The mandolin.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Back 45 years ago when i was first into Bluegrass music & learning how to play Banjo,the vast majority of other players (at least the vast majority of the very few !),were playing Guitar or Banjo due to the popularity of Earls Scuggs' sound & also the exposure that it was getting from the 'Beverley Hillbillies','Bonnie & Clyde',
'Deliverance' etc. nowhere was there a Mandolin to be heard. My band did have a Mandolin player & he was as rare as hens teeth back then.Only one other band did i see with a Mandolin player.
I've just been to a Bluegrass Festival in North Wales UK this last weekend & was truly amazed at the number of Mandolin players both young & old (er). I got the very strong impression that the Mandolin has taken over as the
instrument to learn to play - do you folk in the USA get the same impression ?.
I don't think that the Banjo has lost any of it's attraction,but the Mandolin is at least on an equal footing with it,which to my mind is a very welcome change,
Saska

[jim_n_virginia]

I can only speak for my area (South East Virginia) but it seems like the mandolin is all the rage now. 5 years ago I would go to a jam and everybody and their brother was playing guitar but now I go to a jam and the mandolin players out number everyone else. At a local jam by me one night I counted 9 mandolins in the jam and ONE guitar.

Banjo players around here are still rare as hen's teeth. I see an occasional claw hammer banjo player but 3 finger is still rare.

It's funny I started out playing the mandolin about 7 or 8 years agoi because it was different and nobody else was playing one!

[Bruce Evans]

Around here, guitar player/singers are as common as grains of sand on a Lake Michigan beach.

But good ones are like diamonds. I probably shouldn't have said that.

[carlnut]

Here in the foothills of NC the guitar players outnumber the mandolin or banjo players 4 or 5 to 1. I took up mandolin last year and love it. The reason I chose mandolin is the same reason I live in a log cabin and shoot homemade guns and drive a model A Ford and am married to the same woman after 33 yrs. I'm a nonconformist my friends tell me.

[mandopluker]

We still seem to have an outnumbering of guitar players around here (Atlanta, Ga) -at least where I hang out. Otherwise it seems fairly balanced with on occasion a bass player shortage.

Maybe its like a lot of other things and just runs in spurts with what is overall popular in the genre. Like some recent movie / soundtracks giving more exposure to Bluegrass in general.

[Tim2723]

Here its still the guitar by a long ways. Maybe a couple of banjos, but the mandolin is rare. #We get overrun by bodhrans. #They're cheap, Riverdance made them popular, and everybody thinks they can play a drum, right?

[terrierguy]

I went to a mandolin workshop in Seattle a few weeks ago. There were 4 of us there. By comparison, my guitar instructor put on a workshop at the same place that he said had more than 20 people there. So, it looks like a 4 or 5 to 1 ratio for the guitar by that unscientific analysis. Plus the availability of instruments for purchase in the Seattle area backs that up too.

[Keith Erickson]

I guess it depends on where you are located in the world. #There are mandolin players here in the El Paso, Texas/ Las Cruces, New Mexico and I've had no problem reaching out to those other mando players in this area of the world.

With that being said, it seems, for this little area of the world, that guitar players out number mandolin players by a huge margin. #...and that's one of the main reasons why I turned to the mandolin.

As for banjo players, I know of only one banjo player in El Paso and IMHO, he totally smokes that instrument. #He's probably the best banjo player that I have ever heard.

...and he's not a bad flat picker guitar player either #

[Capt. E]

5 to 1 ratio??? Here in Austin it's more like 50 to 1. Even so, mandolin is getting more popular. Fiddlers Green Music Shop moved from Memphis to Austin two months ago and Clay says there are many more mandolin players here. They also seem to have more money to drop on 2K, 3K, even 10K instruments. All those guys from Dell and AMD I guess.
I also am a non-conformist of sorts, perhaps why I play Cajun Accordion, Mandolin, Pennywhistle and Harmonica. I do own a 1957 Gibson LG-3, which is a nice guitar, but I'd rather play the other instruments.

[woodwizard]

Here in Arkansas there are still more guitar pickers than mandolin pickers but the mandolin is a very close second. It seems to be a very popular instrument in the last 8 or 10 years or so. Seems to be much more popular than the fiddle, banjo or bass.

