Why isn't the mandolin a 'chick magnet'?

[Songbird]

I suppose I wasn't expecting it to be a 'chick magnet' anyway, lol, but I was just amused by something that happened a couple days ago at university. Me, a lad and another girl were in his room and the two of us were playing on his guitar and sporting all these metal riffs. The girl was totally transfixed on whoever was playing for about half an hour. I mentioned I had a mandolin and the lad wanted to see it so we all skip off to my room. We start messing around with it and within about half a minute the girl said 'I'm going for a fag' and walked off looking really bored.

Just amused me the fact she'd watch us play the guitar for ages and as soon as we switched to the mandolin the fascination and fixation just totally disappeared.

[saznpins]

Maybe you just had the wrong chick http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif I love it! Although, my hubby plays guitar and I really enjoy hearing him play that, too.
Cheers,
Sarah

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Tell ya what. Go to just about any coffee shop, buy a decafe latte and practice your prettiest song quietly in the corner. I bet it's more of a chick magnet than you think. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[ShaneJ]

Songbird, I take it you're across the pond and she left to smoke a cigarette? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[johnwalser]

I find it amazing that the mandolin isn't even a "player" magnet. Here's an instrument that allows anyone (not limited by the length of ones fingers) to play every type of music from classical to rock to jazz and even bluegrass if so inclined. The learning curve is relatively easy and most of us were playing songs within days. Mastering the instrument takes much longer, but the enjoyment factor is high at all levels of play. When I got my first mandolin, I lost interest in my guitar almost immediately. I could do so much more and be so much more creative on the mandolin. It amazes me that mandolin players are outnumbered by guitar players by a thousand to one.
My wife of 35 years is still attracted to me, so I guess I'm still a "chick magnet" at 59.
John

[danb]

But they can be "rant loudly and pointlessly on message boards" magnets ?

Oh sorry, replying in wrong topic!

If it's any concilation, my wife has upgraded the mandolin from "very effective birth control" to "mildly annoying"..

[Songbird]

Whoops, forgot that fag meant something else over your way, lol.

DLP - I might just try that, y'know, lol.

But yeah, it's strange how the mandolin just doesn't seem to be popular...I got an 'ooo it's nice and shiny' out of her and that was it, lol.

[mad dawg]

Songbird -- maybe if Thile or some other mando-wizard got some MTV airtime it would have been a different story for you. Alas, we may have missed our "chick-magnet" window back in the 80's while the Hooters were popular for a short while. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[jim simpson]

This thread reminds me of "take your mando to the beach" thread. I remember posting how a bikini clad lass came over to inquire as to what instrument I was playing. Now why didn't this ever happen when I was single! We tease our guitar/dobro player(who is single) about his dobro being a chick magnet. He's follicly challenged and has no problem attracting the opposite sex.

[elenbrandt]

The question is -- what do chicks get to use -- is there some special "rich man who puts up with woman who plays mandolin too much in the middle of the night" magnet?

(HEHEHEHE) #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[John Flynn]

I guess size does matter after all! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[mad dawg]

I knew someone would go there! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[odeman]

I play mostly mandolin and ukulele these days - decidedly not the instruments of "chick magnets", but I compensate by telling the girls that I'm really a bass player.

[pickles]

What do you mean, not a chick magnet? My mandolins attracted me very strongly.

[Unseen122]

Only a few instruments really get chicks going they wouold be as follows: Guitar, Drums, Ghreat Highland Bagpipes ([aka GHBs] standard Scottish bagpipes the ones you see in parades and stuff), and the silver flute (why do you think so many chicks play it?) luickily I can play Guitar and drums and am quite good on the GHBs but the silver flute I could adapat I play Irish Flute. I have found that instruments that chicks are really amazed by are the ones that they know of if I were to go and play Pipes I would be surronded by women but if I played Mando I would get asked what it was and then they would walk away after I told them. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Bob A]

Dang, Avery, when they ask what you're playing, just tell 'em you're playing bagpipes. The ones who leave wouldn't be that interesting anyway.

[Ted Eschliman]

Man, I'm so relieved to see this thread...
Here all along I thought it was ME (http://members.aol.com/teesch/images/bubbaf9.jpg). You mean it's really the mandolin?

