Recent Blogs Posts

My intention today is to explain things in a detailed manner without going too deep. The idea is to give first timers the confidence to try new stuff; confidence I lacked and which held me back for a long time.

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A lot of us have adopted an 8 string solid body electric mandolin (emando) for late night practice. It's quiet, it has 8 strings, and therefore serves as a good substitute for our more cherished instrument.

But expect, late at night while the rest ...

Returning to Mandolin Mondays this week, we're joined by Glasgow mandolinist Laura-Beth Salter and her Krishot F5 Mandolins, playing a lovely set of 3 tunes with the names "Shaw's," "Diego's," and "Schots Abroad."



A well kent face on the Glasgow Folk and Roots scene, mandolinist, tutor, singer and composer Laura-Beth is a founding member of award winning folk bands The Shee & Kinnaris Quintet. She was nominated ...

This week on Mandolin Mondays, we're joined by Villads Hoffmann of the Danish band Stundom with this incredible 10-string Model A Cittern built by Mats Nordwall. Here Villads is playing a gorgeous original composition from his recent record called "i lige måde", which translates in English to "likewise" or "you too."



Danish musician and composer who specializes in Nordic folk music on various string instruments, ...

My last blog entry was... what? nine years ago?

Well as you might expect a lot has changed in nine years. My family and I left the UK in summer 2018 for a more salubrious political and economic climate in my wife's home country of France. I have been working hard to integrate into French life ever since.

Part of that integration has been adapting to French musical culture. American/English folk music doesn't get a lot of play here, so in the interest of having people ...

This week on Mandolin Mondays we're joined by Washington mandolinist Kian Dye and his 2020 Northfield Big Mon mandolin playing an original composition entitled "Fairhaven."



Having first picked up the fiddle at age 6 and the guitar and mandolin only a few years later, Kian grew up attending various bluegrass festivals and fiddle camps all over the West Coast. After playing in numerous bands in his teens and early 20s in Portland, Oregon, ...

This week on Mandolin Mondays we're joined by multi-instrumentalist Linus Lindblom of the band The Brothers 5 down in Savannah, GA. Believe it or not, but he's only been playing mandolin for 2 and a half years! And he really makes this Doug Clark two point mandolin sing on the classic Jesse McReynolds tune "Dixie Hoedown."



Linus is 17 years old, and lives down in Savannah, GA. In addition to his burgeoning talent on the mandolin, ...

Returning to Mandolin Mondays this week we're joined by Scottish mandolinist Calum McIlroy playing an original tune called "Big Pick Energy" on his 2018 Taran Springwell mandolin, built by Rory Dowling in Fife.



Recipient of the 2024 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award, Calum McIlroy is a guitarist, mandolin player, and singer from Aberdeenshire. After graduation from the BMus Traditional Music course at the Royal ...

I got a brand new mandolin, and just had to hop on here for Mandolin Mondays this week to share it! Here's a spin on the beautiful Joe LaRose tune "Winder Slide" with this amazing new Apitius Custom Classic LS--full run down at the link below:



You can check out the full run down of this amazing new mandolin in this video here: https://youtu.be/TaPgDcXO3io

I've also got the tab/notation transcription for what I played ...

History of the Mandolin
In some ways, a mandolin is the child of every traditional stringed instrument. Sized like a ukulele, tuned like a violin, double-stringed like a baroque guitar…and yet it has made a unique mark as an instrument all its own, found in everything from orchestras to rock and roll.

Have you ever played or listened to a mandolin and wondered ...

This week on Mandolin Mondays we're joined by Dutch mandolinist Janos Koolen playing a beautiful medley of original tunes on his Collings MTO mandolin.



Janos Koolen (1981) is a Dutch multi-instrumentalist with a particular love for the mandolin. Among other groups he currently plays with Bertolf & Bluefinger. Besides bluegrass Janos likes to explore all different kinds of genres and use the mandolin together with instruments like the ...