Digging herschel sizemore

[kelvin]

Hi Board,
I read the post on the board daily and I can't tell you how much great information I have gleaned from it in the past. Thanks for all the good post's and advice when needed.

I heard a mandolin player for the first time and it was like wow.........this guy plays just like what I hear in my head when I think of mandolin. In other posts where people name their favorite player or who infuenced them I don't often hear his name. I am new to the mando and had not really had the chance to hear him. The only reason for the post is to let people who might be new to the mandolin that are interested in bluegrass they really need to check out Herschel Sizemore.

I heard a tune on satelite radio called Rebecca that just knocked my socks off. Don't mean to go on and on but I just got really excited listening to his cd that I puchsed the next day.

Kelvin

[Skip Kelley]

Herschel has such a great feel to his playing. I have always admired his style. He is one to copy. Check out his Bounce Away album.

[lgc]

I was just listening to him for the first time today. I like that he plays through the melody. He's fun to listen to.

[floyd26]

there's some cool video's of herschel and david grier jamming on some tunes over on youtube.

[bradeinhorn]

rebecca has got be one of my all time favorite tunes - check out this killer version:



Dominick's Rebecca (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=59843850)

[wannabethile]

ive got one of herschel's cd's. what a monster!! i could easily lsiten to his playing all day long...

[Rick Smith]

Herschel is a true master. Grey eagle, among others, is unbelievable.

[niaflsbob]

glad to know that you're just now finding out about one of the all-time best. if you really want to get that bluegrass sound right listen to the tone he gets try to get it yourself. his stuff is a never ending source of how to play right. while i will give just about anybody a listen, i have admit he is the one player i canlisten to and always find inspiration to pick it up and try to play like that. imho, nobody plays it cleaner

[Ivan Kelsall]

Herschel Sizemore is one of my 2 most favourite players. His CD ''Back in Business' is excellent. I've played 'Rebecca' on the Banjo for quite a few years now & when i started playing Mandolin,it had to be one of the first tunes that i tried to play - along with his incredible rendition of 'Grey Eagle',which on Herschel's tuition DVD,Alan Bibey describes as ''not for the faint hearted'' - you can say that again. A wonderful musician
in every way,
# # # # # # Saska

[swampstomper]

He's definitely The Man for clean, tasteful playing. Get his three CD's (http://www.countysales.com/php-bin/ecomm4/categories.php?category_id=9940), you will never regret it. Especially if you like listening to Loars played with consumate taste, touch and tone! If you want to (try to) pick like him, many tunes in the two Hay Holler CDs are Acu-Tabbed out in the AcuTab transcriptions (http://www.acutab.com/artists/sizemore/book/sizemore.html). I have been working through these for about two years now. The transcriptions are exactly right but you really need to listen to Herschel to get his "bounce". #He also has an AcuTab DVD but I haven't tried that.

Grey Eagle is one of my efforts, of course Rebecca, but I really like his waltzes, like Joyce's Waltz in F / C. Gorgeous tone and double-stop harmony.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Oh Boy !!!! - I just checked out the link that Brad posted re.Dominicks' 'Rebecca'. As much as i personally like playing tunes 'straight',i can appreciate a good 'alternative'
rendition - when it IS a good one & Dominick's version of 'Rebecca' takes the biscuit,
Saska

[bradeinhorn]

Oh Boy !!!! - I just checked out the link that Brad posted re.Dominicks' 'Rebecca'. As much as i personally like playing tunes 'straight',i can appreciate a good 'alternative'
rendition - when it IS a good one & Dominick's version of 'Rebecca' #takes the biscuit,
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Saska
glad you like it. sounds like one of those live music situations where something so cool and different happens that people don't know what to do but laugh.

[re simmers]

I've posted before about my lesson. I drove about 3 1/2 hrs. from Hagerstown, MD to Roanoke to take one lesson from Herschel....a 3 hour lesson. Herschel is a class act and a great picker, and probably has the best right hand of all mandolin pickers. If you don't realize that over 70% of your sound quality is due to the right hand, you need to take a lesson from Herschel. I learned a lot from him. Let me give you an example of how good he is with just playing the melody: No breaks will be the same, even if 2 different songs have the exact same melody. Why? Because the words are different. Herschel plays the EXACT melody with 'feeling' on the right words. He makes the mandolin sound like the song is being sung. He does not play 'licks' that many pickers use to apply to any song that has the same chord. I watched him and thought, 'wow, this is pretty simple. Just play the melody.' Well, Herschel is on another plateau with the EXACT melody. He makes it look very easy. His hands seem to move very little. Get all of his CD's and his DVD w/Bibey!

