What inspires you to play your mandolin

[Rick Schmidlin]

I wake up each morning, get my coffee and mandolin and think of songs that say what say I feel. Sometimes they are inner thought's I can only project in music. Each day I get more inspired to tell musical saga's with the many hours of music I have learned. My mandolin takes me further into world of song that I never exspected to be part of. So it means every day I am inspired to play more and learn more and the instrument I dearly love.

Big inspration's for me are Bix Beiderbeck, Clarance White, John Fahey and early James Taylor. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jack Roberts]

The unrealistic expectation that I might get better with practice.

[morristownmando]

My career goal of becoming a professional Bluegrass mandolin musician and just the love i have for the instrument.

[Mike Snyder]

Joy and denial.

[Jim Kirkland]

It's peace early in the morning. Always have a chance to play something I really like and work out new ways for the song. I always get a little time to work on something new. If I don't get to do this early in the morning, my day is not the same.

[Chris Biorkman]

Fear of looking like an idiot at my weekly lessons.

[Rick Crenshaw]

Fear.

The band has new songs and when I am unable to copy breaks by Bibey, Lawson, Steffey, Benson, Lane, etc. then I have to play along with the CD's and find ways to make a good sounding break that I can hit every time. #Get familiar enough with a song and you'll find yourself doing things that you didn't know you could do. #It's like going on a treasure hunt each day... but inspired by the fear of failure. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[Joel Spaulding]

Fear is indeed a powerful #motivator - and has its place. BUT - after a lackluster career as a travelling, gigging musician and now age 40 with a "real" job I have found that the joy in playing something well( sort of the converse of "not being bad" ) for me, is just a better way to go.

Mental monologue:
" Play that pattern slowly, then again, again. Now faster. Wrist locks up. Come back play it more slowly. Now speed it up again. Suddenly I'm actually playing something that I cannot actually believe is my own playing! Big smile, great emotion - wow ... @%#*!! train wreck from overconfidence!" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I still shudder when recalling a Vermont All-State jazz band piano audition during my Freshman year in HS - totally unprepared does not come close to how poorly I auditioned that day, the fear that I have carried (until recently) has probably done more to hinder my musical creativity, and performance than any single event in my musical life.

The mandolin has LITERALLY changed my life. I guess that is my motivation.

Mandocrucian's signature line "Free your mind, your hands will follow" may be the best advice I have taken - my mind is a long way from free - but I will keep picking until my hands quit on me!

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

[pjlama]

I get inspire by the feeling i have when I play. Playing makes me feel good.

[frankenstein]

the sound. fear scares me too much !!

[Ivan Kelsall]

ME !!! - If i don't practice at least one instrument everyday,i get withdrawal symptoms,
Saska

[Brandon Flynn]

Love of playing, and the desire to get better. Great players that allow me to dream of what I could make my mandolin sound like.

[Tim2723]

Hunger and fear of the landlord. If I don't play I don't eat and have to live outdoors. I don't even like the mandolin anymore.

[Susan H.]

For me it's the desire to get better. In September I'll have been playing a year and I know more about my mandolin than my banjo (no contest there). It's hard to explain I guess, but I just want to play better. I want to play in our church orchestra and play well at our jam sessions. It's a challenge, and a monkey on my back (that I enjoy), it's addicting (as Steve Kaufman puts it). And when I play a piece well it's a joy to hear. I never had this desire to play my banjo (still don't). Yes, the love of playing and the instrument.

[Troy Mayfield]

Hi new to the mandolin and to the board. #I picked up the mandolin to see if I could help give a little flavor to our bluegrass gospel band. #We have a plethora of guitar pickers (plus a banjo and bass) and it seems that we are missing a bit of the "bark". #So far I must say this has been the most fun I have ever had playing anything! #I have a cheapie and intend on replacing it in about a #month after I sell my banjo http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[bgjunkie]

The freedom I feel when playing. While I am playing my mandolin all the troubles of the world just disappear. Whether it is playing a tune for the 1000th time, or just starting on a new tune it is a great feeling to be able to make music. I have the confidence and repetoire to actually play in front of people. I still struggle with confidence issue when playing with other musicians that I don't know well, but I know that confidence will come the more I play with others (now if I could only find the time to actually work on this issue).

After 23 years (on and off) of playing and struggling with guitar, I am so glad my wife bought me my first mandolin just because I said that I have always loved the way they sound. Three mandolins later, I have a much better instrument, but I still play the Epiphone that my wife bought me as much as any that I own.

[Jim MacDaniel]

My almost-three-year-old Aidan. He is now really getting into singing songs, so I am working on kids songs that I can play along with him while he sings.

[BloozeGit]

My mando calls my name insistently every morning after breakfast until I pick it up and put it on my lap. Doesn't yours? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[ntbols]

Fear of looking like an idiot at my weekly lessons.
I second that.

[lyric_girl]

The fact that I just brought "him" home.
The fact that I will learn how to play Losing my Religion.
The fact that playing mandolin is much easier on my little hands than playing my Taylor acoustic.

[burcher]

hot chicks

[first string]

My millions of adoring fans...

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

[terrierguy]

I believe it is a sickness

[John Flynn]

Different things: In the evenings, playing relaxes me and takes my mind off any stress I'm having at work or otherwise, more than anything else I have tried. It's amazing! I can be really anxious and after even a few minutes of playing, the stress just melts away.

