Blog Comments

I have always tried it my way, until my way held me back from getting it done. I recently wrote about problems playing up-tempo and how my right hand just couldn't handle it anymore. I decided I would not give up and started watching YouTube videos with players I admired to see how they got it done. While I didn't copy the players, I did notice basic fundamentals that they had, which I did not.

I have to say that emulating someone just because you might admire their music, isn't the right reason to copy. But, once you try what feels comfortable and fail to grasp something, it doesn't hurt to re-examine an accomplished player's technique for helpful hints.

My biggest regret is that I didn't have YouTube around when I was learning. Who knows how much easier this would have been...

Oh, and I only drink coffee when I'm awake...

On the advice of my doctor I have cut down on coffee - I only drink one cup at a time.

I most respectfully disagree. Many famous writers created enlightened works without a single drop of coffee, Homer wrote the Ilias and the Odyssey without drinking coffee, and I am not drinking any of it now either, while I type this; in fact, I have always hated coffee and can do all my day's work on two half-litre cans of tea, one in the morning, one at noon.

...

Yep.

If you want to be fun to play with, and sought after--get a doublebass...and a nice bag in which to carry it

I only wish I had figured it out earlier.

Thanks for writing this, Jeff. I had come to the same conclusion about my own life with the mandolin. I am 67 and started mandolin lessons at 65. And I am clearly a man of finite musical talents. So, having others want me to play with them seemed the perfect goal for me. But you have developed the idea much more fully than I had, and I really appreciate that.

Ah I just noticed Bertram stole my joke! Now I look like a plagiarist!

Better than being expectedly unprepared right?

I'm glad you take the time to write these JeffD, always very relatable, enjoyable reads for me

Funny! And it all hit home for me.

Jeff, You are a gifted writer. I enjoyed your piece. The concept was unique and made sense to me as one who tries to decide what instruments to bring to make the gig or jam the best possible. You made the right decision, huh? The setting you described was enjoyable to read about. Hemingway would have been proud.

Managing all the paraphernalia is part of the hobby. But its nice when it pays off.

Now I'll have to write a story about the thrill of being expectedly unprepared, and that might be a bigger one (the thrill, that is)

I dunno about cold. To me a musical interaction feels like an interaction of any other kind - I mean, there is a kind of intimacy there, a kind of fellowship. The beauty of it is that you don't have to have something to say. It may say something about me, that I enjoy being with people I don't feel obligated to talk with - that we have a way to be with each other, and interact, without yammering.

We did have a case, years ago, of a fellow who showed up at our jams regularly, from somewhere more than 2 hours away, and it took us many many months to discover that he slept in his truck after the jam and went home the next morning.

I've found jams akin to attending support group meetings . You're there for one reason and it ain't the coffee . You need to be surrounded by others who understand your affliction without judging it . Folks who don't care if you are a pastor or an axe murderer long as you come to pick and MAYBE sing. They don't know or care or even ask if you live in town , in your truck , under a bridge or under a tree stump . On one hand , I LOVE this about jams . On the other hand it really can feel a tad cold .....like if a robot or a zombie could pick Gold Rush they'd be just as welcome to your chair .

On the rare occasions I do find something vaguely musical in an antique store it's usually a poorly constructed GSO (guitar-shaped object) with a real guitar price tag.

Don't get me going on antique stores. I could do a whole blog on them. Ahhhh!

Great stuff! i liked the whole thing but this one made me chuckle

"A non-musician will have trouble understanding why you take so long in a music store, but can get through an antique store in minutes."


i often drop into antique shops, ask if they have any stringed instruments. They more often than not, dont. So i maybe take a look at any artwork they have, say thanks, and bye!

Thanks for the reply Rob. I was even considering PMing you to give you a heads up on what I was going to blog.

I don't think we are at odds what so ever. (Well except for my conviction that some experience is needed before one takes on an instrument one loves.) I am only making the distinction between "knowing what to do" on the one hand and "knowing what needs to be done" on the other. Your book is an essential reference and gigantic service to the community, in either case.

Your point is well taken that even a "name' luthier can screw up or do a mediocre job, and one needs the ability to check for that when the instrument comes back to you.

