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Thread: Why play Mandolin?

  1. #51
    Registered User 3step's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    I think the first time I picked one up in a music store was because of how it looks. I remember I kept looking at the F's when I saw them and thinking that's a real work of art. I was shocked the first time I found out that design was originated by Gibson. To me it looked like something out of the renaissance, though now I see it for it's own true originality and beauty. I used to play guitar at open stages before then, when I was young and I jammed a lot with an older guy who played mandolin. I was at his place one time and he was playing me all this Bill Monroe, trying to clue me into it. I was pretty open minded about music and listened to things like the Carter family and Woody Guthrie, but for some reason I didn't take to it then though I was curious about the mandolin. So, I was thinking about that when I tried the one in the music store. I loved playing it so much I decided then and there to buy one. It was about the same time that I started listening to bluegrass again and I had this big - un huh - moment where something about it clicked with me. Now I hardly get through a day without listening to some bluegrass music or playing my Mandolin.

  2. #52
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    I may not have a long and in depth story like the rest of the Cafe legends, but I still feel like sharing. Basically growing up in a decidedly Italian family, I always remember the “old” records like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, especially their Italian folk albums. I never really realized how cool the mandolin in these was though, until later. My first real experience with mandolin came from one of my favorite bands, Carbon Leaf. The was Carter Gravatt was able to literally rock out on this tiny thing blew my mind. Around eleven months ago I just got the urge and ordered a Rogue from Musicians Friend. Ever since then I’ve been teaching myself along with a makeshift mandocello. Having come through this journey (which wouldn’t have happened without the advice of this forum) I now realize that there is so much more the the mandolin. Our little friend has a history stretching from baroque times to the hands of Bill Monroe to the classical feats of Chris Thile. All the while staying humble, and as I feel, the most underrated instrument ever. I may never become as great as the pros, but I definitely take pride in being considered a non-traditional 16 year old kid. Even to this day, I love the exciting moment when I get to explain to one of my friends what a mandolin is.

  3. #53
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Your story is every bit as valid and thoughtful and worth telling as those of those you consider legends. Some of us are just legends in our own minds, you know, and some just like to go on and on and on and ... well, you know. I am impressed that you have taken the time to explore the instrument's history as you did. I did what I could back when I got mine, at 15, several decades ago which was well before the internet made such investigations relatively easy. I mean, I had to look up what it was in the Oxford Companion To Music, in order to find out how to tune it - and then only because of its similarity to violin. In fact, it received all of two paragraphs - maybe just one - saying it was a minor instrument of little use, there were two concerti by Vivaldi, little else. Pretty dismissive. I hitchhiked twenty miles to the nearest music store to get a violin pitch pipe. Man! We have come a long way - me and the instrument.

    Speaking of Dino - one of my favorite mandolin recordings is "That's Amore" - there is just a glorious cloud of mandolins on that. I must have heard it in the background when I was young but it never really registered till I was well along in playing it. We even used to do it in my old jug band - not that well, or Italian-style, either. Then it showed up in a movie a couple years back (was it The Hangover?), and the way it sounded through that surround sound system - wow! But I do remember hearing "Santa Lucia" in an Italian restaurant when I was a kid, and that melody stuck in my head, one of my all-time favorites. Somehow it was prophetic, in hindsight, and I'm glad and grateful that the instrument found me. And that a few years ago I found this forum. It's been a great way to express some of the thoughts that have rambled through my mind over the years. And it's great to learn young people like you are embarking on similar journeys with mandolin providing the soundtrack and the inspiration. Happy trails!
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  4. #54

    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    SPeaking of Mediterannean legends...and without my reading glasses again... Picked up a CD of Vassiis Tsitsanis ....recommended


    Just reflecting there on my own youthful exuberances...when I was 12, my big sister ushered me into the stones, so i was turned onto some stuff that is still going on in me today...the blues are here to stay... It was quite a time to be growing up

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    ...it was prophetic, in hindsight, and I'm glad and grateful that the instrument found me. And that a few years ago I found this forum. .
    Ya, I really enjoy the instrument/music forum sites--Scott puts on a good'n

    I like how we hominids put ourselves--create and project images and aspects into the ether and onto the terra, that are significat to us. This is the mythological aspect of our lives that endures, and registers our subtlest and most profound sensibilities and thoughts...beauty, love, transcendence, music, poetry...it may bore the **** out of some folks, but I like putting it out there on the forum
    Last edited by catmandu2; Dec-07-2011 at 11:26pm.

