Imre Z. Balint, BSc, MPM, MBA

Well I'm happy to say that I'm still really enjoying my mandolin and after playing around with it for fun one day I accidentally stumbled upon La Cucaracha! So after a week of practicing the tune I decided to create a video of it . Now please do keep in mind that there may be other versions of it, so this may not be "proper" so-to-speak. But as far as notes go, it sounds just fine to me. For my next mandolin video I'll be playing Fur Elise, a beautiful composition by none other than Beethoven; a little trickier than the Mexican song, but practice will help snag perfection. So do have fun practicing the tune. Also, please subscribe and check me out on Facebook (become a Fan! Fans are cool!). Web Resources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cucaracha

Alright, time to finish the supplemental post to my video on tuning a mandolin . First of all I'll start with saying that the method I use to tune my mandolin is the way I like to do it. I'm pretty certain there is nothing really wrong with starting at the G strings and working my way through to the E's using an electronic chromatic tuner, and then going through again by fretting the strings at the seventh fret and tuning the next pair (since a mandolin is tuned in fifths, fretting a pair of strings at the seventh fret will have the same note as the next higher pitched pair of strings; e.g. fret a G at the seventh fret and you get an D, which is the same note as the next set of strings played open). But I've read about other tactics such as tuning your A string first using either an electronic tuner or another instrument (usually a piano) and then tuning the rest of the strings to that nicely tuned A string. My ultimate recommendation is as usual, do a little research...

Not exactly photography... or at all, but for all you music lovers out there, this one is for you... and I'll probably come up with more too. So, if you've never played a mandolin yet or are thinking of getting one, you might find my video useful about how to tune one. You can watch it below or click the previous link to view it in HD. And I detect a pattern... I tend to stay up far too late, which means that I'll be writing the "real" supplemental mandolin tuning blog post tomorrow evening and I'll be sure to include those links to websites that have some chord charts and scales. Remember to subscribe , check me out on Facebook (become a Fan!), and I'll cya l8r!