Enjoyed your tale of the blown audition. I blew a church talent show in Feb. 2020. I picked a new song and have practiced every day, every way I can think of throughout the pandemic for my next try. Funny, the song keeps evolving.
I had a very similar experience playing the famous Bach Cello Prelude at the wedding of a neighbor. I practiced it a ton I put a lot of pressure on myself to get it just right…when the time came I could only get through maybe 2/3rd of it. Playing Bach in front a crowd is a whole different level of performance…thanks for sharing that.
Th reference to Arthur Rubinstein thinking about music whilst sitting in a café is intriguing. Here’s a variation on the notion - during the process of learning a new tune try the tune just as you are lying quietly moments before your night sleep. Just when you’re falling asleep you can clear your mind of the world’s day-to-day and slowly think through how much of the tune you know. Some parts come easier than others. Visualization of the notation, tab or standard, can be brought up in your mind’s eye easier than the auditory part so try switching back and forth in your mind. Imagining finger placement can also be done. The added benefit is that even if your mental mando playing is incomplete- ta da - you’ll fall asleep. Many thanks David for your excellent work from those of us out in the mando world.
David, you do a great job of speaking clearly and quickly enough to not bore me. What you do say, is all important stuff. Also inspiring to us new mandolin players.
Great video David. This is an area I've thought about a lot and you're spot on with the ways the memorize. For me it really boils down to listening to the piece as much and maybe more than actually playing it. Listening at slow tempos also helps. One other thing that I've found which helps a lot is the act of performing even if it results in crashing. Our brains seem to hold on to more when we're in the heat of battle rather than just in our practice room.
Very helpful David. I find standard notation helps with visualization and standard notation, especially with the Bach. I am pretty tab addicted for fiddle tunes and popular tunes.
Thank you so much. It’s very rewarding to be able to play by memory and I appreciate your thoughts & tips. The production quality of your content is amazing!
Great stuff David. Magnus Zetterlund taught me to play the piece using both hands moving the pick just don't touch the strings, then close your eyes like you said. Then flip your mandolin over and pretend it's just a stick or piece of wood and you're a child messing arround. See if you can play the piece using both hands on the backside of the instrument using both hands.
Such a great video. It gave me language for things I’ve been doing, sometimes thinking I was crazy for trying certain ideas, and now come to find out, they were real techniques others might also be using. Very cool.
Great presentation David! I’ve always been a learn-by-ear guy since my teen years. (No you don’t wanna know how far back that was...😉)! No internet no tabs etc...it was spin the LP over and over to learn the tune, transcribe the lyrics and chords to write arrangements for whatever band i was in. And I STILL remember some of those songs. For several years now I’ve learned new songs from tab but thankfully once learned I’ll play from memory. This video gives me a great reminder to lean less on tab and get back to my roots. Reminders for back chaining and repetitive practice I’ll especially be working on to help me since I’m new to mandolin, especially to help with muscle memory. And it’ll be beneficial for my guitar and dobro playing as well. Thanks lots for this. 🎼😎👍🏼
I learned to read music notation from the Hal Leonard mandolin method book 1. One of the best things I ever did. Really identified with what you said about not relying on tablature. For some reason I learn songs much more permanently from the notation. That being said I never realized how much I rely on muscle memory until I heard you talk about it. I am going to try to visualize pieces in my head more from now on, that seems to make a lot of sense and seems to be a learning tool I haven't really used.
How do you determine the correct down ups if you have no music? I hear a piece like you played and I think that sounds cool and then I see the sheet music and I'm gripped with fear. Are those double stops all down strokes or mixes of both ? I see individual 8th notes. Is this supposed to be cross picked, all downstrokes a mixture? Am I using the correct fingers? Should I have changed position up the neck? help
Enjoyed your tale of the blown audition. I blew a church talent show in Feb. 2020. I picked a new song and have practiced every day, every way I can think of throughout the pandemic for my next try. Funny, the song keeps evolving.
Rite of passage
I had a very similar experience playing the famous Bach Cello Prelude at the wedding of a neighbor. I practiced it a ton I put a lot of pressure on myself to get it just right…when the time came I could only get through maybe 2/3rd of it. Playing Bach in front a crowd is a whole different level of performance…thanks for sharing that.
