourself in the jazz giants, but while you're doing this, consider three aspects of rhythm you'll want to copy and assimilate into your playing, shuffle, articulation, and drag.

Shuffle. Our June 2005 MandolinSessions article outlined how we divide rhythms, and if you haven't already read this, it's worth the time. There is also an accompanying exercise to help you get your groove on, go back: "On the Up and Up: Jazz articulations." We talked about division and subdivision, divining a beat into halves (duple) and thirds (triple), and further subdividing, complete with a visual map of note placement:

Our conclusion was that in variations of true swing, you would find the divided beats in different degrees of shuffle. A good demonstration of this is to place your hands together in "prayer" position. Now rub the palms in motion, counting 1 & 2 & 1 & 2&, etc. (count out loud, too). Now do the same as if you were counting triplets 1& duh 2 & duh 1& duh 2 & duh (keep the same tempo) alternating on the 1st and 3rd division). Go back and divide in half again, and after you're set, move into the triple. Alternate between the duple and the triple. As you get comfortable doing this, try variances of something in between the two feels. Now go listen to your favorite swing music and try to feel which of the two, duple or triple the music is. What you'll find at various tempos, the subdivision is somewhere in between. If you're rubbing your palms in even thirds, it sounds terribly sterile; if your dividing in half, even worse.

When drum machines came out in the mid 1980's, many models included a "shuffle" slider or knob that would allow you to tweak the feel somewhere in middle of duple and triple. It's the dirty little secret of "Hip Hop" studio production, dialing into that magic feel, and sustaining it metrically through the song. It didn't sound "machine-like" because the brain struggles to comprehend what the division is.

Articulations. Mandolinists particularly struggle with a good swing sound for two reasons, 1.) the limited sustain of our plectrum treble range and 2.) the fact that every articulation is struck hard with a pick. Mandolin is not like a sax that can "Fooh Fooh" or "Thudt Thudt," tonguing into a note to varying degrees. We have one articulation, and it's either on or off. This means we work a little harder than our wind brethren to communicate swing. In addition to making sure our phrases are linear and well sustained, the best thing we can do is develop a rich upstroke. The MandolinSessions article mentioned prior goes into this in more detail, even offering an exercise to make yourself conscious of the need for a healthy upstroke. Think Frank (Sinatra). Doo BEE Doo BEE Doo...

Drag. Note, this is different than "shuffle." Sure you drag the upbeats to a certain point, but you can also drag an entire section of notes. Leave the meter and breathe some human-ness into your improvisation. Say you have a triplet pattern; try delaying each of the notes ever so slightly. Real swing musicians don't play in the box all the time. You need a good sense of time always, but that's internal (and held up by a good rhythm section or accompanying instrument). Don't lose track of where the beat is, but play around it.

This swing stuff is so subjective, but you can still listen and develop tricks that you'll inject into your playing and improvising.

Swing on...

Posted by Ted at 03:00 PM