Just one regret in life

[Keith Erickson]

Folks,

I don't mean to vent....

I just have one regret in life....

...that I didn't start to playing the mandolin sooner.

Not to rub salt in the wound but even though I made my first mandolin purchase 19 years ago; for the first 18 years, I really didn't do too much.

It burns me up when I think abou it http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

If there is anything that gives me comfort it was last night. Our church choir practices every Wednesday. I was playing my new MK A+ with the 1.5 mm pick and I must say, I've noticed a complete difference all around in my playing and the sound that I was able to achieve. ...and it's about darn time http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

It's amazing what a simple thing like a radius fretboard and a heavier pick can do. I must also mention the education that I get from you good folks here is priceless. I don't know how far along I would be if you all were not here to assist.

Thank you
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[John Flynn]

I am in the same boat. I got a false start on guitar at age 12, but quit due to a rotten, nearly unplayable guitar that a dishonest salesman sold my Mom and also due to an instructor who was just going through the motions. I didn't start again until age 20. Then at age 40 or so, I started mando and really didn't do much for for the first 10 years. Then about 3 years ago I discovered old-time music and it has been my consuming passion ever since. I used to sometimes think, what about the 8 years I lost on guitar and all the other years I "wasted." How much better would I be?

But I don't worry about it anymore. I realized that the greater joy is the journey, the learning to play and the growth experience that creates. I figure if I had that experience earlier, I wouldn't have appreciated it. Also, I was already having a great time doing other things back then. I didn't need this experience back then. Sure, I would be better now, but what would be the point? I wouldn't want to be a professional musician or a "star." My ego doesn't require that and the lifestyle would not be how I want to live.

As it is, I get to play at church every Sunday in front of hundreds of people and I get spontaneous compliments on my playing all the time. I go to jams with some of the best old-time players in the country, who threat me like a friend and a musical equal, even though I can't play nearly as well as they can. I get to play contra dances where dozens of people of all ages and backgrounds have a really great time doing something completely healthy and wholesome. It doesn't get any better than this. I have no regrets.

[Tom C]

That a tough one being we have no idea how old you are. Should you have started when you were 10 or 40?

[250sc]

No matter when you start, if you work on it you will learn more about music, your instrument and yourself. You can't change the past but you can change yourself and your goals and priorities.

Like Johnny said, "the greater joy is the journey, the learning to play and the growth experience that creates".

[Kbone]

Don't look back , just be glad you can play at all, and enjoy your gift.

[David M.]

Right there with you, 8 string. #I feel that way mostly about the fiddle. #I asked my folks in high school who could teach me fiddle or violin, but they didn't know anybody. #so, I continued learning guitar on my own. #come to find out, a fiddle maker/player lived only about 15 miles away in LaGrange, GA. #

But like Kbone says, be glad you found it at all and are doing it.

[kudzugypsy]

even though i started very young (@8)...unfortunately, it was that blasted devil music - rock/electric guitar - that ate away at those prime teenage years that i should have been playing mandolin...what i mean, is mandolin is generally NOT an instrument one starts early mainly cause its not cool enough, not to mention that even a decent mando back in the day (10-20 years ago, would run ya $500...that was A LOT of money to a 16 year old!)
it IS hard to start later...think about ALL THE FREE time you had as a kid, all the time i wasted watching brady bunch and gillians island re-runs after school that i should have been playing! - thats what makes me sick!

[Wesley]

But don't y'all appreciate what you have now - because of what you went through to get it ? I do. I wish I'd called Mike Marshall for mandolin lessions back in Florida when I had the chance. I didn't. I sold my mandolin and didn't get another one until about 20 years later. But - there's no use looking back. I'm pretty happy with where I am now. And that's a good thing.

[bdisp]

Old time mando music is great. I've been pickin' it for 20+ years............... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Keith Erickson]

Would have, Could have, Should have...

Yeah... you are all so right!

I was 17 when I first bought that Harmony Mandolin. There lies my answer. I bought it and didn't really appreciate it at the time. Then again, I was 17 and knew it all http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Here I am now, age 36. A much different person then back in 1986.

Fast Forward 2005. Yeah....I still listen to Rush and Led Zepplin but my musical tastes have increased into other genres of music.

