Chords for A Short History of the Mandolin
Tempo:
143.15 bpm
Chords used:
Bb
Db
A
D
G
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[N] [Bb]
[Gb] I'm here at the shop at [Bb] Early Music [A] Studio today.
[Bb]
My name's Clive [Db] Titmuss.
I'm gonna talk a little bit about [Bb] the evolution
of the mandolin from [A] earlier models,
the lutes of the [Dbm] 17th and 18th centuries
into the final product, [Bbm] the mandolin,
which I recently restored.
[Bb] [G] So I'm going to start [Bb] not with [D] the 17th century,
but actually much further back.
I'm gonna talk a little bit [Gm] about this [A]
instrument,
which my mother bought at a craft fair
[B] in Northern [Bb] Africa, kind of craft market,
back in the 60s and [A] brought it home.
She used to [D] travel a lot.
And [A] it's very interesting [G] because the back is made
from a [Ab] turtle shell.
And then there [D] is a skin on top, which could be [Db] sheepskin.
There's a tiny little bridge carved,
and there are three [Gb] strings with little pegs
just made out of twigs, really,
fitted into holes drilled in the neck,
[Bm] which looks kind of like a broom handle.
And it's just used to make very [Eb] simple folk music, [G] really.
[B] That is [Bbm] the ancestor [Gb] of all lutes.
The lute [Gm] [A] is actually,
[Db]
[Bb] comes from the shape of the turtle shell.
So fast forward from the [A] Neolithic,
[Ab] let's say that's an instrument [A] that has been around
since maybe [Eb] 10 [G]
[B] or 12,000 [D] years,
into [Db] a typical instrument from the [A] 1480s to [Bb] 1550s,
or roughly.
This is the [E] instrument you see in so many paintings,
the [Bb] typical features.
The back is made [A]
from wood,
and the bridge is glued to the soundboard,
[D]
[Bb] and the top [A] is made from spruce.
[C] The rose is cut with a knife,
[Db] paper patterns pasted onto the [Bb] wood,
and the [Db] pierce work is simply done
by cutting [D] through with a knife.
The strings are usually made of gut.
[A] So about 100 years later,
the instrument's gotten somewhat [Bb] larger,
and there are many more strings.
This one has 11 [Ab] courses instead of six, as that [Bb] one did.
[D] Same features, there's a bit
of a sophistication element involved.
[Bb] The rose is kind of a tracery
rather than geometrical little straight pieces.
The back [Db] has become, [Gm] the ribs are more numerous,
the wood is more luxurious,
[G]
and the shape especially, it's kind of rounder this way,
but on the back, it's really flattened.
And that's a feature you'll see in the mandolin [Bb] as well.
[Eb] The instrument, this instrument is [Dm] intended
to play kind
[A] [Dm]
[C] of [Db] dark sounding,
ruminative melancholy sort of sound.
[A] It's not really extroverted at [D] all.
And this is the sort of instrument
they would have played at home for just a few people.
[Db] And there's a kind of social element to that music.
[Bb] [Ab] It's intended essentially as [G] art.
[Db] So a little bit [Bm] later on,
in [Dm] the part of [Db] this,
maybe in the later part of the 17th century,
they started to develop this type of instrument.
This is called the mandora,
[B] and the [A] mando part, [Gm] mandolin mandora,
[Db] that comes from the word for almond,
which is [Bb] for example in German is mandel.
[F] So, and it's because of the shape of [Db] the instrument [E] partly.
So this is kind of slightly [B] flattened.
And one of the [Bm] features that it has,
it still has the [A] rose,
although this one's in set,
[C] it's actually cut and put in,
and then the bridge is glued to the top,
[Bb] exactly the same,
that the neck [Db] is,
this makes [D] kind of a plinky funny little sound.
[Eb]
[E]
It's kind of cute.
It's the sort of instrument they would have used
to [A] give children lessons in music,
to teach them music.
It was played by young [Db] ladies at court,
that kind of.
[E] Now the 19th century mandolin,
[A] this particular one was made,
we think around about [Gb] 1850.
And it has some of the features [Bb] of these other lutes,
but it has evolved into a [Db] different kind of instrument.
[D] One of the [Ab] main changes,
[D] aside from the size,
is [Db] the fact that the outside rib to the top
[Eb] has grown much [Bbm] wider in order to [Db] change the shape,
but it's still flattened like this instrument
that [A] facilitates being placed against the chest like [Bb] that
and played so that it doesn't [Gb] roll around
while you're playing it.
[B] The fingerboard is now [G] overlaid
instead [Bb] of being flush with the top,
and [A] it has metal frets and metal strings.
