The mandolin is a small pear-shaped instrument featuring 8 strings tuned in pairs (known as courses). Like the violin, it can be played by plucking or strumming its strings with plectrum plectra.
This article looks at how it has developed over time and what lessons it can provide us about traditional Irish music.
Slides
Slides are an essential element of traditional mandolin music and learning how to play them can give any player a great sound and confidence in playing reels or jigs.
The slide guitar can evoke feelings of mournful, bluesy sadness. Some popular slide songs include B.B. King & Derek’s “The Thrill is Gone” as well as The Dominos’s “Layla.”
In this lesson, you’ll discover how to play “The Star Above the Garter” melody as a slide on mandolin. Marla shows you how to break it down to its core elements before adding triplets and double stops for an authentic sound and pulsed feel.
An exciting collection of 29 traditional Irish airs, songs, polkas, slip jigs, slides, double jigs, hornpipes and reels tailored specifically for beginning/intermediate mandolinists, written clearly both in standard notation as well as mandolin tablature with guitar accompaniment on CD.
Seisiuns
Traditional Irish music often employs the mandolin with seisiuns (traditional tunes). These seisiuns may be played solo by one player or in unison by several musicians.
The mandolin is a small stringed chordophone instrument that emerged from the lute family in 17th and 18th century Europe, becoming popular as a soprano instrument similar to guitar construction.
However, the violin is smaller and has a wider range than the guitar, making it an extremely versatile instrument which can be played across various musical genres.
Mandolins have become an essential element of Celtic music scenes across Ireland and Scotland over recent decades. From ensemble playing to their versatility as both melodic and chordal instruments, mandolins are highly sought-after among traditional musicians.
Dulcimer
The dulcimer is one of the oldest stringed instruments and has long been part of traditional music around the world for millennia. Dulcimers were popular among Near Eastern, European, and Asian cultures before coming to America via colonists; today they can often be found playing folk songs throughout our nation.
Dulcimers are long, trapezoidal instruments with intricately carved patterns on them. They feature two sets of strings: treble courses that cross over a treble bridge and bass courses that pass through holes on a bass bridge.
They’re played by striking each string with a hammer made of cane, wood or other materials bent to form its form.
Dulcimers are lightweight instruments that are easy to pick up and play, perfect for beginners who may be new to stringed instruments. Dulcimers provide an introduction to this family of instruments – mandolin, guitar, lute and sitar among others – while being highly adaptable as musical styles change; their light weight combined with versatility make them ideal for beginner musicians.
Chords
The mandolin is a small 8-string instrument with tuning pairs (known as courses). Like banjo, bouzouki and guitar, notes can be played by placing fingers on its fretboard while strumming or plucking the strings with a plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrums plectrums plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum plectrum from their pairs (known as courses).
Traditional music mandolin playing requires many different chords to make music, from simple G, C and D chords to complex A major, B minor, C major and E major chords.
When starting to play mandolin for sale for a session, it’s advisable to start out playing melody instruments first before progressing to chords as your knowledge and ability increase. By immersing yourself into the song’s groove and melodies, learning chords becomes much simpler.
