got a mandolin!

[guitar junkie]

Well it is not news that i play mandolin once in a while but i have never had one before now... that was both any good and or not my grandpas...

but that changed this afternoon when a music buddy told me to take home his Morgan Monroe maple collectors mando with the quilted maple back and sides...

SWEET!

this thing is on long term loan to me....

;D

already played its first gig tonight...

lots of fun!

[brandondrury]

How difficult are these to learn? Are they dramatically different than learning gutiar, for example?

Brandon

[guitar junkie]

ok here is how it is tuned...

low to hi

GDAE

so the way you have to think of it is that the guitar is tuned upside down from the mando...

so your bass strings on guitar... turn into high strings on the mando....

so your middle G string on guitar is your bass on mando...

nothing to it at all

[brandondrury]

How does the physical size effect playability? It seams that being such a small instrument would be a real pain in the ass at first. Maybe not.

Lastly, can you play "Losing My Religion" by REM. I heard it was the only hit pop song to be played on mandolin.

Brandon

[guitar junkie]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

How does the physical size effect playability? It seams that being such a small instrument would be a real pain in the ass at first. Maybe not.

Lastly, can you play "Losing My Religion" by REM. I heard it was the only hit pop song to be played on mandolin.

Brandon

Not really sure that was ever an issue....

if you are ham handed it might be but... never really been a problem here, i never thought about it until you said something... size is just right, seems about as normal as a violin (which i also play)

as far as playing an REM cover...I don't have the time for that any more, working on my own stuff i just sat down and recorded some mandolin which you can hear on garageband.com

http://www.garageband.com/artist/calebhawkins

[dach]

You have a nice mandolin. It's also hard to screw up when micing one. One of my favorite instruments to record.

The "Hooters" also had some mandolin on their stuff... If memory serves...

[TAlderson]

Brandon, you forget "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart. That's probably the most famous mandolin riff ever.

-Tyler

[Charlie_M]

Wow man that is an awful nice mando to have on loan. Enjoy.

I'd be interested to hear how you like the action and tone compared to say, and epi mm50 or a fender f style (fm63s I believe) if you've ever tried those.

I've played mando back when I was a kid but never to a point were I ponied up and bought one. My father plays so there was always one around the house. Latey I've been thinking that if I have a good year eoconomically this year I'll pick one up.

Your situation regarding mandos sounds like mine and reminds me of a funny story... Back when I was playing in rock bands and stuff as a kid my father's friend had a bluegress band where the mando player was going to be on vacation for a while so my father volunteered me to stand in. There I was and didn't know a single bluegrass tune. But it was weeks before the guy was going to be on vacation and I was a kid so I had plenty of free time and got it together in time. It ended up being a lot of fun. Actually it paid a lot better than the rock gigs I was playing at the time. Even after all that I never bought a mandolin. They are a blast to play.

Brandon - to answer your question if you can play guitar you can pick up mando very fast. The tuning is the same as a violin (bass tring is a G and then it goes up on 5ths from there). I found it helpful to just think of it as a violin that is picked instead of bowed.

If you want to be absolutely inspired to pick one up check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TECHNIQUES-FOR-M...QQcmdZViewItem

My father picked this up last time I was visiting him and dragged him along with me to guitar center. I was trying out amps and he just got lost in the books/dvd section and came back with that dvd. When we watched it later I was pretty blown away. Dave Grisman is another guy to listen to if you want to be inspired to play mando. Grisman took the instrument out of an entirely bluegress context and took of into a bluegrass/jazz hybrid kind of style that was unlike anything that came before him imo. Listening to the DVD referenced above I would guess that the guy in that dvd would count Grisman among his influences. That's the way I hear it anyway. The guy on that dvd is a young kid - early 20's if that old. Amazing stuff.

Charlie

[guitar junkie]

I have been pretty busy as of late....

anyway I returned the loaner and bought a used Micheal Kelly 2001 custom model that was priced great! I used to listen to this mandolin on a friend from VA and his last two CDs so when I got the chance to buy it I snapped on it.

I think right now the best money out there though on mandolins is Eastman hands down... This little thing I got is nice, it has had a long time to cure up and sound great... Most Fender and Epi stuff I have played felt and sounded weak and thin...

Once... and this was a long time ago I played an Epi at the Gibson plant that roared! but have yet to play one again....

[newunatthis]

I've been playing mandolin now for 43 years. They are not hard to play. I play Bluegrass, and also play banjo and guitar which I began a year or so before mandolin. I mainly enjoy all acoustic music if it is done right. Yes Grisman is a good mandolin picker to listen to, also Sam Bush, Ronnie McCourey etc. and most important of all, Bill Monroe, for all Bluegrass mandolin players have began their picking from listening to him. I just got a Boss 1200 recorder and am looking forward to learning as much as I can about using it here.