Re: Tuning up
I don't have any advice about tuning higher, but I'm with you on capos, Ed. I couldn't care less about someone's rules about playing, but there isn't a great deal of room for my left hand on the neck of a mandolin, and I find that I have to alter my hand position myself to use a capo. I used one when I was starting out, especially since many tunes are written in C and I usually sing in D. My abilities to move around the fingerboard have developed considerably over time, so that I've stopped using a capo. Still, I might use one for a complex arrangement of a tune I've already learned, like Alabama Jubilee that I play in C, but which doesn't suit my voice in that key. So I understand your aversion to capos.
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.
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