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Thread: Another newbie with a rogue

  1. #1
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    Well, I'm excited, and it was the best Christmas I've had in a long time. Because it was also New Mandolin Day.

    I played mandolin for about 3 years back in the early and mid 1990s. I'm not sure why I set it down. I was also playing a lot of 5-string banjo and trying to keep up with my 6-string guitar playing (almost 30 years on that instrument) and I even attempted fiddle for a time. I guess it just got lost in the shuffle.

    I finally decided to take the plunge and get back to the mandolin. There's no other instrument that sounds like the mando. I am doing a swap of one of my nicer ukuleles for a nice old vintage banjo mandolin, but I couldn't wait for that so my wonderful wife indulged me with a Rogue to get me by.

    I also plan to get a nicer wood mandolin. I want to have more variety than just a banjo-mando and the Rogue.

    But you know, for $49.99 (shipping included) the Rogue isn't all that bad. Finished decently, action is playable, has some warmth and resonance. Little difficult to keep in tune at first, and it feels kind of stiff, but I'm having a blast.

    Part of what gave rise to my renewed interest in the mandolin was acquiring a tenor banjo and tenor guitar over the last few months (the guitar was on the cheap, the banjo was free from my father)-- I was playing them tuned CGDA but switched to GDAE.

    I'm no great mandolin player. I have MUCH, MUCH to learn, but due to my short previous experience with the instrument and my experience with other stringed instruments, I was able to pick it up and play it pretty well right out of the box, impressing my lovely wife and my sweet young daughters as well.

    My wife (also a musician) heard me play several bars and said "Wow! Is that some old Irish reel?"

    I said "I don't know WHAT that was!" What fun.

    Now, the problem is, the love of mandolin has become so overwhelming to me I am seriously considering selling everything else aside from an old acoustic guitar and a ukulele that has great sentimental value to me in order to purchase a really killer mandolin.

    I think I understand now. I've always been a believer and endorser of cheaper instruments. I've played dozens of $300 guitars that sound and play as good as guitars costing 4 or 5 times that amount. Same with ukuleles.

    But the mandolin is truly special, isn't it? It's the first time I've connected with an instrument and really "gotten" why someone would want to make a big financial investment in one. I was in a local music store the other day and they had a 1940s Gibson F style with an oval soundhole and some nice wear on the finish. I just stood and drooled for a while.

    Mandolins are just aesthetically so gorgeous and when you strike that note or strum that chord, what comes out (even out of a lowly Rogue!) is sublime. I imagine it is akin to the sound the soul hears when departing this veil for Paradise.

    Okay, I'm given over a bit to hyperbole, I admit it. But it's love, y'all.

    I really need some schooling on mandolin-specific picks and picking technique. I'm using guitar picks to decent effect, but want to try other things.

    I'm really just here to ramble and share my little rambling tale of rediscovering this remarkable instrument, but if anyone has some advice, suggestions or thoughts for someone who is essentially a newbie, I'm all ears.

    Thanks to the mods and everybody here. It's a great bunch of knowledgeable folks. I appreciate it so much.

    PS-- I would like to add that I realize the mandolin requires its own approach; its own kind of playing. I don't want to be seen as "the guitar-guy who plays some mandolin."

    I want to by-gosh learn to become a mandolinist.




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    Welcome t the Cafe and congratulations on the new mandolin. Lots of great people here and at www.musicmoose.org also look at Mel Bay mandolin sessions and at Jay Buckley's site lot of good information at all of them. And find a local jam and go and enjoy yourself and learn and practice and practice some more
    Dan
    four guitars, a fiddle and a Eastman 615 Mandolin, a dobro and a old Kay Bass
    For free guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle lessons go to
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  3. #3
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    nothing wrong with the Rogue. I have one too. I plan on keeping it, for playing at the campground.
    Honda VLX 600 M/C.

  4. #4

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    i got my Rogue A style with the guitar for 90usd. I lent out the guitar and don't want it back. I gotta MD514 that stays in the case. That little Rogue sounds so good it kinda breaks my heart.

    How to Play a Bad Note

    hint - Put on some J74s

  5. #5
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    Hi Griffis!! #I seem to remember talking about this somewhere else. #Was it Chiff and Fipple, or maybe everythingdulcimer? #I forget (I spend too much time on line, LOL!).

