Simon Meyler Music
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid". Frank Zappa
This page will be regularly updated with all things 'MANDOLIN'- tunes, tutorials, images, PDF downloads etc:
A History of the Mandolin
From the carvings and paintings recorded by our ancient ancestors we know that man has been creating sound through the vibrations of strings for millennia. A single string was tied to both ends of a stick to create a bow which when plucked, tapped or struck with a stick created sound. Volume could be increased by holding the bow in the mouth. The earliest stringed instruments known to archaeologists are bowl harps and tanburs. Written Records evidently show that these instruments were played by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia from about 3000 BC. The bow-harp was a bow-necked stringed instrument with a small bowl shaped body for amplification that had a soundboard of wood or animal hide. The tanbur was probably a further development as the neck was straightened out which allowed the strings to be lengthened or shortened to manipulate and control the pitch.
Wall paintings from ancient Egypt testify to the fact that harps, tanburs, flutes and percussion instruments were being played in ensemble.
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Mandolin Parts
Attached is a PDF chart detailing the parts of the mandolin.
Holding the mandolin, tuning and replacing strings
While sitting in an upright position, hold the mandolin with the neck tilted slightly upwards using the thigh and torso for support.
The plectrum is held between the thumb and the first joint of the index finger, loosely but securely. The hand is held in a loose open fist. When playing melody the movement should come from the wrist in fluid relaxed strokes and not the arm. The underside of the forearm can rest on the edge of the mandolin just above the bridge. These are general guidelines which the experienced mandolin player can stray from as he chooses to articulate certain ideas and movements. The pick should be fairly rigid. On mandolin a flexible plectrum produces a thin tone and limits volume.
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