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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by pjlama View Post
    My great grandfather made bowl backs so there was always these beautiful wall hangers around as a kid .
    That is pretty cool. Have you come across any of them still being played?
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  6. #56
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Jill - Was this in scenic Oakland or forgotten East Galway? I can't really take my pick because I wasn't there. Um, the point I am trying to make is that environment does factor into one's development. As I mentioned, growing up in New England meant I wasn't exposed to bluegrass until my musical tastes and musicianship orientation were well-established. If I had grown up elsewhere things might have been very different. For instance, one grandmother was from Nashville originally, the other from Chicago. So if my parents hadn't met and set up camp where they did, I might have got into bluegrass/country or the blues instead ... well, earlier, anyway.
    Took up the mandolin in scenic Oakland - the gateway instrument for me was tenor banjo which I took up back home in forgotten east Galway....

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Aha. Thanks for clarifying that. I picked up a steel tenor guitar during my jug band days - I wanted a steel mandolin, but this was available - and while it was perfect for this purpose, I wouldn't say I really embraced it. I am still a mandolinist first and foremost, even with this, a mandola, 5-string MandoCaster, and banjolin in my arsenal. Being a mandolinist gives me the ability to play these instruments, but it is the mandolin which allows me fullest expression. So to speak.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  8. #58

    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    I play guitar primarily, but I have always loved mandolin and banjo. I wasn't really drawn to Bluegrass right off the bat, but I was looking for traditional bluegrass instruments in other types of music. Either way, I started listening to a lot of that type of stuff and irish stuff and realized that Mando might be a fun side venture to my guitar. At the same time, I had begun playing with my father-in-law and his friends jamming on covers of eagles and john denver and country type songs. The group got pretty big and at some point there was like 8 guitars and a bass just strumming away to the same chords and it just became a wall of BLAH. So I jokingly said I needed to branch out and get a mando and someone needed a banjo so we could get some diversity. Well, my father in law asked if I really wanted to learn and I said "yes", and then he got me my first mando for my birthday a few weeks later. It was a Sammick beginner special but it got me started. A year later of somewhat uninspired playing (without dedicated practice really), I decided to really give it a shot and bought my Big Mudddy MW-0w for my birthday this year. I guess that I am type of player that loses interest with my instrument if I am not getting any good tones from it, because the Big Muddy sounds fantastic and I always plug away at a few songs every time that I practice my guitar. I suppose I am a-typical because I am primary using Mandolin as a solo instrument doing singer/songwriter type stuff and I am having an absolute blast. I really appreciate the help of this forum to lead me to Big Muddy and the more ringy tones and sustain make it a great voice accompany instrument. I am doing some jamming with a friend who does singer/songwriter christian music and hope to add some stuff for her next ep. Anyway, that's my story.

  9. #59
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by catmandu2 View Post
    ... ("knowledge" often means "cessation of exploration")
    This is my justification for goofing off instead of practicing.
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

  10. #60
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    I wanted to learn an instrument that was not the guitar, as everyone i knew played guitar, yet that would sound well with a guitar, because, as i said everyone i knew played guitar. When i went to the shop there was a selection of reasonably priced plywood mandolins, nobody i knew played mandolin so i bought one.

    Kind of an impulse buy, really.

