How hard is it to learn mandolin?

[TrogL]

I've got a degree in music, play keyboards extensively, also play bass, a bit of guitar and used to play violin (I understand it's the same tuning).

We're starting up a band and they want me playing bass or mandolin when there's no keyboard part.

[arcane1]

1. I imagine the hardest part (as a guitar/bass player) would be adapting to the tuning

And the tiny frets!

Though I suppose you could tune it to guitar format

[TrogL]

3. All the charts/tabs I've seen so far are written out with GDAE tuning so I'm going to stick to that

I'm more comfortable with bass than guitar. Bass has the same 4ths layout so it's just a matter of thinking up a 3rd.

Mandolin tablature appears way different than guitar so it's going to take a bit of getting used to.

[Recursion]

11. If you played chords on your bass (some do) just flip them upside down

But if you're more used to runs, I found switching from bass (my first stringed instrument) to mandolin (my second) showed me exactly how lazy I was being with my hand positions. Do learn the lrighteft hand positions correctly and make yourself do them, if you want my advice, otherwise you'll pay for it down the road.

[RevStPatrick]

2. Mandolin is much easier than guitar.

I was playing songs on it within a few minutes.
Compared to the months it took as a teenager learning guitar.
I say go for it!

[johnp3907]

4. Got a mandolin for Xmas.

I'm finding it easy to learn, hard to master.

[theMark]

5. You'll do fine...

Tuned like a violin, fretted like a guitar (only much tighter). Just work on your tremolo - those strings don't ring very long! From a trumpeter / pianist / guitarist / drummer / singer / and now (since Christmas!) a mandolinist.

[TrogL]

6. Picked up a Fender 101 acoustic after trying a few others

The electric's pickups hummed badly and another model wouldn't tune properly.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. I Found It Quite Easy

Chording is somewhat, which is why so many mandolin parts involve drone strings. That way you're not trying to fret all four sets of strings.

I've got an Ovation mandolin. Really good looking and sounds great. I don't play it a lot, just once in a while.

Truth be told, i bought it because i had a space on the wall of my rec room that was too narrow for a guiar. Since i've got 12 of my 15 guitars handing on the wall, that empty space was bugging me.

So, basically bought it as an objet d'art, but ended up liking to play it.

Mine even has the built in piezo so i can plug it in. Pretty fun.
GAC

[jeepnstein]

8. It'll be simple for you.

If you've spent time on the fiddle you're already there. And the bonus is a mandolin has frets. I don't see why you can't be up to speed in a few months for the most part.

The fun part will be finding an instrument that's worth a darn. I strongly recommend you look at Eastman mandolins. Until you get into serious money for an instrument they are as good as it gets.

[Recursion]

10. And don't overlook the mandolin's strummability

Which is something a fiddle doesn't have: you can basically do all the stuff people do with a ukelele as well as play fiddle tunes.

[Recursion]

9. I'm having a great time with it

I love that the violin has the same tuning, so fiddle tunes work very well. Unfortunately most of the music online is in tablature form, which I have pedagogical objections to.

[jeepnstein]

12. Try here...

It's the basic melodies in standard notation as well as guitar tab. I can't stand playing tab since I can't see where I'm going musically. That makes me a bit of an oddball in bluegrass circles because most of the really good flat pickers I know don't read a lick. They can do some pretty amazing things and know the fretboard inside-out, but put sheet music in front of them and they freeze like a deer in a spotlight.

[Recursion]

13. Did you mean to include a link?

If so, it didn't show up!

[jeepnstein]

14. Coffee, I need moar....

http://www.guitarnick.com/index.html

It's under the Flatpicking category.

[lordsummerisle]

15. Not sure what kind of music you want to play

but here's a brilliant young bluegrass mandolin player:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDTyr_pK-D0-8&v=Tyr_pK-D0-8