# Music by Genre > Rock, Folk Rock, Roots Rock, Rockabilly >  The mandolin is more than just a folk instrument

## Upnorth

I recently saw an English folk quartet in concert.  One member of the group played guitar and mandolin.  I asked another group member how he decided which instrument to play on each song.  She replied that he tended to play guitar on rock and on country and western songs, and mandolin on folk songs.

I'm proud to say that I play rock music on my mandolin.

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albeham, 

Ben Cooper, 

Ed Goist, 

John Lloyd, 

zedmando

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## Hudmister

I've never heard of an English folk quartet that played rock and country.  Don't let these things bother you.  You can play anything you want on your mandolin.

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albeham

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## Freddyfingers

I dabble in a bit of blues on mine.  People are always trying to pigeon hole things. It limits what one can do.

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## journeybear

Not really. It doesn't limit your ability, but it limits their perception, their understanding and appreciation of what you can do, and indeed are doing, because they are not listening with their ears and an open, receptive mind, but with the desire to find proof of their preconceived assumptions. They are missing out because of their prejudice, not you. The mandolin is no more limited to folk music than guitar is to rock or piano to classical. It may be most popularly used in bluegrass, but it is quite capable and even adept at conveying many other types of music. It's not what you have, it's what you do with it that counts.  :Cool:

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Ed Goist, 

John Lloyd, 

Poppa Mike

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## DavidKOS

journeybear's right, the mandolin is not limited to folk music nor rock - after all it is a *CLASSICAL* instrument and capable of playing almost any sort of music on it.

Even though most mandolin playing is in a folk style, it all started with the classical mandolin.  

Now I'm off to play some rock on my mandolin.....classic rock :Laughing:

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Jess L., 

journeybear, 

Rob Zamites

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## JeffD

> The mandolin is more than just a folk instrument.


This struck me as coffee choking funny. I am not sure why. I mean yea the mandolin can and does do anything. 

But the unquestioned implication, I suppose, is that "folk instrument" is less than "musical instrument". An ocarina or something. Folk instruments are like, playing spoons, or the bones, or jaw harp, wash tub base. Something improvised, maybe homemade, certainly not refined or sophisticated enough for polite society. Certainly not cool enough for any young person with hopes of a social life. Not something anyone would aspire to.  :Laughing: 

You might have to wear some "native costume" from somewhere nobody can pronounce, and play in front of several young girls dancing in over bright decorated dresses next to a flag. You might have to wear some bells. Something for multi-cultural festivals and church fund raisers.   :Smile: 


Is that a folk instrument I see in that video? Doesn't even have strings.

(That place nobody can pronounce is different for everyone I am sure. I didn't get "Olathe" right the first time myself. But a couple of red beers at a place in the mall fixed that right away.)

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Andy Boden, 

DavidKOS

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## journeybear

> Now I'm off to play some rock on my mandolin.....classic rock


Right! A little Led Zeppelin, or something from Rod Stewart, perhaps. Or if you want to get a bit more modern, Cowboy Junkies.  :Mandosmiley:

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Ed Goist

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## journeybear

Oooh ... ocarina! One is a folk instrument, twenty is a humble but sublime orchestra.

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## Richard J

I found my grandfathers ocarina yesterday when looking for something else. Played around with it for about 1/2 hour, handed it to my wife and together had a lovely duet for Kitchen Girl & Swinging on a Gate medley. An ocarina & mandolin together was a perfect fit...

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## DavidKOS

> Right! A little Led Zeppelin, or something from *Rod Stewart*, perhaps. Or if you want to get a bit more modern, Cowboy Junkies.


Or REM.

As for the Rod Stewart bit, even though the rest of what I learned to play on mandolin as a kid was Italian, I'm happy to say that the very first thing I played on my new mandolin was the end part of "Maggie May".

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## DavidKOS

Folk instrument.

HHHHmmmmmmm

This is a whole can of worms, as even the esteemed concert violin is also a folk fiddle.

Sometimes it's how you use it....classical instruments are also "folk instruments" when used by folk to play popular functional music, not "art" music.

