changing keys

Subject: changing keys
From: GUEST,newfiejeff
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 07:00 AM

I was playing a few songs with my buddies last night , they played the guitar and I played the mandolin which I own now for about 6 weeks. If they played in D or they played in F   I found it hard to change the notes of the song which is in a different key to change. Is there a simple remedy for this. I don't want to use a capo on the mandolin.

Jeff

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 07:41 AM

D should be an easy key on the mandolin - it's the one that fiddlers seem to prefer. As for F - if you don't want to use a capo - you'll have to get used to playing in different keys - most mandolin players pick melody lines rather than using chord shapes anyway - so it's the usual answer - practice. Incidently you could try getting the guitarists to play a tone higher in G if that helps.

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 08:13 AM

Change the tuning of your, or their strings.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: mooman
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 08:28 AM

Or learn to play in F...it's actually not too difficult on the mandolin.

moo

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 09:03 AM

if you change keys do you just count up i.e G to D do you count up 4 notes and change everything by 4notes?

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: 53
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 10:45 AM

Capo is the easiest way to change keys.

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: Jim Krause
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 11:53 AM

Yeah, but on a mandolin a capo is IMHO a little rediculous given that the instrument is so small to begin with. I think the course of least resistance is to really master the mandolin and learn to play in any key. And F isn't that hard, I agree.

Jim

P.S. A handy little book to get is The Mandolin Chord Book by James Major, Amsco Publications. It is readily available in most music stores, I think.

jk

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 12:31 PM

Guest:

Key change from G to D - just move up "one string." The strings are a fifth apart, so what was on the G string fingers the same on the D string. Instant key change.

It's a little more complicated going from D to A, altough the same principle applies - except you run out of notes (in first position), so you have to drop back down an octave for some songs in A, which means you have to use different finger patterns.

Once you can play a melody with the patterns for two "octaves," you'll have most of what you need to move through the common keys, just by shifting from one string to another. i.e. the key change from G to F is down two strings and then back up an octave to get back on the instrument.

Practice playing a melody in whatever is the most comfortable key, usually G or D - then play it an octave higher or lower (whichever direction still fits in range for first position fingering). When you're comfortable "finding the intervals" in either of the two octaves, you'll find it fairly easy to "shift to" a comfortable place for most of the common keys for any tune.

And frankly - a banjo capo works fine on a mando. I use one a lot, but then I only play for my own enjoyment, so I can afford to be a little lazy about it.

John

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: Don Firth
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 12:41 PM

Learn where the notes are on the fingerboard. Spend some time practicing--dare I say it??--scales.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: greg stephens
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 01:13 PM

practising scales?? This is a folk-music forum I'd gave you know.

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: Orac
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 01:18 PM

Wouldn't it be easier for them to fall in with you. You should be able to play in A,C,D,F OR G easy enough on a madolin. How many keys do they need for pete's sake. !!!

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 01:38 PM

Guitarists tend to stick a capo wherever it will give them a pitch most comfortable for their voices, while still enabling them to play everything in the easy fingering of the instrument's home key. If they did what they expect we fiddle and mandolin players to do -actually learn to play in all those keys- they'd have a better understanding of what's involved, and might decide to develop their vocal ranges a bit, instead. Most don't seem prepared to make the effort, though (grumble).

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 03:14 PM

Dont know which I find more fun-F on the mandolin or on 5string banjo
without a capo.Maybe I'm just a smart arse,tho.Actually,F.Bflat and Dm arent so hard on the 'dolin,but I was playing a bit more than a couple of months before the came easy.Its the old story-Practice,lady,Practice.

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: M.Ted
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 03:33 PM

The melody player picks the key, not the jokers playing the chords--you should play the tune in the key you know and it is up to them to follow--If they have solos or whatnot in another key, it is your turn to follow--

Subject: RE: changing keys
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 04:11 PM

I played the mandolin which I own now for about 6 weeks.

That's not long to master an instrument.

For tunes I think a guitarist shold always taker the key from the mandolin (or the fiddle, of course). When it comes to singing the natural pitch of the voice should determine the key - and if that means the musicians have a problem joining in, maybe that's as well sometimes.