Why did you choose the mandolin over another instrument?

[Viola]

Choosing the mandolin over other instruments?

Well... I played viola since 4th grade so I was quite familiar with all that goes along with that. But all the fidgety little things about it started hurting in adulthood: keeping the thumb bent to hold the bow, applying the right pressure in the right position to hold the instrument in place, etc... The body just doesn't work the way it used to. So I stopped playing. I had a few sputtering revivals through the years and switched to a violin for a short bit, but didn't care for those high notes on the e-string and it didn't really help bridge the mismatch between what the instrument requires and my body is willing to do.

The only other string instrument with which I had any familiarity was the guitar. So I tried that for a few years. My undoing with that instrument was two-fold: bar chords and it wasn't arranged in 5ths. Worse yet, there's one string that doesn't hold the pattern of 4ths. I think I'm programmed to think in 5ths; I think I could have adapted to 4ths...maybe. But those chords... no good. I gave it a good shot. A few years.

So, on to the ukulele. Should be easier, right? Four strings, like I'm used to -- definite improvement there. But, still, the strings were the "wrong" tuning. It's just like the top strings of a guitar which was a touch problematic for me and then the "my" string (using "my dog has fleas" tuning) is an octave above where it "should" be. Gave that about a year.

I thought about taking the ukulele and re-stringing it to CGDA, but then I was told that something called a "mandola" existed. Four courses of CGDA tuned strings. Hallelujah!! Borrowed one from someone for a month of two and it was fantastic. Well, the instrument itself was so-so, but what I could do with it felt right. So I got one of my own and played melody. Again, not the best instrument - fretboard was straight and wide. Wider than I would like. And chords... eh... that was no good. Then I upgraded to a better instrument - nice radiused fretboard - felt more like a viola... the instrument with which I'd grown up. Better feel, better tone... Melody sounded better; chords were also better, but still... eh... not my forte. And I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so if a given chord wasn't happening despite practice and hands-on instruction (and I'm looking at you D-chord: major and minor. D-chord has not been my friend), after awhile, my inclination is to stop trying. Some of those chords felt like that stupid guitar problem all over again. But now on an instrument I loved. The horror!

Enter mandolin. Do you have any idea how much easier chords are on a mandolin than a mandola? For me, it's felt like reducing the near-impossible into child's play. So now I practice chords on a mandolin and then move them over to the mandola. I don't really play melody on the mandolin -- as was with the violin, I don't care much for the high notes. So, for me at present, the mandolin is my instrument of choice for learning and practicing. But my heart is with the mandola

[gregoriousd]

I grew up playing piano and taught throughout high school and college. I started listening to bluegrass and took up the banjo, but it turned out I didn't really like traditional bluegrass, more the progressive string band stuff. Pandora radio really helped to weed out what I liked and didn't, which led to newgrass and the Punch Brothers sort of thing. My great uncle died and left behind an old beater bowlback mandolin and I hopped on here for advice and general lurking on how to fix it up. It looks nice now but it plays kinda awful, so I bought a Rouge to learn on, then I just finished my IV kit which I think turned out pretty great. It's my go-to.

I'm loving mandolin, the tuning is great for a non-guitar kind of guy. The past few weeks I've built out a solid practice regimen and now play every day. I have an archtop guitar mandocello conversion on the horizon for my buddies 40th bday present, as well as probably an octave mandolin conversion of the same sort afterwards for myself. My wife sings so I'd love to have something to play that's not a ukulele or piano, maybe the two of us together could possibly resemble some fraction of one Sarah Jarosz. Oh yeah, I'm also currently obsessed with building a flat top mini body travel mandolin for work trips. Needless to say, I'm hooked!!

[mandolin breeze]

[Mark Miller]

Hi folks. Been gone for a while, because my problem is I didn’t pick mandolin over other instruments. I picked up guitar in my mid-40’s because I’d always wanted to and wasn’t getting any younger. Acoustic because who wants to hear some 40-something guy trying to play Smoke on the Water. My knowledge of acoustic music was like Dylan and Neil Young and the Dead. So I started listening. Fell in love with country blues. Bluegrass. Old-time string bands. Doc Watson. And there was this guy named David Grisman. So for my 50th birthday I bought a mandolin. I loved it and still do, but I keep getting called away by fingerpicking country blues and clawhammer banjo. Hadn’t picked up my mandolin in a few months but the other day I was listening to Ralph Stanley playing banjo and the guy playing mandolin with him had this great percussive hollow tone and I had to come back. If only I didn’t have to work for a living I could actually get good at these instruments!

[Phil Goodson]

The low 'thunks' in the last line of the outro of "Everytime You Say Good-Bye" played by Adam Steffey on his Gilchrist made me want to make that kind of sound. Couldn't fight it!

