Mandolins are Cool

[Mike Martin]

I've been a fiddle and keyboard player most of my life, and play some guitar (poorly) too. I would pick up a friend's mandolin from time to time but never really thought seriously about getting my own until a year or so ago. After looking around and saving some money, I pulled the trigger this last summer when my Pava A found me. I play it most every day, sometimes for too long (says my mostly-tolerant wife). I still enjoy playing my other instruments, but none of them ever demanded my attention to the degree that the mandolin has. I could probably think through many reasons why that is, but really it just comes down to the fact that the mandolin is cool. I look cool playing it, I feel cool holding it, it is cool to look at, and most importantly it sounds cool. I'm not just talking about my mandolin, though it is definitely super cool, but pretty much all mandolins. In the last six months I've played Flatiron, Gibson, Northfield, Passernig, Turkey Creek, Morrell, iii, Collings, Breedlove, Eastman, Kentucky, Brentrup, Phoenix, Kay, Ellis, and Weber mandolins, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. They were all very cool instruments, even the Kay (well one of them was a stinker, but with new strings and a setup it might a cool mandolin). And judging by the opinions of people here, there are many many more cool mandolins out there, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on them.

Now playing a mandolin certainly does not automatically make one cool (I may feel cool, but my friends wouldn’t describe me as such), but the research shows mandolin players are much more likely to be cool people than the general population. So congratulations, most of you, on being a cool person playing a cool instrument. But don't let it go to your head, keep cool!

[kurth83]

Great post, welcome to the fan club. :-)

I play a bunch of other instruments too, but mandolin is currently the main one I am trying to progress on and gets most of my practice time these days.

In my case I sometimes think about taking up violin one day, I can chase all the cats out of the neighborhood for a while too. :-)

[DocT]

They are cool, for a fact. I tried playing guitar and it was boring. I have progressed farther on the mandolin in a short time than ever on a guitar. I think the reason is that the mandolin is fun!

[MandoMN18]

It sounds like you may be like me in the fact that my poor fiddle has been taking a back seat to the mandolin ever since I started playing. There really is something about it that has stolen my heart. I think not have to worry so much about intonation as compared to the fiddle makes it very freeing. Happy playing!

[Mark Gunter]

Mandolins are too cool

[Cindy]

What should I say to people who when I tell them I play the mandolin say, "Oh is that like a ukulele?" It makes me homicidal. This has happened three or four times. Certain "friends" like to bait me by saying, "Tell me again how is a mandolin not like a ukulele." Obviously my reaction is only encouraging them.

[Dick Dery]

What should I say to people who when I tell them I play the mandolin say, "Oh is that like a ukulele?" It makes me homicidal. This has happened three or four times. Certain "friends" like to bait me by saying, "Tell me again how is a mandolin not like a ukulele." Obviously my reaction is only encouraging them.

[illinoisfiddler]

What should I say to people who when I tell them I play the mandolin say, "Oh is that like a ukulele?" It makes me homicidal. This has happened three or four times. Certain "friends" like to bait me by saying, "Tell me again how is a mandolin not like a ukulele." Obviously my reaction is only encouraging them.

I have a friend and band mate that does this, too. Ask them if there is a body of work like bluegrass music for ukulele, because, no offense to ukulele, it isn't the same!

[DocT]

versus

[UsuallyPickin]

And then there's this guy ….. " Pretty much Way Cool" I have to say …. Not Jethro but then nobody is. R/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4-8GzYk0RM

[Mark Gunter]

Ukuleles can be a different kind of cool.

[slimt]

Ukuleles can be a different kind of cool.

Yup... they have there place in Music.. also you can collect and stash more in a smaller place..

[Mike Martin]

Fortunately coolness is not a zero-sum quality, plenty to go around. We've got a vibro-slap which is pretty cool, at times.

I think not have to worry so much about intonation as compared to the fiddle makes it very freeing.

This definitely is a contributing coolness factor. Likewise, when you get the last course perfectly in tune and your mandolin just relaxes, kind of sighs, and sustains like a bell? So cool.

[Mike Martin]

I love hanging out with mandolin nerds

Nerds are cool

[V70416]

Mandoln coolness seems to rub off on its players,like Don Stiernberg,Dawg,Col.Dave Appolon,Sam Bush,Tim O'Brien,
Jethro etc.

[Mike Martin]

This guy seems like a pleasant enough fellow.




This guy is cool.

[Mike Martin]

Yawn.




Oh yeah.

[Br1ck]

versus

Tiny Tim, once you get past the balony, was way cool. No one played a Uke back then, and the man, along with Leon Redbone, was a true authority on early twentieth century songs, the songs that were played on those old Gibson mandolins. Had he not developed a character, he'd never been heard by anyone. So not cool, he was cool.

[slinds]

When people ask me if my mandolin is like a uke, I just say,"Actually, it's a uke with double the strings and double the sound and double the fun. Ukes are certainly OK but a mandolin is twice as cool as a uke. So you should really try one."

[LongBlackVeil]

I really appreciate that you guys are being civil and all.

but in my opinion ukuleles are the devil and need to be rooted out one by one from this earth

[Dick Dery]

Tiny Tim, once you get past the balony, was way cool. No one played a Uke back then, and the man, along with Leon Redbone, was a true authority on early twentieth century songs, the songs that were played on those old Gibson mandolins. Had he not developed a character, he'd never been heard by anyone. So not cool, he was cool.

I never heard of him trying to get past the baloney/weirdness ("Tiptoe Through the Tulips"). Too bad he couldn't come up with a way to demonstrate and market his mastery of the ukulele.
FWIW, there was one other ukulele player in the mid-to-late sixties: Arthur Godfrey. But he was old, and appealed more to my parents and grandparents than to adolescents.

[MikeZito]

. . . taking up violin one day, I can chase all the cats out of the neighborhood for a while too. :-)

Been there, done that . . . most of the neighbors still won't talk to me . . . .

[MikeZito]

Tiny Tim, once you get past the balony, was way cool . . . the man, along with Leon Redbone, was a true authority on early twentieth century songs,

Tiny Tim is actually one of my musical 'heroes' - he seemed like a very genuine guy who truly loved music, but had somewhat limited talents . . . I can identify with that!

[Jim DeSalvio]

I'm partial to the F Style. Way cool. I also have an Eastman oval hole 2 point (no longer made), that is very cool. I keep one at work, and when I pull it out to play a few fiddle tunes, all the nurses think I am cool!!!!!

[Mike Martin]

Two pointers are way cool. And of course the nurses dig it, they can recognize a man with refined tastes.