[C] And that's a [Bb] development that,
because of these over [Gb] spun metal strings,
[D] they sound, it sounds quite warm and sweet.
And another [Bb] development is [Db] the so-called crank table.
And that means [D] that there's kind of a peak in the [G] top here.
You can see [A] the bridge [Db]
is placed on top of that,
although [Bbm] it's not glued there.
It's just simply held down by the pressure of the strings,
the downward [Bb] pressure,
because the [Bbm] strings are anchored to this [Eb] little plate here
[Db] that's screwed to the [Eb] bottom of the [B] thing.
This is [G] exactly like the [Eb] violin.
It's the same principle.
[Dbm] The down bearing of the strings
[Db] makes the instrument a much more [Bb] efficient transducer
of the string energy.
[B] That makes it [Gm] louder and more penetrating
[Db] so that it could [Bb]
play in [Bbm] a cafe or [Db] outdoors.
[E] So [Ab] the social circumstances of the [Bb] instrument
have changed its shape.
[Eb]
[D] That's all we'll talk about the mandolin today.
[Gb] I'm here at the shop at [Bb] Early Music [A] Studio today.
[Bb]
My name's Clive [Db] Titmuss.
I'm gonna talk a little bit about [Bb] the evolution
of the mandolin from [A] earlier models,
the lutes of the [Dbm] 17th and 18th centuries
into the final product, [Bbm] the mandolin,
which I recently restored.
[Bb] [G] So I'm going to start [Bb] not with [D] the 17th century,
but actually much further back.
I'm gonna talk a little bit [Gm] about this [A]
instrument,
which my mother bought at a craft fair
[B] in Northern [Bb] Africa, kind of craft market,
back in the 60s and [A] brought it home.
She used to [D] travel a lot.
And [A] it's very interesting [G] because the back is made
from a [Ab] turtle shell.
And then there [D] is a skin on top, which could be [Db] sheepskin.
There's a tiny little bridge carved,
and there are three [Gb] strings with little pegs
just made out of twigs, really,
fitted into holes drilled in the neck,
[Bm] which looks kind of like a broom handle.
And it's just used to make very [Eb] simple folk music, [G] really.
[B] That is [Bbm] the ancestor [Gb] of all lutes.
The lute [Gm] [A] is actually,
[Db]
[Bb] comes from the shape of the turtle shell.
So fast forward from the [A] Neolithic,
[Ab] let's say that's an instrument [A] that has been around
since maybe [Eb] 10 [G]
[B] or 12,000 [D] years,
into [Db] a typical instrument from the [A] 1480s to [Bb] 1550s,
or roughly.
This is the [E] instrument you see in so many paintings,
the [Bb] typical features.
The back is made [A]
from wood,
and the bridge is glued to the soundboard,
[D]
[Bb] and the top [A] is made from spruce.
[C] The rose is cut with a knife,
[Db] paper patterns pasted onto the [Bb] wood,
and the [Db] pierce work is simply done
by cutting [D] through with a knife.
The strings are usually made of gut.
[A] So about 100 years later,
the instrument's gotten somewhat [Bb] larger,
and there are many more strings.
This one has 11 [Ab] courses instead of six, as that [Bb] one did.
[D] Same features, there's a bit
of a sophistication element involved.
[Bb] The rose is kind of a tracery
rather than geometrical little straight pieces.
The back [Db] has become, [Gm] the ribs are more numerous,
the wood is more luxurious,
[G]
and the shape especially, it's kind of rounder this way,
but on the back, it's really flattened.
And that's a feature you'll see in the mandolin [Bb] as well.
[Eb] The instrument, this instrument is [Dm] intended
to play kind
[A] [Dm]
[C] of [Db] dark sounding,
ruminative melancholy sort of sound.
[A] It's not really extroverted at [D] all.
And this is the sort of instrument
they would have played at home for just a few people.
[Db] And there's a kind of social element to that music.
[Bb] [Ab] It's intended essentially as [G] art.
[Db] So a little bit [Bm] later on,
in [Dm] the part of [Db] this,
maybe in the later part of the 17th century,
they started to develop this type of instrument.
This is called the mandora,
[B] and the [A] mando part, [Gm] mandolin mandora,
[Db] that comes from the word for almond,
which is [Bb] for example in German is mandel.
[F] So, and it's because of the shape of [Db] the instrument [E] partly.
So this is kind of slightly [B] flattened.