    Wonderful to hear your experience. #The mandolin is just one of those instruments that makes you happy just picking it up!

    For learning materials, take a romp through the Mel Bay catalog. #Good 'ol Mel Bay has gotten more folks off to a good start than anybody I can think of. #With your experience, an intermediate or even advanced book would be good for you.

    As for picks and such, try putting a set of J74's on it and get a couple of thicknesses of rounded triangle picks to try. #Many players find a larger, thicker pick to work best on mandolin. #You need a light grip and the larger pick gives more surface area and control.

    Mostly though, have a blast with it!!!

    P.S. When it comes time to upgrade (and with your experience and enthusiasm it won't be too long!), this is the place to be! There's more mandolin knowledge here than anywhere in the known universe!!



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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Welcome to the mandolin! Just curious: why did you decide to go for a vintage mandolin-banjo? These are pretty uncontrollable beasts, and I feel that for the value of one of them, you could get a reasonably nice vintage or recent wood mandolin.

    Martin

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    I have a $50 rogue and I think it's a pretty good mando. The sound isn't bad, and it's set up well. Great for learning on.

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    I started with a Rogue, too, and thought it was great. Still have it but I need to do some work and see if it's still playable (bad accident with the little bugger ). I hope it is; I kind of miss it.

    Welcome to the board.

    Cheers,
    David

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    Quote Originally Posted by (martinjonas @ Dec. 26 2007, 19:23)
    Just curious: why did you decide to go for a vintage mandolin-banjo? #These are pretty uncontrollable beasts, and I feel that for the value of one of them, you could get a reasonably nice vintage or recent wood mandolin.

    Martin
    Well, I had a few reasons for wanting a mandolin-banjo.

    First off, I like banjo-derived instruments. I've been playing ukulele for about 5 years now and when I acquired a vintage Maybell banjo-uke, it quickly became my #1 uke. For quite some time I played it almost to the exclusion of everything else.

    Secondly, I'm not actually purchasing the mandolin-banjo. I am just trading one of my mid-line decent ukes for it, straight across. I have several ukes--more than I need.

    Third, I found a YouTube clip of Dennis Pash playing the Peacherine Rag with Meredith Axelrod accompanying him on the guitar and just really loved the sound. I feel as if I will concentrate on the "regular" mandolin, but thought it would be nice to have a mando-banjo in the arsenal.

    I appreciate all the kind words everyone.

  10. #10

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    I have only been playing a little over a week but I bought a Rogue to start. It is nice for the money. I ended up giving it to my wife and buying a Danville but with new strings the Rogue isn't bad at all. My only complaint was the tuners.

    I am also totally addicted to the mandolin now. It has stolen me away from my guitar time...can't put it down.

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    Quote Originally Posted by (BigNick @ Dec. 27 2007, 14:19)
    I am also totally addicted to the mandolin now. It has stolen me away from my guitar time...can't put it down.
    I understand completely. The same thing happened when I took up the uke. I barely touched the guitar for months at a time and when I did it felt so...gigantic and foreign to me. I soon realized that playing the uke as well as guitar helped with my skills on both instruments and made me see musicmaking in new ways as I adapted from one to the other.

    Mandolin is a little different because it is in fifths tuning unlike the fourths-tuned guitar and uke. But wow, I love what you can do with it and the sounds of the chords themselves.

    I'm now torn between trying to continue to improve my guitar and uke skills and keeping up with learning and writing songs or just go whole hog into MandoWorld.

    I've never really been so smitten so quickly with a new instrument, and I've played many over the years. Though I did play mandolin briefly years ago (see first post)-- I feel I've wasted so many years not continuing with it.

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    After I got my starter mandolin four years ago, I quit playing the b@nj*. However, for this Christmas, my teenage daugther gave me a soprano uke. Now I'm spending some time on the uke. At ezfolk.com. I found some instruction on playing clawhammer style on the uke. #I thought if I learned this style, it would be a kick in the pants to pull it out at our BG jam.



    Glenn Nelson
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    "Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes and play your mandolin."

