Why did you start playing a cbom?

[catmandu2]

Like foldedpath, Ale Moller inspired me further down the dola/zouk/cittern path. Although my sound was eventually assuaged more by oud and Arabic and Moorish music.

My gaelic itch is assuaged by clarsach, flute, fiddle and box...so I rarely play mandolins anymore

[zoukboy]

I started on it out of the mistaken notion that since I already played guitar, a fretted instrument would be "easier" to learn Irish traditional music on. :-)

[Bob Clark]

Three reasons. Here they are.

Reason one: It was an extension of why I took up mandolin. I started with the Mandolin because I had been listening to the Baltimore Consort playing Renaissance music on period instruments and I wanted to play that music on an instrument from our modern era. Mandolin seemed a perfect fit, and proved to be. Later, I also wanted an instrument with a deeper voice for that music, and the OM filled that bill.

Reason two: I plan to play in one of the Philadelphia area mandolin orchestras as soon as my schedule will permit (another few years, most likely) and I thought that playing OM as well as mandolin would make me more versatile and hence more useful to one of those groups. I was operating under the assumption that people must be waiting in line and going through a difficult audition process to get one of the few, available, coveted seats. I now realize that I may have been over-estimating the competition for seats in these ensembles. Still, the logic of being more versatile applies.

Reason three: I just plain fell in love with the sound. It was as simple as that. Even if the other two reasons did not exist, had I encountered the OM, I probably would have taken it up. I just love the sound. Is there a better reason to play any instrument?

[catmandu2]

I started on it out of the mistaken notion that since I already played guitar, a fretted instrument would be "easier" to learn Irish traditional music on. :-)

Roger, did you play ITM on guitar (before CBOMs)? My entrée into ITM was actually through Pierre Bensusan

[Bernie Daniel]

.....What made you guys pick one up and decide that was what you wanted to play?

I started on it out of the mistaken notion that since I already played guitar, a fretted instrument would be "easier" to learn Irish traditional music on. :-)

I agree! same story, I believe I was temporarily out of my mind? I thought the larger mandocello fret board and tuning would give me a easy to play "guitar" range instrument. Wrong! But it is too late now!

[EdSherry]

I've doubled on various instruments for years (starting on guitar, adding banjo, then mandolin, then dobro, then ...) and like the ability to add another tonal palette.

I really can't recall when/why I started playing OM, but it came out of playing Irish music (more songs than ITM tunes). I'd been playing mandolin for a number of years, somewhere (I can't recall now) ran across an OM for sale, and liked the tonal range. Then I got hooked. I now have way more OMs, 'zouks, citterns, mandolas, etc., than is good for any individual to have. A VERY bad case of OMAS (as well as MAS, GAS for guitar, BAS for banjo, etc., etc.).

[Charlieshafer]

Mandocello about 50% of the time for about 6-7 years, I guess. Then the cello, then the mandolin. I play with so many fiddlers and violinists, the low voice just adds a lot more to the overall sound. With fiddlers bowing, the flatpicked mandocello can add either interesting counter-lines, or can add chords for extra depth. I'm not trying to be the lead guy, so adding the low floor to everyone else makes the whole thing better. Another high voice for what we do just doesn't add anything.

[Barry Wilson]

I got into it because of this forum. I bought the mandolin on a whim and liked it... never even knew there were such instruments as mandola etc. I heard various people on the site here and links to video clips... and I built my first om from a kit from Don Kawalek... Then I ordered the Godin mandolin and a gold tone om came into the store I shop and he had it set aside for me... yup took it as well, then ordered the matching mandola about a month later..

I don't play traditional music... in fact I am doing a solo gig and doing a whole set on the om (the band, alman bros, doobies and such) in a week. I do one set on guitar and the other 2 are different instruments... I don't have enough mandocello to take it yet but open mic next week I am going to take mine just to be different hehe I play rush, ozzy and stuff like that on mandocello

add that I prefer to sing in D, G and C and these instruments are made for me

[Jim M.]

I played fiddle in an Irish band, and I got interested in CBOM because one of my bandmates had one. But what really gave me the itch was Roger Landes' "Dragon Reels" CD, http://rogerlandes.com/recordings.html#dragon, a must have for any CBOM player, imho.

[vernob]

I got Gerald Trimble's record "First Flight" in the 80's and was drawn by the sound of the cittern. It was made by Stefan Sobell and I found that I couldn't afford one.I found that Robin Willamson was playing a cittern too. Been a fan since the Incredible String Band days. I also liked what Andy Irvine was doing. A band member (bluegrass) got an octave mando. I loved the versatility. You could play a tune but also accompany the voice. It was pitched near a guitar, my main instrument. So last year I built a zouk and a cittern. I love playing them. Mostly I use them to accompany songs but also to play old time, celtic, fiddle tunes etc.

[zoukboy]

Roger, did you play ITM on guitar (before CBOMs)? My entrée into ITM was actually through Pierre Bensusan

catmandu2:

I was playing classical guitar at the time, and yes, I did try playing tunes on it but quickly decided I needed an instrument that sounded more "appropriate" and was louder. And I, too, went through a Bensusan phase ("Pres de Paris" and "Pierre Bensusan 2").

[zoukboy]

I played fiddle in an Irish band, and I got interested in CBOM because one of my bandmates had one. But what really gave me the itch was Roger Landes' "Dragon Reels" CD, http://rogerlandes.com/recordings.html#dragon, a must have for any CBOM player, imho.

