Achieving a great tone
With
Tom Bekeny
What's in the course
20 lessons (1h 18m) · 1 free
Lesson transcript
Producing Good Tone on the Mandolin
When you're playing these scales, start paying attention to the sound you're producing. On the mandolin, producing a good tone is really important, and you'll actually have a lot more fun if you're making a sound that is pleasing, even if it's just a single note.
Adjusting Your Technique
If you're getting any buzzing sound, then you need to adjust where you're placing your finger relative to the frets.
- When you're fretting a note, you should aim to place your finger just a little bit above the fret.
- If you go too far and land right on top of the fret, the sound can get kind of muddy.
- Conversely, if you go too far in the other direction, you'll end up with a buzzing sound.
Key Tips:
- If you're getting a lot of buzzes, try adjusting where you're placing your finger.
- Keep your fingers slightly arched over the fingerboard. This can be especially challenging with your pinky, but it's something you'll develop over time.
Finger Positioning
Notice the way the joints in my fingers are bending:
- When I play a G major scale, my finger positioning is crucial.
- It should not look like my fingers are bent awkwardly.
I try to keep my hand over the neck to get a good angle on the strings.
Keep practicing, and you'll find the right balance for producing that nice, clear tone!
20 lessons
1h 18m of structured video lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Tom Bekeny is a mandolinist, fiddler and seasoned mandolin teacher who has performed and taught in the U.S. and abroad for over 40 years - so when he breaks down how to play, you are learning from someone who has spent a lifetime both on stage and in the lesson room.
He was the mandolinist in such San Francisco Bay Area bands as Done Gone, Tenbrooks, and an early version of the Grant Street String Band with Laurie Lewis. He has appeared with Peter Rowan, the Rowan Brothers, David Grisman, George Cole, vocalist Lua Hadar, and Jerry Garcia. Tom has played mandolin with the highly acclaimed Kathy Kallick Band for almost 20 years and has held the fiddle spot with California's premiere traditional bluegrass band, High Country, since 1988. He has recorded with many of these groups and was featured in the Summer 2009 issue of Mandolin Magazine.
Tom also plays in the wildly popular trad bluegrass "jam" band, Bangers and Grass, alongside west coast bluegrass luminaries Jim Nunally, Steve Pottier, Bill Evans and Chad Manning.
Beyond bluegrass, Tom plays jazz mandolin with his trio The Missing Man Quartet (MM4), which plays straight-ahead jazz with original arrangements drawing material from the world of jazz and Great American Songbook standards. He released a solo CD project ("Jazzolin") in 2013, on which he plays mandolin and fiddle backed by drums and bass.