Oh, and also, what Don Stiernberg has often pointed out, "the mandolin is the BEST instrument".

[Caleb]

Like many others, I played guitar first. Went into a shop one day and an older gentleman was working in the acoustic room. He asks, "Have you ever tried a mandolin?" He handed it to me, showed me G, C, and D, and I was converted.

I like the mandolin because it somehow sounds ancient and mysterious to me, and I believe it's also the happiest sounding instrument there is.

[ineedwine]

I chose it because I love the pretty sounds it can make, and it is small enough for my tiny frame/hands unlike a guitar! Plus it's just so versatile. I was attracted by the idea that I could learn classical music that sounded so pretty as well as bluegrass/popular cover songs and fiddle tunes on the same instrument. With the different techniques there's just so much possibility. I just love it all around. I'm so glad I chose this instrument. I've fiddled around with a lot of instruments but this is the one that stuck. I'm never going back.

[04Bravo]

I started playing violin at age 7, largely due to my dad's influence (he also played, not profesionally). Dad also had a mandolin, but that was off-limits, I was supposed to be the next Heifetz or whoever the classical genius of the moment was. Stopped playing music after college (Army, job, marriage, kid were higher priorities). When I retired, I wanted to get back into music, but my classical skills were 'way rusty, no way in Hades I was going to pass an audition into one of the local amateur orchestras.

More important, I wanted to learn something new and to be able to play alone or in a group, depending on circumstances and time available. Doesn't hurt that the vibe around folk music is a lot more relaxed than in the classical ranks, IMO. For an ex-violinist, the mandolin's the obvious choice; the left hand knows what to do, darned if I can teach the right hand to keep up.

[Jack Roberts]

Years ago I walked into a music shop and I saw a mandolin on the wall. I thought: "I can play that."

And I've been proving myself wrong ever since.

[Mtl Seán]

I teach guitar and my boss calls me up and says I notice you indicated on your cv you teach mandolin. I said yeah so he says oh I imagine beginners and intermediate levels? My ego kicked in and I say I’ve been playing and studying mando for many years and that I’m comfortable teaching any level. So when I get off the phone I figure I better learn how to play. You know just in case. That’s a few months ago. I love it it’s as if I were a teenager again. Just feel like playing. I’m enjoying that. Thank you for being there.

[Seamus B]

It crept up on me over many years. As a child I reacted to the sound of doubled-strings, whether it was attending Irish sessions as a child and hearing the mandolin, or something as obscure as noticing the sound of a 12-string guitar in songs by Echo and the Bunnymen or the The Byrds. Something about the sound chimed with me and I became really fascinated by it. Years later, and after unsuccessfully trying the lead and bass guitars I came back to that sound as I started listening to more Celtic and English folk. Even though some would argue it is not a traditional folk instrument in that way, I always thought it complimented this sort of music very well. Having bought one I realised it suited my small hands very well, which used to be such a hindrance to playing bass.

[Caleb]

Even though some would argue it is not a traditional folk instrument in that way, I always thought it complimented this sort of music very well.

I know what you mean. When I first got into mandolin, for some reason I thought it was synonymous with "Celtic" music. I have no idea where I came up with that idea, because, especially in America, most people think of Bluegrass when the mandolin is mentioned. Either way I believe it lends itself well to these styles because of its ancient sound.

[Seamus B]

I know what you mean. When I first got into mandolin, for some reason I thought it was synonymous with "Celtic" music. I have no idea where I came up with that idea, because, especially in America, most people think of Bluegrass when the mandolin is mentioned. Either way I believe it lends itself well to these styles because of its ancient sound.

I have exactly the same experience - having no experience of bluegrass music at all, I thought that the instrument had simply been co-opted by folk musicians from Italian music many centuries ago. Other people will know more about this, and I would be interested to find out if it was old-time and bluegrass music that popularised the instrument for folk musicians. When I have attended Irish sessions I have always got excited when the banjo or fiddle player (usually) puts their main instrument down to play a song on the mandolin. To me it seems that that there are numerous instruments that have been adopted by modern Irish folk musicians - both the banjo and acoustic 6-string guitar are fairly modern additions to sessions. I have, however, noted that some people consider the mandolin to be exclusively a bluegrass instrument and question its inclusion at Irish sessions, despite pre-dating bluegrass by many years.

[Beanzy]

No it has it’s own history in folk this side of the pond. Especially prevalent in Scottish music, and a solid place in English folk, while in Ireland it is more of a folk rather than trad music instrument. More recently Bluegrass and those working away promoting it here have become more influential in what’s on offer in the shops, jamming and educational opportunities. But that’s been covered elsewhere so I won’t divert an excellent thread. It’s great to read these wee background stories here.

