What do you play mostly on your E-Mando?

[Chinn]

Been quiet in this nook of the 'Cafe lately, so....

What do you play mostly on your electric mandolin?

Most of my time is spent playing blues and blues-rock. Have been playing ZZTop Lagrange lately with a Youtube Backing track. Every once in a while, I'll turn my modeling amp up on the highest distortion setting it has and play some fiddle tunes for fun too...

So what do you play? Jazz, Country, Blues, Rock, Srinivas Indian?

[Mike Herlihy]

Hendrix - Voodoo Chile, Wind Cries Mary, Spanish Castle Magic, Little Wing
Yank Rachell - Shotgun Blues, Brownsville Blues
Doors - Roadhouse Blues, Love Me Two Times
Allman Bros - You Don't Love Me
Lightnin' Hopkins - Baby Please Don't Go

[rico mando]

I play what ever my heart and hands come up with . some times I find a groove and can stay in it for hours and then I never find that groove again . I like music for the creative outlet it allows me and I do not often try to play someone else's music though I am often inspired by other music of all genre's

[Elliot Luber]

I run the gamut, everything from blues to Beatles to classical to tv themes.

[JeffD]

I borrowed an 8 string mandocaster for several months. I played the same stuff I play accoustically. I was thinking of buying it but ultimately I returned it.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Been a while for me.

I used to play in a band in California with a band leader who wrote 90% of our material. The band was called MahaShakti and we played bajan-inspired tunes. So I did a lot of accent rhythms, riffs, and took a solo once in a while.

I just added emando parts to an original of my own that my wife and I recorded. That was the first time since moving to the UK that I uncased the Fender FM-988. The JBovier 5 string and the Mandobird have yet to get tickled in England.

I'll probably sell the JBovier and the Epi (as well as an EJ sig Strat) in order to finance a new CF mando.

Daniel

[Chinn]

Thats some great variety! So cool to see the versatility of these little instruments!

[Pete Martin]

Straight ahead Jazz, 50s variety.

[pglasse]

Mostly jazz of various sorts -- based in straight-ahead swing and bebop but also including Latin and Gypsy jazz...a good amount of western swing too. Those are what I'm using it more for now but, through the years, have played almost everything imaginable on the 5-string electric. It's been a very versatile instrument for me.

[journeybear]

Thats some great variety! So cool to see the versatility of these little instruments!

Shouldn't be all that surprising. It's a mandolin, after all!

I play just about anything I can think of, want to, like, am inspired by, or dream up on my own. It is my reality interface, after all, the means I use to give physical form to the ideas in my mind. So that may take the shape of rock, blues, pop, country, swing, psychedelic, ambient, folk-rock, reggae, calypso - just about anything, really. Now, sometimes those last three - the softer side - will be better served by the acoustic. And while it may seem more likely that the acoustic will work better for chord-driven songs, that isn't always the case. There are ways to produce solid backup with the emando through the use of reverb, and feedback loops generated by the wah-wah pedal help provide a continuously sustained aural backdrop. The thing is, my involvement with this is so much more recent than the acoustic that it's a lot like having a new toy - just can't get enough of it. Also, the sounds it produces are much more in line with the sounds I hear in my head anyway, and have for so long, that it just makes more sense to play the electric. One exception worth noting, and it surprised me, but for the occasional sitting-in gigs I've done with a reggae band, the acoustic worked better, with a bit of wah-wah. But for the most part I like the variety of sounds I get with the electric, and being able to bend single strings 2-3 frets gives a lot of flexibility to its voice.

BTW, I started with a MandoBird, but have graduated to a Steve Ryder custom build with two humbucking pickups. It's got some growl. Funny thing - the acoustic with a Fishman M100 bridge pickup produces a stronger signal. Go figure!

[thistle3585]

Hendrix - Voodoo Chile, Wind Cries Mary, Spanish Castle Magic, Little Wing
Yank Rachell - Shotgun Blues, Brownsville Blues
Doors - Roadhouse Blues, Love Me Two Times
Allman Bros - You Don't Love Me
Lightnin' Hopkins - Baby Please Don't Go

Would love to hear your version of "Baby Please don't go"

[zekelittle]

I play western swing and old standard swing on my 5-string a/e mando. Currently playing mando and fiddle in 7 piece western swing band..lots of twin fiddle and twin guitar-mando breaks..more fun than shootin' rats at the dump!!

[Charlieshafer]

Same here, mostly western swing. No matter how I start or what I start playing, it all ends up going swingy, whether that was my intention or not. Lots of fun trying to play along with the Hot Club of Cowtown and match Whit's licks.

[Mike Herlihy]

Would love to hear your version of "Baby Please don't go"

Don't have a recording but here is a Tabledit file I created to learn the song.

Baby Please Don't Go.tef

[Aravind Bhargav]

I play carnatic. I am shrinivas sir's disciple. here is a link to an improvisational piece i played in a concert. It was recorded with a handycam by my dad. So please excuse the quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=JP9GtGu0hys
I'd love to hear your comments on this.

[CelticDude]

Mostly Irish jigs and reels, on an electric octave mando. Occasionally some blues. It doesn't get played as much anymore, since I started guitar

[Jerry Turberville]

I play western swing and jazz. Mostly the western swing tunes now since I'm playing fiddle and emando in a western swing band. It's a lot of fun working out harmony parts for the emando to play off the guitar melody line.

[michaell]

I play carnatic. I am shrinivas sir's disciple. here is a link to an improvisational piece i played in a concert. It was recorded with a handycam by my dad. So please excuse the quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=JP9GtGu0hys
I'd love to hear your comments on this.

Aravind- I love it! Congratulations on your fantastic performance. Please continue on this path (and regards to your guru).

[ambrosepottie]

I play carnatic. I am shrinivas sir's disciple. here is a link to an improvisational piece i played in a concert. It was recorded with a handycam by my dad. So please excuse the quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=JP9GtGu0hys
I'd love to hear your comments on this.

This is really great.

[brunello97]

When I first got my Schwab I was playing bass in a cover band playing mostly Fela Kuti and Afrobeat horn stuff. The guitarist and I started switching off and I was running the Emando through a Twin w flanger and chorus. Lots and lots of riffing and the occasional King Sunny type leads. The Schwab is a true space ship.

It sat idle a while while I nurtured my bowl back-side. I've gotten re-electrified the last couple years mostly to start playing swing. The Tiny Moore-Jethro "Back to Back" blew my mind.

Mick

[Tom Sailor]

I play mostly Jazz, ad a little gospel and worship music as well. Miles Davis (I think I like him most of all the great Jazz fathers), Tom Harrell, some standards... the cooler the better.
Tom

[Jacob]

Lead, melody lines on top with five string mandolin.
Twelve string guitar for the middle.
Bass guitar for the bottom.

[vwfye]

Man... I feel sooooo inadequate. I play rhythm, rhythm and more rhythm... depending on the music we are doing it is e/a mando, octave mando, 4 string hollow body or 4 string solid body. But, I don't seem to have an affinity for lead. Oh well, someone has to be in the background

[mtm]

I play poorly with my acoustic / electric into garage band ... trying to get a song down that my nephews and I put together. Anxiously awaiting the Fender MandoCaster in a month so I can play poorly, but with style....