And one of the [Bm] features that it has,
it still has the [A] rose,
although this one's in set,
[C] it's actually cut and put in,
and then the bridge is glued to the top,
[Bb] exactly the same,
that the neck [Db] is,
this makes [D] kind of a plinky funny little sound.
[Eb]
[E]
It's kind of cute.
It's the sort of instrument they would have used
to [A] give children lessons in music,
to teach them music.
It was played by young [Db] ladies at court,
that kind of.
[E] Now the 19th century mandolin,
[A] this particular one was made,
we think around about [Gb] 1850.
And it has some of the features [Bb] of these other lutes,
but it has evolved into a [Db] different kind of instrument.
[D] One of the [Ab] main changes,
[D] aside from the size,
is [Db] the fact that the outside rib to the top
[Eb] has grown much [Bbm] wider in order to [Db] change the shape,
but it's still flattened like this instrument
that [A] facilitates being placed against the chest like [Bb] that
and played so that it doesn't [Gb] roll around
while you're playing it.
[B] The fingerboard is now [G] overlaid
instead [Bb] of being flush with the top,
and [A] it has metal frets and metal strings.
[C] And that's a [Bb] development that,
because of these over [Gb] spun metal strings,
[D] they sound, it sounds quite warm and sweet.
And another [Bb] development is [Db] the so-called crank table.
And that means [D] that there's kind of a peak in the [G] top here.
You can see [A] the bridge [Db]
is placed on top of that,
although [Bbm] it's not glued there.
It's just simply held down by the pressure of the strings,
the downward [Bb] pressure,
because the [Bbm] strings are anchored to this [Eb] little plate here
[Db] that's screwed to the [Eb] bottom of the [B] thing.
This is [G] exactly like the [Eb] violin.
It's the same principle.
[Dbm] The down bearing of the strings
[Db] makes the instrument a much more [Bb] efficient transducer
of the string energy.
[B] That makes it [Gm] louder and more penetrating
[Db] so that it could [Bb]
play in [Bbm] a cafe or [Db] outdoors.
[E] So [Ab] the social circumstances of the [Bb] instrument
have changed its shape.
[Eb]
[D] That's all we'll talk about the mandolin today.
Key:
Bb
Db
A
D
G
Bb
Db
A
[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb]
[Gb] I'm here at the shop at [Bb] Early Music [A] Studio today.
[Bb]
My name's Clive [Db] Titmuss.
I'm gonna talk a little bit about [Bb] the evolution
of the mandolin from [A] earlier models,
the lutes of the [Dbm] 17th and 18th centuries
into the final product, [Bbm] the mandolin,
which I recently restored.
[Bb] _ _ [G] So I'm going to start [Bb] not _ with _ [D] the 17th century,
but actually much further back.
I'm gonna talk a little bit [Gm] about this [A]
instrument,
which my mother bought at a craft fair
[B] in Northern [Bb] Africa, kind of craft market, _ _
back in the 60s and [A] brought it home.
She used to [D] travel a lot.
_ And [A] it's very interesting [G] because the back is made
from a [Ab] turtle shell.
And then there [D] is a skin on top, which could be [Db] sheepskin.
There's a tiny little bridge carved,
and there are three [Gb] strings _ with little pegs
just made out of twigs, really, _ _
fitted into holes drilled in the neck,
[Bm] which looks kind of like a broom handle.
And it's just used to make very [Eb] simple _ _ _ _ folk music, [G] really. _
[B] That is [Bbm] the ancestor [Gb] of all lutes. _
_ The lute [Gm] _ [A] is actually,
[Db] _
[Bb] comes from the shape of the turtle shell. _
So fast forward from the [A] Neolithic,
[Ab] let's say that's an instrument [A] that has been around
since maybe [Eb] 10 [G] _
_ [B] or 12,000 [D] years, _ _ _
_ _ _ into [Db] a typical instrument from the [A] 1480s to [Bb] _ 1550s,
or roughly.
This is the [E] instrument you see in so many paintings,
the [Bb] typical features.
The back is made [A]
from wood,
_ and the _ _ bridge is glued to the soundboard,
_ [D] _
[Bb] and the top [A] is made from spruce. _
[C] The rose is cut with a knife,
[Db] _ paper patterns pasted onto the [Bb] wood,
and the [Db] pierce work is simply done
by cutting [D] through with a knife.
_ The strings are usually made of gut.
_ [A] _ So about 100 years later,
the instrument's gotten somewhat [Bb] larger,
and there are many more strings.
This one has 11 [Ab] courses instead of six, as that [Bb] one did.
_ _ _ [D] Same features, there's a bit
of a sophistication element involved.
[Bb] The rose is kind of a tracery
rather than geometrical little straight pieces.
