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Today is "Darwin Day" the 205th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birthday.

Let your positive playing attributes strengthen and your negatives become extinct.

Choosing to upgrade from my starter mandolin, I went to a store that had new Webers, Breedloves and Loars, in addition to Collins. I played about 6 new ones in my price range and ended up buying a...

Thank you all for your input.

The 10 year old daughter of a friend has expressed an interest in playing mandolin. She is a pretty good violinist for her age. I have offered her my closet-parked starter mandolin (Old Hickory -...

Yo 'leven. Papa needs a new pick.

I don't know if this is going to be "simple" for him, but the Circle of 5ths is a treasure trove of theoretical information. It makes transposition relatively easy. The 4 chord is to the left. The 5...

I suppose if you could find a dead one that hadn't been too smashed by car tires! The "hunts" for rattlesnakes in OK and TX produce some snake meat for consumption but also lots of head and tail...

Not trying to be jaded, but rattles belong on rattlesnakes. This "tradition" should be shelved to join rhino horn knives and the medicinal use of bear gall bladders. And yes, I do eat meat and wear...

"Someone up the line said that a wrench is not better than a screw driver, but for turning nuts it is, just like a screw driver is better than a wrench for driving screws. Meaning, of course that...

There are many discussion threads in the forum about this and I think I can sum them up for you

1 Tab is good
2 Tab is bad
3 Standard notation is the best invention in the universe
4 Why are...

I just saw Barry Mitterhoff perform last night. Jorma Kaukonen opened his tour with him yesterday at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. The two of them played for almost 3 hours with a short...

I hope this doesn't violate separation of church and forum! :)


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Male chimpanzees have been observed drumming in the wild, sometimes accompanied by hoot vocalizations. Each individual seems to have his own signature rhythm.

Now as to whether drumming...

Jimmy

The easiest way to use them is to play the particular pentatonic scale over the same named chord.

For example: in a 3 chord song in the key of G that uses G, C and D chords, play the G...

I use Dunlop JazzTone 208's for both mandolin and guitar. It makes life simpler to only have to look for one style of pick. The Fender mediums are too light. You can't drive a spike with a tack...

Nice looking instrument. That would make quite the band outfit with a cheesehead chapeau. From the title, I was trying to figure out how you'd work in mandolin content. Fine job. Go Pack!

John...

Sam Bush's DVD's "The Mandolin of Bill Monroe" comes with a tab booklet. You get to see Bill Monroe's playing too.

http://www.homespuntapes.com/shop/product.aspx?ID=1243

I think I see what you are driving at. I’m fairly visually oriented myself.

However, I think the CAGED concept is more suited for guitar since the principle is that you move up the neck from...

Yes. I recognize that progression from other swing era songs. I believe you are right. That makes it theoretically very easy, since you are just going from the I to the IV chord.

Muchas gracias.

Well, I started out confused (that's why I asked the question) and still am.

The line G6 E9 B7 A7 is what confused me

Maybe it should just be viewed as a temporary key change since B7 and A7...

Since the theory questions have been a bit limited lately, I thought I’d post a question from a guitar forum I frequent.

We were working on a chord progression for Fats Waller’s song “If You’re a...

That's not being very constructive. I've got a better idea. Learn to control the jiggle and then you could play tremelo by holding the pick steady and jiggling the mandolin!

Bluegrass up the Neck Niles Hokkanen (Book and CD)
Mandolin Fundamentals for all Players Mike Marshall (2 DVD's and Booklets)
Getting into Jazz Mandolin Ted Eschliman (book and CD)

I think of musical instruction books and DVD's like cookbooks. I doubt if you've ever bought a cookbook and then cooked EVERY recipe in it. If you get more than a few things to remember, it's usually...

Musicians are athletes of the small muscles. I think there is a tremendous amount of crossover regarding muscle memory, visualization, relaxation, etc.

Think music isn't athletic? Ignore warming...