Top Ten Reasons

**John Millring** · Oct-22-2005, 7:21pm

...Why guitar players take up mandolin.

10. You could be one of twenty guitar players at your local jam…
...or you could be the mandolin player.

9. EADG……B?!!

8. You wanted to be able to finally hear yourself at jams…
...and fiddles don’t have frets.

7. Grisman

6. You don’t know from bluegrass, but you know Maggie Mae (and maybe Loggins and Messina’s “Be Free”)

5. You wanted a reason to use those cool Golden Gate and Dawg picks.

4. You finally figured out that chicks don’t dig guitar players after all…
...and, well, if that’s the case, you no longer worry about how tiny your instrument is.

3. Skaggs and Rice

2. You love the looks of flamed maple, but it never seemed to sound as good in a guitar.

…and the number one reason guitar players take up mandolin...

1. You can’t steer your car with your knees and play the guitar while driving.

**ShaneJ** · Oct-22-2005, 7:22pm

**bjc** · Oct-26-2005, 9:10am

8 strings instead of 6!

After 25 years of playing heavy metal on a Les Paul while doing hair whips, my Back Doctor recommended it---besides I ain't got no more hair to whip!

Easier to get on a plane then a Les Paul and a Marshall.

Girls think its "cute"

**picksnbits** · Oct-26-2005, 9:21am

Not to be argumentative, but ... #1 is doable in a 70's land-yacht. You do have to roll the window down though.

But you can play mandolin in the passenger seat without putting the headstock in the drivers ear.

**steve in tampa** · Oct-26-2005, 1:37pm

Don't forget less to lug around...

**arbarnhart** · Oct-26-2005, 3:35pm

Don't have 6 fingers

Don't have enough brain cells left to remember which string is the goofy one

**Moose** · Oct-26-2005, 3:55pm

It's all about "prestige"...

**dan@kins** · Oct-27-2005, 9:53am

Good one! I love it.

**John Millring** · Oct-27-2005, 10:22am

A friend just sent me another good reason:

Mandolin players get all the cool nicknames.

Guitar players are:

Tony (Rice)
David (Grier)
Bryan (Sutton)
Russ (Barenburg)
Pat (Flynn)
Jeff (White)
Tim (Stafford)
Jim (Hurst)...

But mandoliin players are:

"Red" Rector
"Jethro" Burns
"Curly" Lambert
"Dawg" Grisman
"Curly" Seckler
"Tiny" Moore...

**mandocrucian** · Oct-27-2005, 1:04pm

7) So you can play all those long sustained notes.

6) So you can always be asked to play "Rocky Top", no matter what kind of jam it is.

5) Don't have to explain any more why you don't bend strings.

4) Don't have to explain any more why you don't use vibrato

3) Can get gigs in a dozen different musical genres, from R&B to funk to jazz to power trio, etc. and find immediate acceptability without all the stereotypical discrimination encountered while playing your previous instrument.

2) Get to hang out and get plastered with "brilliant" banjo players instead of with moronic drummers

and the number one reason.....

1) Head injury in a car accident!

**ira** · Oct-27-2005, 1:31pm

i need to get me one of those cool nicknames (suggestions???=remember there are youngsters on the site!

)

**acousticphd** · Oct-27-2005, 2:40pm

Chicks dig them.

**PhilGE** · Oct-27-2005, 4:04pm

Ira - how about

"Grand Mal DX" (for when you play all those bad-boy hip-hop tunes)
"Lex The Pro" Kittrell (for when you play happy tunes)
Ira "Straterracaster" Kittrell (for when you're really focused on your playing, in a natural sort of way)

(sorry, these are inside jokes for mental health service providers).

Back to mandolins vs. guitars:

#2 No one will ever ask you to play "Freebird" again.

#1 You don't have to smash your axe onstage to get the attention of the audience.

**John Millring** · Oct-27-2005, 4:14pm

Originally Posted by (PhilGE @ Oct. 27 2005, 17:04)

#1 You don't have to smash your axe onstage to get the attention of the audience.

.
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Of course, they may ask you to anyway.
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.
.

**bones12** · Oct-27-2005, 9:11pm

With a mandolin it is easier to do windmill strums (ala Pete Townsend) without tearing your rotator cuff and if you pick it with your teeth, there is more space between the strings. Doug