So, what moves you...

  1. Joe Nobiling
    Joe Nobiling
    What moves you about being a mandolin picker in Illinois? What drives your pickin' hand?

    I'm driven by a passion for the music be it old time, Celtic, American fiddle tunes, rags, jazz, originals, newgrass, Illinois pickers.
  2. Tom Tax
    Tom Tax
    Joe,
    Thanks for inviting me to this group. I consider myself more a "wannabe" picker who resides in Illinois than an "Illinois Mandolinist". I've been flat-picking guitar and playing-at clawhammer banjo a lot longer than I've been attempting the mandolin. I fell in love with traditional music and bluegrass while a teenager in the suburbs of Milwaukee more than 40 years ago and saw a lot of great music going to college and grad school in Chicago, especially at U. of Chicago Folklore Society events. I've followed bluegrass and traditional music ever since as a hobby, but it's been pretty much a solitary thing. I'm self-taught in music and have never progressed too far on any instrument, but I do try. For the past few years I've been spending more of my musical energy on the mandolin than other instruments and am slowly improving. I tend to play old time and celtic tunes with a bluegrassy flavor. I don't find my particular area of Illinois particularly friendly to my musical interests and as a result tend to go to the internet to find kindred spirits and musical input. I have an Eastman 815 (F5 style) mandolin that is more than adequate to my ability, a couple of Martin guitars (older D-35 and newer 000-28VS) and an older Baldwin (Ode) resonator banjo. I think my picking up the mandolin has improved my guitar playing and vice-versa, especially as I tend to play the same tunes on both instruments.

    Tom
    Highland Park, Illinois
  3. Joe Nobiling
    Joe Nobiling
    Tom,

    You should hook up with MandoKatt (Paul Lucas) as he's not too far from you. At least he's closer than I am, I believe. Paul says the Chicago area can be cliqueish. You sound like a kindred spirit in the sense that we both play music that we like in a way that works best for us. I play a lot of fiddle, guitar, and mandolin with some clawhammer/knock-down/drop-thumb/mtn style. But usually leave that to a friend of mine I play with in Lost In The Weeds, Pat Walke, who's a fine clawhammer player from Preston, IA. I have a Celtic group, Fire In The Belly. The personnel varies from season to season and gig to gig both in persons and numbers. I play fiddle at the largest, and best, farmer's market in the Quad Cities area on Saturday mornings from about 8 'til 10:30 or so. I just love the music...a lot of different genres of it. Joining the Tune of the Week social group on this site has been a boost to my mandolin playing. It's good to find kindred spirits on the internet. It's too bad we aren't all closer geographically. That would be fun.

    I look forward to hearin' more from you here and, hopefully, elsewhere! Feel free to start a discussion if the spirit moves you!
  4. Joe Nobiling
    Joe Nobiling
    Tom and others reading this,

    Check out what MandoKatt's got floatin' around the ether net here!

    It's well worth the visit!
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