Some instruments used to be classical and now are folk, like the Irish flute which is just the large-tone-hole simple system keyed flute as used in classical music before the invention and adoption of the Boehm flute.

Clarinets are often used in folk music, like Greek, Turkish, Klezmer, Dixieland, etc. Another classical instrument used for folk music.

And then there are the instruments never intended for concert use, like the diatonic accordion and concertina (not the English concertina which was designed to play classical music), the Appalachian dulcimer, the zurna/davul, etc.

So it's not an easy designation or classification of instruments, and of little help to the organologist.

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Rick Schneider, 

Simon DS

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## journeybear

> Or REM.
> 
> As for the Rod Stewart bit, even though the rest of what I learned to play on mandolin as a kid was Italian, I'm happy to say that the very first thing I played on my new mandolin was the end part of "Maggie May".


Well, you said "classic rock." I was already pushing it with Cowboy Junkies.  :Wink: 

The first thing I was "commissioned" to play on mandolin was that same end bit. I started out playing songs I already knew, or rather, had an idea of how they went, aided by songbooks and the Mel Bay Mandolin Chords book. Since this was during the classic rock era, these songs were by The Band, Lovin' Spoonful, Traffic, Dead, Airplane, Tull, and the like. Not traditional mandolin songs, _per se,_ just songs I liked and could figure out. And I think I already explained how I feel about expectations for the mandolin.  :Wink:

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## journeybear

> I found my grandfathers ocarina yesterday when looking for something else. Played around with it for about 1/2 hour, handed it to my wife and together had a lovely duet for Kitchen Girl & Swinging on a Gate medley. An ocarina & mandolin together was a perfect fit...


My first instrument was the Tonette, a plastic ocarina foisted upon school kids in the late 50s - early 60s. I used to wail on it, so much so my mom got me a recorder and some lessons - my only formal music theory education. I've progressed just a bit since then  :Wink:  but earlier this year got a hankering to revisit this and found one on eBay at a non-collector's price (unbelievable what some people think anything of a certain age is worth). It's fun to tootle around on, but it is clearly sized for younger, smaller hands.  :Whistling:  And, um, somewhat lacking in definition and tonality. Good enough place to start, though, I reckon.  :Cool: 

Vivaldi didn't write a concerto for it, so it can't be considered a classical instrument, but a folk instrument, I suppose. Same applies to banjo.  :Wink:  And musical saw, bo diddly, psaltery, all the instruments DavidKOS mentioned, and plenty more. Though if The Red Priest were alive today, he might have some fun writing for some of these and other instruments.  :Smile:

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## JeffD

> I found my grandfathers ocarina yesterday when looking for something else. Played around with it for about 1/2 hour, handed it to my wife and together had a lovely duet for Kitchen Girl & Swinging on a Gate medley. An ocarina & mandolin together was a perfect fit...


I met a fellow at a festival who could play old timey fiddle tunes on an ocarina, quite well. It was pretty cool to play with him.

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## JeffD

> So it's not an easy designation or classification of instruments,.


Absolutely not. Or of music. 

Especially in cultures where three levels of music developed - where the local (traditional) high classical became subordinate to the imported European high classical. The Irish Harp music is folk to the classical, and classical to the folk. 

I won't say that the distinctions that define folk music are non-existant, just that the domain is fuzzy edged. 

And from the point of view of a non-professional participant in the music, its all good, its all important, its all ennobling, and it can all be done on the mandolin.

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DavidKOS, 

John Lloyd

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## Paul Merlo

I always thought Folk bands were 3 acoustic guitar's and the one guy's girlfriend on tambourine?

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## Upnorth

This quartet is vocalist, guitar player/vocalist, violin player, and guitar player/mandolin player.

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## Steve Lavelle

I'm a little confused. based on what I've read on this forum, most of our audiences don't even know the name of the instrument we play ("little guitar", "Ukalele", "what is that?"), so why would we let other's perception of the instrument have any influence on what type of music we play on it? The word "play" implies use of the imagination, limits are for people who want to stay in the box instead of thinking outside of it. "What kind of music do you play?" is my least favorite question.

