Nomd

New octave mandolin day!
Last week I bought an Eastman MDO305 from another MC member and aside from being utterly lost in how to properly play it, I have to say that I’m pleased with my purchase. I treated myself to a proper strap and a dozen Dawg picks from Acoustic Disc.

I’ve played a range of instruments through my life with electric bass being my primary weapon for decades. Until I moved to the Columbia River Gorge I always had gigs because few people played, or wanted (?) to play, bass. I was in demand. Here everybody plays bass, so, if I want to do much playing outside the house it is necessary that I choose another instrument. I had baritone sax in mind, having played tenor in the past, but that’s out because I’m 70, haven’t played a horn for decades and I don’t have the wind to manage that horn in performance. A heartbreaker, to be sure. My interest is playing ensemble whether that be an acoustic duo or a jam night trainwreck. I enjoy all musical genres (well, I’ll omit opera, thank you very much). Looking at the activity and the open slots in this area I decided that the OM will open the most doors.

So, the next step, which I began last weekend at the Columbia Gorge Bluegrass Festival, is to find a teacher with OM experience to put this novice on the straight and narrow. I’d like to find someone before I embed bad habits in my playing, which for the week has been basic scales and arpeggios. I’ve downloaded some things that have been recommended around here and I’m using them independently to the best of my ability. Meanwhile I’ll keep reading, listening, watching and asking questions. The journey has begun.

Oooooooh! Welcome down the rabbit hole!

Here are a few resources, some or all of which you may already have found:

Since Brian Oberlin lives in your area, he may be able to either give you OM instruction or recommend someone who can. Also, I think that Aryeh Frankfurter moved from the SF Bay Area up to Portland a few years ago. He mainly plays harp and nyckelharpa, but he also plays cittern, so he also could probably give you either instruction or recommendation.

Tim O’Brien made a good instructional OM/bouzouki dvd for Homespun quite a while ago.

Joe Walsh has a Peghead Nation course on OM, which I haven’t tried, but people here seem to like.

Sierra Hull has a small OM section included in her upcoming Artist Works course. Since those courses let students submit videos for review, she could flag bad habits that you are developing, if any.

Matt Flinner offered a tremendous 8-week online OM course last spring. When it ended, lots of people expressed interest in a second course, so you could contact Matt to see if he has plans to offer that in the near future.

Happy hunting!

I’ve been reading in the local news about Brian Oberlin’s River of the West Mandolin Camp for a couple years. He holds it at a place less than an hour from home. I would, at least, like to have some rudiments in hand before I leap into that but it’s definitely a to do list item I look forward to. I didn’t know about Aryeh Frankfurter so there’s a lead I’ll follow. I’ll also look at Homespun for sure. I have a couple of their courses for fingerstyle guitar so I certainly should’ve thought of them. Shame on me. I’ve heard of Peghead Nation but haven’t yet looked into it. I will, thanks. Sierra Hull … wow! I sent Matt Flinner a message late last week about his OM class and if he offers it again I’ll definitely join.

Thanks awfully much for your pointers. I’m on ‘em and looking for good times ahead.

Congratulations Kenny! Just saw Hawk Tail and Dominik Leslie had a cool Octave I think it was a Clark?, its kind of like Darol Anger's- who while being known for Fiddle has recorded and performed a lot on Octave.
There are a lot more "octave resources" accessible these days, and I am so glad to see more players inventing new traditions, everybody Marcus mentioned and then some (lets not forget Olga Egorova)
I will say for me at least I take a different approach from playing mando.
I tend to borrow a lot more left hand technique from guitar on Octave and more right hand from mandolin.
while I have worked out a lot of standard fiddle tunes, I'll admit sometimes they have more "punch" on the smaller instruments.
anyway enjoy !

What I’m finding and hearing is that an octave mandolin is not simply a scaled up mandolin. I’ve been doing a boatload of browsing and so forth and after a referral by Brian Oberlin I’m signing up with Tim Connell’s https://www.timsmandolessons.com/ tonight. I read up on him and we’ve talked on the phone so I’m confident that his teaching approach will work for me. Laissez les bontemps roulez!