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Fretted instruments are
stringed instruments such as a
guitar or banjo that have strips
going diagonally across the neck,
known as frets, that help the
fingers stop at the right places to
produce certain tones.
McDonald now can play
guitar, ukulele, mandolin and
bass and teaches all of them at
his studio. He said the guitar is
the best for learning other fretted
instruments. It takes the most
skill, learning the way to shape
cords and muscle memory. “If
you learn the guitar first the
others are going to be easier to
learn,” he said.
Muscle memory? “Oh,
definitely. That’s how you know,
or rather how your fingers know,
where the pick is supposed to
land for each chord or note. It’s
how you learn to quickly find
your spots when shaping chords.
Muscle memory is one of the
hardest and most frustrating
things to master,” he said.
That goes with learning that
finger and hand movements need
not be big or exaggerated when
playing a fretted instrument.
“Another one of the hardest
things to learn is how subtle
your movements can be and still
produce the sound you want.
You see these rock stars getting
into the music and whirling
their arms, landing the picks in
just the right places every time.
That takes muscle memory but
it doesn’t have to be that big,”
McDonald said.
The other instruments are
played a little differently in
the way they are strummed or
picked, but muscle memory is
just as important, he said.
“The ukulele is fast becoming
the instrument of choice for
people starting out on fretted
instruments. It’s inexpensive and
still takes a lot of skill to make the
music you want from it,” he said.
The banjo and mandolin don’t
get as much interest, but both are
fun to play, he said. “Those are
instruments that are hard to put
down once you learn them,” he
said.
One recent afternoon found
Katie Moffitt of Canton in the AFI
studio for a lesson on her banjo.
The 15-year-old was already
learning to play piano but her
mother wanted her to learn more
instruments to be more well-
rounded. She chose the banjo. “I
like it. It’s fun,” the shy teen said
just before she and McDonald
started to duet on a gospel song,
with the teacher accompanying
the student on the guitar.
Outside the studio, Kim
Moffitt, Katie’s mother, said she
was surprised her daughter chose
banjo after she had been leaning
toward a reed instrument. But
she supported the decision.
Next came finding an
instructor. Kidder Music in Peoria
gave her a list of names and after
checking into instructors she
chose McDonald because “I liked
talking with him and I could tell
he was knowledgeable. He has
helped her a lot.
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