Another vote for Cesar Moreno. He’s very impressive on mandolin and guitar and he’s a wonderful singer. He’s also very friendly. Hard to beat all that.
Another vote for Cesar Moreno. He’s very impressive on mandolin and guitar and he’s a wonderful singer. He’s also very friendly. Hard to beat all that.
Judged strictly as music, Monroe’s (instrumental) recording of Turkey In The Straw is one of my favorite mandolin pieces. It’s exciting to me and I find it a lot of fun to play. It can be tough to...
I agree with Don and Keith; both are friends I made over the years at the Monroe Mandolin Camp. The environment there is very welcoming for pickers at all levels. Mike Compton is very dedicated to...
Happiest 80th birthday wishes to Jimmy Page, the first mandolin player I ever saw live (Madison Square Garden June 1977), who inspired me to learn this instrument (still working on that).
Of all the legions of mandolin players inspired by Bill Monroe, Frank was the first to get Bill’s style exactly, note for note, like a tape recorder. Frank could play it so you couldn’t tell it...
What Bill said. You make it sing too. And I see my case if not my mando in that video!
Bob said it for me too-I like the way a pick guard looks on an F5 mandolin. They do protect against pick and finger rash, and they give finger posters a spot to land without wearing a hole in the...
On mandolin and banjo, I use Fast Fret down near the bridge where the pick hits the strings, because it helps the pick get through them more easily for me. But I don’t like the feel of it under my...
Wow Don you and the Heiden sound terrific on that tune! Your notes are very clear and distinct and your tone is beautiful. That’s probably my favorite among Butch’s compositions and you have inspired...
I tried the Martin monel strings on an F5 style mandolin a few years ago and in my opinion they sounded weak and hard to hear compared to both the Curt Mangan monels and the D’Addario monels. Of the...
202540
1984 Doug Unger F4 style mandolin
I have played with the strap over one shoulder and with the strap around my neck and I never had any problems either way. I slightly prefer to wear the strap around my neck but I don’t really notice...
But not from actually playing them.
The BB Box is based in part on major and minor pentatonic patterns. Niles Hokkanen, who posts here occasionally, wrote a pentatonic mandolin tutorial with the mandolin patterns called The Pentatonic...
In Neil Rosenberg’s book Bluegrass A History, in the photo section between pp. 124-125, is a 1945 photo of Bill holding his “newly acquired” Loar. The mandolin looks new, complete with pick guard and...
Among all the terrific classes and other events at the MMC this year, it was great to see and pick with Don and Dan and so many other old friends again and to meet Shaun and so many other new...
Playing the dobro is like playing the guitar with one finger. My dobro playing got a lot more “linear” (in Allen’s well-chosen word) after I got serious about playing mandolin.
In my view, positioning your picking arm the way you are is fine, perhaps even ideal. Coming in straight over the tailpiece and straight over the bridge and strings (without resting on them) centers...
Thanks to all who have replied. I have had MOP tuner buttons for years with no problems. I just replaced a set of Gotoh tuners with pearl buttons that were the original tuners on a 20 year old...
Does anyone know of a domestic source of mother of pearl tuner buttons that will fit the shafts of a new set of Gotoh F style mandolin tuners? An MC thread on this subject last year had a...
My forearm comes straight over the tailpiece and bridge (with wrist slightly arched so there is little or no contact with the bridge) and my pick hits the strings flat so that the plane of the pick...
In my case it took some listening to the old time pickers and singers to get used to this sound. The first time I heard a record of Tommy Jarrell fiddling (many years ago), I thought his intonation...
Please keep the interviews by Michael Eck coming! The Scott Napier interview is another in a series of interesting and rewarding reads. The narrative introduction was informative and very well...
Earl Taylor is one of my all-time favorite mandolin players and bluegrass singers. His style was if anything even a little bluesier and minimalist than Bill’s, and his very distinct notes pop right...
Here’s another Foghorn-related recording: Reeb Willms and Caleb Klauder, Oh Do You Remember; very tasteful guitar and mandolin accompaniment to lots of great songs. It has the old time feel.