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    A Rogue got me started also. My mom sent one as a gift for the kids about 3 years ago and I unpacked it and tuned it up. I had played guitar off and on for years but never been very good at it, so I knew about fretted instruments in general and it was easy to follow along in the included beginner book and I thought I would mess around with it a while. The next thing I know it is the wee hours of the morning, my finger tips are raw and I am about half way through the book. I got better strings and set the action lower and it plays decently. One of my kids has it. Not much sustain and a little dull sounding, but keeps in tune OK (re-tune every half hour or so if playing steady) and sounds right enough to keep you interested.



    "First you master your instrument, then you master the music, then you forget about all that ... and just play"
    Charlie "Bird" Parker

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    Quote Originally Posted by (gnelson651 @ Dec. 27 2007, 14:44)
    After I got my started mandolin four years ago, I quit playing the b@nj*. However, for this Christmas, my teenage daugther gave me a soprano uke. Now I'm spending some time on the uke. At ezfolk.com. I found some instruction on playing clawhammer style on the uke. I thought if I learned this style, it would be a kick in the pants to pull it out at our BG jam.
    I really do love the ukulele. I consider it much more than a silly novelty instrument, and there are some players who prove that it's not. I especially like my old banjo-uke and I do a little clawhammer and frailing on it as well.

    I'm not a big bluegrass guy, but some of the people I know in that world are sticklers for certain traditions and instrumentation. I took my uke to an old time jam once and was ribbed pretty hard. One guy said if I wanted to sit in with a uke, I had to pay $20 for the privilege. It was good-natured kidding for the most part, but I know they did not take it seriously as an instrument or me seriously as a player.

    This is too bad...back a little prior to bluegrass there were quite a few bands who utilized ukulele, 4-string tenor banjo..autoharp, and of course things like washboards and jugs and kazoos were common in some circles. I'm a purist in some ways, but I also realize that a lot of "traditions" are arbitrary and have little to do with the reality of the music of the 1920s and 30s and before when people--especially in rural areas--used whatever was to hand including homemade and found objects. Even instrument quality was different then, with many folks playing instruments from the Sears catalog and not the big names like Gibson and Martin or luthier-built instruments common today in the professional arena.

    Sheesh, listen to the Professor. I didn't mean to take up so much space rambling.

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    If you are handy at all the Rouge will show improvement if you go to a one piece bridge. There are some available on these pages, Red's is one that comes to mind, and is worth the effort.

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    Quote Originally Posted by (Hammr'n @ Dec. 27 2007, 18:18)
    If you are handy at all the Rouge will show improvement if you go to a one piece bridge. There are some available on these pages, Red's is one that comes to mind, and is worth the effort.
    Of course you'd put a Red bridge on a Rouge mandolin!
    Allen Hopkins
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    I got the Rogue, too (I actually got the same mando and guitar in that two-pack, but I got them separately when they each happened to go on sale.

    As someone on another forum said of the Rogue ukulele I just got, it's a gateway instrument. It gets you hooked for cheap and starts an expensive addiction.

    I still have the guitar (which I quite like after doing my own setup job), but I passed the mando on to to my Bro-in-law when I got a Fullerton.

    ApK

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    Quote Originally Posted by (Griffis @ Dec. 26 2007, 16:41)
    Now, the problem is, the love of mandolin has become so overwhelming to me I am seriously considering selling everything else aside from an old acoustic guitar and a ukulele that has great sentimental value to me in order to purchase a really killer mandolin.

    I think I understand now. I've always been a believer and endorser of cheaper instruments. I've played dozens of $300 guitars that sound and play as good as guitars costing 4 or 5 times that amount. Same with ukuleles.

    But the mandolin is truly special, isn't it? It's the first time I've connected with an instrument and really "gotten" why someone would want to make a big financial investment in one. I was in a local music store the other day and they had a 1940s Gibson F style with an oval soundhole and some nice wear on the finish. I just stood and drooled for a while.

    Mandolins are just aesthetically so gorgeous and when you strike that note or strum that chord, what comes out (even out of a lowly Rogue!) is sublime. I imagine it is akin to the sound the soul hears when departing this veil for Paradise.
    Welcome to our obsession. It's the closest I have ever come to understanding addiction.

