Continued Progression - A Strategy For More Effective Learning!

Well, being at home with the new baby has brought some good opportunities- beyond the poopie diapers at least!

Its nice to be able to find 20 mins between feedings or diapers to pull out the mandolin and work on something.

Again, I'm practicing working through blues scales in different positions and I've been very deliberate about how I'm practicing as well.

The biggest thing has been the way I play my blues scale on the mandolin. Long ago, when learning on the guitar, I made the mistake of learning my standard scales only in the open position. This really hampered me later when trying to move up the neck.

Interestingly enough, I made the same mistake when learning the standard scales on the mandolin. Again, playing standard scales was/is difficult for me on the mandolin when moving up the neck. With Mandolin being effectively easier to play because of the spacing of fifths, I should be doing that better.

When I figured out the blues scales on the mandolin, I decided to start from day one playing them up the neck instead of only in the open position.

My next step was to play them in the open position just like I play them up the neck. By doing this, my index finger on my fretting hand is not as involved when playing in the open position. The result of this is that I play effectively the exact same fretting pattern in open position as when I play up the neck - eliminate the variation and you eliminate a source of a problem.

This strategy is already paying off as far as I can see, as I play up the neck much more cleanly while playing blues than playing any bluegrass breaks.

Give it a try, I think you'll find it works.