Aw shucks! Thanks!

[catmandu2]

catmandu2:

I was playing classical guitar at the time, and yes, I did try playing tunes on it but quickly decided I needed an instrument that sounded more "appropriate" and was louder. And I, too, went through a Bensusan phase ("Pres de Paris" and "Pierre Bensusan 2").

Yep, those are the ones I had--I think Merrily Kissed the Quaker is the first tune I ever learned

[John Flynn]

I've played in church music ensembles for 35+ years starting with guitar, then switching off between guitar and mandolin, and then mandolin and harmonica. I was never satisfied with how the mandolin did on straight rhythm playing. It was in too high a pitch for church music. I found out about CBOMs here on the Cafe', played a few in music stores and spent some time trying to decide among mandola, OM and 'Zouk. I chose OM as a "middle of the road," compromise choice and have never regretted it. It has a very majestic, "church-y" sound on rhythm. Now I play mostly melody on the mandolin and mostly rhythm on the OM.

Now I also take it to jams where either I know there are not going to be any other rhythm instruments, and/or I will not know all the melodies on mandolin. It gives me something to switch off to that makes the sound of the group more full and keeps all the melody players on track.

[klaezimmer]

Having played mandolin since the late 1970s, I was familiar with the mandola and mandocello. A little over a decade ago, in search of new tones and textures I could bring to a session, I began looking for a Greek bouzouki on the internet since they weren't available locally (central Kentucky), and I began to come across Irish bouzoukis, octave mandolins, and citterns with which I was unfamiliar. The non-standardness of the cittern caught my interest. I could tweak it to fit the music I play, and no one would be there to say, "You can't do that." I appreciated the challenge presented by an instrument for which there were no commercially produced chord charts.

So, for me, it was to add another color to my musical palette. That enables me to participate in a musical event armed with a selection from a dozen or more instruments that are otherwise unlikely to show up at the proceedings.

Ron

[vernob]

Talk about the Sobell 12 string. Do you tune it like a guitar or GDGDGD?

[lucho]

Also I agree with some of you.... I played mandolin and charango and I didn´t like the idea of another guitar player..... so I heard my first bouzouki at the Kent folk festival in the early 90s.... so I was hooked... first on mandola and tenor banjo, and then OM, bouzouki, laud and anything with a different sound...

[catmandu2]

catmandu2:

I was playing classical guitar at the time, and yes, I did try playing tunes on it but quickly decided I needed an instrument that sounded more "appropriate" and was louder. And I, too, went through a Bensusan phase ("Pres de Paris" and "Pierre Bensusan 2").

Roger, I forgot to ask: do you play guitar in trad-style now? (I'm a former nylon player too--but before I left guitar I became increasingly interested in 12-string -- in ITM, etc...seemed to be more harp-like for me)

[zoukboy]

Roger, I forgot to ask: do you play guitar in trad-style now? (I'm a former nylon player too--but before I left guitar I became increasingly interested in 12-string -- in ITM, etc...seemed to be more harp-like for me)

Yes, I picked up DADGAD from Bensusan back in the day but didn't like it for nylon string, so I started playing steel string again. In Irish traditional music it definitely takes a back seat to my bouzouki, mandolin, and tenor banjo playing, but I do play occasionally play backup (with a flatpick) and fingerstyle in DADGAD (and sometimes DADGAE). I still play nylon string for some non-Irish things, and I play electric guitar in a instro surf rock band called Los Changos del Mar (standard tuning, though). :-)

[Eddie Sheehy]

Back in 1973 a friend brought one back from Greece and I bought it from him so I could emulate Donal Lunney, Johnny Moynihan, and Andy Irvine... still tryin'...

[catmandu2]

Yes, I picked up DADGAD from Bensusan back in the day but didn't like it for nylon string, so I started playing steel string again. In Irish traditional music it definitely takes a back seat to my bouzouki, mandolin, and tenor banjo playing, but I do play occasionally play backup (with a flatpick) and fingerstyle in DADGAD (and sometimes DADGAE). I still play nylon string for some non-Irish things, and I play electric guitar in a instro surf rock band called Los Changos del Mar (standard tuning, though). :-)

Ever have the hankering to use the 12-string? (wrt this thread--it may be what got me going toward cbom...but otoh, my first decent guitar was a 12-str, so maybe i was ripe for cbom from the outset--although I didn't find them until much later :-( . Those open tunings really ring on 12-str.

[zoukboy]

Ever have the hankering to use the 12-string? (wrt this thread--it may be what got me going toward cbom...but otoh, my first decent guitar was a 12-str, so maybe i was ripe for cbom from the outset--although I didn't find them until much later :-( . Those open tunings really ring on 12-str.

Yes! I am thinking of getting a 12 string and tuning it in a variant of bouzouki tuning.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I've converted the top neck of an Ovation doubleneck into a 10-string zouk...

[catmandu2]

Right on. I've found that Ovations make for an excellent "zouk"-variant -- without so much of the bottom-end of large wooden bodies

[Taylor and Tenor]

The first session I attempted to play at already had two guitar players. I was told a third basher would not be welcome. However, the session leader suggested that I buy a mandolin or OM and he would help me learn some tunes so as to join in which he did.

I now play a tenor guitar tuned DAEB capoed at the fourth fret to shorten the neck and a 1924 Gibson TL1 tenor lute. I am a part of a regular Monday night slow session still learning tunes.