Roland White death

[nick delmore]

Roland White helped me change my pick grip. I used to use a three-finger grip. We were at a jam after a Country Gazette show & he remarked that he used to play like I did. I had been thinking about trying to change but it seemed very intimidating so I asked him how he did it. He said he put a flatpick in his pocket & carried it with him everywhere he went. He said it didn't matter what he was doing, driving, watching tv, taking a walk...whatever but he would always have that pick in his hand, in playing position. He said eventually it started feeling more natural just holding the pick that way & eventually he got to where he felt comfortable playing with the new grip. He told me that on all those old Kentucky Colonels albums he was playing with a three-finger pickhold. Anyway, I tried it & it worked for me. I had really been struggling with the shift so I have been forever grateful to Roland White for the time he took to have that conversation with me. Literally changed my life.

[Peter Coronado]

This is one of my favorites. Maybe he used that pick grip here. RIP Roland and thank you!

[Lorenzo LaRue]

....Thanx Peter, I was just going to put that up myself....And of course to Roland, RIP mando man....

[LGS]

While I was in the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Fort Campbell, KY in 1972, I played all the little Bluegrass Clubs in Nashville 3-4 nights a week. I was 19 years old & Roland was always so good to me. You never forget a friend like that. I would always try and go hear him play. Roland you are missed.

[nick delmore]

That Andy Griffith clip seemed to show Roland with a three-finger grip. I wasn't exactly the way I did it but I think it was three fingers.

[Charles Johnson]

RIP Roland. We did a deal or two.He was extremely nice and down to earth and easy to deal with.
Its a big loss for the music world.

[Timbofood]

Very good article in Bluegrass Today this morning! I’d link but, don’t know how.

[Michael T]

Is this the article you were mentioning? It looks like a good one, and has lots of clips of his playing in it. I'll have to check it out.

https://bluegrasstoday.com/roland-wh...life-in-music/

Roland's instruction book really helped me when I first started playing mandolin. It also has some great stories and pictures that made it feel like I got to know him, even though we never met.

I'll also add one of my favorites...

[Big Joe]

He really wanted very little. He did not want a varnish finish, just a nitrocellulose finish because he thought it would hold up better. He wanted the sunburst he got. He was somewhat certain about the color. He wanted the fingerboard end in a certain way, which I don’t recall, but would be seen on photos of him playing. He wanted the neck to fit his hands, which were pretty small compared to mine. That was really about it. He wanted it to play well with low action. Those were very simple things to do for him. He had some show or festival or tour he had coming up and hoped we could have it for him by then. If he had wanted much custom on it, we could not have had it ready. However, it was not a difficult issue because of the simple things he wanted. We got it to him in time, and he really loved it. He told me often how much he loved it and thanked me for it. We were always surprised at how simple he wanted it, but that was Roland. He did not want a lot of flash. He just wanted a good tool. Another artist that was so easy to please was Paul Williams. He was thrilled with an off the shelf Bush. A little setup and he was set to go. I love his playing. I loved getting to work with a bunch of the bluegrass mandolin players. Most were really good people and great players. They are or were the kind of people you would want for neighbors.

[Timbofood]

Yep, that’s the one!

[Timbofood]

Having shared a couple of meals with Roland I’d have loved to have been his neighbor!

[WilliamWMeyer]

I'm so glad I got to see him live in Nashville 5 years ago

[slickmando]

And his other brother Eric White. (He passed in 2012)

[John Ritchhart]

I went to his class many times at camp. It was usually 15 minutes of East Tennessee Blues and 45 minutes of Bill Monroe stories. Those stories were the best. Stories from the bus. He taught fingerboard efficiency, ("keep the puppies in the yard") and how to chop so you weren't worn out by the end of the show. Mostly I just sat there in awe of his playing and his manners. I was in the presence of a bluegrass icon. He is missed. RIP