    I also seem to remember that at the time of purchase i imagined the sound of mandolin as being something close to that of a cimbalom, and i had never heard of Bill Monroe or bluegrass nor would i until i bought Andy Statman's how to book on Bluegrass mandolin ('Andy who?' said i), all of this in the days before ubiquitous internet and digital music, oh such heady innocent times

  11. #61

    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    I had a similar experience--Marmot--in 1980 when I obtained two Oregon cassettes--Roots in the Sky, and Out of the Woods: on one of these is a beautiful al fresca strings that sounded to me, at that time, like "Greek" bouzouki. Of course, it was probably Collin Walcott's hammered dulcimer, or Ralph's 12-string, but I didn't know what instrumentation was what at the time...only that this sound of double-course strings was beautiful and exotic to me. This impelled me to seek more exoticisms in music and instrumentation, and inevitably toward mandolins, CBOMs, and hammered dulcimer (to which I'm hopelessly addicted).

    Wish I could find a vid of that tune (I do believe it's the cadenza to the tune Longing, So Long...meanwhile, here's Ralph's Vessel -- a tune I learned on nylon-string guitar):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWr8BnjAkEc (sorry for no embedding--it seems I'm not able to these days)

    Sounds compel us on wonderful journeys...I play these instruments myself--doublebass, bass clarinet, claypot...funny to run across a vid of my favorite band from 30 years hence doing it...fun to trace our evolutions..
    Last edited by catmandu2; Dec-08-2011 at 2:14pm.

  12. #62

    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Mando content (John Abercrombie):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfR5V...ain&playnext=1

  13. #63
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    [QUOTE=mandopete;994497]Why play mandolin? 'Cause they make much more noise that way!

    Exactly!

    I actually started after finding out that my grandfather (who was my idol) had played (although I had never heard him). This came from my mother who had dementia so who knows if it was true or not, but that's how I got started. I play no clear style, but probably, if pinned down, would say old time or some bluegrass in the fiddle tune genre. Lately I have been fooling around with Beatle tunes too. It is all about having fun and learning new stuff. Still play a lot of guitar and now the uke too-that's a fun little instrument to play that I just smile when I play and can't seem to take seriously.
    Thanks

    Several mandolins of varying quality-any one of which deserves a better player than I am.......

  14. #64
    They seem to call me Cohl AndSoItBegandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Wow I can honestly say I wasn't expecting such response on my first post, its nice to see that there are so many people actiive in here. Thanks for all your stories and input everyone, keep em comin

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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    So be it, AndSoItBe-...

    What I especially like about these threads is their tendency to motivate me to revisit music I hadn't done for a long time. I'm playing my bass today along with old Oregon vids.

    Thanks

  16. #66
    Studies dead guys. Mandoviol's Avatar
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    To quote a Classics professor who, when walking down a street in Richmond wearing a toga was asked by a pedestrian why he was in togate, "Why not?"

    That said, I picked up the mandolin about 3 1/2 years ago because I wanted to add something to my violin playing--didn't want to be a one-trick pony, you see....

    I had actually been developing a crush on the banjo at the time, but didn't really want to get into trying to learn a whole new playing style with a new tuning, etc. So I figured I'd get a mandolin, which would allow me to explore new things while not having quite so radical a learning curve. And I'm glad I did.

    There are days, though, when the banjo's siren song calls to me, but the mandolin and fiddle are already harsh mistresses who demand a lot of attention, so I stick with them. When fiddle and mando are happy, I'm happy, too.
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Thanks journeybear! I agree, That’s Amore is definitely a top song. It always seems to take me to a whole different world, with mandolins everywhere (I should be so lucky!). Until reading your post, I never really understood how lucky I am to have both the Cafe and the entire internet.