[Scotti Adams]

..cuz it doest hide my belly http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[bjc]

Songbird...here's my 2 cents...some girls (guys as well) are just into a certain type of music (and have no interset in other genres)...this chick was more than likely a head-banger...I played metal for years and there were some UGLY guys that had some beautiful women :-)
When I relocated for college I got into stuff like REM...and when I brought one ex-girlfriend down for the weekend and to our gig, she was less than impressed despite the fact that the club was packed (she went home after the first set)...the next night we went to a metal bar and she wanted to stay 'till close and there couldn't have been anymore than 20 people in the club at one time...
So songbird it was probally a genre thing...in my humble opinion...and whoever said to check out the coffee houses is right on...don't bring your Les Paul and Marshall in there...tee hee

[steve in tampa]

I gotta agree w/ bjc. It the music and cultural scene not just the instrument.

Not much of a bad boy image associated with the instrument. (Bill Monroe might be the exception, htough old bad boy).

That is what those like, far out, easily influenced young chicks seem to dig man.

I don't care. My wife plays guitar, and she digs it. Get in trouble if other chicks start diggin too much.

Kind of reminds me when I built a street rod. Thought it would be a chick magnet, but instead turned out to be a redneck magnet.

Think mando players got it bad like that, pity the poor b@#jo dudes!

[Nick Triesch]

My wife had a young woman teacher over not long ago and we were playing guitar then I brought out my F type mandolin and she started to laugh out loud! I said "what" and she said "it looked little and cute like a purse and what is up with that litle strap"! The guys at work saw my mando and I won't even tell you what they said about it! Bottom line is we love mandolins but most people dont even know what they are. To most folks the mandolin looks kind of to put it in a nice way....sissy. I have found out over the years that girls in general really like the guitar and request all kinds of songs. The mando imho does not sound it's best when played alone. You really need a guitar to back it up. You can finger pick a guitar and blow folks away. Don't get me wrong, I love my mandolin but for the most part mandolin lovers are the only folks that are crazy about them. Nick

[Jim Garber]

Perhaps what you need is a $150,000 mandolin AND a Senate seat...

Jim

[mad dawg]

Reminds me of another thread that referenced an interview in which Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull admitted that all of his instruments of choice are "girly" instruments (esp. mandolin and flute).

[mandough]

Sorry but any instrument that's not guitar or rock drums doesn't get chicks. The mandolin is an odd instrument by most people's standards. Did you ever see anyone in the High School band get the chicks? The answer is no, and there are 40 instruments to choose from! But, no guitar. Even the Pothead sitting in his old Camaro playing "air guitar" is going to get more chicks than the mandolin player.
By the way, if you play "air guitar", people know that you are mimicking the guitar. If you play "air mandolin", people will often mistake it for mimicking puppetry. Try it, you'll see.

[Potosimando]

Well...I am too slow of a reader and/or too lazy to have read all of the posts above, so maybe someone already brought this up. #Anyway, I attended a Nickel Creek concert at the local University a couple of years ago, where there were perhaps 6,000 women and 4,000 men (obviously a very rough guess). #Of the 6,000 women there, I'd hazard a guess as to 5,500 of them being absolutely smitten by Chris Thile (that, and maybe 2,000+ of the men)...including my girlfriend, who still sighs when ever the thought of Chris Thile crosses her mind. #Talk about a tough act to follow.

It has been my experience that a mandolin in hand is like having a German-Shepherd puppy on a leash, in that women can't help but "notice" and stop to interact. #Beginning at that point however, you need more than the puppy or the mando to carry things forward.

[s1m0n]

Kind of reminds me when I built a street rod. Thought it would be a chick magnet, but instead turned out to be a redneck magnet.

Dare we ask whether you got lucky?

[Bob Sayers]

I remember the Seldom Scene used to tease John Duffey on stage for being such a big guy with such an itty bitty instrument. #(Also for looking like an Italian barber with his brush cut and guayabera shirts.) #I'm afraid, fellas, that our instrument of choice doesn't have a lot of babe mojo (unless the player is someone like Sam Bush or Chris Thile).

