Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

[AndyV]

Another thread brought this to mind.

I was gifted a MIJ "Flamenco" mandolin when I was five to nine years old, passed down to me from an elderly neighbour in the early 70's. I never heard him play.

I didn't try to learn until I was thirteen, maybe fourteen. I was taking guitar class in high school (a friend convinced me by telling me a girl I liked was taking the course) and thought from there to get a mandolin book and try to learn. It's been a slow go.

Some time in my mid twenties I stopped playing guitar, mandolin had always been secondary. About five years later a coworker was moving away and gave me his cheap guitar which he'd never learned to play saying I at least knew a few cords and could play for my then infant son. I took up guitar again.

A few years later my wife suggested I take a night school mandolin course through Parks and Rec.

The sentence in bold answers the subject question, but yesterday as I thought of how the mandolin came into my life and the following instrument related chain of events that has me playing now, I feel I've had no choice. Did the universe dictate this, or is it just telling me I have no free will?

[AndyV]

The instructor at the Parks and Rec course said he picked up mandolin because he'd had a motorcycle and it was easier to ride with a mando than with a guitar.

[Christine Robins]

I first played fiddle, and I wanted an instrument I also could sing with. Played guitar for a number of years, but gave it up when I saw how much easier mandolin is.

[Mark Gunter]

Picked up my dad's guitar at about 11 or 12, picked up mandolin at about age 60. I was trolling eBay for guitars when I saw a MarkStern bowl-back mandolin for cheap, and I bought it, fixed it up a bit, and figured out a couple tunes as a lark. Then, after a few months, maybe about a year later, I got hooked and started trying to learn mandolin stuff (as opposed to figuring out "guitar stuff") -- and now, at 63-1/2 and four mandolins later, I'm still hooked on mandolin. :mandosmiley:

[QCS]

I was picking banjo in a string band. The guy playing mandolin stuck around just long enough to make sure we all knew we needed mandolin on certain tunes. One day he informed us he was going to be moving. It just wasn’t the same, so I figured I better get one and start the wood shedding process. Didn’t take long to get hooked.

[Br1ck]

My three year old grandson saw a mandolin in a farmer's market band. He told my wife I needed to buy one so he could play it.

[Roger Moss]

I wish I had a magical fairy story, but I just fell over a mandolin while casting about on eBay for something interesting to do about 10 years ago. I found an inexpensive solid wood all blonde model for sale on demo for $79. I sure wish now that I could get that one back. Anyway, after a few on and off attempts, I started getting more and more interested over the years. The rest, as they say, is history.

[Eric Platt]

Was playing guitar exclusively when my band broke up. Went through some personal struggles after that. Fell in with another group of folks that was passing on the tradition of Finnish folk music. The leader is a very underrated mandolin player. Soon decided that it would be better for me to work on learning mandolin and to try to help keep the tradition going.

Worked out even better as our fiddle player has a husband who plays guitar in our group now.

I still play guitar, but it's generally taken a back seat for the past year and half. That said, during a trip this month to Michigan to play some shows, will probably be playing more guitar than mandolin.

[B381]

Tried to play guitar, never really got anywhere with it. I could play chords but not melody. Funny thing, on the mandolin I am better at melody than chords. But I tab read very quickly when learning new songs, almost like it's natural. I have a LONG way to go on this journey but it seems to be getting better daily. Almost never a day goes by without me spending at least a few minutes with my mandolin. The size for one makes it easy to take with me, thus allowing for more practice time. I always wanted to learn, have loved bluegrass since my dad used to listen to the "Pine Cone Bluegrass" show on the radio here in NC.

[EdHanrahan]

... Did the universe dictate this, or is it just telling me I have no free will?
Hey, you're free to just say "No" to each & every opportunity that life presents. Either grab it and go, or sit and watch TV - your choice.

I suspect that many of us had a circuitous route to mandolin. In short, a shattered humerus (upper right arm) 11 years ago put me out of work for 6 months and prevented me from playing guitar for well over a year, but I could hold a mandolin after only a few weeks. I had previously bought a cheapo 'cause it was, ya know, cheap, and had learned a bunch of chords, but time at home gave me the chance to pursue the music theory that I had assiduously avoided for decades.

Long story short: Now retired, I play in a mandolin orchestra, a very active 5-piece Italian music group (2 mandos, flute, guitar, bass guitar), a Thursday-afternoon mando group at the local library that plays mostly for nursing-home folks, a monthly acoustic folk-rock jam, and occasional reunions of my college rock band. Except for the last, it was mandolin that got me into all of these groups, even if -HA!- I end up playing guitar and bass. It's the monthly rock jam where I play mandolin the most!