I guess for one reason or another here I am and I should appreciate what's going on today and enjoy my mandolin passion each and everyday for the rest of my life. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[kudzugypsy]

dang bro....36!....you got plenty of years ahead...just think, lester flatt was your age when he joined the bluegrass boys! not everyone can be a 21 #year old earl scruggs!
i'm a year younger than you, and i have my 'regrets' too, like i moved to nashvegas after school and was having the time of my life, but such are days gone by.

i often think about all the friends i had who played sports and devoted ALL their time to it throughout school. now they're all fat and seditary.....all those prime years and sacrifice and such.....at least a musical gift is one you can carry throughout the rest of your life.

[PCypert]

I feel the same way. Still mad at that guy who sold me the Gibson electric when I was 14. Way too much guitar for me (I put it on payment plan w/ my mom as a co-sign). Payed on it for the next two years. When I think about what that money would have gotten me in the way of an acoustic guitar it kills me. It could've been breaking in all this time. All the hours playing video games and watching TV as a kid. Really can't stand any of it now. Looking back I wish I could have just focused in and learned some good music. Oh well, I'll have my kids to force that on http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Paul

[duuuude]

Actually I feel kinda the opposite, having not picked up a mando until I was 50 gave me time to find myself musically, then the mando became a way to release all that pent-up expression. Sure, there's alot of catching up to do but I never planned on playin' professionally, and the journey seems to go faster once you've found your personal outlet.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[davestem]

I started fairly early on guitar. #I was in 6th grade. #I'm really glad I did. #I spent pretty much all my time playing, once I got to the point where I could play along with the chords in a song. #Stopped watching TV and playing video games, which I certainly didn't miss.

I must have spent 3 hours a day practicing when I was in high school. #I played clarinet, sax, and drums, but guitar was definitely my all-consuming passion. #It was a great way to forget about whatever was bothering me. #It never really made me the chick magnet I'd hoped to be, though...

I think mandolin will always be a second love, compared to guitar, but I love it, too. #I love playing bluegrass and old-time music on mandolin--it's so fun and feels so good. #I love that having picking buddies that I can make wonderful (to us, at least) music with.

So, I know I'm rambling here, but my point is: #I did start earlier. It helped a lot. #But what would have helped even more was lessons from a good teacher. #I didn't learn much theory at all for the first 8 years or so that I played guitar. #Once I started learning why the scales work, what chords to expect in a progression, how to harmonize my melody notes & such, it was like a whole new (and even more enjoyable) world opened up.

The other thing that helps immensely is playing varied styles. #When I was a teenager, I wanted to be Jimmy Page. #I played rock and blues exclusively, except when the family got together to pick, and I played bluegrass rhythm then. #In the last few years, I've ventured into bluegrass & old time lead, western swing, country, and gospel. #The change in my playing because of this was huge & dramatic. #Playing at church helps a lot--I have to play in oddball keys like E flat, and learn 8 or 9 new songs every week, and figure out new things to do with my instruments to fit around the piano, and so on.

In summary: #Take lessons from a good teacher, and/or buy #top notch instructional materials. #They cost money, but not taking/using them means that it will take years to learn the same stuff. #Play with as many different people or groups as you can. #Play in as many different styles as you can. #When you feel comfortable or even bored with a style, branch out into a new style. #Start playing swing music, and jazz, and klezmer, or whatever trips your trigger. #It sure helps me a lot.

[gnelson651]

My regret is that I wasted 30 years on the banjo. But much of those years it sat in its case #whether then on my lap. I was a much better player when I started then when I ended once the mandloin came into my life a little over a year ago.

But that year has been the most adventerous then those last 30 years. I am self taught in that there are no really good mandolin teachers in my area. (heck, there are very few mandolin players in my area). But I play in a church band, a mandolin ensemble and go the fiddlers jams every other week we meet. In that year I have progressed more musically then ever before. I am motivated and passionate about what I am doing with the mandolin.

I'm having a blast, and now I found out our mandolin ensemble group will be doing a paid gig this September for the San Genero Italian festival. So we're gearing up by learning 20 Italian songs. What a great challege!

Yes, at 52 I have my regrets but I have to believe we start muscially when we are ready for that experience...