    I was 17, and my Dad got me an $80 Japanese mandolin from a television repair shop that also sold musical instruments - (not uncommon in the late 70s).

    I played that thing almost 5 hours a day that summer, learning a bunch of tunes nobody hears any more today, then joined a string band in the evenings the next school year, and it has only gotten worse since then.

    I still get the same thrill now.

    This darn forum is not a good influence either, as it supports and empathises with my addiction, and has given me a bad case of MAS. The other day I was even thinking of how much I have spent on the care and feeding of my two dogs, and how much mandolin I could have gotten with the money.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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    I used to own an a-style rogue. I got it for about 30 bucks off of amazon four years ago, but it only took me a few weeks to know that I really wanted to play the mandolin, so I got hold of a Kentucky.
    All that Jazz

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    Quote Originally Posted by (camsheeps @ Jan. 22 2008, 20:15)
    I used to own an a-style rogue. #I got it for about 30 bucks off of amazon four years ago, but it only took me a few weeks to know that I really wanted to play the mandolin, so I got hold of a Kentucky.
    Yeah, I do plan on upgrading eventually. And the fellow who was going to trade me his mando-banjo for my ukulele fell ill and I haven't heard from him in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure if that will happen.

    The Rogue is still doing me well. I can only practice about 45-90 minutes a day due to work and other life happenings, but I enjoy every minute of it and have been learning several songs. I wish I could play mandolin and guitar at the same time.

    I am still seriously thinking about selling some of my instruments to get a better mandolin, but I don't have that many instruments and I have an attachment to most of them.

    Also, I have really been thinking hard about an octave mandolin.

    Have to see what happens. Maybe I'll get a decent enough tax return to make something happen.

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    Quote Originally Posted by (Griffis @ Jan. 23 2008, 02:26)
    Quote Originally Posted by (camsheeps @ Jan. 22 2008, 20:15)
    I wish I could play mandolin and guitar at the same time.
    Ah! You need to try some multi-track recording!

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    Griffis,
    Man, don't part with that sweet Kel Kroydon tenor whatever you do!

    Jill

  23. #23
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    So will changing the bridges on these rogues to an Ebony one make a big difference in their tone??




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    Quote Originally Posted by (ApK @ Jan. 23 2008, 09:32)
    Quote Originally Posted by (Griffis @ Jan. 23 2008, 02:26)
    Quote Originally Posted by (camsheeps @ Jan. 22 2008, 20:15)
    I wish I could play mandolin and guitar at the same time.
    Ah! You need to try some multi-track recording!
    Oh, I gots me a multitracker. Never you fret!

    Actually, I used to do a lot more of this type of recording back when I was into electric guitars and effects pedals and analog synths and such.

    I even bought a nice digital 8-track recorder once, but I didn't like it so I went back to my trusty ol' Tascam 4-track cassette machine.

    You are right...I might need to pull that out again. I prefer the results of the old tape machines to digital or computer-interfaced recording. You get a little more hiss, but a lot more warmth. In my opinion and to my ears anyway.

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    Quote Originally Posted by (ruraltradpunk @ Jan. 23 2008, 14:56)
    Griffis,
    Man, don't part with that sweet Kel Kroydon tenor whatever you do!

    Jill
    ruraltradpunk! Hey! Cool to see you here. It's neat to run into people that you know from other musician's forums.

    Like Alan Hopkins, for instance, who's on every string instrument forum in existence, from acoustic guitar to ukulele to bowed psaltery.

    Well, sadly that KK-11 tenor is worth more than all my other instruments combined and could enable me to get both a far better mandolin and another cheap tenor banjo to boot.

    But that thing has about 75 years of mojo on it, plus it was a gift from my old man (even though it wasn't in his possession terribly long and he never learned to play it.)

    I don't think I could part with it. Heck, even my wife was like "No way! That is beautiful--you have to keep that!"

    I do have an old 1950s-era Silvertone tenor guitar and a couple of nice ukuleles (including an old Gibson) that I could see parting with to get some other instrument, but I'm pretty set for now I guess.

    Someday somehow I will wrangle a nicer mandolin and an octave mandolin hopefully.

    Take care!




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