Poll - what musical style do you primarily play on mandolin?

[DavidKOS]

I cannot find the supposed button to create a poll, so this is informal.

I wonder if what I think is true, but I won't prejudice you with any of that - what I'm curious about is what is your primary musical style for mandolin?

Bluegrass
Old Time
Celtic
Classical
Italian
Klezmer
Choro
other

Mine is Italian, although I do play other styles....even more Bluegrass lately!

[Clinton Johnson]

Bluegrass

[k0k0peli]

A subset of OldTime / FolkJazz that I call Rabid Retro

[KEB]

Grass, Jazz, and Dawg-- none of them very well.

[Cobalt]

Eastern European folk with Italian influences as well as a sprinkling of other ingredients.

[lflngpicker]

I play bluegrass, gospel, old time, blues and folk-rock. Good survey, David!

[George R. Lane]

Any song I find musically interesting. The genre doesn't matter to me.

[Carl Robin]

Irish, + anything else I like.

[fatt-dad]

old-time and pre-old-time.

f-d

[DataNick]

Although I play a lot of different styles, in response to what the Op asked for; a primary style, so here goes: bluegrass

[journeybear]

I play mandolin music, mostly. Every now and then I get a little wild and play some blues harp, but most of the time, I play whatever I like on the mandolin. It's such a versatile instrument, capable of exploring the possibilities of so many kinds of music. My songwriting is similarly broad-based, as I resist and even refute limitations, especially those imposed by expectations. I love music, in its endless variety. The instrument is capable of so much more than what most people expect - bluegrass and country - and I'm interested in doing whatever I want and can with it.

I suppose what I do revolves around Americana, though that is a rather vague term which incorporates several genres - so that suits me. I used to think "folk-rock," but a lot of people see that as kind of wimpy, while I like to get pretty wild sometimes, getting more rock than folk. In any event, it changes from day to day. Yesterday I was hitting the country-rock and also practicing some Italian. Might be some more of that today, seeing as how I had some pizza for lunch, though I kind of feel like cranking it up and blasting some blues-rock. And who knows what tomorrow may bring?

There's no cut-and-dried answer to the question, Maybe I shouldn't have said anything ...

[BBarton]

celtic

[Timbofood]

Primarily, I play bluegrass however, I have been known to play with country bands, the occasional Tejano band, old timey now and then but, they tell me I am too inclined to bluegrass to be as warmly welcomed as some other styles.
I have not entered into the realm of Irish music but, do enjoy listening from time to time.

[foldedpath]

These days I'm playing almost exclusively Irish and Scottish traditional music, and the related styles like Cape Breton, Shetland, and Breton trad.

I blame my Significant Other, she's a fiddler. You hang out with fiddlers and you're gonna play fiddle music.


I have a 30+ year history playing guitar in styles like electric Chicago Blues, Kottke-esque fingerstyle, bottleneck slide, and a little beginner-level Jazz on nylon string guitar. I could theoretically transfer that to mandolin, but I just haven't been motivated. Guitar burnout, maybe... it happens to some of us as we turn into old geezers.

At any rate, I'm having fun falling down the deep well of Irish/Scottish trad. The difficulty of playing this music fluently is a continuing challenge, and there are so many great tunes to learn. I don't see myself shifting into anything else for the remaining years that I can play music.

[Mandobart]

Americana, Bluegrass, Gypsy Jazz. On OM and mandocello add Hawaiian slack key.

[Jim B]

Bluegrass, gospel & Americana.

[Bertram Henze]

Itm.

[Willie Poole]

Traditional bluegrass and traditional country...A lot of folks say they play bluegrass/country but it is really bad rock and roll...I play bluegrass because my voice fits that style, played lead guitar in a country band for years also...

Willie

[Explorer]

Hmm.

I do a lot of Andean music, with the mandolin doing both melody/harmony, and standing in for charango, including the pickless fast strumming.

I do a lot of dance music, which encompasses genres like disco and funk. Over the past week, that has included taking the place of the guitar on songs like "Get On Up (Sex Machine)“ by James Brown, "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees, "Get Off" by Foxy, and so on. I've done a lot of funk and dance on guitar in the past, so this is a natural outgrowth of that.

[tkdboyd]

Classical (Bach to Calace); Old-Time; Blue, New, Jam, Grass; some Jazz standards; Dawg.

[Steve Lavelle]

Other - I let the all the guitarists pick the tunes, and find a way to make the mandolin part work with what they sing and play. Mostly folk/rock & jam band music these days. Very few of my musical acquaintances show much interest in instrumental music, which I would like to explore more.

[JeffD]

I guess my primary playing these days is a pretty even mix of Old-Time fiddle tunes and songs (Charlie Poole songs especially), contradance fiddle tunes (so called Northern Old Time), and Traditional Irish and Scottish fiddle tunes, and any old sounding beautiful waltz.

My secondary playing would be classical - trying to learn some Vivaldi, Boccherini, Bach, Calace and some works by Victor Kioulaphides.

My tertiary playing would be bluegrass, older Country Music, Eastern European fiddle tunes and Klezmer music, and traditional music from France, and Italy.

I don't play anything but mandolin, but I mess with fiddle and guitar.

[zedmando]

Other--blues & rock mostly.
My Mom wants to hear me play some bluegrass--maybe I'll have to learn some Hayseed Dixie.

[JeffD]

I am going to go out on a limb and predict that for participants on these forums the most popular genre is bluegrass, followed by classical. But I would further suggest bluegrassers, though numerous, are a large minority, i.e. most members (I dunno, just over half or more, maybe 60%) are not bluegrassers.

I could be wrong, but that is my sense of it.

[catmandu2]

Other - I let the all the guitarists pick the tunes, and find a way to make the mandolin part work with what they sing and play..

Mandolin is an excellent accompaniment instrument.

For me, mandolin was simply an offshoot of studying [any/all] stringed instruments that I could get my hands on - having started [guitar] at about age 10 - which apparently is not at all uncommon. The mandolin is a lovely little instrument, but as I'm not a bluegrasser, it doesn't hold my attention for long. Having studied guitar, harp, etc - Bach, Baroque, etc just isn't something I enjoy hearing on a mandolin.

Fun to see what everyone's musical inclinations are. I've studied more folk styles than time permits - and fell deeply into some: I play lots of celtic/gaelic/itm on harps and hammered dulcimer, now, primarily. I try to do this as much as possible (I love the sound of these instruments, and particularly in the old/pibroch style of Welsh, Scottish, etc'), but I can't get away from playing gypsy, bal-musette, cajun fiddle, New Orleans ragtime, professor Longhair and Jelly Roll Morton, bossa nova, some of my old classical/flamenco guitar and oud...others..and since my kids have started band/orchestra, I get out my bass clarinet once and a while. I occasionally work as a drummer and bassist (all styles - jazz and latin are favorites). No rock anything anymore - unless it's a bit of Keith riffs on a duolian...or reggae

At any rate, I'm having fun falling down the deep well of Irish/Scottish trad. The difficulty of playing this music fluently is a continuing challenge, and there are so many great tunes to learn. I don't see myself shifting into anything else for the remaining years that I can play music.

Yes, there's something about this music: it's not the rhythm - Latin/Brazilian/Afro/jazz etc is it for this...it's not the 'harmony,' obviously, nor even polyphony... But it's compelled me to buy $Ks of harps, keep long fingernails on both hands, and generally seek increasingly-less involvement in anything 'rational'..