How To Sound Your Best - Mandolin Lesson

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[@ckillgore]

Regardless of what sound a player prefers, I think it's really helpful to be aware of the different variables that effect your tone. Maybe for a specific instance you find yourself wanting that twangy, treble heavy tone instead of a rounder fuller sound. If you're aware of all the sounds you CAN make, you can change your technique for the situation. Obviously you don't want to intentionally play with poor posture, except for in an instructional video like this one. However, you may for example, want to play a certain riff of a jig close to the bridge to cut through the sounds of your band, and then return to playing closer to the neck to fade back into the background. You may find an instance where you want to use different picks for different songs during a performance. The more variables you are aware of, the more control you have as a player. You may hate a certain tone for one song, and love it in another. Another example I would give is that you can strum ON the fret board. This makes a slightly muted, ambient, and round sound. The big draw back is that you can hear the pick clicking on the frets, and it brings your right arm out of its natural relaxed position. 99% of the time you don't want to play like this. But you certainly CAN. A lot of people are gear obsessed when it comes to tone, and I can understand that coming from a professional/experienced musician. But for a beginner/intermediate player, I think knowing what tones the gear you have CAN make is very helpful. Playing your instrument every which way to find it's full tonal range can be a very educational process. As long as you are avoiding developing bad habits, like poor posture that can cause unnecessary strain.

[@carolbrozman1415]

WOW welcome to Portland! I’m in SW Washington and I’ve adored your video for years! You are an awesome teacher, inspiration and human! Love you!!!!

[@kacywilliams1]

Welcome to the west coast! I love your videos. Portland is lucky to have you

[@millsbobster]

nice job, Baron! in addition to making you more relaxed with better posture, tilting the neck away from your body also freed up the back of the mandolin and added a lot of the tonality change. i guess it gets you much of what you'd get from a tone guard.

[@robertshorthill6836]

Baron, I know this comment is dated, but it seems the same every year. We nuture our meagre garden here in Montana 'til frost puts an end to it all, then comes the preserving of the friuts of our labor. With autumn comes down time as the winter wood supply is sorted and it's time to do some mando work that has been neglected for the most part all summer. That doesn't mean all music has been neglected, just new tunes that have been put aside for a while. Cheers, my friend. Still waiting for that lesson on tbe Sliver Spire for good folks that follw you. Bob

[@alastair6356]

Other things that might help the sound of you mandolin is a brass or cast copper alloy tail piece a fixed wooden bridge with a bone insert and a bone nut. When it comes down to it it's all about taste and what you like but if you have a cheap second mandolin to try these ideas out on it's worth a go to see if you like it. Keep your old parts incase you dont.🤩👍

[@IfUfindthisURlost]

This was really helpful. So often, I play without actually 'listening' to the tone I'm getting and even when I'm not entirely satisfied with the sound, I just play on without experimenting to change it. I'm going to practise 'listening' every time I pick up an instrument now.

[@SuperSarandipity]

Just attended David Surette's March Mandolin Festival and heard you had moved out to the 'western' Portland. Love your new space and I recommend your videos to anyone interested in learning the mandolin. Thanks for your work.

[@garyshmanek4708]

Really a nice insightful lesson. Our sound, our unique voice, is so important. Playing music is so good for the soul! Thanks Byron. Welcome to the West.

[@katiemynette4285]

Heart of Kentucky. Great mandolin lesson. Thank you. Katie.

[@RockPopMandolin]

Great lesson, Baron. Thanks and good luck in Oregon.

[@francesco3207]

Best Mando instructor in the country!

[@trueunknown4978]

Portland is such a great place! I lived there for years. Another amazing video!

[@bevgestrine2275]

This is the first video of yours I have watched. Learned so much in a short time.thanks!

[@garyburns9064]

Thanks

[@RVsbladesnthangs]

Gonna try these...

[@clawhammer704]

From seeing ur cases in the background. You are getting close to what I have in my extra room. But the truth of the matter I only play one instrument all the time so I need to have a big sell off. Lol

[@bernadettegorman9975]

Informative Thks

[@margaretblack8491]

Thanks. This was very helpful. Good luck in this new phase in Portland!

[@n.proctor5917]

Helpful as always! This is stuff the needs revisiting often for me. Thanks.

[@lowellirish]

Outstanding video and lesson!!! TY. Looking forward to my new mando coming in a few days. Ibanez M522s F style dark violin sunburst! I was debating on the Loar LM 310 Honey...but went with the other...If I dont like it, Ill send it back...Good mando?

[@markwest2936]

A fantastic video that will give everyone a valuable insight Well done

[@ariellepowers]

You're wonderful, thank you!

[@marcosw6893]

This is a great lesson!

[@donbushek]

What a great video! One of your best yet. You’ve left us with a lot to think about.

[@arctichare8185]

Thanks for the awareness lesson. Great job!

[@MikeGerrard]

"I work on other instruments". Yeah, I guess that from the cases behind you! Looks good. Portland's a place I've always wanted to visit. All I've got so far is the t-shirt. And thanks for another great and helpful video.

[@louisp.7584]

Welcome to Oregon! A state of mind.

[@hazeljohansen5196]

Great tips! Thanks so much! Taipei, Taiwan

[@CreativeSteve69]

good video as usual Baron. Glad to hear the move went smoothly for ya.

[@ritzenhauf]

new space looks great!