I was unaware of the reaction you have gotten. Woo hoo, over 3000!

As I was writing my blog I was thinking that there might be an opportunity, at bluegrass and other festivals, for a set up workshop. Teaching and presenting from your book. I have never seen this before, though I have seen luther booths at festivals doing set ups and minor repairs. But a real workshop, with examples and slide show and what ifs and questions and answers, that might be a very popular well attended thing.

Thanks again.

Hi Jeff,

Interesting post. I'm glad you liked the book. If, at the very least, you bought a set of feeler gauges and measured the fret-to-string gaps at the first and 12th frets you would know which of your mandolins needed a setup. If you followed my tips on checking and correcting intonation you would benefit greatly.

I once paid a well-known luthier to set up a $3,000 classical guitar. He did a lousy job. I had to replace the nut. And I paid him over a hundred dollars! So you can't always trust a pro to do a good job.

If a person knows how to put sandpaper on a flat surface and evenly sand down a small piece of wood they can lower the bridge on a mandolin. Lowering nut slots is a little more difficult and time-consuming, maybe a three on a scale to five. The book is a guide that any able-bodied person can use to measure and correct the basic setup of a mandolin.

I love hearing back from people who have turned their unplayable mandolin into something that is a joy to play. I have given away over three thousand copies of the ebook! A fifty dollar Rogue with a proper setup is an affordable first step for many newbies. Think of it as a gateway drug to MAS.

For anyone who has read this far, email me at [email]rob.meldrum@gmail.com[/email] for your free copy. Then tell us what you think!

I think of Meldrum's book as an essential reference. I will be referring to it when something seems amiss and I wonder if I need a set up.

I haven't read Don Julin's book but I understand it is excellent.

I have Ted's book and I use that to spice up my practice.

I agree. Robert's book is a must read. Understanding the steps needed to "refresh" your mandolin let's you know when, or when not, to do it yourself.

When my garage door opener stopped working, I looked up youtube videos on how to fix it. After watching the videos, I was better able to describe to the repair man what the problem was that I wanted him to fix. Wisdom is knowing what to do with all the information you have taken in. Rob's book is good information.

It's a great book to read on the actual working of a mandolin. It, don Julin's mandolin for dummies and ted eschlimans getting into jazz mandolin are essential.

What a great story, Jeff. Well written and I completely know what you are referring to when you discussed walking in with the case in hand. What an interesting way you put that idea. It brought it to mind for me and memories crossed paths with yours. Good essay and thanks for the discussion and thoughts on this. I was brought up hearing my dad play his old 00018 Martin on Jimmy Rogers. Thanks. Dan

Really enjoyed your post JeffD. Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon. And Who wouldn't love ginger snaps.

Nice post and comments.

Let the games begin!

Or play what the listener would like if the listener had a clue.

Lots of players do not enjoy "performing"...no you don't need therapy. Many have chosen music as a profession ....and that necessitates live performance to pay bills and raise a family . My suggestion to you would be to try Performing for the audience' enjoyment . That is ... Play music THEY will enjoy and respond to positively . The reward you will take from THAT kind of performance will show you that your love and capabilities musically is ultimately a gift and is meant to be shared . Playing only for ourselves is just musical masturbation . If we are giving our gift to others it inspires , gives us confidence , adds incredible meaning and purpose to our lives. But only if we have the listener's enjoyment in mind .

Well for me the problem, right from the beginning, has been that I am not a natural musician. I am adept at figuring out from instructions and watching others "what to do", and playing the mandolin has always been about "what do I do, how do I do it". I should have learned, right from the start, how to play music, as opposed to how to play the mandolin, and about how to play musically as opposed to how to play accurately, or quickly, or loud.

In my youthful exuberance and healthy ego, I thought music could be a career. But things never got beyond exuberance and ego.

Unless I had started ten years before I was born I will never be so good as to be an awesome picker. But a long time ago I was "accomplished enough" to play music. I just wasn't thinking of things in the right way. And had I pursued the goal of becoming a better musician, rather than a better mandolin picker, well....

