Notes from the Field

Not being one for great drama in writing, let me explain right away. Everyone may need to have their mandolin set up. Not everyone needs to do it themselves.

Robert Meldrum has done the mandolin community a gigantic service. His ebook on set ups is really fantastic. Lots of folks have taken advantage of the book and proceeded to set up their instruments, in some cases first time mandolinners took up the challenge.

I have read through (not the same as thoroughly and ...

In the forum there is some discussion of the idea of a Celtic Mandolin with reference to a good article http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/blog/celtic-mandolin/ to which it would be impossible for me to add.

In the past, not being able to add to a discussion has rarely stopped me from contributing. But more and more I am of the mind of a quote from a Burning Man poster: “having something to say is highly overrated”. So I will move my thoughts from the forum to the blogs.
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I was at an OT jam a couple of weeks ago. The jam was southern Appalachian at its core.

And a second mandolin showed up, and he was much more of a bluegrasser.

So as the jam progressed we traded breaks. I would play the melody, which is what I do, and then do a chorded OT back up while he took these flights of fancy entirely out of character of old time. Then he would hand it back to me and I would play the melody, which is what I do, while he did a chord backup a ...