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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    That is pretty cool. Have you come across any of them still being played?
    He was Italian, the last name was Pashoda (my best phonetic idea) but I'm not sure about the spelling. There are instruments floating around my family, a few years ago I tried really hard to get one and nobody would give one up so I have to wait until somebody dies. When I do get one I'll have it made playable. He also made violins and same thing nobody will give one up let alone admitting to having them when they were everywhere when I was a kid. It would be really special to have one. He was my father's favorite and most influential early childhood figure. He used to spend hours watching him build in his shop.
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    I play mandolin because I like tiny instruments; I can carry two ukes and a mandolin, all in hard cases, in one hand - try that with three guitars!
    So I already played ukulele and wanted something new to play other than a guitar (everyone plays guitar - *yawn*).
    Plus, I've always loved the mando sound and had to make it for myself.
    I'm 44 and have been playing the mando for about six months. I'm not as good as I'd like to be, but that's primarily because of lack of motivation to practice.

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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by Geordie View Post
    I play mandolin because I like tiny instruments.
    I am down with that. 90% of my gigging is with bass and drums. I basically started playing mandolin for its portability (I was doing some clinical work using guitars and banjos mostly). When I discovered how wonderful mandolin is for compactness yet versatility, I went on a "small" binge--picking up and playing lots of concertina and uke, and now flute and clarinet. When travelling for leisure I routinely carried two double-cases: one containing fidde/mandolin, the other with anglo/english concertinas. It's amazing how much music can be made with these four instruments carried conveniently in two briefcase-sized satchels

    Sun Ra liked "tiny instruments" too

  23. #71
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Because it's a great sounding instrument. The reason my husband wants to start a website with more songs on mandolin is to show others that not everything has to be played on guitar. The mandolin is fun, it's good for someone with smaller hands and for people who have kids who want to play an instrument but are smaller than a guitar than a mandolin is a great size for them little fingers. It's just a fantastic instrument and we want to see it skyrocket in popularity.

  24. #72
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    (1) Bill
    (2) The mandolin is portable and you can play along with bluegrass junction as a passenger (we do A LOT of driving and my husband always drives). Our 2007 car has 231k miles. You can't do this with a guitar or banjo.
    (3) If you play guitar, mandolin is not too hard to learn and even better if you can already play violin
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  25. #73
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by pjlama View Post
    He was Italian, the last name was Pashoda (my best phonetic idea) but I'm not sure about the spelling.
    Maybe Pacciotta? "cc" in Italian is pronounced as "ch". The nationwide Italian phonebook is available online here and has some people named Pacciotti, which is pretty close.

    It's really interesting reading people's stories, and especially how quickly they came in! I'm not sure if I really count since I don't play yet (still trying to find my first one), but my reasons for picking the mandolin are a mix of those earlier posted. I started on guitar but never really learned it because I quickly found that my hands are too small for the neck of a standard guitar, and rather than finding a smaller model I decided to go for something that's more portable, especially since my jobs often require moving across the country every couple of years. Plus, everybody seems to play guitar, and while hanging out with some friends a little while ago I saw how awkward that was with four people all trying to play guitar on one song. I live in Hawaii and lots of people play ukulele as well, but mandolin just suits my musical interests more.

  26. #74
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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Like most American young men I bought a couple of guitars in my teens and twenties. Frankly I never had the discipline to learn it. I took a couple of lessons and I likely would have stayed with it if I been taught some theory but the focus was always playing a recognizable song rather than building a foundation to really learn the instrument. I always loved music so in my thirties I just decided to pick up a mandolin. I was giving a cheap F style Rogue and told myself that if I played and stuck with it for a year I would then upgrade. I felt like I made so much more progress at a faster pace with mandolin versus guitar and now have learned some theory as well.

    After a year I bought a Breedlove quartz OF and still play. I have no bluegrass background and not a lot of interest in it. I play folk and rock things and really use the mandolin like an acoustic guitar. I play in a contemporary christian worship service and Ive learned a ton from hanging out with those musicians. If I played guitar they would have no use for me but by having a less common instrument, even if Im an average player at best, I was in!

    I also became a fan of Thile and have seen him a couple of times. Unbelievable talent and great guy to talk to. When I heard him, I couldn't decide whether I was inspired to get better or that he was so good that I should quit. I still wonder about that!

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    Default Re: Why play Mandolin?

    Why not?

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