[foldedpath]

Out in my corner of the Pacific Northwest, bluegrass doesn't seem to be as popular as OldTime, Irish, and other acoustic music like country blues. You can't swing a cat without hitting a guitar player or a fiddle player out here (it's a real hotbed for non-Bluegrass fiddle styles, for some reason). But banjos and mandolins are kinda rare. When I do see a banjo it's likely to be an open-back, Oldtime style or a tenor banjo. I've only met a couple of other mandolin players, and one of them mainly plays an octave mando, when he's not playing concertina or fiddle. So it's a regional thing, I guess.

And I'll back up what Mike/terrierguy said about Seattle area music stores. There are some mandolins here and there among the wall of guitars, but not a deep selection. I think that may be true down in Portland too, based on some online searching I did. I ended up buying my mandolin online from a Web storefront in the MidWest, because there just wasn't a great selection within reasonable driving distance. More people are buying online anyway these days, but what you see in the local music stores -- especially any specialty "acoustic" stores -- is probably a good indication of an instrument's local popularity.

[Steve Perry]

Here in northcentral Kentucky, it's still guitar followed closely by mandolin. #Surprisingly, it seems like Upright Bass is coming on strong. #One night, at one of our weekly jams, we had 11 URBs show up! #That's out of about 40 or 50 total pickers!

[kudzugypsy]

i've seen this huge mandolin explosion first hand also and i can only guess that there are SO many guitar players, that the mandolin is the next logical instrument for them to take up, as it is basically the same fundamental technique...ie - i would bet most mandolin players started out on guitar -

thats what happened to me 20 years ago - there were VERY FEW mandolin players around, esp young ones, and i live in NC, which i would consider one of the top mandolin areas in the world. the reason i took it up was there were 3 guitar players in my band and no mandolin, so being the youngest and thus, considerable free time, i took the challenge. when i would go to festivals, i NEVER had a problem getting in a jam - very few *good* mandolin pickers then. now, completely flip-flopped - you cant find a good fiddler, rhythm guitarist, harmony singer, or solid bass player and you will find 10x the mandolin players (non of whom sing either lead or harmony...?)

i'm finding a lot LESS singing around too...way more picking and fiddle tunes which get old after the 10th one in A.
folks - LEARN how to SING - you dont have to be a lead singer - learn baritone parts or tenor if you can get that high.

[radiognome3]

Wanted to add a comment about Portland. There are FAR more guitar players here, though I do see more and more mandolins. I have played guitar for over twenty years, and recently decided to focus (almost) entirely on mandolin, after years of plunking around.

When I mention to people I play mandolin, the interest in me playing with them seems to be very positive, so a lot of the people playing mandolin must be doing it at home.

There is a big old-time/roots movement going on here, so acoustic instruments of most kinds are very popular. There are also a few busking bands who feature very good mandolin playing.

But, as mentioned earlier, the selection at shops is very limited, with only one shop I can think of carrying anything approaching a decent selection of high quality mandolins (of which, I do not have any!).

There are many venues, however, that are acoustic friendly, so it is not a problem to find a place to jam (or otherwise play), on any day of the week.

[allenhopkins]

Interesting that I've started seeing mandolins in types of music other than bluegrass, old-time and Celtic: singer-songwriters, "acoustic rock," country etc. groups with mandolin players (usually Asian import instruments plugged in, but one can't afford to be snobbish).

I think one reason for it is that musicians and audiences are getting tired of guitar-guitar-guitar-bass guitar in all these bands, and looking for something that adds a different voice or texture. And, as pointed out above, guitar players often think, "Hey, isn't it sorta like a little guitar in some kinda weird tuning?" Which often means that the level of playing of these new mandolinists is, say, uneven.

What worries me is that mandolin, rather than being "the new banjo," may be the new synthesizer, a fad instrument that is widely heard for about five years, then fades into obscurity. That wouldn't affect us "true believers," but it would be too bad. However, every fad has a way of leaving behind a residue of musicians who continue to play and perform with the "fad" instrument. I hold up myself as an example, a relic of the sixties' folk revival who has stayed with acoustic and traditional music for forty years thereafter. So even if there's just a fad, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

By the way, there seems to be an equally widespread recent craze for the ukulele. Maybe people just want instruments that are easier to carry?

