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I've read many places that if your strings are old and hard to keep in tune, it's time to replace them. What's your experience? I can understand how wear on strings can degrade the tone, but why...

Or vice-versa. Trying to learn piano after years of playing mando and fiddle, the finger numbers always trip me up. And the LH and RH numberings are mirror images, rather than parallel, further...

I've got pretty short 4th fingers. When I use my 4th finger on the the 7th fret on the D or G strings, it's uncomfortable and even sometimes painful. I recently saw someone instead use his 3rd...

It's interesting that Andrew plays an oval-hole A-style, rather than his usual Gibson F-style. Maybe he wanted a more mellow, laid-back sound?

Like a number of others, I played fiddle first. Started around age 10; played in my high school orchestra.

In my 20's, I spent many years trying to learn guitar. It never felt comfortable. ...

I have a CGDA tenor uke. I just use the same fingerings as a mando. Never noticed anything special about my left hand; I guess it's basically the same form as with mando.

I also have a couple of...

I too am baffled why my Collins MT tailpiece is so poorly designed. It's the worst I've ever encountered. Makes changing strings twice as difficult. It has smooth pegs instead of the usual hooks,...

One of my jam buddies is highly tech-sophisticated, and he offers this detailed guide to using Jamkazam:

https://jamonline.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page[/URL]

Don--

Thanks for your detailed report. My 3 local jam buddies (living within 20 mi. of each other) and I have been using Jamkazam fairly successfully for a couple of dozen sessions. Mainly...

I'm wondering how multi-instrumentalists arrange their practice schedules.

I usually practice each of my instruments--mando, fiddle, tenor guitar, piano--every day. I fear getting rusty if I...

Another vote for Strum Machine. I use it every day. 1000 pre-set tunes, plus you can make your own chord progressions. Instant key changes, chord display in either letters or numbers, and even at...

Like many of you, I've been spending WAY too much time staring at a screen, trying to keep up with the latest news. So here's my parody of a Johnny Cash classic:

I Stay Online

I keep a close...

It's by Woody Guthrie, not Seeger.

I tried the TIs in Granger's recommended gauges on my Pono MB model bari, and I love the result. Nice crisp and loud but balanced sound, much more guitar-ish. Great for finderpicking, strumming, or...

I finally got a response from Matt Flinner about his "Rock & Roll Mando" course:

"I haven't opened the [archived] courses up to the general public yet---only to past students thus far. But I'm...

By "archived, I didn't mean you can find it here at the Cafe.

What I meant is that it isn't one of his currently interactive "live" courses. But I was able to buy the original video lessons,...

Thanks for the insight.

I too, play in an acoustic classic rock band, both mando & fiddle. I'm currently learning a lot form Matt Flinner's online archived course, "Rock & Roll Mandolin".

I tried sblock's technique last night. It works! "Wrap, then poke" was at least twice as fast as my usual "poke, then wind" approach. And with no worry about the loops slipping off the tailpiece...

Apparently this is only available for phones, not desktops. Is that correct?

I'd be interested in an A-style with pickup. But I have physical problems that make the weight of the instrument critical. Even with a strap. (That's why I'll be selling my Ovation mando--it weighs...

"I’ve been using an Ingles stand for my fiddles and mandolins for over ten years without any damage to any of my instruments that I can see."

Same here. My fiddle & mando (Collings MT) are in...

I sold my Hora OM. Bought it sometime last year. As John Flynn says, the neck felt like half of a baseball bat. I always got pain in my left hand after playing it for even a few minutes. (This...

Getting back to the original question about relative prices of fiddles & mandos, here's my story:

For fiddling, I'm happy with my $200 garage-sale discovery. It's a pre-war eastern-European...

Memorize at least half the tunes in Joe Carr's "Bill Monroe Tunes & Songs for Mandolin"

Thanks to everyone for educating me about the history of bluegrass guitar breaks.

Rowen still looks awfully pained and frustrated in this particular performance. Maybe he was just having a...