[DougC]

The mandolin 'chose me' in a sense. I was playing violin in a 'community orchestra' and we were playing a Vivaldi piece and wondered if we could find a mandolin player to join us. I knew some mandolin players and they were either too busy or did not want to accept the job. And they told me that since I had played guitar for many years that I could learn the mandolin without much effort. After all, they said, it is tuned the same as a violin. So I borrowed a nice old Gibson and learned my part. And I fell in love with mandolins! I even have a mandola now. Yikes. I'm hooked.

[bjewell]

Vinnie, Joey and Vito said if I didn't play the mandolin at Johnny "Big Johnny" G.'s funeral it would be a problem.

[sbhikes]

I played Irish flute. I bought a 2nd hand Doug Tipple flute but found the holes a little hard to reach so I posted it for sale. Someone offered a mandolin in trade so I thought, wow, what a good trade since Tipple flutes are just pieces of plumbing pipe. I enjoyed playing the mandolin because it sounds pretty even when you're not that good at it. It's not the only thing I play though.

[Andrew Faltesek]

I had always liked the sound of double strings, mandolin or guitar. My 1st guitar cheap 12-string was stolen in '79 and afterwards just never cured the itch. Nearing the age of 50 in '07 I decided I was going to get a mandolin, and my wife gifted me cash towards the effort for my birthday, so bless her. I think it was a combination of the captivating sound plus so many guitar players much better than me in my circle of friends that maybe I could contribute something different.

Found out all the mandolin players around here are way better than me also! Its rough up here in North Central what with all the accomplished acoustic musicians around several layers deep. I was ready to give up finding one that sounded great within my budget; but found a Weber prototype STE F-style which I purchased and is plain but excellent tone. There was also an interest and trepidation over learning whole new set of chords, and the high-pitched doublets ringing clear that attracted me.

Now 11 years later I wish I was a good mandolin player, but the STE's quality outstrips my abilities. In an ensemble a mandolin adds some unique color, and you don't have to play it in a traditional way even though its expected...I always wanted to explore blues grooves. Mandos just have that certain ring that listeners really like. I've had more complements on my crappy mandolin playing than for what I considered very good guitar playing during the same performance.

I think the mandolin has a captivating tone and avails a sort of old-world sound (not just American Traditional) that was central to my decision to try and learn to play one.

[Russ Donahue]

First saw and heard one being played at a Bluegrass Ramble in Central New York back in 1975. Acquired a starter instrument soon after, and for years - off and on - tried to get the hang of playing it. Around 2012 I found a local bluegrass jam that was already jam-packed with guitars and banjos. At the same time I discovered this site and its wealth of educational and community resources. Out came the mandolin again. What I enjoy most is that in a sea of banjo and guitar players, I have a voice to add, rather than replicate. Still play guitar, and I love the mandolin. Have found that my playing on both instruments has improved. Growth on one instrument always leads to growth on the other.

Did I mention it is easier to play a mandolin while sitting on a couch?

[Teak]

Mission Mountain Wood Band, Missoula, Montana, circa 1975. Christian Johnson up on stage playing a mandolin in a country rock/bluegrass band. He was playing the coolest runs imaginable, cutting through the mid-level muddle typical of bands. I went to a music store the next year (1976) and decided that a mandolin would be easier to travel with than a guitar so I bought my first one for $60.

[Capt. E]

Long story short: GDAE tuning.

Exactly. I have never clicked with guitar and when I discovered my first mandolin (a Mid-Missouri flat-top I found in a pawn shop...cheap) it was a revelation as to how understandable chords etc were. The sound also, was very pleasing. The only other string instrument I play right now is a Stromberg Voisinet tenor guitar, strung and tuned like an octave mandolin. Very different tone and, of course, an octave lower.

[mtucker]

What made you choose the mandolin

That's any easy one.... an 11 lb. bass!

[Br1ck]

I always sort of wanted one to complement guitars, basses, ukes, and the dobro I had. One day my then three year old grandson went up to his grandma and asked her to make me get a mandolin so he could play it when he came over. How could I possibly disappoint the little fella. It has worked out fine.

Thanks to the farmer's markets for hiring string bands.

[peterleyenaar]

I came from a fiddle background , a lot of similarity between mandolin and fiddle, the hard part for me was and still is the right hand,
that's where guitar players have the advantage, I started out on the mandolin playing the fiddle tunes I knew, where the left hand is somewhat similar.
The Violin/fiddle is not an easy instrument (if there is such a thing as an easy instrument) proper posture, very smooth bow hand, practice every day, but a very rewarding intrument when you get it right.
The mandolin although by no means an easy instrument ,is for me more comfortable to play and when you get it right, as rewarding

[doublestoptremolo]

I didn't start playing until much later, but these songs first got me interested in mandolin: