Probably not using the right terminology here so work with me….haha. I’m struggling trying to find the right strings to pick when a song goes to Em or Am for instance. This instrument has a lot of patterns. Is there a pattern when minors are incorporated into a song for picking? Any guidance would be appreciated. Playing is G most of the time.
Minors
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Not exactly what you are looking for, but the Bag O’ Licks series have licks for the relative minors. You may be able to identify a pattern based on the notes used in the licks.
For Em, you could start by looking at the Em licks in the Bag O’ Licks on G lesson.
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/bag-o-licks-in-g-mandolin
Maybe someone with a bit more knowledge could chime in with some theory/pattern.
Hi Joshua. If you Click on Lessons - Select Mandolin - Type Minor in the search box and click ok you’ll find a bunch of lessons which cover playing minors. Look to the Minor Chord lesson in the beginner section as a starting point.
Thanks!
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Hey Joshua!
A nice place to start is your basic arpeggios - start out just playing the notes of the chord individually. Arpeggios are one of the most important backbones of mandolin positions & patterns, and they also should be easy to start working with over your minor chords given they are only 3 notes! When you get comfortable with where your target notes are, you’ll see that you can move the shape of the chord up, down and across strings to make other chords of the same quality (minor). Does that make sense?
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Thanks! I will work with on this as well. I definitely appreciate everyone’s advice!
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