Yourself in your own mind's eye when playing mando

[dj coffey]

I mean in response to the oldster thread...the word that was censored isn't so bad, rhymes with "part". (I don't wanna get in trouble here!)

I thought it'd be interesting to hear from folks how they see themselves in their mind's eye when they're playing the mandolin.

Are you the 2000's answer to Big Mon?
The next Chris Thile?
Joan Baez with a "little guitar"?
Django on a mando?
Andy Irving or some other Planxty member?
Someone I'm too old to realize is cool?

[Lee Callicutt]

I'm kind of a Pete Townsend, Christopher Parkening and Andy Griffith pickin' on the porch type hybrid myself! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Tim]

An interesting question but I see myself as the "Tim" of the mandolin. #If I had to compare myself to anyone of any fame on the mandolin (or any other instrument), I'd pitch it in the trash. #I do find plucking out half-way recognizable slow songs a great way to relax after a day at work and that is enough for me.

[jbrwky]

I'm an old geezer on my porch in the mountains being visited by a young anthropology student doing field recordings on her implanted Ipod. She asks me how I learned to play without the music chip implant that everyone gets in the first grade. I tell her,"back in the day everyone had to practice thousands of hours to be any good at all." She's amazed. I play Whiskey before Breakfast for her. She wants to know how it's possible that anyone can remember all those notes without an implant. I tell her humans can do lots of things that we have forgotten how to do. She says she has to go. It's already been ten minutes and she hasn't spent ten minutes on any subject since she was potty trained. I forget her name ten minutes later. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[gnelson651]

I see myself as the banjo boy in "Deliverance" except I don't play as good or as good looking or as young. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[steve V. johnson]

I'm the guy seen only in silhouette behind the scrim while the soloist is in the spotlight, and heard at only the most poignant moments.

s.

[mandolooter]

I see my self as happy when Im playing...

[Ted Eschliman]

Homer Simpson with a slightly better harmonic vocabulary. Maybe less hair...

D'OH!

[jasona]

The tone I strive to match when I play is precise and clean like Thile or Reischman. Its a horrible standard to hold one's self to, but hopefully I can get reasonably close.

[JEStanek]

I see myself as me, fumbling, and happy. There are people who I would like to play like, but I still want to be me. My kids say I'm the coolest, so they must be right. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif I probably have 7-9 more years of that before they become teens who are in pain by my presence.

Jamie

[Celtic Saguaro]

On the mandolin I'm sort of like Riley Puckett, of Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers fame; mostly blind, don't exactly play in sync with anyone else, but have a lot of fun doing it. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[JeffD]

What a great topic!

I guess these days I see myself as the folkie, the authentic folkie who makes a living elsewhere and uses music as a way of communicating and connecting over time and space and taking time, and expressing, but who has absolutely no professional musical ambitions.

No offense to professionals out there, you inspire me and motivate me - but my life runs better when I see myself playing music as an avocation, a non paying passion, like fishing, where my reward is the playing itself and not a pay check or album royalty or fans' devotion.

A back porch jam with lots of close friends, a table load of hot chili and fresh warm corn bread, playing tunes new and old, and I see myself more authentically than I ever do on a stage entertaining or in a recording studeo.

[BlueMountain]

I see myself fooling some of the people some of the time about my knowing what I'm doing.

I see myself whistling a happy tune so no one will suspect I'm afraid. (Then I notice the audience and choke--that's why I play with my eyes closed.)

And when I'm gigging, I guess I see myself as that tall, sexy, gray-haired guy, the cool one with the beautiful mandolin, the Gary Cooper of the mandolin, the quiet type, but confident.

But I rather doubt the audience sees me that way, or they'd applaud more after my solos.