Th reference to Arthur Rubinstein thinking about music whilst sitting in a café is intriguing. Here’s a variation on the notion - during the process of learning a new tune try the tune just as you are lying quietly moments before your night sleep. Just when you’re falling asleep you can clear your mind of the world’s day-to-day and slowly think through how much of the tune you know. Some parts come easier than others. Visualization of the notation, tab or standard, can be brought up in your mind’s eye easier than the auditory part so try switching back and forth in your mind. Imagining finger placement can also be done. The added benefit is that even if your mental mando playing is incomplete- ta da - you’ll fall asleep.
Many thanks David for your excellent work from those of us out in the mando world.
David, you do a great job of speaking clearly and quickly enough to not bore me. What you do say, is all important stuff. Also inspiring to us new mandolin players.
My pleasure, Dan!
Great video David. This is an area I've thought about a lot and you're spot on with the ways the memorize. For me it really boils down to listening to the piece as much and maybe more than actually playing it. Listening at slow tempos also helps. One other thing that I've found which helps a lot is the act of performing even if it results in crashing. Our brains seem to hold on to more when we're in the heat of battle rather than just in our practice room.
Well said!
Excellent lesson! I'm sharing this to a few folks who have been working on developing their memory.
Ah thanks Benjamin! Appreciate the shares!
Very helpful David. I find standard notation helps with visualization and standard notation, especially with the Bach. I am pretty tab addicted for fiddle tunes and popular tunes.
Yeah, I feel you! Its hard getting away from the page!
Thank you so much. It’s very rewarding to be able to play by memory and I appreciate your thoughts & tips. The production quality of your content is amazing!
Appreciate it Bill!
Great stuff David. Magnus Zetterlund taught me to play the piece using both hands moving the pick just don't touch the strings, then close your eyes like you said. Then flip your mandolin over and pretend it's just a stick or piece of wood and you're a child messing arround. See if you can play the piece using both hands on the backside of the instrument using both hands.
Awesome! Magnus has some great ideas!
@@DavidBenedictMandolin And you did too David. It was encouraging to hear about your struggle. Makes me realize it takes more work than I think.
Very useful for a self check. I struggle with for years.
Something I need to keep working on too!
Wonderful video, David! Great ideas, well explained.
Appreciate it Mike!
Such a great video. It gave me language for things I’ve been doing, sometimes thinking I was crazy for trying certain ideas, and now come to find out, they were real techniques others might also be using. Very cool.
Love that!
Thanks David! Excellent ideas!
My pleasure!
Great presentation David! I’ve always been a learn-by-ear guy since my teen years. (No you don’t wanna know how far back that was...😉)! No internet no tabs etc...it was spin the LP over and over to learn the tune, transcribe the lyrics and chords to write arrangements for whatever band i was in. And I STILL remember some of those songs.
For several years now I’ve learned new songs from tab but thankfully once learned I’ll play from memory. This video gives me a great reminder to lean less on tab and get back to my roots. Reminders for back chaining and repetitive practice I’ll especially be working on to help me since I’m new to mandolin, especially to help with muscle memory. And it’ll be beneficial for my guitar and dobro playing as well. Thanks lots for this.
🎼😎👍🏼
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
Great lesson and super helpful! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful, Lucy!
Such a great lesson, thank you David!
Glad you liked it!
I learned to read music notation from the Hal Leonard mandolin method book 1. One of the best things I ever did. Really identified with what you said about not relying on tablature. For some reason I learn songs much more permanently from the notation. That being said I never realized how much I rely on muscle memory until I heard you talk about it. I am going to try to visualize pieces in my head more from now on, that seems to make a lot of sense and seems to be a learning tool I haven't really used.
That's great! Hope that visualization tip helps!
How do you determine the correct down ups if you have no music? I hear a piece like you played and I think that sounds cool and then I see the sheet music and I'm gripped with fear. Are those double stops all down strokes or mixes of both ? I see individual 8th notes. Is this supposed to be cross picked, all downstrokes a mixture? Am I using the correct fingers? Should I have changed position up the neck? help
Got you covered: ua-cam.com/video/dyqqpmqjB3A/v-deo.html
this is encouraging
i clicked the link, i saw no tablature on your patreon...??is it in a specific link?
Hey Blake! Yeah, there's a ton of transcriptions over there that you can access as a member.
👍
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