[Michael Neverisky]

... Did the universe dictate this..

I started playing mandolin two years ago when an injury kept me flat on my back such that I could not hold the guitar. That Kentucky mandolin rested easily on my chest. I recovered in a few months, put my guitar in the closet and bought a Collings mandolin.

I don't know if the Universe dictates so much as it presents opportunities.

[mmuller]

We started playing "Chicken Train" by the Ozark Mt Daredevils. There was a mandolin in it. One of the guys had one and I borrowed. 1975 Union Battle of the Bands. Just visited the guy where he lives in DC and there it was, hanging on his wall. Got to play it again after over 40 years.

169073

[DavidKOS]

My Sicilian grandmother bought me a mandolin when I was about 13. I've been playing ever since.

[Mark Gunter]

We started playing "Chicken Train" by the Ozark Mt Daredevils. There was a mandolin in it. One of the guys had one and I borrowed. 1975 Union Battle of the Bands. Just visited the guy where he lives in DC and there it was, hanging on his wall. Got to play it again after over 40 years.

169073

That's a great story - and most impressive, you played it at such an angle, 90* from plumb!

[mmuller]

That's a great story - and most impressive, you played it at such an angle, 90* from plumb!

We were on a boat....

Still working on my mandolin skills as well as my nautical skills....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7KFrLayGsE

[AndyV]

Strad-O-Lin?

[AndyV]

We were on a boat....

Still working on my mandolin skills as well as my nautical skills....



Do you play "Paddlin' Madelin' Home"?

[Todd Bowman]

gifted a cheap bowl-back in the early 80's. Tuned it like the bottom four strings of a guitar until I found a Mel-bay mandolin book and learned the proper tuning. About 6 months later, found the Jack Tottle Bluegrass Mandolin book. After that, the mandolin consumed a good portion of my waking (and dreaming) life.

[Dogrich]

After years of guitar playing, I wanted to try something different, and mandolin spoke to me. However, when I finally got to try a few, I found the fretboard way too cramped. I ended up going with banjo and tenor banjo. After a year or so of tenor banjo, I revisited the mandolin and found I could manage the shorter scale. Mandolin is the sound I have been looking for... I have been messing with a Redline Traveler pancake for a couple of months and just recently acquired a Breedlove American KO. I am hooked!

[jefflester]

I had played guitar and drums for about 20 years. In the summer of 1998, two things inspired me to take up the mandolin - hearing the Garcia/Grisman album "So What" and seeing Nickel Creek in concert and being blown away by a 17 year old kid named Chris Thile.

[mandroid]

Nobody liked my Whistling solos. :whistling:

[Willem]

My wife bought me a mandolin for Christmas. I had played music for 25yrs prior, but never even thought to pick up a mandolin. Clearly she knows me well as I haven't really played any of my other instruments since.

[MikeZito]

The LONG story is in my one blog post . . . .

[mr ken]

I knew my body & limbs were going give up . I would't be able to play golf on the level i had for about 46 years, 3-5 rounds per week were telling me the truth.
Always around music & though for years about the mandolin. So 10 years ago in my mid 60's in took the jump. A good move i'm still close golf & last course that i work for many years. Now at 75 the hips, arms, back, neck & etc are a pain on going . Have enjoyed the mandolin helps with my mind an time filling, even picked a guitar. I take P.T. about 3mos per yr. The mandolin has been a help in this time of life.

[Grimm]

I played drums growing up and always felt I wanted to play something more melodic. I listened to Nickel Creek in high school and knew I wanted to play mandolin after seeing Chris Thile live in concert. Took me another 8 years to finally buy one though. Wish I pulled the trigger earlier.

[mee]

Divine providence.
A fleeting thought that I would like to learn it, must have spoke aloud and then the next day my hubby came home with one for me. I was in my forties at that time and had no musical experience and knew not what to do with it. I didn't do much with it for the next ten years and then doors opened for me to join my guitar playing hubby in a nursing home ministry and I quickly picked up enough to accompany him.

[zedmando]

As far back as I can remember I wanted to play guitar-don't know why.
So after three years of piano lessons as a kid I got a cheap acoustic guitar & tried to teach myself
I made some progress, but needed some help-so I took guitar lessons for a few years.
Along the way I also had some bass lessons.
As I progressed I wanted to learn some other things & I always liked the sound of a mandolin & started looking into it gradually.
I would look stuff up online & try them out in a store.
I wasn't influenced or inspired by any specific mandolin player or song-just in general.

