All Blog Entries

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of playing a couple shows in NC, with my own 4-piece band. Here's a video of us playing Ricky Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou" from our performance at White Horse Black Mountain in Black Mountain, NC.



I was fortunate enough to have some of my favorite Nashville players come join me: Christian Sedelmyer on 5-string fiddle (10 String Symphony and Jerry Douglas Band), Jake Stargel on Guitar ...

Happy National Day of Sweden (Sveriges nationaldag)! What better way to celebrate than with a polska from the greatest Swedish band of all time, Vasen! I first learned this tune at the 2013 Acoustic Music Seminar and it's been a favorite ever since.



You can now get a tab/notation transcription for this video, and all of my other personal solo Mandolin Mondays arrangements on my Patreon site here: https://www.patreon.com/davidbenedictmandolin ...

Happy Memorial Day everyone! So much gratitude to those who have given everything to serve this country. Really enjoyed exploring some unique harmony for this old tune.



You can now get a tab/notation transcription for this video, and all of my other personal solo Mandolin Mondays arrangements on my Patreon site here: https://www.patreon.com/davidbenedictmandolin

Happy Picking!

David

Here are a few of my favorite easy-going Irish reels--all penned by the great fiddler Paddy Fahy. In order of appearance I believe these are reels No. 14, No. 20, and No. 1 from the Fahy cannon. I learned the first two from the playing of one of my favorite fiddlers, Martin Hayes, and the last from the playing of the great Kevin Burke.



You can now get a tab/notation transcription for this video, and all of my other personal solo ...

Well, teaching music isn't always what it's cracked up to be, and sometimes it can be as challenging as other jobs, like firefighting or being a prison guard. I've decided to put some of my experiences to paper, and I now share them with you. I hope you find some amusement in reading them, and if you do, then by all means share them! Here is one chapter, and then I post the links at the bottom to the rest of the memoirs. Get a cup of coffee and gather up you cat and do some relaxing reading, because, ...

It seems that most folks learning a new hobby find numerous ways to make the process more difficult.

I was no different. Not long after I had mastered the “baby steps” of the banjo, I made the dubious decision to tackle harpsichord music from 17th century composer J.S. Bach. I’ve never been able to explain exactly why, but for some reason the labyrinthine complexity of Bach’s melodies fascinated me.

So of course I had to learn them on the banjo.

Now this was ...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]146581[/ATTACH]

The mandolin is such a tiny little thing, heck out entire fingerboard is barely two feet of territory to explore.
And so much of us get stuck playing beneath the
5th fret because, well, it's just comfortable and familiar and...well, why should we do anything different?

I've been spending some time (finally) delving into the dark nether regions of the upper mandolin neck, and I can say that it is quite a jungle. First of all, ...

Attached Thumbnails

   

Never adjust your truss rod, then try to do it all at once.
It will look like this- after it sticks out the back of the neck.
Ouch!
Neck replacement



It strikes me that I am going to have take some pretty mando, or mando player, pictures to offset repair pics as they are not very pretty. Kinda scary actually. Wait for the next one.

It's better to have your mando repaired locally, however you have probably run into the situation where the local guy is really only familiar with guitars. We know mandos are a different animal (I was thinking more grizzly or tiger icon-Scott : )

Choose the Mandolin Authority
Feel free to call and chat with Bruce 406-580-6065
bruce@montanalutherie.com

Do you like our new logo?

Last week was Maybelle Carter's birthday, and this time 13 years ago we lost her daughter, June Carter. In memory of these two amazing artists, I put together a few different versions of the Carter Family's great tune "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" in a quasi-classical Theme and Variations format.



You can now get a tab/notation transcription for this video, and all of my other personal solo Mandolin Mondays arrangements ...