Also, I get the set list for church on Fridays, so on Friday and Saturday, I'm working on those tunes. Then sometimes I just feel like playing...no reason at all. I would say the most urgent motivation to play I have ever experienced, though, was when I was in a string band, getting ready for rehearsals and gigs.

[Jkf_Alone]

for me it's about the only thing in my life that i can see progress in right now. work at mandolin, learn that new song or technique and get better. work at work, dont get a raise, dont get no respect, just get a sore back ...

[Fred G]

I feel like it is a good habit I have to play every morning before i leave for work, though sometimes I leave really late because... well you know why.

But i also have a habit to play every morning so I never miss a day.

[Ken]

Lots of things, always something different, which is probably one reason I'm still playing after almost 30 years. Sometimes just the sounds the instrument makes, not even connected to a tune. Sometimes being excited about working out a new song or lead. Sometimes for that wonderful sense of connection you get when an improv really clicks. At the moment it's the intellectual side, trying to learn the fretboard and therory better. It's all good.

[JeffD]

The carrot is how much of a comfort playing music can be.

The stick is how poor I can sound when I don't practice.

[tree]

To quote one of my favorite Calvin & Hobbs cartoons, "I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul."

Man, he hit the nail on the head.

[Keith Erickson]

My talent... ...(no matter how small it may be)...

...is on loan from God!!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

...and that is exactly what inspires me

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

[mandroid]

Fills my lonely hours, and doesn't need a Catbox.

[Tim]

For contrast - I packed all of my mandolin family instruments up and put them in the basement three weeks ago. #Haven't missed them. #If that doesn't change soon I'll start planning the small sale of entry level instruments. #It had started to be more frustrating than fun.

To answer the orginal question but from a few months ago, playing was more fun than an other viable alternative.

[Lance K.]

I've always thought this quote was especially appropriate to my relationship to learning the mandolin--

#"A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money, but even... without any hope of doing it well." -
#-- #Oliver herford

[man dough nollij]

To whittle away at the vast mountain of suckage, to reveal the gleaming mediocrity within. Yep. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[MandoSquirrel]

The best motivator for me is always a new(to me) instrument.
Anticipating the arrival of my Cascade recently helped, plus replacing the strings on it, so it can do what it should.

The other big motivator recently was the purchase of a collection of live Bill Monroe recordings from the '50's & 60's. The Alison Stephens & Gertrud Troster CD's of Calace music are wonderful, but more intimidating than Monroe http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif !

[Eddie Sheehy]

I love to help my wife out around the house and all the chores. I'm always looking for something else to do. It seems that when I pick up a mandolin she appears out of nowhere with a list.....

[lone-woodwose]

One of the reasons I play anything...guitar mandolin or banjo...is because of my family history.

My grandfather passed away a little over a year ago, and that is when I got back into playing guitar. Then moved mandolin, then banjo...soon concertina (if I can afford one).
I like to play different music than he did. He played bluegrass and country-western swing, I prefer old-time and newer folk music. My grandfather was best known for his fiddle and guitar but he could play almost anything you gave him. I don't think I am ready to take the time on fiddle yet, maybe this winter when I have no work.

Here is a link to his main band. They were The Dave Geddes Band, but now they call themselves
The Geddes Road Band (http://geddesroadband.com/index.html).

Nobody else in the family (at least not from my generation) seems to have any interest in learning. So I think I should take up the slack for all of them. Not that I think I will ever live up to his legend I can try hard.

[fredfrank]

I remember when I was much younger, trying to learn to play, thinking: "Someday I'll actually sound good on this thing."

Now, I have a mandolin that I truly love the sound of, and according to some folks, I do sound good. It pleases me to just revel in that.

I really should play more before my abilities start going the other direction!

[Jkf_Alone]

tim, you should try taking a variety of lessons or spending a few weeks just learning 1 tune ( thats a little above your skill level) really well. don't give up! (but don't give up music even if you do give up mandolin, there's always ukelele & harmonica)

[alanz]

As a novice mandolin player my greatest inspiration to play is that my instructor comes every week, and there's homework to practice!

[Randi Gormley]

When I hear a new tune I just love, when I get a new book of unknown pieces, when I'm tired of wandering around or reading, when there's a need just to create something, as a way to spend time with my guitarist husband in the evenings and when I hear great musicians and want to be just like them, as energetic and as facile and as perfect. And then i put it down and sigh that I'm not as good as i want to be and try again.

[mandoplyr70]

It,s amazing to me if you don,t play every day how fast you lose those built up callouses. And Oh how I hate to play with sore fingers. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[jasona]

The unrealistic expectation that I might get better with practice.
+1.

I also just like listening to it. I've been away from it for a couple of months due to work related travel, and am slowly building my calluses back up so I'm not getting enough time in every day yet.

[Capt. E]

It's why I have three mandolins: one at home, one in the car sometimes, and one at work. I also cart around my Cajun Accordion, 7 harmonicas, a pennywhistle (I play that in the car while stopped at red-iights) This morning I stopped in a park and played the accordion for 1/2 hour before going into the office after playing mandolin last night until I got sleepy eyed. Perfect way to mentally relax...anytime. Of course, is it weird?... but playing music is both stimulating and relaxing at the same time. Like medition or yoga.