I early on got addicted to jamming and playing with others, and found the instant gratification of such activities so overwhelming that I was diverted from a greater goal, in which I might have found some ability. That endorphin rush is hard to buck.

But since the day finally realized what I really was "in it for", and stopped trying to buck the endorphins, I am much happier, much more enthusiastic, and much more overwhelmed (in a good way) by the joys of playing music. And (irony is a horrible thing), a much better mandolin player.

It is a stereotype for a person my age to look at the avenues not taken, I suppose, but its an indulgence with no payback. No reality can ever compete with the fantasy of what might have been. And it wastes time I could be enjoying, slurping up the berry juice, of what is right in front of me.

Me as well, your seer is just stating the patently obvious. I missed the boat in my teens, when the Beatles, Stones and Elvis were being discovered. Although we did have a recording artist in his seventies who made a mint 'The Singing Postman' went on to have half a dozen hit songs No1 in
the top 20. So no ones really a write off. You never know, Even Telly Savallas and Clint Eastwood have hits and they can't hold a tune in a bucket !!!!!

I'll settle for that quite happily too. Well written.

Yeah. Shades of Edgar Allen Poe for Sure. Was it a Poe mandolin? Thanks for sharing this story. I enjoyed reading it.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

Quoth the Parrot “Nevermore.”

The internet has made it much much easier. Used to be I had to find a music store in the yellow pages, go there and look at their bulletin board for a flyer. It worked only about half the time. Today we can get on the web before we even travel, and line up some jams or dances in the area we will be working. Even call/email a few people to find out where and how and when.

Great story Jeff. I travel on business with my flat-top. I should follow your lead and seek out others to play with when I travel. What a great way to meet other musicians and share the music of our beautiful little instruments. Thanks for sharing this great story.

Bob

Hah, Jeff... reminiscences of "The Birds." Great story... Yes we bowlheads seem to attract these poor orphaned instruments. Sometimes if works in amazing ways. A friend of mine just was gifted a rather valuable Italian bowlback. So it goes.

I like the idea of the mandolin player from far away showing up with the sort of exotic bowlback. keep up the good work. Someday we will meet...

Great way to spend an evening! I have to get something like that going around here. Yes, thank you for sharing that.

It's gatherings like this that make it so worthwhile to play music. There is so much companionship in the act of creating fleeting moments of music that no individual could create alone. I, too, have been enjoying this feeling with the after-work music group in which we have been meeting for about three years now. It's one of the best things to do with your free time. Thank you for sharing.

It is with my musical friends that I have the most healthy relationships, long lasting, and sustainable. This is 100% across the board true.

I think it has something to do with not needing to talk in order to be together. I really do.

I shudder to think what that means about me.

Well said Steve. If you consider the cost benefit ratio, it is always well worth it to play mandolin.

Always.

oh my, the cup is half empty because of taking up mando? I think not.

Playing need not become a 'lifestyle' issue. I don't discount any of what the marginal costs are, and ive incurred them all, as well as a short bout of MAS,
but all of these things are options.

There is a huge amount of info, from set up, to tunes, on the net, for the price of a sheet of paper. There is a great deal of joy from simply playing, even alone. Friends with Benefits (the musical kind) are often also free.

to the would be mando buyer. Don't be discouraged. Anyone with tenacity can love mando, even on a budget. (ill let you know when this happens to me LOL)

Sounds great! Can I come?

Wish you lived closer to me. Great Blog...I loved it!

The food I have put out or has occasionally been brought has never been touched. We don't want to stop playing that long.

Thanks, Jeff. I have been running a similar session locally here for a few years now. Very similar. Sometimes we have a hot session and sometimes it is not. It is great getting together with friends who we have known for years and newly made ones as well. And we have a wide range of players with decades of experience and those who are just starting out or trying a different instrument. We also have a potluck dinner and it s a real community event. Keep up the good work.

Ditto that. So true and yet....so true! Thanks for sharing.

Good stuff, man. Well done.

I recognize your avatar - but I can't remember the name of the book - it is a collection of B & W photographs my wife showed me when we first met

cool pic

used to be real organized

? You're way more organized then I am. Good story.