I am the lowest tier on Patreon but you are the FIRST person I have ever done Patreon for. I cant tell you how big of a step that is for me but the content you provide is beyond worth it. Just wanted the say thank you. I am now 5 days into mandolin journey and much further than the first time I tried thanks to you. Cheers!
I’m pushing 70 and picked up the mandolin 20 years ago when it became difficult to fly with a guitar. So much more to learn and I am excited to do so ((thus my viewing this video.)
What I wish I knew back then is not to rely so heavily on tab instead of learning more theory. I’ve literally wasted 46 years on tablature alone, which was a real mistake.
Great video! It actually delivers more than it promises. This is what I got from it: 1. Have the instrument(s) out in a prominent place as a visual reminder to practice. 2. More time to practice 3. Don’t play so hard relax 4. Hold on to every note. a. Attack b. Sustain c. Connection of one note to the next 5. Listening to more players 6. Use the metronome 7. Pick direction alternate picking - 8. Explore other music 9. Learn the notes start by knowing notes on dotted frets and memorize natural notes on each string. 10. Don’t be afraid of music theory helps with improvising and composing connecting the dots 11. Transcribe solos from other players 12. Mike Marshall - Posture - where leg is - footstool - making sure wrist on left hand doesn’t bend backwards 13. Mike Marshall - It’s a journey and you come to these places when you are ready for them. It’s on going process. You just have to be open for it. 14. Go to the Jam
After I missed last years retreat, I wanted to go this year, but I honestly picked up my mandolin maybe once a month within the last year. If I can pull my finger out and practice this year, I’m going to try to make it next year.
I’m 67 and always wanted to learn the mandolin. This video is inspiring and I plan to shop locally for an instrument. Thanks for posting your encouragement!!
I'm 68 and just bought my first mandolin. I'm going to teach myself via UTube with wonderful people like David! I hope you find your instrument and begin your journey too! Have fun!
Picked up my first mandolin 2 weeks ago and can't stop playing it! Gonna try out some of your tips tomorrow and maybs knuckle down on a new song. Great video :)
I started about 3 months ago and I've learned to not get so upset if I can't play fast. I've learned that its okay if you can't play fast, that may come later.. If it wasn't for your lessons, I think that I would not have bought a mandolin in the first place, but I'm retired now and will have a lot of time on my hands.
Hello David I am new to the mandolin. I play the guitar also. I am Scottish 🏴 I like Scottish/Irish music also bluegrass. Where can you buy background music guitar. What is best to buy as a learner the Round hole, like a soundhole on an acoustic guitar
as a classical guitarist of 40 years i’ve just got my first mandolin, the thing i find tricky is the small fret spacing, i end up playing the 6th fret when i mean the 5th. only 1 week in though.
What I wish I knew when I started playing instruments in general is that it's an individual experience and nobody's method is the absolute correct way to do things. You can still be excellent at an instrument without knowing how to read sheet music as long as you are passionate and dedicated to your craft. I think everyone should experiment and try to learn to do setup work too because a good setup is the difference between a great experience and misery. Inexpensive import instruments can sound and play great for the money given a good setup.
I wish I picked up a Ukulele years ago, I got one when I moved to Montreal from Ireland as a gift from my father (having complained that I missed my bass at home, his sense of humour is something else) and once I had it it lead to me getting my few chords down finally, and being able to sing and play at open mics in the city. I've since moved onto the Mandolin, and back home to Ireland, and now all I want to do someday is to finally be able to play at a trad session. Rather than just stamping along with my feet and having many pints!
Dear David, As a Brazilian mandolinist i couldn't help but notice the beautiful background sound of "Vibrações" in the end, did you record a video of it too? Your videos are really helpful and insightful, please don't stop 😂🙏🏼❤️
Learning to read music is pretty easy. Learning scales is a must. There are plenty of instructional books that can help you get established. A good foundation is important.David’s u tube lessons are very helpful. I strongly recommend them . I feel he is the best online instructor by far.
I've been trying to learn how to read music for over a decade and still have no luck. I've even had instructors try to teach me but I have no clue what I'm looking at. I can read tabs and learn how techniques/songs based off of footage but that's as far as that goes. Just started mandolin 5 days ago coming from bass and electric guitar. I find a lot of famous musicians can't read sheet music they just understand the instruments. That's what is amazing about playing an instrument, there's an infinite amount of ways to approach learning.
As always David, another good video that will be useful to many beginner and intermediate mandolin students. I must confess that after all my years of playing guitar and mandolin, I still don't know what the names of the notes I'm playing are. My brain doesn't work that fast. I just try to play a note that sounds good. That might be my entire life philosophy.
I’m a life long musician, moving from strumming guitar to picking mandolin, I am resisting memorizing note names. I guess I know what you mean by only playing notes that sound good, but you have to know the ones not to play or it’d just stay as trial and error. So how do you organize? Patterns?
@@markoshun I agree with all David's advice. But for me learning melodies such as fiddle tunes plus practicing some scales or modes, with repetitive exercises, helps me to learn what sounds good. And even though I know the note names in a G scale, for example, when I play/practice the scale my brain does not pay attention to the note names but my eyes do recognize a pattern. If I close my eyes I can still play this scale/pattern because of muscle memory. So I can hear the notes I pick, but my brain doesn't have time to name it. And when I improvise a solo or break, I can rely on the key of the tune which gives me a scale or mode as a safety net. I know I can play those notes and be safe. So then I put my effort into making a phrase with a few of those notes and try to say something or express something or use a lick I learned. But I'm not thinking about note names at that point, just how the notes sound alone or together. And then when you learn to use chromatics, well, almost any note goes. You can move through the so called "bad" or "wrong" notes and it can still sound good, usually if you end on a "right" sounding note. But as they say, knowledge is power, so it doesn't hurt to learn some theory to tie it all together. And learn at least what David suggested, the note names where the dots on the fingerboard lay. In fact, I think I'll do that tonight when I have time to practice.
@@rickmoore52 Ok, thanks. So you are using your scale patterns, similar songs in the same key, etc. to map out target notes. I doubt David is ‘thinking’ the note letters either while he’s picking. Though since he’s a teacher he uses them all the time. I’ve just been memorizing patterns rather than focusing at all on note names. An analogy is with grammar. Everyone uses it but most can’t describe it. And you’d be a mess if you tried to ‘think’ the rules as you talked. We’ve all forgotten most the rules we learned in school but can still speak goodly. 😁
I start my journey into mandolin (my 8th instrument now, after: Irish flute/pennywhistle, bodhran, strumstick, appalachian dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, 3 octave baritenor) THIS WEEK! 😊 My Ibanez F-522 is en route now! I "think" as a self-taught musician on all the others, that I have experienced all of these suggestions, and employed them, leading to my rapid learning. I hope mandolin is the same; rapid...and that I will add an Eastman Octave within a year- 10 instruments/30 years...😮😊 I told myself at 30 to learn 1 instrument every 3-4 years, and I have!! 🥰🔥 My advice to new players? "NEVER underestimate yourself!" ....Keep trying new instruments...Maybe you cant progress rapidly on fiddle...but with drums, you soar! ...Every instrument will be at a certain level; some beginning, like mando with me...or others...more advanced- like vocals. But NEVER quit! Thats my advice. ❤
Within a year of joining Mike's ArtistWorks School he urged me to cross the Atlantic and attend the 2015 Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz. To meet Mike, David Grisman, Roland White, Sharon Gilchrist and more besides was amazing and I travelled back the following year to the Swannanoah Gathering where I spotted David Benedict for the first time. What an experience all that was too, and also getting to meet my ArtistWorks guitar teacher, Bryan Sutton, at the Diana Wortham Theatre at the end of the week. Since then gradually the mandolin has taken over as my first instrument and for this I mainly blame Mike Marshall! Thanks David also for all you do too.
David, thanks for another great video. You have been a big help in getting started on the mandolin. I like the idea of getting my mandolin out of the case, which brand/model stand do you show in the video? I also purchased a metronome, something I was just thinking about last night after a short practice session. I hope to avoid learning too many bad habits.
Something I have struggled w as a mando-beginner; I can't get my shoulder-strap to balance right such that my f-style mandolin will stop wanting to tip toward the headstock. I find it's hard to change hand positions for chord movement when the headstock & neck along with it are constantly tipping away from me. does anyone else have this issue / have a suggested fix, or is this 'the norm' playing mandolin? not used to this challenge having come from an acoustic guitar background. thanks in advance! :)
That's a good question, all F5s are top heavy when the strap is through the scroll. Play sitting and get all the angles and posture right. There is a Mike Marshal video on youtube on the subject. When standing - you want to keep your posture as close to your sitting posture - so you don't play differently when standing. This normally means using your right arm to prevent the mandolin rotating together with a little upward pressure from the left hand. Most players are more relaxed, faster and accurate seated. There is a theory that you can only play at 80% of your potential standing.
As a novice myself I totally understand you. The hardest part is trying to overcome ourselves and the fear of failing. We can never fail at learning, only gain knowledge and memory and that will aid us to only get better ❤.
I love the classical piece everyone is playing as a group, but always forget the name of it. Can someone clue me in? thank you Also! thank you for this video David.
I wish I learned it’s not “practice that makes perfect”. It’s “perfect practice that makes perfect”. It’s easy to train your brain through repetition, but hard to unlearn bad habits. Take the time to learn it right.
Yes, but to get to hang out with all those players with varying degrees of ability. You would learn so much just being there. I admit I don't know the price.
Can we just clear on language aspect up. As Mike says, it's not the things "I wish I knew", it's the "things I wish I had known". Linguistic correctness must surely compliment articulation and phrasing.
@@ghoulcaster Present: I don't know X. I wish I knew X, but I don't. Past: I didn't know X. I wish I had known X, but I didn't. I blame Rod Stewart for the confusion, ha ha
Mike Marshall's gator strut actually changed everything for me as a mandolin player.
I am the lowest tier on Patreon but you are the FIRST person I have ever done Patreon for. I cant tell you how big of a step that is for me but the content you provide is beyond worth it. Just wanted the say thank you. I am now 5 days into mandolin journey and much further than the first time I tried thanks to you.
Cheers!
I’m pushing 70 and picked up the mandolin 20 years ago when it became difficult to fly with a guitar. So much more to learn and I am excited to do so ((thus my viewing this video.)
I was there!! It's all true, so much fun learning with this great group of instructors and participants. Thanks to all, Lynne
What I wish I knew back then is not to rely so heavily on tab instead of learning more theory. I’ve literally wasted 46 years on tablature alone, which was a real mistake.
Great video! It actually delivers more than it promises. This is what I got from it:
1. Have the instrument(s) out in a prominent place as a visual reminder to practice.
2. More time to practice
3. Don’t play so hard relax
4. Hold on to every note.
a. Attack
b. Sustain
c. Connection of one note to the next
5. Listening to more players
6. Use the metronome
7. Pick direction alternate picking -
8. Explore other music
9. Learn the notes start by knowing notes on dotted frets and memorize natural notes on each string.
10. Don’t be afraid of music theory helps with improvising and composing connecting the dots
11. Transcribe solos from other players
12. Mike Marshall - Posture - where leg is - footstool - making sure wrist on left hand doesn’t bend backwards
13. Mike Marshall - It’s a journey and you come to these places when you are ready for them. It’s on going process. You just have to be open for it.
14. Go to the Jam
After I missed last years retreat, I wanted to go this year, but I honestly picked up my mandolin maybe once a month within the last year. If I can pull my finger out and practice this year, I’m going to try to make it next year.
I’m 67 and always wanted to learn the mandolin. This video is inspiring and I plan to shop locally for an instrument. Thanks for posting your encouragement!!
I'm 68 and just bought my first mandolin. I'm going to teach myself via UTube with wonderful people like David! I hope you find your instrument and begin your journey too! Have fun!
Picked up my first mandolin 2 weeks ago and can't stop playing it! Gonna try out some of your tips tomorrow and maybs knuckle down on a new song. Great video :)
I started about 3 months ago and I've learned to not get so upset if I can't play fast. I've learned that its okay if you can't play fast, that may come later..
If it wasn't for your lessons, I think that I would not have bought a mandolin in the first place, but I'm retired now and will have a lot of time on my hands.
Your new mandolin sounds super.
Hello David
I am new to the mandolin. I play the guitar also. I am Scottish 🏴 I like Scottish/Irish music also bluegrass. Where can you buy background music guitar.
What is best to buy as a learner the Round hole, like a soundhole on an acoustic guitar
We appreciate the advice David!
as a classical guitarist of 40 years i’ve just got my first mandolin, the thing i find tricky is the small fret spacing, i end up playing the 6th fret when i mean the 5th. only 1 week in though.
What I wish I knew when I started playing instruments in general is that it's an individual experience and nobody's method is the absolute correct way to do things. You can still be excellent at an instrument without knowing how to read sheet music as long as you are passionate and dedicated to your craft. I think everyone should experiment and try to learn to do setup work too because a good setup is the difference between a great experience and misery. Inexpensive import instruments can sound and play great for the money given a good setup.
Wonderful video David! I was in Benicia back in 2022 and it was such a wonderful experience. Particularly for my first visit to CA as well!
I wish I picked up a Ukulele years ago, I got one when I moved to Montreal from Ireland as a gift from my father (having complained that I missed my bass at home, his sense of humour is something else) and once I had it it lead to me getting my few chords down finally, and being able to sing and play at open mics in the city.
I've since moved onto the Mandolin, and back home to Ireland, and now all I want to do someday is to finally be able to play at a trad session. Rather than just stamping along with my feet and having many pints!
David Benedict has been my Mike Marshall :) I thank you David.
This is superb across the board.
i wish they had this in Eastern North Carolina!
Dear David,
As a Brazilian mandolinist i couldn't help but notice the beautiful background sound of "Vibrações" in the end, did you record a video of it too?
Your videos are really helpful and insightful, please don't stop 😂🙏🏼❤️
I smiled through this entire thing. Great vid, David!
David, thanks for posting another great video! I appreciate the tips offered by your experts. Wish I could have attended!
I wish there was a mandolin symposium near me.
Learning to read music is pretty easy. Learning scales is a must. There are plenty of instructional books that can help you get established. A good foundation is important.David’s u tube lessons are very helpful. I strongly recommend them . I feel he is the best online instructor by far.
I've been trying to learn how to read music for over a decade and still have no luck. I've even had instructors try to teach me but I have no clue what I'm looking at. I can read tabs and learn how techniques/songs based off of footage but that's as far as that goes. Just started mandolin 5 days ago coming from bass and electric guitar. I find a lot of famous musicians can't read sheet music they just understand the instruments. That's what is amazing about playing an instrument, there's an infinite amount of ways to approach learning.
Very inspiring, what a joy to watch! Thank you for these impressions and important ideas, David!
Great video. That camp looked like a blast. Best wishes to you and Tabitha from the guy in the Sore Fingers dinner queue.
Excellent tips for beginners and really anyone of any level.
Very nice David. Looks like a great time was had by all.
Love your tips.
Moving in a couple weeks. Hoping to find a "jam" in my new home town.
As always David, another good video that will be useful to many beginner and intermediate mandolin students. I must confess that after all my years of playing guitar and mandolin, I still don't know what the names of the notes I'm playing are. My brain doesn't work that fast. I just try to play a note that sounds good. That might be my entire life philosophy.
I’m a life long musician, moving from strumming guitar to picking mandolin, I am resisting memorizing note names. I guess I know what you mean by only playing notes that sound good, but you have to know the ones not to play or it’d just stay as trial and error. So how do you organize? Patterns?
@@markoshun I agree with all David's advice. But for me learning melodies such as fiddle tunes plus practicing some scales or modes, with repetitive exercises, helps me to learn what sounds good. And even though I know the note names in a G scale, for example, when I play/practice the scale my brain does not pay attention to the note names but my eyes do recognize a pattern. If I close my eyes I can still play this scale/pattern because of muscle memory. So I can hear the notes I pick, but my brain doesn't have time to name it. And when I improvise a solo or break, I can rely on the key of the tune which gives me a scale or mode as a safety net. I know I can play those notes and be safe. So then I put my effort into making a phrase with a few of those notes and try to say something or express something or use a lick I learned. But I'm not thinking about note names at that point, just how the notes sound alone or together.
And then when you learn to use chromatics, well, almost any note goes. You can move through the so called "bad" or "wrong" notes and it can still sound good, usually if you end on a "right" sounding note.
But as they say, knowledge is power, so it doesn't hurt to learn some theory to tie it all together. And learn at least what David suggested, the note names where the dots on the fingerboard lay. In fact, I think I'll do that tonight when I have time to practice.
@@rickmoore52 Ok, thanks. So you are using your scale patterns, similar songs in the same key, etc. to map out target notes. I doubt David is ‘thinking’ the note letters either while he’s picking. Though since he’s a teacher he uses them all the time. I’ve just been memorizing patterns rather than focusing at all on note names.
An analogy is with grammar. Everyone uses it but most can’t describe it. And you’d be a mess if you tried to ‘think’ the rules as you talked. We’ve all forgotten most the rules we learned in school but can still speak goodly. 😁
Thanks for this David,.... very helpful and encouraging video.
These are some great ideas. Thank you!
Sunrift Adventures? Travelers Rest, SC?
Thanks David!
Super vid David thank you!!
Fantastic!
I really need to carve out time to learn how to play. I've owned a mandolin for years now, but I rarely pick it up.
Just do it. Make a plan. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".
I start my journey into mandolin (my 8th instrument now, after: Irish flute/pennywhistle, bodhran, strumstick, appalachian dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, 3 octave baritenor) THIS WEEK! 😊 My Ibanez F-522 is en route now! I "think" as a self-taught musician on all the others, that I have experienced all of these suggestions, and employed them, leading to my rapid learning. I hope mandolin is the same; rapid...and that I will add an Eastman Octave within a year- 10 instruments/30 years...😮😊 I told myself at 30 to learn 1 instrument every 3-4 years, and I have!! 🥰🔥
My advice to new players? "NEVER underestimate yourself!" ....Keep trying new instruments...Maybe you cant progress rapidly on fiddle...but with drums, you soar! ...Every instrument will be at a certain level; some beginning, like mando with me...or others...more advanced- like vocals. But NEVER quit! Thats my advice. ❤
Within a year of joining Mike's ArtistWorks School he urged me to cross the Atlantic and attend the 2015 Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz. To meet Mike, David Grisman, Roland White, Sharon Gilchrist and more besides was amazing and I travelled back the following year to the Swannanoah Gathering where I spotted David Benedict for the first time. What an experience all that was too, and also getting to meet my ArtistWorks guitar teacher, Bryan Sutton, at the Diana Wortham Theatre at the end of the week. Since then gradually the mandolin has taken over as my first instrument and for this I mainly blame Mike Marshall! Thanks David also for all you do too.
David, thanks for another great video. You have been a big help in getting started on the mandolin. I like the idea of getting my mandolin out of the case, which brand/model stand do you show in the video? I also purchased a metronome, something I was just thinking about last night after a short practice session. I hope to avoid learning too many bad habits.
You should visit the walnut festival in winfield ks one year
What is the song beginning played @ 5:30?
Speaking of exploring other music, I'd like to introduce you Hamilton de Holanda, a great Brazilian player.
Something I have struggled w as a mando-beginner; I can't get my shoulder-strap to balance right such that my f-style mandolin will stop wanting to tip toward the headstock. I find it's hard to change hand positions for chord movement when the headstock & neck along with it are constantly tipping away from me. does anyone else have this issue / have a suggested fix, or is this 'the norm' playing mandolin? not used to this challenge having come from an acoustic guitar background. thanks in advance! :)
That's a good question, all F5s are top heavy when the strap is through the scroll.
Play sitting and get all the angles and posture right. There is a Mike Marshal video on youtube on the subject.
When standing - you want to keep your posture as close to your sitting posture - so you don't play differently when standing. This normally means using your right arm to prevent the mandolin rotating together with a little upward pressure from the left hand. Most players are more relaxed, faster and accurate seated. There is a theory that you can only play at 80% of your potential standing.
What a cool and nice guy u seem to be
What mandolin would you recommend for a beginner?
Tbh as a complete novice, it's more than daunting.. especially when your teaching yourself from you tube..
As a novice myself I totally understand you. The hardest part is trying to overcome ourselves and the fear of failing. We can never fail at learning, only gain knowledge and memory and that will aid us to only get better ❤.
I love the classical piece everyone is playing as a group, but always forget the name of it. Can someone clue me in? thank you Also! thank you for this video David.
David, are you still selling those Mandolin Mondays hoodies and T-shirts? I still have mine, but they're getting "worn" in both senses!
What is “shuro” mandolin? Never heard of it. How do you spell it?
Choro is a Brazilian style of music
Hey David, what college did you go to for music, was it Berklee?
My first teacher told me to root my right hand onto the bridge. 🤮 It took some years, but I learned to let the top ring.
I wish I had known two frets per finger and wrist position, pick grip, posture...It's taken years.
I wish I learned it’s not “practice that makes perfect”. It’s “perfect practice that makes perfect”. It’s easy to train your brain through repetition, but hard to unlearn bad habits. Take the time to learn it right.
My high school band teacher always said "practice makes permanent"
Dude 12 minutes in was feeling no pain for sure.
Wundervoll
Mandocello!
I started mandolin a month ago
Are you enjoying it so far?
Yay! Welcome!
Have some FUN, people. It's only music for Chrissake!
Fear of the unknown is the fear of everything.
Very nice, but too expensive for three days of non-one-on-one instruction.
Yes, but to get to hang out with all those players with varying degrees of ability. You would learn so much just being there. I admit I don't know the price.
Erm...wish I had known?
Can we just clear on language aspect up. As Mike says, it's not the things "I wish I knew", it's the "things I wish I had known". Linguistic correctness must surely compliment articulation and phrasing.
The women at least use grammar correctly. 😂
TLDR
I appreciate your mandolin expertise, but why can't you use correct grammar for this?
12 things I wish I HAD KNOWN ...
I wish I knew someone like you could love me
I wish I knew you placed no one above me
@@ghoulcaster
Present: I don't know X. I wish I knew X, but I don't.
Past: I didn't know X. I wish I had known X, but I didn't.
I blame Rod Stewart for the confusion, ha ha