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John Lloyd, 

Londy

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## DavidKOS

> Since this was during the classic rock era, these songs were by The Band, Lovin' Spoonful, Traffic, Dead, Airplane, Tull, and the like. Not traditional mandolin songs,


Like Tull's "Fat Man"?




> My first instrument was the Tonette, a plastic ocarina foisted upon school kids in the late 50s - early 60s. I used to wail on it, so much so my mom got me a* recorder* and some lessons - my only formal music theory education. .....
> 
> Vivaldi didn't write a concerto for it, so it can't be considered a classical instrument, but a folk instrument, I suppose. Same applies to banjo.  And musical saw, bo diddly, psaltery, all the instruments DavidKOS mentioned, and plenty more. Though if The Red Priest were alive today, he might have some fun writing for some of these and other instruments.


There's that line, that fuzzy line. If Vivaldi or Mozart or who-all wrote a piece for the instrument in question it's "classical". Even if it's a mechanical instrument? Something limited? Again, no easy answers.

And if he were around now there would be Vivaldi works for 'ukulele.




> so why would we let other's perception of the instrument have any influence on what type of music we play on it? The word "play" implies use of the imagination, limits are for people who want to stay in the box instead of thinking outside of it. "What kind of music do you play?" is my least favorite question.



I get, and spiritually agree with where you're coming from.

But the quest about what music you play is an easy starting point for players of an instrument like guitar - or mandolin - that can play so many styles of music. I consider it an innocent question.

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## JeffD

> I'm a little confused. based on what I've read on this forum, most of our audiences don't even know the name of the instrument we play ("little guitar", "Ukalele", "what is that?"), so why would we let other's perception of the instrument have any influence on what type of music we play on it?


From a practical point of view I doubt if anyone really does.




> . "What kind of music do you play?" is my least favorite question.


My experience has been that if someone asks that question, as you have worded it, I likely do not play a kind of music with which the person is familiar. 

There are probably exceptions. I will let you know when I come across one.

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## journeybear

> Like Tull's "Fat Man"?


No; one would think, but no. Somehow I had the book for their first album, "This Was," their bluesiest, jazziest one, so that's "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You," "Beggar's Farm," "My Sunday Feeling," and one of my all-time favorite Tull songs, "A Song for Jeffrey." (I noodle the riff from  "Beggar's Farm" to this day; of course, no one recognizes it.) I realized much later that "It's Breaking Me Up," with its off-kilter rhythm kick and the way it leans on the intro/interlude riff, was a big influence on my own songwriting regarding the blues.and let's not forget their version of "Cat's Squirrel," very different from Cream's, and featuring possibly the longest continuous drum roll in the history of rock, about 2:25, behind Mick Abrahams' wide-ranging guitar solo. Truly, a great album, preceding all the acoustic and other weirdness that began on "Stand Up," another great album. Pretty sure Mick had to go, as Ian was a bit of a control freak, and couldn't abide having two creative forces in the band. (That's my take, anyway.) Finally, a moment of silence for Glenn Cornick, bass player, who died this past August 29th.  :Frown: 





> There's that line, that fuzzy line. If Vivaldi or Mozart or who-all wrote a piece for the instrument in question it's "classical". Even if it's a mechanical instrument? Something limited? Again, no easy answers.


I was being a bit facetious, though Vivaldi did write for an impressive variety of instruments.

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DavidKOS

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## Gelsenbury

> But the unquestioned implication, I suppose, is that "folk instrument" is less than "musical instrument".


And that the mandolin is elevated by being used for rock. Fair enough, I suppose, for the rock sub-forum.

But I can find nothing wrong with the band's decision. Unless misquoted, they didn't say that the mandolin is unsuitable for anything but folk. They just choose to use it for folk.  One might equally well question the choice of guitar for rock, when it can do such a good job in folk.  :Wink: 

Isn't it good that mandolin and guitar are so versatile that we can use them for Christmas songs as well as folk, rock, blues, classical, and whatever else floats our boat?

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## JeffD

Oh, mine is not a serious complaint, I haven't taken offense or anything. It just stuck me as funny "more than just a folk instrument". We would not normally say "more than _just_ a chamber musician", or "more than _just_ a jazz instrument" and we would never say "more than _just a blues instrument_". 

