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What styles of music can a mandolin be played?

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Like we said earlier one of the most noted styles of music that a mandolin can be played with is Indian music. The tuning doesn’t actually make a whole lot of difference in Indian classical music because there is no pitch sound in that genre of music. Another style of music that has used the instrument for quite a while is minstrel, renaissance, or folk music. The reason for the variety of names for the music is because the names have switched over the years since this came about, and also have taken on different connotations. Folk music has actually distanced itself from the former two in the reason years. The mandolin is played in this kind of music to support a different sound as opposed to the true bass guitar or the drums. Many groups used to use violins, but because of costs and portability sometimes the mandolin is used more frequently for traveling groups.

Mandolins have recently been used in country, bluegrass, and old-time music to increase the depth of the sound. Like we have said earlier this instrument is connected closely to the banjo, but gives a little bit less of a “twang” sound, and allows the music to take on a different twist. Also the mandolin has been branching into other styles of music. Hip-Hop has used the mandolin to give a new rhythmic sound to some of their cuts, and alternative music has added the mandolin on a track or two of their studio projects. Because of the ease of play and similar cost the mandolin has been used in almost every different style of music.

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