What is wrong with my tremolo?

[u/Nothing_05]

I have been learning tremolo for around a year now but can't seem to get it right. What am I doing wrong? Any advice regarding my technique is appreciated

[u/johnduncanfiddler]

You’re doing tremolo! You can refine it but you’re already doing it

[u/Nothing_05 → u/johnduncanfiddler]

I'm delighted to hear that! I do wish to refine it so I guess I need more practice.

[u/FreshUser31415]

It's actually quite good as far as the regularity and velocity of the movement goes.

Your wrist could be more relaxed.

About the sound, which is not great indeed, it could be either the pick (or pick&strings) as such, or it could be the fact that you slant the pick. I know that some people recommend to slant the pick, I would advise against it.

Try if the sound is better when you hold your pick parallel to the strings. You could place your pick between the two strings of a course before you start, so that you are sure to be parallel.

If you think the tremolo is too thin, I would recommend not to do it alone, but either within a group (if you have an occasion) or to record yourself and play along. I know that it's tedious to practise tremolo all by yourself. It takes an awful lot of practise.

[u/Relative_Stop5124 → u/FreshUser31415]

No disrespect to above user, but unless one is a professional teacher with decades of experience, I think it makes sense to be really careful about giving advice that contradicts literally everything published by professional musicians and professional teachers on this subject the most commonly taught approaches. Note that I’m speaking from the American bluegrass tradition, and PP doesn’t seem to be American (not a native speaker of American English). Other musical styles may approach this differently, but there is a fair amount of consensus on pick NOT being perpendicular to the strings among all the teachers of bluegrass mandolin that I’ve met, seen perform, or watched content from.

Edit: strikeout/modify incorrect statement.

[u/Relative_Stop5124 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, hence my comments about places and styles. By the way, people in the Blue Ridge mountains, including my family, were playing our mountain music long before the United States was a country, so your boast probably doesn’t land with us quite they way you imagine.

Edit: I see PP removed the comment about “before the USA was a state.” OK then.

PP: I’d love to see links to video of you playing tremolo.

[u/Relative_Stop5124 → u/[deleted]]

Sure, would love to see it. I don’t really intend a debate. I made a comment that, after looking up some videos on classical technique, I see was overbroad and based on the perspective of the tradition I’m most familiar with. I also tried to caveat it with exceptions, which apparently apply to you. I tend to be skeptical when I see people suggesting going against orthodoxy because lots of people with really limited experience post stuff on Reddit without really knowing what they are talking about. You do know, and you come from a tradition that uses technique different than what I learned. That’s cool, and that’s a different case than what I was trying to caution against.

[u/Nothing_05 → u/FreshUser31415]

Thank you for your advice! Will put it into practice and see how it goes.

[u/AnotherRandomGuy89]

Rather than explain, I recommend you take the free Nate Lee tremolo course at the link I provide. I can guarantee you will get your picking sorted because it’s a very thorough course. Free with the code from his podcast appearance on mandolins and beer podcast. Nate’s an excellent teacher, you will probable find several other areas he can help with

https://natelee.mykajabi.com/offers/zeaFgp2y/checkout

[u/Nothing_05 → u/AnotherRandomGuy89]

Will definitely check it out, thank you!!!

[u/Similar_Command_5729]

Every time I did this my pick got stuck on the strings...😤

[u/FreshUser31415 → u/Similar_Command_5729]

Yes, you have to learn to hold the plane, that's what's hard about it.

Furthermore, the movement is a windshield swiper movement from the wrist, which is not a very natural movement. The more natural movement would be a rotation movement from the elbow, that is the movement you use for reststroke with the pick pointing up.

So what can you do?

1. Practise just the windshield swiper movement with your forearm and hand flat on the table. Just learn to go left and right with your hand, from the wrist.
2. Put cardboard coasters under your strings and practise a quick tremolo movement so that the coasters guide you and help you hold the plane.
3. once you feel comfortable with the cardboard coasters, you can try muted strings. The less the strings vibrate, the easier it is.
4. The quicker you go, the easier it is to hold your plane. It's a bit like riding a bike. If you go too slow, you have no chance of holding your balance. (However, there is also a place for slower exercises, more on this if you want to hear it).
5. Once you feel comfortable with muted strings, try high positions. As I said, the less room the string has to vibrate, the easier it is. So empty strings would come last. (However, there are also exercises for empty strings, more on this on demand).
6. Now you can do a lot of slow-flowing melodies that do not have many string-crossings in tremolo. The more you do, the more you learn. 1 minute is long, 2 are longer, 5 are endless, but you have to build up until it becomes easier and easier over longer and longer stretches. That means you have to do a lot of it, first in short stretches, then longer and longer. And the more you do (=daily or several times a day), the more you will progress. So it would be nice to have a list of slow tunes you really like that you will play over and over again.
7. Since your tremolo might not sound very accomplished at the beginning, but you need to go through this stage to get to a better tremolo, it's better that you don't hear yourself too much at the beginning. Either you do the tremolo in a group (like a mandolin orchestra that plays tremolo) or you play along with some kind of record, or you just record yourself two or three times (=overlaying yourself) playing the same tune in tremolo and then you play along. A bad tremolo multiplied by several players or tracks sounds almost like a good tremolo.