_ The _ back [Db] has become, [Gm] _ the ribs are more numerous,
the wood is more luxurious,
_ [G] _ _
and the shape especially, it's kind of rounder this way,
but on the back, it's really flattened.
And that's a feature you'll see in the mandolin [Bb] as well.
[Eb] The instrument, this instrument is [Dm] intended
to play _ _ kind _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ of [Db] dark sounding,
_ _ ruminative melancholy sort of sound.
[A] It's not really extroverted at [D] all.
And this is the sort of instrument
they would have played at home _ for just a few people.
[Db] And there's a kind of social element to that music.
[Bb] _ [Ab] It's intended essentially as [G] art.
_ [Db] _ So a little bit [Bm] later on,
in [Dm] the part of [Db] this,
maybe in the later part of the 17th century,
they started to develop this type of instrument.
This is called the mandora,
[B] and the [A] mando part, [Gm] mandolin mandora,
[Db] that comes from the word for almond,
which is [Bb] for example in German is mandel.
[F] So, and it's because of the shape of [Db] the instrument [E] partly.
So this is kind of slightly [B] flattened.
And one of the _ [Bm] features that it has,
it still has the [A] rose,
although this one's in set,
[C] it's actually cut and put in,
and then the bridge is glued to the top,
[Bb] exactly the same,
that the neck [Db] is,
this makes [D] kind of a plinky funny little sound.
_ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
It's kind of cute.
It's the sort of instrument they would have used
to [A] give children lessons in music,
to teach them music.
It was played by young [Db] ladies at court,
that kind of.
[E] _ Now the 19th century mandolin,
[A] this particular one was made,
we think around about [Gb] 1850.
_ And it has some of the features [Bb] of these other lutes,
but it has evolved into a [Db] different kind of instrument.
[D] One of the [Ab] main changes, _
[D] aside from the size,
is [Db] the fact that the outside rib to the top
[Eb] has grown much [Bbm] wider in order to [Db] change the shape,
but it's still flattened like this instrument
that [A] facilitates being placed against the chest like [Bb] that
and played so that it doesn't [Gb] roll around
while you're playing it.
[B] The fingerboard is now [G] overlaid
instead [Bb] of being flush with the top,
and [A] it has metal frets and metal strings.
[C] And that's a [Bb] development that,
because of these over [Gb] spun metal strings, _
_ _ _ [D] they sound, it sounds quite warm and sweet.
_ And another [Bb] development is [Db] the so-called crank table.
And that means [D] that there's kind of a peak in the [G] top here.
You can see [A] the bridge [Db]
is placed on top of that,
although [Bbm] it's not glued there.
It's just simply held down by the pressure of the strings,
the downward [Bb] pressure,
because the [Bbm] strings are anchored to this [Eb] little plate here
[Db] that's screwed to the [Eb] bottom of the [B] thing.
This is [G] exactly like the [Eb] violin.
It's the same principle.
[Dbm] The down bearing of the strings
[Db] makes the instrument a much more [Bb] efficient transducer
of the string energy.
[B] That makes it [Gm] louder and more penetrating
[Db] so that it could [Bb] _
play in [Bbm] a cafe or [Db] outdoors.
[E] So [Ab] the social circumstances of the [Bb] instrument
have changed its shape.
[Eb] _
_ _ [D] That's all we'll talk about the mandolin today.
[Gb] I'm here at the shop at [Bb] Early Music [A] Studio today.
[Bb]
My name's Clive [Db] Titmuss.
I'm gonna talk a little bit about [Bb] the evolution
of the mandolin from [A] earlier models,
the lutes of the [Dbm] 17th and 18th centuries
into the final product, [Bbm] the mandolin,
which I recently restored.
[Bb] _ _ [G] So I'm going to start [Bb] not _ with _ [D] the 17th century,
but actually much further back.
I'm gonna talk a little bit [Gm] about this [A]
instrument,
which my mother bought at a craft fair
[B] in Northern [Bb] Africa, kind of craft market, _ _
back in the 60s and [A] brought it home.
She used to [D] travel a lot.
_ And [A] it's very interesting [G] because the back is made
from a [Ab] turtle shell.
And then there [D] is a skin on top, which could be [Db] sheepskin.
There's a tiny little bridge carved,
and there are three [Gb] strings _ with little pegs
just made out of twigs, really, _ _
fitted into holes drilled in the neck,
[Bm] which looks kind of like a broom handle.