[Jim Broyles]

The regulars at our jam:
Bass
Guitar/dobro/standup bass if necessary
Banjo
Banjo
Mandolin/guitar/electric bass if necessary
Fiddle
Guitar
Guitar
Guitar/mandolin/banjo
Semi regulars:
fiddle
guitar
mandolin/fiddle
banjo
guitar
dobro
mandolin

[man dough nollij]

As far as I know, I was the the only one on my continent until a couple of weeks ago. A guitar-playing coworker picked up a mando and learned frightening quickly. That means the mandolin-playing population of the continent doubled overnight!

[Ken Olmstead]

As far as I know, I was the the only one on my continent until a couple of weeks ago. A guitar-playing coworker picked up a mando and learned frightening quickly. That means the mandolin-playing population of the continent doubled overnight!

[Keith Erickson]

As far as I know, I was the the only one on my continent until a couple of weeks ago. A guitar-playing coworker picked up a mando and learned frightening quickly. That means the mandolin-playing population of the continent doubled overnight!

How do you top that one?

[Ivan Kelsall]

Thanks for all your comments folks. I'm not surprised that the Guitar is as popular as ever,it's still by far the most versatile of the stringed instruments in that it's used in almost ALL form of western music. When i began playing Banjo in 1963 i knew of only one other player in the UK,that doesn't mean to say there weren't others,but i bet that they were outnumbered 100's to one by Guitar players left over from the Rock'n Roll era & bordering on the Beatles /Folk boom era.I'd been playing for over a year before i met up with another Banjo player,he eventually joined my band as a Mandolin (tuned to Guitar) player. In the 2 1/2 years i've been playing Mandolin,i'd only met up with 2 other players
until this weekend & it was truly great to see & hear other players & to hear their enthusiasm for the instrument. At the Mandolin workshop on Saturday afternoon,there were MORE Mandolin players than Banjo players at the Banjo workshop - possibly due to the fact that more Banjo players have been playing for longer & are pretty adept by now,but it was still great to see. Again many thanks for the comments,
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Saska

[Cary Fagan]

Here in Toronto, Canada, we have more mandolins in our jam than any other instrument--usually three or even four to two guitars and one or two banjos and one fiddle. I think the reason might be that many of us began playing in middle age and he mandolin appears easier to pick up. And you don't have to compare yourself to the guitar player who started when he was seven years old.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Cary,it's funny that you mention the Mandolin appearing 'easier to pick',i always thought of it being HARDER !. I think that's what kept me away from it for so long.I equated the Mandolin with it's orchestral counterpart,the Violin & i think that the classical music i love listening to on the Violin,appeared 'difficult to play' & that difficulty became associated with the instrument itself. Now i know better - the easiest instrument in the world,is the Violin played badly & i can be as bad as the best on Mandolin,
Saska

[desaljs]

This has been a very interesting thread. Count me as a guitar player, dipping a toe into the mandolin world. I have been fortunate to find a local bluegrass jam, and have joined in on guitar. I have a nice Eastman mando as my first purchase, and once I am comfortable with the jam, will bring that and see what I can add.

If mando is gaining steam, where does that leave the dobro?

[Uncle Choppy]

I agree that this thread has been very interesting.

In my own (very limited) experience here in the UK, the few bluegrass jams I've attended were heavily dominated by banjos, both in number and, therefore, in volume!

Another observation was that the banjo appeared to be played almost exclusively by males in the 40+ age group. They also seemed to be the most "hardcore" bluegrassers I've met.

The mandolin players I've spoken to were generally a more varied bunch with more female and younger players. They also seemed less exclusively into bluegrass, often crossing over into Celtic/folk/old-time/classical etc.

It's great to hear about the enthusiasm for the mandolin at the North Wales festival. I think it bodes well for the future in a country where (in my experience) the mandolin is still frequently called a "ukulele", "banjo" or "little guitar".

[Jack Roberts]

We have had in our jam the following different players--although not all at once:

1 bass plaer
1 fiddle player
4 guitarists
2 12 string guitarists
2 banjo players (one scruggs and one clawhammer)
1 mandolin player

Occasional instruments: keyboard, dobro, ukulele, and a partidge in a pear tree.

Some of us play more than one instrument, but the list above shows what we bring to the jam. If we play something else it is because we are swapping instruments.