"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
I'm sure some electric guitar players do use capos, but as a former electric guitar player, there are a couple of reasons I can think of why it's not very common. First, open chords don't tend to sound that good on electric guitar, due to too much sustain, the opposite situation you find on an acoustic mandolin. Second, electric guitars are typically strung with very light strings, making simple bar chords extremely easy to do...no capo necessary. Bar chords also make it very easy to mute the sustain as you need to.
To answer the ringing tones in ITM... yes, ITM sounds better with open strings and ringing tones.
So Steve L how do you know the OP plays Irish Trad? I couldn't find any statement by Parlor Boyle to that effect.
He's been posting on this site and over at the session.org for months and I've read most if not all of his stuff.
Does Irish Trad mando playing favor a lot of open, ringing tones? I'm not being a wise guy I'm really curious.
Well, it's somewhat unusual but not unheard of for mandolins to play chords in Irish music. It's primarily a melody/counter-melody instrument. Backing is ususally done by guitar or bouzouki playing open, droning voicings, sometimes only a couple of notes. Some people prefer no one plays chords at all and the music really doesn't suffer when that happens. It's a completely different world. I became interested in the mandolin through Irish music, I don't care for bluegrass at all.
One of the worst things you can do in an Irish session is to start playing chop chords. It's just awful.
[/QUOTE]
Steve
Albert Collins live.
Bruce Springsteen live
Bonnie Raitt live
etc., etc. Got Mark Knopfler too, but it was an electrified National acoustic, so maybe it didn't count...?
Electric guitarists may use capos, if they're looking for a particular open-string sound. Collins uses one all the time, I believe.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Very intersting, thanks Steve L...I know nothing about Irish Trad as you've probably deduced.Well, it's somewhat unusual but not unheard of for mandolins to play chords in Irish music. It's primarily a melody/counter-melody instrument. Backing is ususally done by guitar or bouzouki playing open, droning voicings, sometimes only a couple of notes. Some people prefer no one plays chords at all and the music really doesn't suffer when that happens. It's a completely different world. I became interested in the mandolin through Irish music, I don't care for bluegrass at all
Steve L---not to pick on you but your comment of "been done" has also "been done" Come on, to be fair the same goes for the pro-capo crowd. (Now for full disclosure I have a capo and I fully believe that if we outlaw capos, only outlaws will have capos. )
The cafe threads are full of "predecessors" or repeat issues like:
tab v. reading notes; Thile v. anybody else; A style v. F Style; Down stroke on the down beat v. DUDU for efficiency; I am new and what is the best mando for $XXX; Top tune in an open jam; Oldtime v. Bluegrass; etc... These (along with the capo) are what keep people (nay Honest Mandoliners) coming back and enjoying the Cafe.
OR the repeat issues are the price/pennace you pay for surfing the message board more than playing the mandolin??? ( I am very guilty of this myself).
Now you also posted:
"Imagine if someone posting asking how to structure a bluegrass break was greeted by posts from jazz players telling them to quit playing around with such childish triadic harmonic structures, simple progressions and cliched licks and learn to play over "Giant Steps" or "Donna Lee" going outside the tonality and incorporating 7th chords with altered tensions and a dizzying kaleidoscope of complex scales."
......I would pay to read that!! Is a great 3 chord song less than a good 7 chord song. (Rush v. Nirvana?) This is what makes a great thread, like the capo, there is no right answer. The last capo thread I read noted that Ricky Skaggs used one on an Irish TV show. (proving that the best of 'em use 'em) but the debate between scale knowlege and open string sound is an artistic one that should get every mandolin lover think'n.
Yes absolutely. One of the more egregious of newbie errors.
I should add that I am forgiving of first timers. Yes we should all listen before playing, but many of us have been so anxious to get to playing that we get it backwards - and I totally understand that enthusiasm.
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