I get what the band is trying to do, and it likely makes sense for them.

I like it the other way as well, when electric guitars and rock idioms are used in a folk context. I have always loved Steeleye Span. 

For another genre bender - I really like the band Apocalyptica. Taking the cello into heavy metal is a really cool idea. Its not as new an idea anymore, but when I first heard it I was really impressed. The cello was elevated into rock, from being "just another orchestral instrument" I suppose.

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## journeybear

During my career as a music journalist in the 1990s I encountered cello in unusual settings, two different contexts. One was in Heather Nova's band, in which Nadia Lanman added her cello to the typical rock quartet instrumentation of bass, drums, rhythm and lead guitars. This added some intrigue as well as texture to the mix. She had a straightforward pickup system, as far as I could tell - not heavy on effects. She was more effective on the quieter songs, I suppose, but she kicked it on the rockers, too. 

Donna DeLory, one of Madonna's two principal backup singer/dancers, had a solo career going. She played harmonium on a little over half of her songs, but her main backing came from Cameron Stone playing cello, through a variety of effects. He was brilliant at this, provided a solid backdrop for her singing, and also adroitly playing fills, hooks, and short solos. It was fascinating to see what he would come up with to fulfill his role - always solid, never overpowering, but immensely varied. It was quite an accomplishment for a sideman, and being able to divert attention now and then from the vivacious, delightful Donna was its own sort of achievement.  :Wink:

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## jaycat

> . . . I asked another group member how *he* decided which instrument to play on each song.  *She* replied that *he* tended to play guitar on rock and on country and western songs, and mandolin on folk songs.


This is the source of my confusement. I don't know about that other stuff.

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## journeybear

> This is the source of my confusement. I don't know about that other stuff.


My guess - and this is only a guess - is that the OP asked a member other than the guitarist/mandolinist about that person's decision-making process. (Of course, if he had asked the musician in question that question directly, instead of chatting with the young lady, he may have received a more illuminating response.) Or it could be that the g/m is a cross-dresser or gender-bender. Or that it was a typo.  :Grin: 

Perhaps like "confusement." I like your new word. It gives me some amusement. (Not to say "amusion.")  :Whistling:

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## jaycat

> Perhaps like "confusement." I like your new word. It gives me some amusement. (Not to say "amusion.")


Some years ago, when D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was being questioned by the press about one of his 'adventures,' he replied: "This is where the confusement has set in." I've been repeating that "declension" for so long it's become second nature. 

I realize this is somewhat off-topic, though.

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journeybear

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## journeybear

I dunno. Sometimes around here, confusement IS the topic, or becomes it. Sure can be fun - however.  :Wink: 

Just to take my meander regarding atypical cello usage a bit further ... I looked up the aforementioned Ms Lanman, wondering what had become of her. I found an interview from 2005, upon the occasion of doing a couple reunion shows. Seems she had been forced to retire from touring due to an unspecified problem with her hand and shoulder (doesn't even say which ones). She now lives in Seoul and is either a dietitian or yoga teacher. There are two vid clips from the reunion, one soft and folky ("Doubled Up"), the other hard and rocky ("Walk This World"). As everyone knows, the latter is one of Ms Nova's big hits, was her breakthrough, actually, and Ms Lanman takes a nice little ride on it at 2:10.

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## Bertram Henze

> You might have to wear some "native costume" from somewhere nobody can pronounce, and play in front of several young girls dancing in over bright decorated dresses next to a flag. You might have to wear some bells.)


You forgot to mention scrolls.  :Grin:

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## Upnorth

> My guess - and this is only a guess - is that the OP asked a member other than the guitarist/mandolinist about that person's decision-making process.


I think I made it clear that that is exactly what I did.  I do not know the guitarist/mandolinist.  I have only ever seen him on stage.  The group member I asked is the one who I know personally.

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## journeybear

I thought you did, too. I was being a *bit* sarcastic and tweaking jaycat goodnaturedly. Sorry if you caught a ricochet; not my intention. I generally prefer to assume a writer has meant what he said, and that was how I read it. These little words - pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions - do have intrinsic meaning and affect meaning by their definitions, usage, and context. I proposed two other interpretations for frivolity's sake only. We do kid each other a fair amount here, as I hope you understand.  :Smile:

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jaycat

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## Ed Goist

Of course, I totally agree that any type of music can be played and played well on the mandolin ( see Jeff Bird  :Smile:  ), but I wonder if this common assertion (mandolin = folk or traditional music) has some basis in music theory.

