Introduction to the Mandola

The mandola is not exactly an instrument you hear of every day. Sometimes hard to find and even harder to find any music to play. My spell checker doesn’t even know the word! When I type in mandola, I get the correction “mandala.” That’s how rare it is. Haha.

Rare indeed, but why? It is the perfect Celtic instrument and could be so effective in many genres of music. You will, however, find the mandola in classical settings and mandolin orchestras. The mandola is like the viola in the string orchestra. Slightly bigger than a mandolin, four doubled strings and tuned a fifth down to C-G-D-A.

The mandola, sometimes called the tenor mandola, apparently came before the mandolin and is suspected to be a descendant of the pandura, mandura and the lute.

Here are a few examples of mandolas. The first is a custom-built mandola, and the second is a common brand available at music stores:

Mandola Transposition

The most accessible keys on the mandola are C, G and D.  However, the traditional keys for many Celtic tunes don’t always match up to the most accessible key on the mandola. Most mandola players I know come from mandolin, so you will need lots of transposing to work with the C-G-D-A tuning. That’s why most of the tunes in my book are presented in several keys.

Fortunately, transposing can be simplified with a capo. You will encounter the two most common transpositions from the key of C to D (capo 2) or from the key of G to A, which is also capo 2. If you learn a tune in the key of C but want to play it in the key of D, just put your capo on the 2nd fret. Also, put the capo on fret 2 if you learn a tune in G but want to play in the key of A. If you don’t want to transpose from the mandolin, put your capo at the 7th fret. This will put the mandola in mandolin tuning: G-D-A-E.

Mandola Notation and Tablature

There seems to be some uncertainty as to how to notate mandola music. Writing the music in treble clef makes perfect sense since many mandola players are also mandolinists. Of course, some players will prefer the alto clef as you find mandola music in the alto clef, particularly in mandolin orchestra scores. I mean, it’s excellent to learn the alto clef if you want to play in the orchestra, but if you aim to play Celtic music in a band or solo, then treble clef is best.

(I found the best solution is to arrange two books, one in treble clef and one in alto clef.)

Make sure to check out my tips for flatpicking to help improve your mandola technique.  Play blues mandolin?  Check out this post here.  

Learn Two Celtic Tunes on your Mandola

There do not appear to be many books written specifically for the mandola. That is not why I wrote my Celtic Mandola Music Book, though. I have played mandolin in a Celtic band for many years and wanted to add an alto range instrument into the mix. I did use my octave mandolin but found it a bit dense when combined with a 6-string guitar. The mandola was a perfect match in the band and as a solo instrument.

Mandola Tune 1 – Rakes of Kildare

This tune is arranged for single note playing and taken from the fiddle sheet music. You will notice the slurred lines are played as hammer-ons and pull-offs. Experiment with the slurring to help with difficult fingerings and picking patterns or to accent notes. Also, listen to how fiddle players group the notes together to get ideas. 

It is standard practice to embellish the tunes with ornaments. Watch the video notation below to hear The Rakes of Kildare on the mandola. This tune is notated in the alto clef, but the treble clef edition is also available. 

Mandola Tune 2 – The Parting Glass

This arrangement of The Parting Glass is in the chordal melody style. Meaning, the chords and melody are combined to create a solo. The arrangement also works well with guitar backing.

I suggest going over the chord shapes and double stops before trying to play the tune at the full tempo. Take it slow and gradually increase the tempo. Notice the dotted line above the notes indicates to hold a barre down.      

Are you a guitar player?  Check out this lesson in Open G tuning. 

So there is your quick introduction to the mandola. My book also covers mandola chords, with 96 of the most commonly used chords if you want to learn to chord along.     

Please leave any suggestions or comments for more mandola lessons below. Good luck!