Chords for Learn To Play Tremolo - Mandolin Lesson

[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
Hi everybody, welcome back to [F#] Mando [A] lessons.
[F] Today we're [C#] going to be working [D#] on [C#] tremolo.
I'll give you an [D#] example here of what that sounds like and then I'll [C#] jump [D] into explaining how it's done.
So it sounds [C] like this.
[D] _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [F] So that's what it sounds like.
[D#] You'll hear it in classical [C#] music, Italian music, bluegrass, a number of places.
_ [D#] It's a fun skill to have in your bag of tricks.
_ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ [D#] _ _ _ The number one [C#] thing to remember [D#] with tremolo is you've got to keep your right hand [F#] really relaxed.
_ _ [E] _
_ _ If your right hand is tense, _ [D] _
_ [C#] your tremolo is going to sound choppy.
_ [G] _
_ _ _ [F#] It's not going to really come out of the instrument right.
[D#] So your right hand has got to be really relaxed.
[A#] _ _ [F#]
The thing [D#] that happens is the faster we try to play, the more tense our hands are going to get [G] naturally.
It's an unfortunate case, but it's kind of how it is.
_ The [D#] trick is to start really slowly.
_ [E] _ Don't start by seeing how fast you can play tremolo, _ [C#] _ because [C] it's just going to make you tense up.
[F#] So you want to start really slowly.
I use a metronome.
[A#] _ I've got a metronome here.
If you Google online metronome, I'm sure you can find something.
_ [C#] _ _
_ I've got _ it set here to 60 [B] beats per minute, so it's not going particularly fast.
[A#] What I'm going to do is I'm just going to play [D] four beats every _ time the [D#] metronome clicks off.
So _ _ _ there's the beat, _ _ and I'm going to put four notes in [C] there.
So it's going to sound like this.
I'm [D#m] going to play on the open E [E] string. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] You're just going to [D] do that for [C#] a pretty long [D#m] time.
Just make sure you're really [D] lined up with the beats.
[D#m] It's totally natural to kind of [D] drift off the beat, but just kind of [C#] get yourself back _
_ [C] [C#] on time.
_ Don't worry about it.
The more you do it, the easier it will be to stay on time with the metronome. _
_ _ [C#m] _ _ Just [D] get that as smooth [A] as possible.
Make sure your wrist is nice and [C] loose, your elbow is nice and loose, your hand is nice and loose.
It's alright if you drop the pick.
It's better than gripping on [B] so tight that it affects the music. _
Another [C#] trick _ [D] is to have the pick not go straight through the strings parallel,
[F#] _ _
but if you have it at [C#] an angle, it [D#] glides over the strings a little [E] easier.
_ _ So my pick's [A#] actually _
_ [F#] _ _ _ [C#] going [A#] through the strings like that,
[E] rather than straight _ through.
[C#] It'll catch up if you try to go straight through the [F#] strings.
But if you tip it, _ _ it kind of glides over the strings a little easier.
_ _ So get that going right [A#] at 60 beats per minute,
[D] _ [D#m] and just get it [D] until it's a really nice, natural [D#] thing to do.
And then you're going to start speeding [F#] it up.
So I'll do that here. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C#m] _ _
So once that feels totally natural, [D#] bump it up _ [C#m] a little bit. _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ [D] Get [E] that nice _ _ and _ [D] _ _ [D#] natural, no tension in your hands.
Keep bumping it up.
And you don't have to go this quickly, I'm just doing it for [F#] the sake of time. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] Got it up a little over 80 now, [F#] 84. _ _ _ _
Nice and natural. _ _ _ _
Keep it going.
I'm up at [C#] 100.
You don't need to move this fast again.
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Once you get into the higher [D]
speeds, you want to make the [D#m] changes even [D] slower,
just to make sure your wrist is nice and loose.
[F#] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ It's going to be tense at first, but once you get comfortable with the [C#m] beat,
you're just going to focus on _ [C] getting a nice, _ even [A] tempo. _ _ _ _
_ [Fm] Once you get to a high [G#] enough speed, it [E] starts to _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ sound like tremolo. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And once you're [F] around 120 or [A#] 130 or so, it may not all [D#] come at once.
It may take a little bit of practice to get up to that speed [C#] and keep your wrist nice and loose, _
and your elbow nice and loose, and get a [C] nice, clean sound that stays on the beat.
_ [D#] But once you get up [C] fast enough, it'll start [D#] to [C#] stop sounding like [E] individual notes, _
where you want [F#] to count it.
And once you get to a [A] _
_ _ particular speed,
it [D] no [D#] longer just [D] blends into itself. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [C#m] You can do this with [G] double stops as well, _ or _ _ _ _ _ full chords. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ There's a [E] lot of options. _
Because [D#m] we're practicing and trying to get four _ _ _
[D#] notes per beat on the [F#] metronome,
doesn't mean [E] that that's always the way to do it.
Some [F] _ great musicians [D#m] have very [A#] metered _ _ _ [D] [G] tremolo.
And _ _ _ [D] it's nice and [B] smooth that way.
But other musicians, like [F#] David Grishman, has [D] got a great [G] _
_ _ [Fm] tremolo that's a little more loose,
a little more [C] _ _ organic sound.
[C#] You're not [D#] hearing, [D#m] wow, he's hitting four _ [D] notes per beat.
But he's got a great [D#] sound.
And as long as [F#] you [C#] have [E] _ your right hand moving [D] fast enough,
they all blend together and it'll sound real good.
[G#] So practice with that.
Again, always stay slow enough that you're not _ [G] _ _ _ [C#] tensing anything up.
That's the last thing you want to be doing.
And just slowly build up the speed [A#] until you've got a nice even sound.
_ [E] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [C] _ And that's that.
Thanks for watching.
Bye-bye. _ _ _ _ _