When one thinks about it, pretty much all rock & country songs have been written on an instrument tuned in fourths with an interval of a third (the guitar), while many (most?) folk, traditional, and roots stringed instrument songs can be traced back to an instrument tuned in fifths (fiddle).

Thoughts?

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## journeybear

I don't agree, but then I am on record on that score, as believing what you stated in the first half pf your opening sentence. A lot of folk songs got their start on something much older than either guitar or mandolin - lute and lyre - played by minstrels, who spread their popularity the old-fashioned way, bringing them from town to town as they traveled. They thus became known throughout regions, and were passed down by the oral tradition, and have become embedded in folk traditions over the ages.

Recent history also refutes your premise. The folk scare of the late 1950s-early 1960s was driven by acoustic guitar. Almost all those songs which now form the basis of modern folk music were written and played on guitars. I can't speak to the theory aspect of your premise, but I believe it is a much less important factor than the sociological ones.

And also, for the rock side of this, a great many songs that formed the basis of rock were written on piano, by professional songwriters working in the Brill Building and elsewhere, then given to producers to produce and singers to sing. That is, until Buddy Holly and then The Beatles came along and ruined it all.

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Ed Goist

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## Bertram Henze

> I totally agree that any type of music can be played and played well on the mandolin


Well, maybe not _any_. You should have tried to impress this man by walking up to him, mandolin in hand, and trying to play Wagner. I'd really have enjoyed the fireworks  :Whistling:

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## JeffD

> When one thinks about it, pretty much all rock & country songs have been written on an instrument tuned in fourths with an interval of a third (the guitar), while many (most?) folk, traditional, and roots stringed instrument songs can be traced back to an instrument tuned in fifths (fiddle).


Fascinating. 

But I think it won't hold up to the evidence. Most obviously all of the folk music that appeared first on guitar. But in addition, much of the traditional music either pre-existed the violin or is evolved from music that pre-existed the violin.

But it is a fascinating idea. Is there something about how an instrument is layed out that predetermines the genres in which it will predominate.

I more likely - mandolin, fiddle, things in fifths, are so easily understood, the note locations being very rational and the internal symmetries making exploration so straight forward - probably makes these kinds of instruments great for tunes and melodies. Guitars, with their great range, less intuitive uneven string intervals, are perhaps more likely to be learned, at least at first, as a great big pile of memorized chords, which leads to accompaniment to singing and melody.

I think this idea probably fails too, upon close examination, and likely its all culturally generated.

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Ed Goist

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## jaycat

> I think I made it clear that that is exactly what I did.  I do not know the guitarist/mandolinist.  I have only ever seen him on stage.  The group member I asked is the one who I know personally.


Pronouns and antecedents can be tricky. But, yeah, I would've asked the girl too. Even if I didn't care what the answer was.

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## jaycat

> . . .  more likely - mandolin, fiddle, things in fifths, are so easily understood, the note locations being very rational and the internal symmetries making exploration so straight forward - probably makes these kinds of instruments great for tunes and melodies. . . .


Nothing is more logically laid out than a piano keyboard, so maybe you're onto something.

I think I would argue that there probably would be no rock and roll without the electric guitar. Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard notwithstanding.

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## Bertram Henze

> Nothing is more logically laid out than a piano keyboard


I don't know. What's so special about C major that it gets all the white keys, without even a capo to transpose? The simple logic of shiftable ffcp chords cannot be done on a piano keyboard, for instance.
No - nothing is more logically laid out than the instrument you're used to, I'll say.

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Rick Schneider, 

StuartE

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## jaycat

I think there's a separate thread about piano capos.

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## DavidKOS

> I don't know. What's so special about C major that it gets all the white keys, without even a capo to transpose? The simple logic of shiftable ffcp chords cannot be done on a piano keyboard, for instance.
> No - nothing is more logically laid out than the instrument you're used to, I'll say.