No, I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be
Am an attendant lord, one who will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two
Deferential, glad to be of use
Politic, cautious, and meticulous
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
Almost, at times, ridiculous.
Almost, at times, the fool.
--T. S. Eliot

[acousticphd]

As the player Tim O'Brien only wishes he could be.
















http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[delsbrother]

I make your ears bleed.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Now that I think about it...
...I try to model my playing after Mike Marshall. I can attain roughly the same level of eclecticism and musicality, but I'll never get to his level of wizardry.
...I try to model my approach after Mike Compton. That man gets DEEP into a subject. I have a lot of respect for his professionalism and the scholarly way he has delved into Monroe and Monroe's antecedents.

Daniel

[8ch(pl)]

I think that I am happy that others tell me that they like my music, both with the church worship team and the band that I sing and play in. If I get the idea that I am some sort of artist, it doesn't count if nobody else shares that view.

[chopaholic]

I see myself as the 49 year old guy that I am, with two years of playing under my belt, who wishes I had started playing when I was a kid. Performance anxiety is alive and well. I'm just looking forward to the day when I can really play this thing (in front of others) and think to myself, I'm glad I started when I did.

[mandocrucian]

If I'm thinking about that kind of peripheral stuff, I'm not really playing at all, but only going through the motions. Then, I may start seeing myself, in my mind's eye, as somthing along the lines of...

Murph (of "The Magic-tones")

Nigel Tufnel

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>or most likely......</span>

Sideshow Bob
http://www.guthwulf.com/images/anime/domestic/simpsons-small-promo6.jpg


Niles H
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>"Tune up, zone in, trance out...."</span>

[mboucher]

David says to 'Make a joyful noise before the Lord' well I qualify on both accounts. It's noise and I'm having a good time.

Mark

[JEStanek]

Like this?
Jamie

[Santiago]

I focus on my technique when I'm playing, but when things are going well and I'm in a groove, the music takes over and suddenly my mind is somewhere else. It's frustrating because the better I play the less I experience it consciously -- unless there's an audience, but it's generally a good place to be. At those times my mind takes me to all kinds of foolish, weird or very cool places that I don't generally remember two minutes later.

[Jim Rowland]

I see and hear myself as Captain Hook soon after suffering a nasty accident on his good hand.
Jim

[farmerjones]

There's not a day goes by that i don't think about the late John Hartford. Or rather his way. He as i am a student. My curiosity is filtered through my little brain and comes out my fingers like a rumor or an amalgamation that i enjoy. I enjoy it enough that i can't not do it, so here i am, such as i am (is?)(are?)

[Michael H Geimer]

JeffD's posts hit home for me.

A big turning point in life came when I deliberately shifted my self-image away from the professional musicians, and famous players and stopped comparing myself, my abilities, and my goals against them.

When I really thought about who I wanted to be in my sunset years, I knew that making records, playing gigs, and being a professional were not things I truly wanted.

When I picture myself older, I see myself still playing these same songs for friends, for family, harmonizing to my wife's lovely voice, or just picking on the porch with only the dog's for my audience. These are the things I value in life.

[arbarnhart]

I see myself as me, fumbling, and happy. #There are people who I would like to play like, but I still want to be me. #My kids say I'm the coolest, so they must be right. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif I probably have 7-9 more years of that before they become teens who are in pain by my presence.

Jamie
I hate to do the me too thing, but you pretty much nailed it. BTW, I have an 11 year old daughter and 6 year old triplets (2 boys and a girl). My oldest daughter has a room in the back corner of the house, farthest from our room and has talked to one of her brothers about trading so she can have a front room. But that room would be next to us and I have counseled her that she really wants to keep her room because in a couple of years she will figure out she hates us. She doesn't believe me and I would love to be proven wrong, but history says it's not all that likely. But they generally come back around...

[Peter Hackman]

I started on mandolin in 1966, and have had long periods of silence
on that instrument, e.g., 1997-2004. I picture myself as a
guitarist struggling to recover the technique I had 39 years
ago, and combine it with the musical wisdom I've gained on
the guitar, knowing
that some things work better on mando, only wishing I could do them.

[Rob Zamites]

I picture myself as the love child of Andy Irvine and Frank Zappa. Not really. I just imagine my myself being good enough to hold my own on open mic night at my brewpub, and being able to sing while playing.

[dtb]

I got nuthin.