Okay, so let us really start doing something’s with the instrument here. First of all, you have to learn how to tune it. A Mandolin is tuned in Fifths just like a Violin and the reason it is called Fifths is for example, here is a D note.
(Mandolin Demo)
The next note up from it is the A if you count up on your fingers, D, E, F, G, A, that is the Fifth. The notes are
(Mandolin Demo)
G, D, A, E and if you notice, we have got a pair of strings. Those are tuned to unison so
(Mandolin Demo)
Two G’s should be identical, if it is tuned two D’s, two A’s, and two E’s tuned in unison. In learning how to tune, this is actually another opportunity for those who have not played other instruments or played much music to really develop your ear. There are different ways of tuning but let me explain. One that will help you develop your ear especially with respect to being sensitive to when the note is too high or sharp or too low, just called flat.
One way to do it is to get reference note. Say, get a G from a friend maybe who is tune of from the piano or something like that. Once you have that G-matched to your reference note, you count up to the 7th fret, fret that note
(Mandolin Demo)
And then the next note
(Mandolin Demo)
The D, you need to make match that.
(Mandolin Demo)
So you would adjust your tuning pegs to match that. Once you get the D in tune,
(Mandolin Demo)
You would then fret the D at the 7th fret.
(Mandolin Demo)
Hit the A open and match that note to it and then we do the same thing and trying to tune your E string, you fret the A string at the 7th fret
(Mandolin Demo)
And those should match. Now, if you do not have a G as a reference note, lot of times, I will have it Tuning Fork which is 440A. So you have to kind of do it backward, so if you get
(Mandolin Demo)
Your A note,
(Mandolin Demo)
You play and you get that in tune with the Tuning Fork
(Mandolin Demo)
You go backwards, you got your A open,
(Mandolin Demo)
You fret at the D, the 7th fret
(Mandolin Demo)
And now you are trying to adjust the D string to match at open A. Once you get the D adjusted, you hit the D open
(Mandolin Demo)
That is kind of your target note. You fret at the G-string, 7th fret,
(Mandolin Demo)
Match it. And, then you still need to get your E in tune because similar way your A is still at pitch
(Mandolin Demo)
7th fret at the A-string
(Mandolin Demo)
And you hit the E open and match that. And again, you are going to get better at this the more you do it and more you rely on your ear in making real slide adjustments in recognizing when the note are a little sharper or a little flat, believe it or not, even after playing for over a 30-years, I feel like my ear is still improving and it is not there yet and seems like with every year I am getting a little better idea and a better sense of the subtleties of when something sharp or flat.
Another way to tune in the Mandolin and this is, when your ear has been further along in development, you have probably heard violins. Say, once I get the reference note, say they get a G,
(Mandolin Demo)
They just hit the tune note together, the G and the D.
(Mandolin Demo)
Either like
(Mandolin Demo)
And they are bowing it and dragging up in the note quite a bit. You will develop a sense for what that Fifth sounds like, what a Perfect Fifth sounds like and you will be able to make adjustment to get that interval of a Fifth. It is called interval
(Mandolin Demo)
To sound in tune to you and then, you can do that all the way across.
Another way to tune is to use a Tuner and if you really start out using a Tuner and rely on it exclusively, you will really going to miss an opportunity to train your ear. But Tuners are really helpful in making really tell exactly when you are a sharp or when you are flat. But even with a Tuner, you can use that as almost with a little bit of an ear training exercise because you have a graphic representation of when you are sharp or you are a flat. So you can sort of gradually internalize that even using a Tuner. But, I would first start trying to tune by ear.
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