About This Workshop
In this Peghead Nation Session, Ethan Setiawan covers his approach to the foundations of mandolin playing, including picking- and fretting-hand techniques, pick hold and angle, tremolo, cross-picking, and more. He shares practical exercises to help you develop better technique, tone, and control, and applies all of these fundamentals to playing the bluegrass tune, ”Cherokee Shuffle,” both his basic arrangement of the melody and with variations.
Meet the Instructor
Ethan Setiawan
Ethan Setiawan has a command of the mandolin far beyond his 20-some odd years and has won both the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield, Kansas and the Rockygrass Mandolin Championship. Called “creative and virtuosic” by WBUR, his path has wended its way through traditional bluegrass, Bach partitas, and free jazz. Ethan was one of three children who were homeschooled by folk-loving parents, so his childhood was untraditional and full of exploration. “As a teenager, I loved the idea of going to jams and having this community of people I could hang out with,” he says. He began driving to Chicago to take lessons with Don Stiernberg and traveled to California to attend The Mandolin Symposium. After finishing high school, Setiawan attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship.
His debut full-length album, Flux, is made up of original tunes drawing from the wells of bluegrass, jazz, and new acoustic music. On Gambit, his most recent release, Ethan takes the calculated musical risks of a seasoned player. He moves aptly between stylistic influences, harking back to the experimental string band music pioneered in the early 1980s while presenting entirely original compositions.
In addition to his solo projects, Setiawan is an in-demand sideman and band member, and can be seen playing with Acoustic Nomads, Hildaland, and Darol Anger among others.
ethansetiawan.com/
The Mandolin From the Ground Up Session Includes:
- 90 minutes of video instruction
- Lessons on picking-hand fundamentals, including holding the pick, pick angle, and efficient motion of your arm
- Techniques for creating good tone and playing in time
- Introduction to tremolo and cross-picking, with demonstrations and exercises
- Detailed explanation of fretting-hand technique, including how to hold the mandolin neck and where to place fingers on frets
- Tips for keeping your fingers from flying off the fretboard
- Exercises to apply fretting- and picking-hand techniques together
- Instruction in Ethan’s arrangement of “Cherokee Shuffle,” both the melody and with multiple variations
- Downloadable notation and tab for “Cherokee Shuffle”
- Play-Along Tracks for the melody and variations of “Cherokee Shuffle”
- Permanent access to the material in this workshop as part of your Peghead Nation login
Sign Up for the Session
Session fee of $35, view recordings on your own schedule.
In this Peghead Nation Session, Ethan Setiawan covers his approach to the foundations of mandolin playing, including picking- and fretting-hand techniques, pick hold and angle, tremolo, cross-picking, and more. He shares practical exercises to help you develop better technique, tone, and control, and applies all of these fundamentals to playing the bluegrass tune ”Cherokee Shuffle,” both his basic arrangement of the melody and with variations that will put you on the path toward improvising. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refine your technique, this Mandolin From the Ground Up Session is a clear, thoughtful approach to building a strong foundation on the mandolin.
Mandolin From the Ground Up Workshop
Welcome to Mandolin From the Ground Up
Ethan plays us in and then gives an overview of what he will cover in the Session. He also talks about how the techniques he teaches are guides that have worked well for him, though you may have slight modifications that fit your shape and preferences.
Picking-Hand Fundamentals
Your picking hand plays a central role in tone, timing, and feel. In this section, Ethan walks through the mechanics of holding the pick, picking the strings, developing efficient picking-hand and arm motion, the basics of cross-picking and playing tremolo, and building consistency in your tone, along with exercises and troubleshooting tips to help you refine your technique.
Fretting-Hand Fundamentals
Ethan turns to the fretting hand, focusing on how to hold the mandolin neck, where to place your fingers on the fretboard, how to keep your fingers from lifting off the fretboard to create a clean tone. He shows how the fretting hand works with the picking hand to produce clear, controlled notes, and how to lengthen and control the sustain of the notes that you’re playing.
Putting it All Together on “Cherokee Shuffle”
With a solid grounding in the fundamentals, it is time to put some of the techniques to work! Ethan walks you through the bluegrass classic “Cherokee Shuffle,” demonstrating how he thinks about learning tunes, breaking more difficult passages down and taking them slowly, and more. He also shows you some variations that he would play using hammer-ons, pull-offs, grace notes, and arpeggiated sequences, getting you on the road to improvising.