They have oddball alternative piano keyboards that. like the European Chromatic accordions, allow for you to use the same fingering in any key.

The reason the keyboard as we know it has the white keys is not based on pitch strictly, but on the way Western music developed from the modal system of antiquity. It has to do with the way early organ keyboards were made and the needs of Gregorian and other church chants.

The major scale was the basis, and the written scale of C was first, then the F scale, then G, so the first added chromatics were Bb and G#. These both allowed for ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la, the basic hexachord of the Guidonian hand, to be played in C, F and G, and now we have the ability to also make leading tones for A minor, the natural minor key related to C.

As time went on the rest of the black keys were added.

https://books.google.com/books?id=02...0added&f=false

http://music.stackexchange.com/quest...out-of-a-piano

http://www.get-piano-lessons.com/piano-note-chart.html

Nor was C a fixed pitch necessarily, either, it was just a way of writing music.

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M.Marmot, 

Rick Schneider

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## Bertram Henze

Thanks David, I knew most of that. Historical growth, like in programming and in spoken languages, is hard to overcome by logic later...
Instruments are optimized for playing, not for thinking.

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## zedmando

> I recently saw an English folk quartet in concert.  One member of the group played guitar and mandolin.  I asked another group member how he decided which instrument to play on each song.  She replied that he tended to play guitar on rock and on country and western songs, and mandolin on folk songs.
> 
> I'm proud to say that I play rock music on my mandolin.


I do too--but I just started--so it's a little rough at this point.

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## DavidKOS

> I do too--but I just started--so it's a little rough at this point.


IS the instrument in your avatar your electric firebird mandolin?

That's a rock and roll mandolin!

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## journeybear

The MandoBird, to be precise.  :Wink: 




> As time went on the rest of the black keys were added.


So you got this:



Which led to this:

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## zedmando

> IS the instrument in your avatar your electric firebird mandolin?
> 
> That's a rock and roll mandolin!


That is my mandolin--as of the weekend.
And as Journeybear pints out--it is a Mandobird.
And it is kind of a rock and roll mandolin, isn't it.

I feel like I should learn some Johnny Winter on it as well.

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## journeybear

May I suggest "Bad Luck And Trouble" from "The Progressive Blues Experiment?" Or “Too Much Seconal” from "Still Alive And Well?"

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zedmando

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## zedmando

> May I suggest "Bad Luck And Trouble" from "The Progressive Blues Experiment?" Or “Too Much Seconal” from "Still Alive And Well?"


I was kind of thinking of Still Alive & Well--but thanks for the suggestions.

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Ben Cooper

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## Ben Cooper

> I was kind of thinking of Still Alive & Well--but thanks for the suggestions.


Used to sing that song with a band many years ago.  Great tune!  Would love to hear it on mandolin!

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## zedmando

I used to know the chords to that--it's been a while--I have to check it out.

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Ben Cooper

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## journeybear

> I was kind of thinking of Still Alive & Well--but thanks for the suggestions.


I suggested those because Johnny played mandolin on them. He played other instruments, too, as you can hear, but there is that. Of course, you can play anything you want on _your_ mandolin.  :Wink:

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## zedmando

> I think there's a separate thread about piano capos.


How about an amplifier capo?

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GeoMandoAlex

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## JohnTCrosley

When it comes down to it, it's just music. I don't necessarily play folk, rock, blues, classical, or otherwise. I play mandolin, and bass. The music I play on those instruments is a mixed bag of everything from Bach to the Beatles, Bluegrass to Metal. Alternative, Progressive, whatever. I started playing mandolin to do solo performing because I have never been able to find a group of musicians on the same page as me, and I want to play certain things that may not seem to fit with anything else, and no one I played with got the concept of doing your own thing with the music. But are more than willing to do a bands cover, not thinking about it being a completely different genre of music that this group arranged to their groups genre. E.G. Bach's Bouree (classical), done by Jethro Tull in 1969, becomes a jazz tune. Why not?. This is the fun of it for me. Arranging music to fit what I do. Rock on.

