Welcome to the Cafe! It's a very pleasant and educational place to relax. Enjoy!
Type: Posts; User: GMorgan
Welcome to the Cafe! It's a very pleasant and educational place to relax. Enjoy!
I'm an old violinist who, around the beginning of 2017, decided to look at mandolins to see if I might wish to start playing one. I went to a local Guitar Center, which was full of young teenagers,...
For me and my mandolins: The mandolin with him is his mandolin and he enjoys playing it.
Congrats on your new mandolin! And, best of luck with your most recent surgery!
My suggestion is to be ready to find a local luthier who knows how to properly setup a mandolin. It is always...
I will go revisit the video that Jim Garber recommends, but I'll toss in one possibility for a beginner mandolin. A dear friend, an accomplished professional violinist, came by the other day to meet...
I've played many wonderful mandolins, but the one I've been happiest with, and most impressed by, is my Ellis F5 Special. It has a beautiful voice.
Congratulations! I hope you find great success in your new venture. I am an old violinist who decided in early 2017 to try out this thing called a mandolin. Although my familiarity with the violin...
No one asked me for my opinion, and there is absolutely no wisdom in what follows, but I'm in a writing mood this morning and decided to share something that no one else will care about. But, my...
I would like to add to this demo discussion. When an individual or a shop is comparing two instruments, such as an Eastman next to a Kentucky, or an f-hole mandolin next to an oval hole, please...
I've been dealing with psoriatic arthritis for many years, mostly just trying to keep my hands limber and taking Tylenol on occasion. I think playing the mandolin has helped keep my hands more agile...
I won't leave my good mandolins in a hot or cold car, both because of temperatures and risk of loss. But, I do like to have a mandolin with me at inconvenient times. So, I bought a "Dirty Thirties"...
I tend to mention this a lot, but my background started with the violin. Although I have had only a single mandolin lesson since I discovered the instrument in 2017, I have years of training on the...
I'm an old violinist who discovered the mandolin in 2017, an Eastman 515. When I played violin, I knew that I would get much better sound if I bought a good bow. On the day that I bought my...
I am, at heart, an old violinist who found a new friend in the mandolin in 2016. When I was really looking for a perfect classical sound for my violins, I used to buy Evah Pirazzi Gold sets. They...
Gracious! I've never been to Fullers, but you say they are on the north side of Houston. Near Humble, Kingwood, Woodlands, Spring? It ain't walking distance, but it is a relatively short drive in...
I've traveled with several different cases, but I love my Calton best. In my heart, I know it will protect my instrument -- even from over-muscled, psychotic overhead stuffers.
I like one glass of a decent Cabernet in mid-afternoon, just before playing mandolin on the porch or in my comfy chair. More than that, and I think my left hand fingers might trip over each other,...
My own approadh to the mandolin started in 2017. I was a violinist in my youth, quit playing for decades, and went back to that instrument after retirement. What I discovered was that I really...
Just a quick personal note on the Recording King Dirty Thirty Mandolin...
Although my current mandolin is my Ellis, many years ago, when I switched from violin to mandolin, my original Eastman 515...
Insurance is a great thing to do. I was told that as long as I wasn't getting paid as a performer, I could get insurance pretty cheap. My househole insurance covers my personal items in the house,...
I, too, have never locked my case. I also assume that if someone grabbed one of my instruments, they would just grab the case. However, I do keep an Apple AirTag inside my case secretly nestled...
My initial thought is applying less pressure and using smoother strings. I have Thomastik Infeld M154 strings on both my Ellis and my Eastman. I like how they feel and how they sound. Like violin...
Oops. I just suggested in my last post that I use my left hand for both the fingerboard/fretboard and the bow/pick. I should remembr which hand is left and which is right. It might help my...
Ah, it seems like I may be one of the last few not to comment on strict adherence to D-U-D-U picking.
When I first began to play mandolin in 2017, I was all about downstrokes. I didn't know...
My approach may not work for you, but under my circumstances, the following works very well for me.
I am a happy amateur who plays for an audience of one. I play along every day with recorded...