Bob

[fatt-dad]

Quote from stranger (i.e., some chick) at a party, "I love a big man with a small instrument".

fatt I'm-6-6-210-pounds dad

[Jonathan Reinhardt]

Works for me.

Did I tell you about the laundromat session last month? Ahhh- a story for a rainy day.
And tonite at a house party was affirmation. Don't give up the ship, fellow pickers.

rasa

[Rick Schmidlin]

The reason that I started playing was my Italian sweety said she feel in love with the bluegrass mandolin.

Rick


PS So did I

[steve in tampa]

[QUOTE]Quote
Kind of reminds me when I built a street rod. Thought it would be a chick magnet, but instead turned out to be a redneck magnet.


Dare we ask whether you got lucky?


Didn't get lucky myself, but the Camaro did. Sold it to a redneck who had an unnatural attrection to Camaros!

[stevenmando]

It does not matter what instrumnet you play certain instrumnet turn individules on, as with the mandolin for mandolin players its the sound and what it does to you I for one like anything strings but mainly mandolin .When you meet that special someone she or he will like anything that you do, what you need to do is make the mondolin speak for you with the music I think you will be surprised. Think about Vivaldi or Rodrego and the passion that they played in there music. when you see that special someone comming to hear you play at every time you play then you will know.

[lindensensei]

Okay, son. #Sit back and read this and you will learn. #What it is, you are doing it all wrong.

The mandolin is the ULTIMATE chick magnet, ask my wife. #And this is how you do it. #Take your sweetest ax to a party, forget woody and powerful - go for sweet. #When the guys get the guitars out and are really into it, slowly unpack your mandolin and let those pure sweet droplets of heaven swirl around all that thunderous guitar noise. #After three songs...NO MORE... put it away. #The effect of the mandolin no longer being in the mix will be deafening for the resulting listeners. #Pick up your case, smile shyly at the prettiest girl, shrug deferentially and walk to the place in the room where she can follow for a quite moment.

Dude, this rocks.

[Blueglass]

yea I like that last post. Play sweet. in fact I used to like to say the A minor was my weepy chick sound.
I have gotten chicks with the mandolin. Wait untill the right sond at some party then bring it out. Play sappy stuff then pack it in. You see the trick is small doses
small doses
small doses
then you can take you new lover out and show off what's behind your truss rod cover.

[Greenmando]

Think mando players got it bad like that, pity the poor b@#jo dudes!
And my parents gave me a b**jo on my 16th birthday.
How do you spell birth control?


What do you mean, not a chick magnet? #My mandolins attracted me very strongly.
Kathleen
I'll go back to the trees if I can have fur, a prehensile tail, and my mandolin.
The prehensile tail would be a lota of fun!!!

[mad dawg]

Bummer about loosing the tail, but with practice, you could develop prehensile toes. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[oldwave maker]

maybe it just depends on the mandolin.....

[mancmando]

my girlfriend has said that being a guitar player is generally seen as a positive thing for a bloke - not because of the guitar, but because of what they can do with their fingers!

On the same line of thought, the mandolin would surely class as being a good thing, I think it's just that fewer girls know what one is!

hope this post isn't too rude! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Michael H Geimer]

Think of this way ... the girl who's fawning over the guitar players, is she really your type? She probably appreciates the popular image a guitar represents, and perhaps has little real appreciation of music itself.

It's all part of the 'be yourself' advice we were given on that first day of school.

[rixter]

I'd say 2 reasons that come to mind:
1. The shape - obviously (to me anyway)the body of an guitar resembles a female torso (unless it's an electric - which everybody knows is a phallic symbol). Either way, it's decidedly more erotic than a nonspecific mandolin.
2. It's easier to maintain eye contact and flirt while playing a guitar, you don't have to look down and watch what you're doing so much. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

well the mandolin is and isnt a chick magnet....

ive had some good moments, but its unreal sometimes with how invisible it can make you...
ok.. so i would play music on the street with a banjo player, and these HOT women would walk up and say things like "ohhh i just LOVE the banjo" or say to me, "whats that? " a mandolin... "oh, i just love the banjo".....

bessame mucho is the tune of tunes to get the ladies diggin the mando... also some slow sweet thile style tunes work nice... play it pretty and its all good....

i have a mini version of a real book, mando size haha, and my mando is small ive had some girls joking about how unlike my other fellow musicians did not have to compensate for something else with a large insturment etc... CONFIDENCE!

here's one for capt. correlli....

