You Can Play the Mandolin

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THE WRIST

When it comes to making music on the mandolin, the expression "It's all in the wrist" is absolutely true. Subtle, nimble wrist movement is one of the keys to playing the instrument. Practice: While holding the pick as I just described, move your wrist up and down but keep the rest of your arm still. Then, when you get that down, practice strumming your mandolin's strings, using your amazing new flexible wrist. Keep the pick at a right angle to the strings, as shown in photo 5.

PLAYING CHORDS

The mandolin is well suited to playing melody, harmony, fill-in notes, and chords for accompaniment.

Let's start by learning a few simple chords. To play a D chord, push the first, or E, string down at the second fret with your middle finger, and—at the same time—fret the fourth, or G, string at the second fret with your index finger. (See photo 6). Keep in mind that when you're chording, it's important to push down hard enough on the strings to make each note ring clear. One way to make this easier is to hold your left thumb against the back of the neck (as shown in photo 7) and squeeze the strings between your thumb and fingers. Now strum all four strings with your pick. There! You've just played your first chord! Why, before you know it, you'll be ready to play a whole song! In fact, that gives me an idea . . .

YOUR FIRST SONG

Most songs in country, bluegrass, and folk music can be played using only three chords . . . and in a few cases, you need to know only one chord to perform the tune. "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is that kind of song. Are you game? Of course you are . . .

Finger a D chord and strum down on all four strings, over and over, with a constant, rhythmic stroke. Try keeping a strong, steady beat, like the ticktock of a grandfather clock. Then, once you get that going, try singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to the beat. Here's the song written out, with slash marks indicating where to strum to keep the rhythm going:

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

By george, I think you've got it! Now that you've mastered your first song, you're ready to tackle anything, right? That's the spirit! Let's learn another chord: an A.

Hold your left index finger on the third, or D, string at the second fret-as shown in photo 8—and strum the bottom three strings (but not the fourth, or G, string). That's all there is to it—A is a one-finger chord!

Now practice playing your D and A chords, changing from one to the other without stop ping or even hesitating. It'll take a while for you to learn to do this smoothly, but it won't take as long as you think it will—so just keep at it.

Yes, I know playing two chords over and over again loses its thrill after a while. Let's liven things up a little by learning a new song; this one's in waltz rhythm. The timing here sounds like tick lock rock, tick lock rock, or one two three, one two three.

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