[Big Joe]

Herschel is one of my dearest friends. He is one of the finest people on the face of the earth. His word IS his bond, and besides all that he is an INCREDIBLE mandolin player. He is one of the few players at his level that do not have to have thier ego coddled. I really love his version of Joyce's Waltz (Joyce is his wife and an equally lovely person). My favorite part though is that he is my friend.

[jim_n_virginia]

There are basically two kinds of mandolin picking in the bluegrass world. #1 is Monroe style with its wild bluesy approach and #2 Herschel's style with super clean picking and sticking to the melody ala Alan Bibey.

I only got to know Herschel from the Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend but I gotta say he is one of the nicest most approachable living icons alive.

He is a great teacher and really tries hard to pass on what he can teach. I'll never forget, I asked him what was his fondest memories in all the years he has been playing with every big name in the music business and he said it was the first time he walked up to a jam at a festival and someone was playing Rebecca and he realized that one of his tunes might be around long after he is gone. And I swear there was a tear in his eye when he said this.

What a tremendous guy I really respect him.

AND... on top of all that.... the man owns FOUR Loar mandolins! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[45ACP-GDLF5]

Mr. Sizemore is one of the many under-rated mandolin players that deserves a LOT of recognition from the powers-that-be!

He should already have won Mandolin Player of the Year from SPBGMA and IBMA! He should already be in the Bluegrass Hall of Honor!

[Brian T]

It you want to hear a really tasty mandolin duet, check out Herschel and Alan Bibey on 'Amandalina'. I saw them do it live (just the two of them) at RBW. Just blew my socks off.

[sunburst]

While I don't know Hershel particularly well, both of us being from Va. has had us crossing paths a few times, and jamming together more than once. I can say that, not only is he a world class mandolin player, but he is also the kind of player who supports a mediocre player like me in a jam, doesn't make me feel intimidated, listens to what the other players are doing, offers a smile or a nod when you do a good job, that sort of thing. He's simply a gentleman without a big "star" ego.
Yep, Rebecca is one of my favorite tunes to play on the banjo too.

[swampstomper]

Still on this topic, I can recommend his fine work with the Dixie Gentlemen. This was a local group in N Alabama with Herschel, Jake Landers, Rual Yarborough, and Vassar. #They were briefly signed to a major label (United Artists, I think) during the folk boom, supposedly their one album is really good, but it's been out of print in all formats forever and I've never heard it. Then they got together at Christmas 1975 (?) along with a young James Bryan playing twin fiddle with Vassar and recorded an album on Old Homestead, which has been re-issued as #Today and Yesterday (http://www.countysales.com/php-bin/ecomm4/products.php?category_id=&product_id=2767&prev_id=&next_id=4793). This re-issue has some other later tracks, I am not sure when they were recorded.

In any case, it has the original "Alone and Brokenhearted", and a wild "Dueling Banjos" with Vassar at his best. Herschel shines throughout, especially on the Yarborough #tune "Dixie Ride".

I just wanted to plug this CD in case you like good honest 'grass with some fine pickers and singers (Landers) from Herschel's earlier days.

[Ivan Kelsall]

That's one i'll be ordering from County Sales in the future !. Herschel Sizemore has
one of the 'cleanest' picking styles i've heard on Mandolin. I've been trying to get my fingers around #Grey Eagle for over a year & mostly succeding,i'm glad to say.But when i can play it as clean & fluently as Herschel Sizemore,that'll be a milestone. If i was lucky enough to live within a 100 miles of Herschel,i'd be crawling on my hands & knees to take lessons with him.He really is one of the top Mandolin players,maybe not so much underated as
currently not heard as much as he should be,
Saska
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

[Nolan]

I'd like to hear the story behind all his Loars... how he got them, what he likes about each one, etc.

I just got "My style" a few months ago, it's great!

[swampstomper]

He tells about his Loars in the introduction to the AcuTab book. It even has a picture of him closing the deal with "Uncle Charlie" -- who he then named a tune for, written on that Loar.