And it's just used to make very [Eb] simple _ _ _ _ folk music, [G] really. _
[B] That is [Bbm] the ancestor [Gb] of all lutes. _
_ The lute [Gm] _ [A] is actually,
[Db] _
[Bb] comes from the shape of the turtle shell. _
So fast forward from the [A] Neolithic,
[Ab] let's say that's an instrument [A] that has been around
since maybe [Eb] 10 [G] _
_ [B] or 12,000 [D] years, _ _ _
_ _ _ into [Db] a typical instrument from the [A] 1480s to [Bb] _ 1550s,
or roughly.
This is the [E] instrument you see in so many paintings,
the [Bb] typical features.
The back is made [A]
from wood,
_ and the _ _ bridge is glued to the soundboard,
_ [D] _
[Bb] and the top [A] is made from spruce. _
[C] The rose is cut with a knife,
[Db] _ paper patterns pasted onto the [Bb] wood,
and the [Db] pierce work is simply done
by cutting [D] through with a knife.
_ The strings are usually made of gut.
_ [A] _ So about 100 years later,
the instrument's gotten somewhat [Bb] larger,
and there are many more strings.
This one has 11 [Ab] courses instead of six, as that [Bb] one did.
_ _ _ [D] Same features, there's a bit
of a sophistication element involved.
[Bb] The rose is kind of a tracery
rather than geometrical little straight pieces.
_ The _ back [Db] has become, [Gm] _ the ribs are more numerous,
the wood is more luxurious,
_ [G] _ _
and the shape especially, it's kind of rounder this way,
but on the back, it's really flattened.
And that's a feature you'll see in the mandolin [Bb] as well.
[Eb] The instrument, this instrument is [Dm] intended
to play _ _ kind _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ of [Db] dark sounding,
_ _ ruminative melancholy sort of sound.
[A] It's not really extroverted at [D] all.
And this is the sort of instrument
they would have played at home _ for just a few people.
[Db] And there's a kind of social element to that music.
[Bb] _ [Ab] It's intended essentially as [G] art.
_ [Db] _ So a little bit [Bm] later on,
in [Dm] the part of [Db] this,
maybe in the later part of the 17th century,
they started to develop this type of instrument.
This is called the mandora,
[B] and the [A] mando part, [Gm] mandolin mandora,
[Db] that comes from the word for almond,
which is [Bb] for example in German is mandel.
[F] So, and it's because of the shape of [Db] the instrument [E] partly.
So this is kind of slightly [B] flattened.
And one of the _ [Bm] features that it has,
it still has the [A] rose,
although this one's in set,
[C] it's actually cut and put in,
and then the bridge is glued to the top,
[Bb] exactly the same,
that the neck [Db] is,
this makes [D] kind of a plinky funny little sound.
_ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
It's kind of cute.
It's the sort of instrument they would have used
to [A] give children lessons in music,
to teach them music.
It was played by young [Db] ladies at court,
that kind of.
[E] _ Now the 19th century mandolin,
[A] this particular one was made,
we think around about [Gb] 1850.
_ And it has some of the features [Bb] of these other lutes,
but it has evolved into a [Db] different kind of instrument.
[D] One of the [Ab] main changes, _
[D] aside from the size,
is [Db] the fact that the outside rib to the top
[Eb] has grown much [Bbm] wider in order to [Db] change the shape,
but it's still flattened like this instrument
that [A] facilitates being placed against the chest like [Bb] that
and played so that it doesn't [Gb] roll around
while you're playing it.
[B] The fingerboard is now [G] overlaid
instead [Bb] of being flush with the top,
and [A] it has metal frets and metal strings.
[C] And that's a [Bb] development that,
because of these over [Gb] spun metal strings, _
_ _ _ [D] they sound, it sounds quite warm and sweet.
_ And another [Bb] development is [Db] the so-called crank table.
And that means [D] that there's kind of a peak in the [G] top here.
You can see [A] the bridge [Db]
is placed on top of that,
although [Bbm] it's not glued there.
It's just simply held down by the pressure of the strings,
the downward [Bb] pressure,
because the [Bbm] strings are anchored to this [Eb] little plate here
[Db] that's screwed to the [Eb] bottom of the [B] thing.
This is [G] exactly like the [Eb] violin.
It's the same principle.
[Dbm] The down bearing of the strings
[Db] makes the instrument a much more [Bb] efficient transducer
of the string energy.
[B] That makes it [Gm] louder and more penetrating
[Db] so that it could [Bb] _
play in [Bbm] a cafe or [Db] outdoors.
[E] So [Ab] the social circumstances of the [Bb] instrument
have changed its shape.
[Eb] _
_ _ [D] That's all we'll talk about the mandolin today.