. . . took up the mandolin, who were the first 1 or 2 players that you most listened to for inspiration and ideas?
. . . took up the mandolin, who were the first 1 or 2 players that you most listened to for inspiration and ideas?
Mike Seeger with The New Lost City Ramblers
Ralph Rinzler with The Greenbriar Boys
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
Thile and Compton. Opposite ends on the spectrum of perfection (IMHO)
Last edited by Michael H Geimer; Mar-19-2020 at 9:22am.
Butch Baldasarri and Chris Thiele
Living’ in the Mitten
Sorry - can't pare down to 1 or 2!
Sonny Criswell , Danny Curtis, John Duffey
Rush Burkhardt
Towson, MD
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John Paul Jones
Ray Jackson
Yank Rachell
Charlie McCoy (the long-gone blues guy, not the Nashville Charlie)
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
A friend loaned me Butch Baldassari's mandolin tutor book when I first started on mandolin 13 years ago, so I searched out his music.
That wasn't exactly the first inspiration though, because I had seen the early David Grisman Quintet at a live concert way back in the late 70's. I bought all his following albums. I never thought I'd ever play mandolin, so there was a 35 year period of playing guitar (mostly Blues and a little Jazz) before finally getting around to it. That Grisman influence was still there in the background, so I'd call that my major mandolin influence.
Apparently it didn't stick though, since I'm now playing Irish/Scottish trad. Never thought I'd be able to play that stuff either, after years of listening to groups like Altan and Lunasa. The mandolin turned out to be a great gateway instrument for that music.
David McLaughlin and Adam Steffey
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Arrow Manouche
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Clark 2 point
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Don Stiernberg (and through him, Jethro, Don Julin).
All my life I wanted to be somebody, now I realize I should have been more specific.
Bush and Steffey! Still top of my list....
Mike Marshall & Chris Thile. Many more now. Really like Tristan Scroggins' style of play.
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Bill and Dawg
& Jethro
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Interesting question. I guess I pretty much made up my own style. The only mandolin player I'd seen live enough to call him an "influence," was Joe Val of the Charles River Valley Boys. I listened to Monroe, of course, but since I already played 5-string banjo and guitar, i found myself "hybridizing" what those instruments would do, into any lead work I might do on mandolin. I'd inherited a 'teens Gibson A-1 from my late grandfather's attic, and thus found myself designated as "mandolin player' when my brother and my friend Bob joined me in a bluegrass trio, Flower City Ramblers, about 1970 or so.
I've always been lousy at copying others' styles, for better or worse. I did try to assimilate Bobby Osborne's tremolo on slower bluegrass songs, as best as I could glean it from records. I never took a lesson -- again, for better or worse; just sat down with the old Gibson and tried to figure out what worked for me. I'd listen to a tune, try to learn it, and then go back and listen again to the original, and discover I was playing a largely different break. Oh well.
Allen Hopkins
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Natl Triolian Dobro mando
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Bill Halsey, Duffey, Monroe
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
Thile (Nickel Creek) and Skaggs (Ancient Tones) then added Tim OBrienof Hot Rize (Untold Stories).
Jamie
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
+ Give Blood, Save a Life +
LZ III. Not only mndln but banjo and pedal steel too. Several years later I started into Scruggs and Monroe, but the brit folk-rock stuff was more evocative to me; I started performing that repertoire when I was 14 y.o. That led to a deep dive into the old stuff, to this day.
John Reischman and Herschel Sizemore
First was really the Dawg, but I played more like Levon. When I starting playing more seriously, It was Jethro's final sessions with Don Stiernberg playing rhythm guitar that really lit my bulb.
I first started playing mandolin when I was, I dunno, 12 or so, 'cuz I saw one at a flea market and asked my parents to buy it for me.
About 18 years ago, I had the lucky opportunity to catch the last show of "Guitar Wars" in Osaka – an odd conglomeration of Nuno Bettencourt, Paul Gilbert, I forget who on drums, and John Paul Jones on bass (and Steve Hackett, with his own group). Jones played a few songs on mandolin, and my gut reaction was "Ah, that's why I've always loved the mandolin!"
mando scales
technical exercises for rock blues & fusion mandolinists
mp4 backing tracks & free downloadable pdfs
jimbevan.com
When I was a teenager, The Pogues' Terry Woods and Copperhead Road-era Steve Earle made the mandolin cool. I had a mandolin but sold it when I was desperate for cash. Years later, after my wife bought me a mandolin for Christmas, I went right to Munroe and Thile.
When I first started, I was mostly just interested in the instrument itself and was completely unfamiliar with the talent. When I started paying attention to who was out there, I YouTubed a lot of Chris Thile and Mike Marshall. Lately I pay more attention to John Reischman and Sam Bush. Also been getting interested in Jethro with all of the stuff posted about his 100th B-day... seems like he was a cool guy!
aka: Spencer
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Seals & Croft, Rod Stewart's "Mandolin Wind" and Led Zeppelin got me interested in the mandolin but I finally started learning to play after hearing and seeing Bill Monroe. Marty Stuart, Steve Earle, Ricky Skaggs and Chris Thile keep my interest going. I have to confess however that I did stumble upon a banjo a few months ago.
Oh ya, I forgot rod and co. My first rock album when I was 10 or 11. When I finally got a mndln years later, I learned the fretboard driving from mich to n carolina playing those tunes by ear. I was really into ron wood's slide playing..(and now that i think - prbly why my first dread acoustic was a 12 string. And all things must pass..
Barney McKenna and John Sheehan.
Dave H
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