Who really knows what a mandolin is?

[Ted Eschliman]

Reality check...

[Crabgrass]

Thanks Ted. That takes a lot of the pressure off....I think.

Do you have a chart for people who really know what bluegrass is? (Know it's Bluegrass 10%. Think it's country 20%. Think it's from the soundtrack to Deliverance 70%.)

[Bill Van Liere]

That's a really little guitar. How many strings does it have? (while looking at it)

It's a mandolin, it has eight strings.

Is that like a ukulele?

[JEStanek]

Don't you use those in a kitchen? 1% Foodies.

Jamie

[journeybear]

No way! The percentage of people who think it's a banjo or ukulele should be much higher. Though there may be a gap between what people think it is and what people guess it is ... or is there?

[Beanzy]

Where are those people who saw Captain Corelli's Mandolin? (I've still not seen it). I bet most would know a bowl-back.
They probably think there's only one shape for any instrument.

[mandroid]

Mmmm Pie.. I love blueberry pie

[8ch(pl)]

I wonder,if there's a percentage who think a Mandolin is expensive.

[Darren Bailey]

All very well and good, but I clicked on this post hoping to find the answer.

[demotlj]

Bowlbacks aren't any more recognizable. I played a Renaissance piece with my bowlback in church and had someone tell me they loved my ukulele.

[Ed Goist]

I'd bet the primary driver of what unknowing folks think a mandolin is depends on the music they are hearing being played on it...
Classical: Is that a lute?
Bluegrass: Is that a banjo?
International or Folk: Is that a ukulele?
Rock or Blues: Is that a little guitar?
Jazz:...Jazz listeners know it's a mandolin...They're a pedantic lot!

[Malcolm G.]

["Umm, fish?"]

Umm, I'm no longer sure that I know what a mandolin is, but I'm sure enjoying my little parlor guitar tuned CGDAEB.

[Scott Tichenor]

Like.

[Bill Craig Jones]

I hate when they don't know what it is and they've been informed dozens of times. Like my students...

[Pete Summers]

What surprises me is so many folks think it's a ukulele. Who plays a ukulele nowadays? I would think mandolins are more common.

[GDAE]

Ukes are hugely popular right now, actually. My local guitar store just put up a large selection of them (some quite cool) because they have so many requests for them.

[Steve Sorensen]

Luckily 11% = 34 million people in the US and 766 million world-wide. Now the task is to move 'em from "Recognize" to "Play" . . . because from there it is only a small step over the cliff to "Obsessed".

Steve

[Psyberbilly]

Fiddler's Green has an archway between two rooms dedicated to ukeleles , and of course Collings is building them to keep their staff employed . SOMEBODY is buying them ........

[multidon]

Ukulele popularity goes up and down like the stock market. Right now ukulele popularity is sky high mainly, I believe, because of the Train hit song "Hey Soul Sister", which uses a baritone ukulele. All the young rock fans were amazed because they had never heard a sound like that in a rock song. Therefore, now most people who don't know any better think that anything that vaguely resembles a "little guitar" is a ukulele. There are hundreds of different variants of sizes and woods. Your typical mass merchandiser music stores such as GC now devote 10X the display space to ukes as they do mandolins. You can even, believe it or not, get an Epiphone "Les Paul" model ukulele, cherry "burst" finish and all! Oh, the humanity!

[Elliot Luber]

Where would we be without Rod Steward, Led Zeppelin and REM!

[Pete Summers]

Apparently I've been living in a cave. With my ukulele-like guitar thing.

[mandopete]

...and to think, this thread right on the heels of the "what is bluegrass?" thread.

What is the Mandolin Cafe comming to...Scott?

[McBenet]

What surprises me is so many folks think it's a ukulele. Who plays a ukulele nowadays? I would think mandolins are more common.

There is a huge renaissance going on with ukulele's among high school students in the beach areas of So. California. My youngest son was bugging me to get him one until I bought him a Martin HD 28. Oh the things we do to keep our kids on the straight and narrow, huh.

Barry Bennett

[journeybear]

Luckily 11% = 34 million people in the US and 766 million world-wide.

You do realize the pie chart is a complete fabrication, yes? No?

Where would we be without Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin and REM!

And let's not forget (I often do, until I hear it in the grocery store, as I did today) Shawn Colvin, with "Sunny Came Home." I forget how well it did on the charts, but it did win two Grammys.*

Right now ukulele popularity is sky high mainly, I believe, because of the Train hit song "Hey Soul Sister" ...

Thanks! Beat me to it. Hearing uke a lot in commercials, too.


* OK - peaked at #7 on the Hot 100, #1 on Adult Contemporary and Adult Pop, and #39 for the year. Pretty good going, especially since the mandolin was played by a guitarist (producer John Leventhal).