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11-11-2011, 12:29 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Norfolk | | | A few questions about Mandolin tuning?
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I'm thinking of getting a medium quality Mandolin. I really can't be bothered to learn everything upside down due to the GDAE tuning. Should I get a lefty Mandolin and flip it upside down?
Many thanks.
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11-11-2011, 12:37 PM
|  | Supporting Member | | Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Houghton, MI | | | If you can't learn it the way it's tuned, why bother? Just take the first 4 strings of a guitar chord and reverse it, blam, you've got a mando chord. It's not that hard...
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11-11-2011, 01:20 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Big Sound Central | | Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEmptyCell If you can't learn it the way it's tuned, why bother? Just take the first 4 strings of a guitar chord and reverse it, blam, you've got a mando chord. It's not that hard... | Seriously...
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11-11-2011, 01:25 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Auburn, CA | | | It is not very hard to learn the tuning, and you already have a big head start. If you tune it like a guitar, you loose all the chord voicings that make the mando sound so sweet.
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11-11-2011, 01:28 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Four Corners, USA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Electricblue I'm thinking of getting a medium quality Mandolin. I really can't be bothered to learn everything upside down due to the GDAE tuning. Should I get a lefty Mandolin and flip it upside down?
Many thanks. | If my, then 9 year-old, can play both standard tuned electric bass AND mandolin - you can too.
Your comment: "I really can't be bothered to learn everything upside down..." is goofy, at best. News Flash... These two instruments do not assume the same musical roles.  |
11-11-2011, 01:29 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Purple Mountain Majesties | | | As a mandolin teacher, I strongly advise against putting your own tuning on it. The tuning, voicings, and chordal/melodic potential of this unique instrument will be completely lost. It's not that hard to learn on it in its standard tuning of GDAE.
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11-11-2011, 01:30 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Lubbock Texas | | | Truth. I started to play a few months ago and the tuning is really not that hard to get used to. Just think of it as a new instrument and use your theory skills to do the rest. |
11-11-2011, 01:35 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Maui, HI | | | I think you should definitely change the tuning for the very same reason that if you make the move from sax to piccolo you just re-drill all the holes to your liking to make it easier to play.
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11-11-2011, 01:49 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2010 Location: Philadelphia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Electricblue Should I get a lefty Mandolin and flip it upside down? | 
The lowest string(s) on a mandolin is G, no matter how you flip it around. The highest string is E. You will still have to learn different tunings, only you won't be able to get much help online because you'll be using an upside-down mandolin. If you try to restring and retune it so that E is the lowest and G is the highest, like a bass, you'll have to order special strings every time you need to restring it and you'll still be at a loss when it comes to asking fellow mandoliners for help.
It'd be sooooo much easier to just approach it as a different instrument and not bass jr.
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