[patsites]

If these girls all knew how much one of these little things cost, they'd think we were all rich. Then it'd be a real chick magnet.

I always say, "it is the sportscar of acoustic instruments!"

[Phantoj]

HOT women... LOVE the banjo

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

I must say there's a lot in this thread that doesn't gibe with my personal experience... #but then I started a thread entitled "Chicks Dig Mandos" last Thursday...

[Joe F]

It does work sometimes.

When I first started playing mandolin, I used to get together with some friends, all of us stumbling beginners, and make noise around the kitchen table once or twice a week. #We weren't very good, but it was fun. #One of the other players had a friend (with an obvious lack of taste) who liked to come and listen to us. #One thing led to another, and she and I eventually got together.

This past July, we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary.

[fatt-dad]

(major magnet, eh?)

playing on the beach
Bikini-clad audience
Rusty mandolin

[jeffshuniak]

the mandolin IS a chick magnet. my girlfriend admits how she was fascinated with me when we first met, at a mutual friend's house. coming from panama where many of her friends were musicians, but no mandolin players. she was disappointed when moving to america... meeting guys who like to "rock". my x girlfriend loves the piano and was attracted to my playing it. I think all forms of expression can attract the right people.

hey steve in tampa.... I am in pinellas. I play guitar, bouzouki, and keys too... if you want to jam sometime let me know. I'll accompany you , if you like. or we can trade off. I play mostly classical, jazz, italian, greek, and russian music... but if you're a bluegrass guy, well, I can hang with that too... I like everything.

[mandodebbie]

Umm... guys, there are lot's of instruments that aren't "chick magnets". For example, the jug, the bassoon, the spoons, the musical comb, and the Jaw harp, amoungst others. Imagine a guy trying to meet gals with a harp, or a tuba (Sousaphone)! I'm a gal, I play mando. Like the song says: It's all in the game of Love.:cool:

[mandoJeremy]

Jeff, I agree with you fully. The reason some people are attracted to musicians is because of our emotional side and being able to express those emotions through an instrument plus what was stated earlier, we know how to use our hands!

[steve in tampa]

jeffshuniak!

Would love to get together and jam! I like to try all styles of music. Always something to be learned. My wife plays guitar also. We do a lot of different types of country/folk/americana stuff. Shoot me an e-mail at steve@humes.com, and we'll make arrangements.

[jim_n_virginia]

WHA?!?! The mandolin NOT a chick magnet? Wrong!

It all depends on what you play! Now if you are playing "Sally Goodin" slightly out of tune you might have a problem but play a pretty instrumental and throw in a little tremelo, even better make it sound like Italian!

*note- this doesn't work in a bar when everyone is drunk, a better place is a park on a nice day!

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

[David in IL]

Umm... guys, there are lot's of instruments that aren't "chick magnets". For example, the jug, the bassoon, the spoons, the musical comb, #and the Jaw harp, amoungst others. #
Dang--that Jug salesman in the music store was lying to me! And now I have to give up the spoons. Life isn't fair.

[wah]

Mandodebbie, have you ever seen a jug player? I can't say the jug is a strong magnet, but it's never chased 'em away - in my experience. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Of course I don't go off by myself playing soft romantic stuff. But, there is something about keeping that solid rythm going and the way the mouth works around the jug that gets the women interested.

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

[John Flynn]

Here's how you make a mandolin a "chick magnet":

1. Get Gibson to make a "Louis Vuitton" master model, complete with a strap that has all those little "LV" thingies on it. Make it outrageously expensive. I mean Loar-level expensive and let everyone on earth know how expensive it is. Immediately arrange for a Pac Rim shop to make knock-offs.

2. Feature that mando model in a movie starring Meg Ryan.

3. Find a rich, young, single mandolin player to play it and have the "Queer Eye" guys do a makeover on him first. Give him a Porsche to drive to gigs. It would help if he were good looking, but if he just looks rich enough, that'll do. It would also help if he could act sensitive, but it's OK if he's actually a jerk. He cannot truly be sensitive, however, or the "chick" will eventually reject him.