[ShaneJ]

When I was growing up, my family farmed. We raised mostly cotton in the summer and wheat in the winter (and cattle all year long). When I got old enough (responsible enough) to be trusted to do the cultivating, I learned a good lesson about regrets. Cultivating is the process of plowing in a field of a growing crop to cut down the weeds between the rows of cotton (or other crop). The cultivator plow has sweeps (pointy things on a plow) that are set to turn the soil all across the plow's width - except for about a 4-inch gap that is supposed to stay lined up with the cotton. Cotton = money, so you don't want to plow that up!

Well, driving along at 4 miles an hour for 12 or 14 hours a day looking at nothing but dirt, cotton and weeds can get a little monotinous. Occasionally, you will drift off your mark a little and start plowing up cotton. Your natural reaction is to look behind you to see how much cotton you've plowed up. When you do that, you will invariably overcorrect while you're looking behind you and plow up more cotton. About that time is when you have looked back forward to realize that you are now off on the other side of your mark. It can get to be a viscious cycle if you don't do something different.....

When my dad would come by where I was plowing and see where I plowed up 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5) short sections of cotton, he'd remind me (sometimes calmly, and sometimes "passionately") that I can't plow a straight line by looking behind me. He'd say, "You've gotta keep your eye on where you're going if you want to get there. Don't worry about it if you get off the mark. But DON'T look back! Just get back on the mark and keep going."

That was a good life lesson.

[Ken Sager]

Every moment spent regretting is a moment wasted. Stop wasting more time and just enjoy where you are right now.

Love to all,
Ken

[GMatt]

I started playing when I was 19. I'm 21 now. My only motivation to keep going is that Bela Fleck started playing when he was around 16 I think.

[mandodebbie]

I just started taking up mando last year after not playing any instrument since high-school. (I played Classical guitar). I am turning 41 on June 1 this year, so you can count the years I have missed learning this wonderful little instrument. My biggest regret is not only having not started the mando sooner, but not having listened to Oldtime and Bluegrass enough over the years. At the limited jams I have attended, I maybe recognize about only one or two songs.(And those are old Gospel songs I learned back in Sunday School or Junior choir practice, which goes back even more years.) Man, do I ever have to catch up! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[bjc]

I regret not paying attention and taking advantage of all the guitar players I met and not playing around with different instruments when I was younger. I actually got to meet by way of a country singer I knew Chet Atkins and Roy Clark and I (being the rock dude) was like "country players...cool..." Man, I could've picked their brains...and I didn't start really branching out until 3-4 years ago...I now play upon/attempt to play dobro, mando, OM, mandola, harmonica and eletric mando...if only I had been aware....Wish I knew then, what I know now

Honestly i wouldnt know what to do without this instrument. It has opened so many doors for me. It got me into a band, and got me several gigs around town.

It takes some free time away. And sometimes, just sometimes, i put the golf clubs down for it.

I get frusturated thinking if this instrument was not in my life.

It just wouldnt be right. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[El Rey del Mando]

......We grow old too soon....And too late smart....
Some of these stories will make you believe this little ditty.I do.

John

[ira]

i fell similarly to many folks here as my 40th looms on 5/17 and i took up the mando approx 3 yrs ago. on the other hand i think of how many things i did take up as a youth that went by the wayside because i didn't appreciate them. i took up the mando as an adult choice for an adult outlet and have met new people and explored new genres of music (for me) as an adult. therefore, my appreciation level for the instrument, the joy playing has brought to me, and all of the experiences and people that have come in the last few years through my playing is so much higher than it might have been if i had been given a mando as a child.

i'll never know, but regret is not as satisfying as appreciation.

just my 2
ira

[mandodebbie]

Gee, Ira! Ain't "geezerhood" great?!!

[Jim Rowland]

This is not the kind of competition one glories in winning,but I started Mandolin when I was 69. I will never be any good,but I love it. Oddly enough,I have been building mandos for twenty years,but could only tune it and listen to the strings on each fret to judge the outcome. I can play a number of tunes,learned mostly from CD and tab and pick out melodies,but the yips defeat me when anyone is listening. I've been building guitars for almost 35 years and can't play one of those worth spit either. Well, lack of talent can't stop me from learning and enjoying.
Jim

[Keith Miller]

my one regret is selling my Selmer Tenor and Sop saxes about 20 years ago for peanuts, if I'd kept them I could have sold them now and bought a really nice mandolin:D hindsight is a marvelous thing !