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DavidKOS

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## Rick Nelson

> I recently saw an English folk quartet in concert.  One member of the group played guitar and mandolin.  I asked another group member how he decided which instrument to play on each song.  She replied that he tended to play guitar on rock and on country and western songs, and mandolin on folk songs.
> 
> I'm proud to say that I play rock music on my mandolin.


I play a lot of 70s era Rock, Beatles, 
America,  Cat Stevens, Elton John, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor,  and especially Seals and Crofts.  Early S&C got me hooked on the mandolin. Dash Crofts played a mix of classical sounding and rock leads on the mandolin that is still uniquely his style of playing.  That era of folk-rock type music sounds really great on the mandolin, (sometimes even when I play it).

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DavidKOS

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## John Lloyd

At any given Saturday night noisemaking session ("more than a jam, less than a gig") our still-evolving and thus still nameless band is almost guaranteed to play at least two songs each from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd (not gonna bother looking up the spelling), Bob Marley (of course), and Jimmy Buffet (borderline "duh" considering location). Most of these had neither mandolin nor fiddle in them as originally recorded, but depending on the mood of the moment I play one or the other--and occasionally both--in every one of 'em and will probably start slipping mandola and/or alto fiddle into some of the slower ones.

Straight-up bluegrass, on the other hand ... I can listen to it all night but I hardly ever play it. That's just as well, since my preference for oval-hole mandos has only gotten stronger over the past few years.

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## Hypoxia

Folk instruments are played for free. Musical instrument players are paid.

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## JeffD

> Folk instruments are played for free. Musical instrument players are paid.


Well there is that.

 :Laughing:

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## Mudchutney

> Folk instruments are played for free. Musical instrument players are paid.


I'm sure there's a naughty twist to that phrase inserting the word "badly"....but I'm not going to go there!

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## Charlie Bernstein

> I dabble in a bit of blues on mine.  People are always trying to pigeon hole things. It limits what one can do.


Well, natch! The thing was born for blues. It's mainly what I use it for. Most of the old blues and jug acts featured mando, at least sometimes, for good reason: You can shred.

If you haven't, check out the Memphis Jug Band (I love those guys), Yank Rachell, and Johnny Young. 

And for contemporary sounds: Rich DelGrosso. I listen to his "Get Outta My Business" and "The Ragpickers" albums over and over. Too much fun!

(And actually, I limit what I do intentionally. I'd rather be good at a few things than bad at everything.)

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DavidKOS

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## Charlie Bernstein

> I recently saw an English folk quartet in concert.  One member of the group played guitar and mandolin.  I asked another group member how he decided which instrument to play on each song.  She replied that he tended to play guitar on rock and on country and western songs, and mandolin on folk songs.
> 
> I'm proud to say that I play rock music on my mandolin.


She was just saying it was how she liked to do it. Nothing wrong with that. 

It might be how her mind organizes things. Or what sounds good to her. 

Or it might be that on mando she's only comfortable with basic major and minor scales and a short list of chords. When I have an audience, I try to stick with what I'm good at.

Whichever way, live and let live. As long as she's having fun and entertaining people, power to her.

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## DavidKOS

> Well, natch! The thing was* born for blues*. It's mainly what I use it for. Most of the old blues and jug acts featured mando, at least sometimes, for good reason: You can shred.


It was an easy transition from Italy to the blues, evidently.

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## Sue Rieter

Since I took up the mandolin and started perusing this forum, I have not only learned about so much music I never knew about, but also was reminded of things I haven't listened to in years and years and years. Based on reading this thread, for instance, I'm listening to a 1974 album by Seldom Scene. I didn't think I knew this band, but in listening, I realize that I heard some of this music when I was in high school and forgot all about it. Honestly, the mandolin and you people have brought music back into my life  :Mandosmiley: 

Thank you. Thank you.

Sue

PS. I listened to the Memphis Jug Band this morning.

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Jess L.

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## Bob Clark

> Honestly, the mandolin and you people have brought music back into my life


Hello Sue,

And what better time to do it?  With music and your beautiful cats, what more could one need to remain relatively sane during these trying times (assuming, of course, the basic necessities are covered)?  Good for you!

Best wishes,  Bob

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Sue Rieter

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