OK, here's a little fodder for debate: have you found that playing mando makes other instruments seem more difficult? I'm sort of spring-boarding off of another thread where someone commented about the weird tuning of the guitar (what with the exception and all that), and it got me thinking about my own musical endeavors...
I started on acoustic guitar, and learned some chords, and some blues scales, but never really got very far. Then I started playing mandolin, and found that despite my crummy ear, I could actually pick out a few tunes. The notes just all seemed to be within easy reach. That is, they are exactly where you would expect them to be. I obtained a tenor guitar as well, tuned it GDAE, and have had the same relative success (I'm really no great shakes, and I still have trouble learning things, but I continue making some incremental progress). So anyway, I decided a few months back that I wanted to try a second instrument. You know, get a bit of the whole multi instrumentalist thing going. I figured I'm never going to play anything that well, so I might as well play a lot of instruments poorly, but be able to get a huge variety of sounds. So I bought a lap steel. I figured after I'd learned how to play it a little I'd get a dobro (excuse me, resophonic guitar), and that most of the technique would transfer. I've always liked the sound of both instruments--great sustain and all that, and the two for the price (or rather practice time) of one thing, seemed appealing. But for the life of me, I can't figure the derned thing out. Something about the tuning doesn't compute. Being that the mandolin family/tenor family will remain my primary focus, I only want to expend so much energy on anything else. I guess I am just a little frustrated that it doesn't come easier. I know that's sort of silly, and I know that I should be willing to put more time and effort in, if I really want to play them. But somehow the simplicity of the all fifths tuning has spoiled me. Everything else seems unnecessarily complicated. Which of course it isn't. I mean, lap steel and dobro are tuned the way they are because with only a slide it would be impossible to form chords otherwise. But still...I just can't figure out a melody with any ease, and I find that very, very anoying. I still haven't adjusted to the intonation issue either, much less the finger picking instead of flat picking, but I've made progress on both of those. I can do one kind of roll, and I can hide the intonation with gobs of vibrato. But the tuning remains as obscure as the first day I picked it up.
Has anyone else had any simmilar experiences when trying to branch out. If so, care to share?
Oh, and sorry for the long anecdote/rant.
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