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There are some great suggestions here already. I'm grateful for them and will look them up one by one. Thank you also for the good wishes.

Don't worry, I won't act out of a desire for attention...

Don't worry, a professional musician is getting a gig and will get paid. But she is a solo harp player and has nothing to do with mandolins.

People will probably enjoy the set played by my...

I know both composers, and it's nice to hear your arrangements. My personal favourite is the Palestrina piece. Thank you.

@JeffD:
Thank you for your detailed and considered post. I don't disagree with anything (and therefore see no need to reply in much depth) except the overpricing issue. When I buy something, I try...

No, and we have fairly recent experience of the downside of the currently dominant ideology. The political discussion doesn't belong here, but I think there are concrete links to some of the notions...

I'm getting married this summer! :)

As a little treat, I have a plan to play some tunes at the party. I am reaching out to the forum for advice and recommendations. The choice necessarily has to...

I think that's the key question. "Mandolin for Dummies" is a great resource, but not a step-by-step instructional book or tune collection. See the many threads that already exist for this book. In my...

You can get a mandolin for cheap. One reason why I started mandolin was because it didn't cost that much to try it. Sure, if you have a mandolin worth several thousands, the price of the pick is not...

I think (hope) that the independence of observations may be somewhat compromised, which could be argued to be the whole point of a discussion forum. Otherwise, maybe a chi-squared test? Anyway, I...

Paul, that looks and sounds great!

It's so true. I played (but mostly observed) in a busy session with some very good players last weekend. Their playing sounded much faster but looked slower than my playing - because practice and...

I recommend always to check the bill to see if service is included or not. This often differs even between restaurants within the same country. And blanket statements about "European restaurants" are...

I don't doubt it. I was just trying to insert an argument in favour of the paid pros. ;)

I am grateful for the contribution that free gigs by amateur musicians make to the local music scene. Of course it's true that people who play for free won't offer the same calibre of musicianship or...

I fully intend to use this book as the encyclopaedia that it is, but for the moment I'm reading from cover to cover just out of interest. While doing so, I came across a couple of claims in the...

This isn't a terribly subtle or detailed opinion, but I really like it and think that it works very well. :)

I think that would be very useful. When you welcome a new poster (as you usually do), you would thereby give them a wealth of useful information at the same time as giving them a personal hello. This...

Actually, I think you may be talking about two different social groups. The one linked by Jamie is the Song-a-Week group, which welcomes players of all abilities and isn't specifically for new...

I like playing Irish music, but unfortunately don't enjoy Irish beer - the ones I have tried, in any case. The whiskey is good, anyway. For beer, I'll stick with Veltins Pils or English ale...

I was invited to play along for the first time this year! There was a very busy party at the Queen's Head in Boughton, with dancers, an excellent young band, and the session in which I played....

If you want good sound while playing slowly, it's probably sustain that you need. Mandolins in general don't have as much sustain as guitars, but there are differences between models. Oval-hole...

My impression is that "Celtic style" would involve fewer (and shorter) slides, far more triplets, lighter and pointier picks, double stops as drones on open strings, and a different bounce depending...

... assuming that you are into high-end mandolins. If you based your idea of mandolin prices solely on the Mandolin Cafe classifieds, you would end up thinking that every used mandolin costs several...

Different people learn different things at different rates. I'm also not a fast learner on the mandolin, but the journey is a pleasant one, as you say. What you are doing is great: You are playing...

I like it! That's clean picking with no sign of nerves.