Holding the pick loosely is a good tip but even better for me is the idea of striking the stings at a slight angle instead of straight on as I usually do. Angled attack makes much gentler sound. Many thanks!
Hehe, thank you. I found out that everything I am doing is right :-) The loose hold of the pick came to me as I stopped changing to a softer pick for tremolo, so I had to hold the hard pick loosely to make it work. One additional thing I found out is that you should round off your pick. At least I can't tremolo fluently with a too pointed pick.
thanks! Yes, check out my lesson on Mississippi Waltz here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ziGNAMn1kLw.html that covers DS tremolos. Happy picking!
Thanks for this. I have to learn how to do it’s unique sound. I have been gripping the plectrum to hard. I’d be lost without RU-vid. It sounds like the roll technique on snare with sticks.
Right from the start of moving from guitar playing to mandolin playing I've struggled with holding the plectrum. The 'classic' way is to curl the index finger with the thumb resting on top the curled finger. The plectrum loosely sandwiched in between to let the plectrum move. I just couldn't keep hold of the plectrum or it just wobbled about too much. I gave up on the classic hold. My index finger is hardly curled, almost straight, the same way I held the plectrum to play the guitar. Playing tunes is fine but tremolo is messy to say the least! I just wondered what others' experience of pick holding is. When you watch other mandolin players I see a range of pick holds.
Thanks for this! I'm wanting to apply this to acoustic guitar. Why don't I see bluegrass flatpicker guitarists do this? It's like they leave that sound entirely to the mandolins, even when playing alone. Does it just not sound as good on guitar (not even on a 12-string)?
Thank you for the very encouraging lesson. I’m a beginner and have noticed some instruction videos recommend a rest stroke where the plectrum comes to rest briefly on the next pair of strings . Your thoughts?
Glad it was helpful! I would not recommend trying that approach, most mandolin players just control their right hand so as to not hit the next string. So you only move the wrist the required amount to hit the string you want. If you try to use the next string as some kind of buffer you are more likely to make it ring out which is not very good for playing tunes accurately. By all means give it a go, but it is definitely not the way most mandolin players are playing. Cheers! Mike
