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Conversations here too often posit this as an either / or proposition which I find both amusing and saddening in equal measures.

In this case "versus".

I started off learning by ear and...

That depends on how you were taught to read standard notation...which in the Italian tradition was a way to sing before you were ever given an instrument.

So I disagree, learning to sight-sing...

Coming to mandolin from guitar, there is a faction that is vehemently anti-standard notation. This same faction is also usually anti-music theory.

It comes from the guitar’s roots as a folk...

Hi, Sue—

Not a pro. Been playing guitar for over fifty years and mando for over five. I can't read dots at all and don't like tab. Play by ear is all I do. So it doesn't seem like you have a ways...

If by "dots" you mean standard notation, then I'm in a similar place with the mandolin. I find the notation to be easier to sight read and to gain a broader understanding of the piece of music. The...

How old is this "too old" that we are talking about? Do I need to be worried about it????

There is nothing "new fangled" about music theory; it has been around for 1000s of years.

Sure, there...

Exactly. Ken Tamplin (vocal coach) has a very similar philosophy, where learning a skill goes from "unconscious incompetence" (unaware of being unaware) to "conscious incompetence" (you're aware of...

There is a solution...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7WQ1tdxSqI

I feel like music theory is really useful for understanding how and why other songs work, and that can translate well to your own music. Having the basics in the back of your mind can really unlock a...

Music theory does nothing for one’s “playing”. When playing one does not have time to do the mental constructions that music theory entails. Music theory does have a great influence on how we plan...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsGsCvJWEo8

See attached mandolin tab.

Mick

Ever since the removal of the fretboard extension, mine's been confused.

Two things about this have always seemed fairly evident. First is that men frequently express affection for, dote on, and even caress objects that they possess such as instruments and vehicles, and...

I fought with the difficulty of adapting my mandolin knowledge to mandola for several years. In fact, there are probably a million and half bitching and moaning posts here on the Cafe about it.
...

Just a note to thank all who have been involved for making the pick sampler project successful, from Caleb, who got it all started, to all who have participated, all who have donated, and all who...

Prescription: playing real music yourself. What makes me uncomfortable about these songs is the unbearable urge to remember where I've heard them before. Apart from that, it all sounds boringly...

We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

It does depend on your personal style of learning. Something will be the way that makes sense. (You have to be looking however.)

You also have to get comfortable with the idea that you will see...

I am an avid promoter of a certain style of Strad-O-Lin mandolins. They have the comma f-holes. The body is slightly smaller than the average A shaped Gibson mandolin and - as far as I know - it was...

Sue, After a certain amount of postings on the forum at Concertina.net, I found my "rank" had been changed to "Chatty Concertinist"

I'd say take that book money and spend it at Artistworks or Peghead Nation for beginners lessons. More bang for your buck than books. If you want notation on paper, you can also download notation for...

I don't know if you ever listened to his podcast he did the last year or so of his life. If you haven't you should. It is priceless. It is near the bottom of his webpage at the link below.
...

Agreed. Some of these Stradolin's ring like a bell, feature 90-year old wood, and most are well under $500!

Glarry Hard Mandolin Cases are inexpensive from Amazon and Walmart online. Music stores charge more. Also, if you haven't played a 1930's - 1940's Stradolin you are missing out on a real treat.

In addition to writing novels like Erasure, adopted for Oscar-winning film American Fiction, he plays jazz and repairs old mandolins.