MANDO
[ MANDO BATTLESHIP | Tyson Bryant ]
Remember the childhood game Battleship? our more full-frequencied (I made that word up away with playing two-note variations of the
I used to play it regularly with my siblings just now) cousins like the piano and guitar— chords—play the ‘special’ note of the chord
(especially with my younger sister.) While we but…that also means we aren’t tied to the (for example, the B note in the A2 chord) and
sometimes made up our own set of unique same responsibilities that those instruments then find the nearest, easy to reach note of the
rules, the basic premise was always the same. must shoulder. three remaining notes from the vanilla chord. It
You would deploy the ships on your hidden
doesn’t really matter if you add the root note
side of the game board. Your opponent would Consider the guitar player. He’s got 6 strings to or not—the other instruments will have that
do the same on her side. Since the game is keep track of and only 5 fret-able fingers to do covered. Just figure out which extra vanilla
played out on a grid you would then have to it with. Chances are he’s going to skip right over notes to add that are easy to finger. Focus on
use coordinates to find and virtually lob missiles most of those ‘special’ chords and opt instead emphasizing that special note in the chord.
at your opponent’s ships. for the vanilla varieties of each chord (G instead
A2. F4. G11. E7.
“You sank my Battleship!”
of G2, C instead of C6, etc). If many of these THE HERO WE NEED
special chords appear in the song, or if the If you do this you’ll look like a super hero to your
chords changes come rapidly, the guitar player team. Here’s why:
will be even more likely to simplify and stick to
the vanilla chords.
First, it isn’t difficult for you to play because you
We musicians have our own similar brand are specifically building your chords based
of alphabet soup. Instead of a gameboard on what is easy to play, and not based on an
grid, for musicians these coordinates show
up on our chord sheets as special variations
to chords in our songs. The numbers, as
you are likely already aware, are a reference
to notes that should be added to the chord
relative to the root note (the letter name) of
the chord. If the chord letter value is assumed
to be at position ‘1’ the note at the position
of the number value is the special note in the
chord.
So A2 is an A chord with a B note added.
E7 is an E chord with a D note added.
And so on.
I frequently revert to counting on my fingers
when working out some of these lesser-
played variations.
VANILLA IS BORING
Since nobody is
really relying on
obligation to get all of the vanilla notes into
your chord structure.
Second, the ‘special’ notes are so often
you to carry the full neglected by the other instruments that
chord structure, adding them gives the song so much more
quit trying. Focus had a reason for using those chords, and
instead on those someone on the team is focused on adding
special chords, and
specifically the
having the mandolin focus specifically on
depth and texture. Whoever wrote the song
your band’s arrangement will sound better if
them in.
All of this just requires a little preparation. You
are going to be creating your own custom
special notes within
them.
two-or-three note chord structures, and you
likely won’t be able to do that on-the-fly (I
certainly can’t). So, identify these chords
before rehearsal and maybe jot down some
notes to remind you what you plan to play.
As a mandolin player these types of chords
jump off the chord sheet at me precisely
The takeaway? With minimal difficulty and a
because they are special. Let’s face it: On Mandolins are under no such restraint. Since little preparation, you can take your worship
a contemporary worship stage a mandolin nobody is really relying on you to carry the team’s sound to the next, more complete
is not ever going to be considered a ‘core’ full chord structure, quit trying. Focus instead level. For me, that’s an even better feeling than
instrument. That cuts both ways. Sure, we on those special chords, and specifically the repeatedly beating my sister at Battleship!
don’t get the same respect for our mandos as special notes within them. You can even get
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November 2017
WorshipMusician.com