[@nicolegates6455]

Great video, and great shirt! John's Ice Cream is the best!

[@janmyler3722]

Baron, I love your videos. You are so talented and informative and your lessons are easy to follow. I appreciate all the content you bring to us especially on a tight budget, Congrats on the new space. I am looking forward to seeing your new setup. I was just looking for your video on your setup. I'm looking for recording video/and the best microphone. I couldn't find your previous video on it on your channel. Is it still available? Your talk on posture is really important. I ended up having to get carpal tunnel surgery in my fret hand after trying to self-teach guitar and having turned the neck to be able to see my fingering and playing for 8 hours straight to practice until perfect. I have learned to give myself more breaks and pay attention to my posture.

[@andreastremme925]

Welcome to Portland!!!

[@codycreepcore]

I currently have an A style Collings with F holes, but I've been wanting to buy an oval hole mandolin for a bit. I mostly play Celtic and I think the quality of the oval hole is a bit more 'well-rounded' and sweet sounding instead of aggressive or 'picky'. The distance of picking from the bridge, is something I've used interchangeably depending on the part of the song, but now that I'm playing banjolin, I've been using more of the uncomfortable posture technique to get the opposite effect and get more attack and pick.

[@janetveditz409]

Great video Baron. I've recently been experimenting with some of these variables. You are definitely missed in Maine. Best of luck to you!

[@JamesWilliamHoughton]

Best of luck in the new location, Baron 👍🏼

[@Paarthurnaxdova]

You are amazing! Wish I could sit down and takes notes from you. Do you have a video on how to play that jig for beginners? It seems so hard

[@sandrakerr6715]

Cool guy 🎶

[@MikeontheMandolin]

Nice stuff!

[@justradar]

Congrats on your new location. By the way, your recommendation for strings for my tenor Tele was spot on! Thank you! It sounds great as an octave. Regarding strings on mandos, what do you recommend? I use D'Addario Monel wound strings on my '96 Flatiron A5 (cross-braced) with a CT55. I've really enjoyed the improvement in tone, but I'm always looking for that "better" tone.

[@bcsuda]

I found you researching tenor guitars. I’m curious about the string dampeners you use. Links? I sure can’t find them! Thanks for your videos!

[@richardgranvold2370]

Hey I'm just down the road 80 mi south in Albany, if you are ever in the area I'll show you my Weber.

[@Levi-8357]

Lebanon myself, getting more serious with the mandolin these days, any open jams or the like around here, definitely been looking for like minded people to play with

[@MainChannelTX]

Don’t forget left hand. I get a better sound and use less pressure by getting as close to the fret as possible.

[@timkennedy1192]

Listened a bit to the intro, but have to come back. Did I understand correctly that you've moved from Maine to Oregon? Opposite corners of the country? Wow! Big change!

[@jyotirmoykataki2131]

Do pick guards muffle the sound of a mandolin?

[@DigitalTreasury]

Do you teach in portland

[@lahiruridmal3173]

🔥👌

[@marcsirkin8398]

I would also say the mandolin, itself, has a lot to do with the tone. An Ellis mandolin has the potential for a much richer sound than a $100 Rogue. No matter what you do with a Rogue you're just not going to get a balanced tone.

[@ckillgore]

Tl:dr, even with a cheap instrument, you should know what tones it can and can't make. You are right, tone quality improves significantly with higher end builds. I bought my mandolin for about $300, and it's tonal range is decent, but lacking in certain aspects. I look forward to being able to invest in a nicer model one day. I know tone and price aren't always directly linked, there are some really well built cheaper models, buying used can drop prices, and some super expensive models can be a rip-off. However, I think the point of this video is that no matter what quality instrument you have, everything about how you play it effects the sound. A rogue played extremely well in the hands of an expert would probably sound better than an Ellis played sloppily by a beginner. A cheap mandolin will have limits to the tonal richness you can create, but finding those limits will make you a better player. I generally wouldn't recommend a friend to buy a $100 instrument of any kind (unless it was a super fancy kazoo or something like that), I think $200-$300 is a better range for a beginner. It might take years of practice before you begin to notice where your instrument lacks tonal quality, but when you do get to that point it's time to save up and do as much research as you can. There are plenty of forums where you can find people debating the tonal benefits of certain mandolins vs others. I generally think this channel is more geared to beginner/intermediate players. For those people, exploring how different aspects of their playing effects tone is really important. It certainly is something I didn't think much about when I first started, and has become extremely important at this point in my learning. Also, keep in mind that some people cannot afford an upgrade. I bought my first mandolin expecting to invest in a more expensive model after a couple of years. Then things went south on me, and money got tight. Sometimes working with what you have, and focusing on technique is all a player can do. Not to say it's an either or proposition. I just think it's generally accepted and known that gear has a huge impact on tone, but people often overlook the little things in their playstyle that can change their sound. This video illustrates that pretty well.

[@clawhammer704]

A great musician can make them all sound good.

[@poppyk1431]

what is the tune you are playing to demo the sound. thanks in advance Mike

[@wandering128]

@poppy k - the tune is "Shove that (or the) pigs foot closer to the fire"

[@poppyk1431]

@@wandering128 thanks

[@wandering128]

@@poppyk1431 your welcome!

[@MainChannelTX]

Portland? Sorry, dude. Join Us in Texas, Tesla and Joe Rogan country. Good lesson.