Re: OM's and Mandolas
I played guitar for many years, messed about on others - autoharp, bouzouki both bowl back and flatback, and mandolin, but always returned to the guitar for the type of chords and melody fingering I preferred. I only recently - since 2010 - started to seriously get to grips with other instruments; in fact I had sold everything else back in the mid to late 80s to clear unwanted clutter.
I was a huge fan of Andy Irvine having supported him on stage but was able to play most of Andy’s songs on guitar however this wasn’t the image I wanted - just another bl**dy guitarist…
I therefore cheated with guitar tuning on other instruments but found that four string instruments lacked the fifth string I loved to ‘bass’ on - so for a while I had a ten string cittern tuned EBGDA, then found that a Waldzither did almost the same but an octave higher. Big fingers don’t suit a mandolin so I use an octave mandola or bouzouki capo’d to the fifth fret for fast tune playing, but also use these for Andy’s slower songs. I’m not keen on this frantic strumming many bouzouki players like to confuse with accompaniment, I’d much rather explore the melodic counterparts that mandolas etc can add to a good tune. At present my Sobell octave mandola is tuned GDAE, as are my bouzoukis, but a recently purchased Waldzither is ADDGGBBEE and makes some interesting chord accompaniments to songs. I’ve been thwarted in my attempt to have a cittern specially made to take guitar tuning - the luthier has gone bust and run off with my deposit - but it’s still a project in the making. I also have a lute-guitar which sounds… interesting, but looks… different? It’s just experimentation, but it’s fun.
"Danger! Do Not Touch!" must be one of the scariest things to read in Braille....
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