A note on the mandolin sounds bright but short – the thin steel strings fade quickly. For long notes there’s a trick: pick the same pair of strings very quickly down and up. The many strokes blend into one long, singing note. That’s called tremolo, and it’s the typical sound of the mandolin.
Holding the pick
- Lay the pick on the last joint of your curled index finger and hold it with your thumb. Only the tip sticks out a few millimetres.
- Hold it firmly enough that it doesn’t slip, but without squeezing.
- The movement comes from a relaxed wrist, not the whole arm – like shaking water off your hand.
Step by step
- On the open A strings, pick evenly down – up – down – up, two strokes per beat. Set the metronome to a calm tempo.
- Once that’s clean, play four strokes per beat. They should all be equally loud, down as well as up.
- Make the metronome a little faster each day. At some point you stop counting the strokes – then it’s a real tremolo.
- Finally, change notes in the middle of the tremolo without stopping – that turns single notes into a melody.
Tremolo suits slow songs with long notes best. In fast melodies you pick each note just once, usually alternating down and up. How to stay in time is explained in Practising with a metronome.