You Can Play the Mandolin

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While holding your D chord, play the fourth, or G, string once with your pick ("tick"), and follow that by two strums down over the bottom three strings ("rock lock"). Play that over and over until you can keep a good waltz rhythm going.

Now try it using your A chord. Remember, though, you should avoid hitting the fourth string. This time play your first note, or "tick," with the third string held down at the second fret. Then follow that with two strums ("rock lock") on the bottom two strings. After you've repeated the whole process a few times, practice keeping your right hand going while changing chords. And when you have that down, you'll be ready to play a fine old waltz: "Down in the Valley." Here it is written out (the D and A over the words tell you which chord to hold and when to change):

Down in the Valley

ANOTHER CHORD, ANOTHER SONG

Now that you've mastered your D and A chords, and played them with incredible feeling in waltz time, let's learn another chord-a G-and play all three chords (gasp!) in regular time.

To create a G chord, fret the second, or A, string at the second fret with your index finger, and push the first, or E, string down on the third fret with your middle finger, as shown in photo 9.

Once again, practice changing from one chord in your repertoire to the others until you can switch back and forth without missing a beat.

OK, now let's try a good old country tune: "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" This time your strum, while you're on your D and G chords, will involve striking the fourth string first, followed by a single downstroke on the bottom two or three strings. When you're holding an A chord, begin by striking the third string at the second fret (avoiding the fourth string, of course), then follow with a strum on the bottom two or three strings. The rhythm will sound like tick tock, tick cock, with a slight accent on the "tock."

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

LEARNING A SCALE

It's important to learn a few scales, because they contain the notes you'll need in order to play melodies—it's the same kind of thing as developing a vocabulary so that you can construct sentences.

All scales contain eight notes; the first and last notes are always the same, but an octave apart. For example, a D scale has these notes:

You definitely do not need to be able to read music to play the mandolin, but if you do know how, we won't hold it against you. Here's the D scale in musical notation:

Now, here's how to find the D scale on your mandolin. The first note of the scale (D, of course) is played by striking the third, or D, string open. Next, push the D string down at the second fret with your index finger and play it . . . that's an E. Then play the D string at the fourth fret, using your middle finger, to get an F# . . . and at the fifth fret, using your ring finger, to produce a G. Follow that by playing the second, or A, string open to get (obviously) an A. Press your index finger down on the A string at the second fret to produce a B . . . use your middle finger at the fourth fret to play a C# . . . and finally, press your ring finger down on the A string at the fifth fret to finish the scale with a high D.

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