[mad dawg]

Get Gibson to make a "Louis Vuitton" master model, complete with a strap that has all those little "LV" thingies on it.
If its case is also from Louis Vuitton, I'm not sure carrying one of these around will be a chick magnet. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[John Flynn]

If its case is also from Louis Vuitton, I'm not sure carrying one of these around will be a chick magnet.
Yeah, you got me there. I didn't think about that. It might rhyme with chick, though!

[John Craton]

Umm... guys, there are lot's of instruments that aren't "chick magnets". For example, the jug, the bassoon,
Hmmm. My son plays bassoon and never seems to have a problem attracting the opposite sex. I, on the other hand, have been known to attempt to woo on no less than eight or nine different instruments (not at the same time) without ever becoming magnetized. Maybe it has to do with something other than what we use to make music?? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Scott Schmidt]

Who says the mandolin isn't a chick magnet? #My girlfriend and I met because of the mandolin. I know I'm playing the guitar in the picture (we were practicing for a fiddle contest), but my mando case and playing are what initially attracted her to me. ## # ##

http://www.commontyme.net/scott/Scott_and_Bethany_0048_150x226_plus_case.jpg

[Baxter]

y'all should meet my ex girlfriend - she was OBSESSED with mandolins. At the time, I was a guitar player and she was like "you'd be sooooo sexy if you bought a mandolin..." "when are you going to buy a mandolin" "have you got a mandolin yet?"

Then we split, and about two years later I was looking in a music shop and thought, actually mandolins are kinda cool. Three months later, I've barely picked up my guitar and I'm really into mandolins...

So, you just have to hang in there, cos some girls are crazy about mandolins...

[rosincloud]

. . . I guess 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' was a popular choice with 'chicks' - as films go? Why don't you run through some of the incidental music at the next 'social' function you just happen to be carrying your mandolin to . . . What's the worst that could happen? . . . (machine gunned in the town square? . . . I think not.)
T.P.

[Moose]

Well... Baxter, did ya' get 'er back!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif - (the "chick") - Stranger things have happened... Inquiring minds want to know..

[Keith Wallen]

I think we have a new bumper sticker: "Mandolin, The Instrument of Love"

and mandough - That post was hilarious http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Baxter]

no - but I found a new girl with 2 sitars...

[Moose]

Ah!! - Good! - All great artists need "inspiration", ya' know. Can ya' play bluegrass on a sitar....!?? - Great conversation piece at the local "jam" I'll bet. hee.. hee.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[kvk]

By the way, if you play "air guitar", people know that you are mimicking the guitar. If you play "air mandolin", people will often mistake it for mimicking puppetry. Try it, you'll see.
Yeah and if you play air fiddle, people will think you're sewing your ear back on.

[duuuude]

But if ya play air jaw harp people just think you're wierd.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[wah]

Not as wierd as air jugs. That really gets some looks.

Wayne

[Moose]

Yeah!! - "JUGS".... hee.. hee... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[mrmando]

Seriously, I met my wife because I played the mandolin. Come to think of it, the girlfriend before that also decided to pursue me after hearing me play.

[Jeffers]

OK, maybe mandolins don't appeal to ALL chicks, but I see this as a useful screening device: if they're not interested in the mando, it would never work between us anyway! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Keith Wallen]

....good point, but if she is interested in the mando then she will probably want to go to all of your shows.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[Moose]

Just an anecdote to this "twisting" thread - several years ago(well, maybe more!)..., Porter Waggoner took an "all-girl" band on the road with him - to back him. He told Ralph Emory - on TNN.. : "That was the worst mistake I've ever made in my carrer" - hee... hee.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[Michael H Geimer]

While it's not typical of my behavior, I'm chasing several women right now ... the problem is, they each want to come hear me perform, and I just know they'll probably all show up on the same night.

My friends call that a Greg Brady Date. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Moose]

It does happen... been there., done that.. and YOU will be "like a man tied to a tree".. 'till the gig is done. Look for a back/side door to escape ; tell 'em you're "goin to the restroom".. Best-'o-luck. You'll need it. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[mandopete]

While it's not typical of my behavior, I'm chasing several women right now ...
And what will you do if you catch one of them?

Man, I'm glad I'm married http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif