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  #16  
Old 05-21-2022, 03:49 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is online now
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Levon Helm had an old timey style. Listen to Dirt Farmer. Played an oval hole mandolin. It is easy to slide into bluegrass from there, especially if you buy an f hole mandolin sometime. You will find that a lot of fiddle tunes have been adopted by bluegrass players, but you don't have to go there.

I'll warn you not to learn any bluegrass licks because it's addicting.

While he is very Bluegrass, Wayne's World of Mandolin, a site by Wayne Benson, has a lot of videos he calls Eat Your Vegetables, that are very good fretboard knowledge concepts that can be universally applied. Harmonized scales are very good to know.

I started on Angeline the Baker, a song that you can turn old timey using open drone strings. I think that is where a lot of people start. Like ukulele, you can play a lot of songs with three chords. But it goes as deep as you have time to dig.
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  #17  
Old 05-21-2022, 04:08 PM
Lillis Lillis is offline
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Just ordered my first mandolin. Looking forward to a new vice. Essentially everything I know about mandolin I have learned in the last three days. Should be a bit of an adventure.
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  #18  
Old 05-22-2022, 02:34 PM
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It will be. Coming from guitar, forget equating it. I first did the upside down thing. Kicking myself for not just learning the strings low to high, and start using the tips of your fingers. If your fingers don't hurt, you are using your guitar callouses, and that is wrong. Fingering correctly, only one of the two strings will be on your guitar callouses.

I'd enroll in something like a beginning Peghead Nation class, though there are many free bits and pieces videos, some quite good.
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  #19  
Old 05-22-2022, 03:34 PM
Lillis Lillis is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
It will be. Coming from guitar, forget equating it. I first did the upside down thing. Kicking myself for not just learning the strings low to high, and start using the tips of your fingers. If your fingers don't hurt, you are using your guitar callouses, and that is wrong. Fingering correctly, only one of the two strings will be on your guitar callouses.

I'd enroll in something like a beginning Peghead Nation class, though there are many free bits and pieces videos, some quite good.
Thanks for the tips. That’s the kind of insight I need. Looking forward to it. I’m ordering a Kentucky KM156. I wanted something that I wouldn’t feel the need to “upgrade” too soon.
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  #20  
Old 05-25-2022, 02:27 PM
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Oh, little do you know......my Eastman lasted three months, mainly because my local store stocks Northridge and Collings. If you want your Kentucky to last, don't play them. Really, they will eat your soul until they eat your bank account.

It's a fun ride though.
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  #21  
Old 05-25-2022, 03:09 PM
Lillis Lillis is offline
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Yeah my brain is already thinking I'll need an F style not too far down the road and i haven't even received the first one yet. Oh boy.
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  #22  
Old 06-12-2022, 07:47 AM
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The mandolin is very addicting. I bought an Eastman 505 a while back and fell in love with the tuning and playability - much easier on my arthritic thumb.

I have since bought (and sold) a Weber Yellowstone, that for some I could not bound with, and an Eastman MDO 305 Octave (the jury is still out on this one). But the game changer was a 1929 Gibson A style Oval Hole the I picked up here on the forum.

That is a wonderful instrument. Wider nut, a more deep and woody tone, great resonance and sustain. The scale length seems to be a bit shorter as well, which enhances the playability.

Good luck with the journey. My thumb issues have caused me to back off of my dreads, but these mandos do fill the desire to whip out these catchy fiddle tunes that I love to play.

D
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  #23  
Old 06-12-2022, 04:57 PM
Lillis Lillis is offline
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Here’s my new Kentucky KM252. I’ve only had it a week and a half but I’m glad I got it. I need to dedicate more time to it.
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  #24  
Old 09-01-2022, 01:43 PM
k_russell k_russell is offline
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But please take my word, start before you are 65.
I say before 64.
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  #25  
Old 09-01-2022, 03:46 PM
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The "Old Time" music category is chock full of great fiddle tunes that easily translate to mandolin. A Youtube search will get your foot in the door of these.

There's also a long tradition of mandolin music originating from Italy, so don't overlook that source. Here's a nice tune from Soda Rock String Band to whet your appetite for Italian tunes:

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  #26  
Old 09-02-2022, 05:32 AM
Dlew919 Dlew919 is offline
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My main piece of advice is 'it's not a little guitar'. Learn as proper a technique as you can. Use whatever pick you like - I like hard ones - thick ones - 1.5mm and up - I use v-picks a LOT. Fender heavies and purple vortex also work. And dunlop prime tones.

It's a great instrument for learning music theory. And it's great for learning harmonies. And taste - those high frequencies can step over everything, or get lost.

Listen to great players - Bill Monroe, John Duffey, Sam Bush; Avi Avital, Caterina Lichtenstein; Jethro Burns, David Grisman, Chris Thile, Sierra Hull. Not to copy them, but to see the breadth of the instrument. (those groupings are loose.)

Also listen to Jethro Tull and The Band, and the Hooters, and REM and Led Zeppelin.

It's not a little guitar - it's a small lute, in the same way a guitar is. A different part of the evolutionary chain.

Enjoy!
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  #27  
Old 09-03-2022, 11:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlew919 View Post

It's not a little guitar - it's a small lute, in the same way a guitar is. A different part of the evolutionary chain.

Well, all these fretted, plucked strings derive from 'lute' - from a theoretical perspective, they are all very close in concept and sound. Of course they all vary in technical and stylistic application. It's why Lindley's axiom - all one big guitar. Once you solve the technical and stylistic requirements, it's easy to go among them as the whim dictates.

Mndln is an excellent ensemble instrument. But for solo playing - many of us here would still prefer a guitar. Although I played a lot of mndln for a few years, its range is a little sprightly for me; as a solo player (especially these days), I have little use for a soprano-range instrument. I sometimes get out a cittern or bouzouki for fun. But the double-course instrument that really captivated me is oud (medieval lute), which I play often. Arabic oud gives you that low C that comes with cello, or nice low-tuned guitar.

But yes, fun.
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  #28  
Old 09-03-2022, 01:07 PM
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I don't think it's the mandolin's [frequency] range as much as the relative lack of sustain and compressed dynamic range, at least in most of what folks have at their disposal, that has limited its broader use/acceptance as a solo instrument.

The mandolin is, after all, pitched exactly the same as a violin, which has more than a few solo pieces. Some of those solos work on the mandolin (often with some adaptation, like use of tremolo), but many just do not translate as well, and don't generate the siren call of the devil's instrument.

Me, I'm liking not being one of 20 guitars at a jam, and having a space, even if shared with the fiddles, that is not contributing to the mud.
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  #29  
Old 09-03-2022, 02:15 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is online now
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When starting out, the less you try to draw on your guitar technique with the fretting hand the better, but you are worlds ahead with your pick hand. Like guitar, there are a lot of styles that will dictate mandolin and pick choice, though you can play all the notes on anything.Every subscription service has beginning courses and at $20/mo. are great value. I'd recommend one of them.
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  #30  
Old 09-03-2022, 03:25 PM
catt catt is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by keith.rogers View Post
I don't think it's the mandolin's [frequency] range as much as the relative lack of sustain and compressed dynamic range, at least in most of what folks have at their disposal, that has limited its broader use/acceptance as a solo instrument.

The mandolin is, after all, pitched exactly the same as a violin, which has more than a few solo pieces. Some of those solos work on the mandolin (often with some adaptation, like use of tremolo), but many just do not translate as well, and don't generate the siren call of the devil's instrument.

Me, I'm liking not being one of 20 guitars at a jam, and having a space, even if shared with the fiddles, that is not contributing to the mud.
Oud has even less sustain than mndln.

Violin has at its disposal vast note shaping capacity, dynamic range, etc. Mndln, performing violin repertoire, can be effective - especially for fast music such as fiddle tunes - but they're definitely not equals (in terms of repertoire, sonic capability, etc).

Mndln is a great instrument for some applications - its voice is wonderful in bluegrass, "Americana' stuff, etc. Since I'm not playing that idiom, I just don't play mndln anymore. (I would use it for choro, but I play accordion - which is a pre-eminent instrument for that idiom).

*Congratulations on your instrument Lillis! And EZPKN!

Last edited by catt; 09-03-2022 at 09:19 PM.
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