I decided after i bought my fretless bass (another example of learning other things) that when a certain store had their next half price rental sale I would rent a mandolin for 30 days & see how that went.
However 3 or 4 of those came & went & for one reason or another I was otherwise committed to other activities those days (I was out of town for at least one)
Then when I knew they had a sale & a half price rental sale I was near the store while out doing other things-
I stopped in to take a peek at what they had to get ideas for their sale--as well as the half price rental day
There they had a used Epi Mandobird VIII on sale for a greta price--so after trying it out & thinking about it--I took it home.

Now 3+ years later I am still playing it--and this place helped.
I'm no virtuoso--but I am having a bunch of fun making stuff up & mostly playing stuff I made up or arrangements of rock & blues songs on the mandobird...

[Denny Gies]

I played the guitar for years, then fell in with some good ole boys in Arcadia, FL. We decided to form a bluegrass/country band. They all played guitars so I got a mandolin just to give some variety to the group. I got hooked and have played the mandolin, not exclusively, for the past 40 some odd years.

[AndyV]

Now at 75 the hips, arms, back, neck & etc are a pain on going . Have enjoyed the mandolin helps with my mind an time filling, even picked a guitar. I take P.T. about 3mos per yr. The mandolin has been a help in this time of life.

Mandolin and guitar are great for me when injury keeps me from practising karate. How frustrating it is to be nursing a hand injury (stupid judo!). I'm up to about 20 minutes playing time before I have to (or should) put it down.

[Frankdolin]

I was born, there was a mandolin in my house and that's all I ever wanted to do. Then age and reality stepped in and I had to work for a living. Thank goodness for the mandolin that is always there for you good and bad days, if you suck or not, and never not respond to your touch.:mandosmiley:

[Radish]

I wanted to start playing an instrument for some time. I like singing and was looking for something fun to accompany myself with. Was originally thinking of a ukulele. Then watching an episode of 'Boardwalk Empire' where Al Capone mentioned playing the mandolin for his kid, and something in my head just went 'Yes!' It then also turned out some of my wife's family are mandolin players (sadly they're all in Canada), which seemed serendipitous. So got myself a cheapskate instrument and off I went. :)

[UsuallyPickin]

I got real tired of being the thirty-third guitar player at a jam. That was in 1980 …. circa 2000 I got tired of being the fifteenth mandolin player at a jam and I took up with the fiddle. So far that is still working ……. Don't get me wrong I still LOVE to play mandolin and guitar both. R/

[F-2 Dave]

1975 or 1976 I was in Junior High School. Some buddies had a pretty good kids bluegrass band. I wanted in. They didn't have a mandolin player. A cheap Montgomery Wards mandolin, a few lessons and I was on my way. I really should be a lot better picker by now.

[Benjamin Gieseke]

It's really fun to read how everyone got started!

I started playing classical violin at 10 or so, in 5th grade, and picked up guitar as well when I was 12. Somewhere around age 14/8th grade I figured out that mandolin was a "cross" between violin and guitar, to my mind anyway. My grandparents had an old mandolin that I didn't think much of, they let me borrow it and some chord charts and I plunked around for a few months before giving it back. The strings on that poor instrument had to be at least 40 years old, and the frets were worn to almost nothing, making playing it a real challenge, plus I was growing into violin and didn't really have the time to devote to learning the mandolin well. I'll come back to that mandolin in a sec.

My senior year of high school I was trying offload a very pointlessly large Fender amp that I had purchased in middle school, and my local used music store was one of those places that will offer you more in trade than in sale, so I swapped the thing for a Fender acoustic/electric mando, also with non-existent frets. Played a little at church, but the sheer weight I needed to put on those strings dovetailed nicely with the onset of carpal tunnel, and as much as I liked playing, it went largely unused.

Fast forward another 4 years, I really started playing mando after I discovered a "the Loar" A-style at a Musicgoround that I could actually play without hurting myself (it had real frets and everything!) Unfortunately it was a little outside my grad student price range, and I left it there. I called my then fiancee and told her about it. A few hours later she called me back, and after calling at least 6 music stores had found the one I was at and bought the thing (there's a reason I married her)!

So, after two aborted attempts to start learning mandolin I finally got going. After learning a little bit more about the instrument I discovered, in a truly cringeworthy moment, that the mandolin my grandparents had lent me was a 1920s Gibson A-style! Whoops! :disbelief: I will say though, that regardless of what I was playing or where, pretty much from the moment I got that Fender in high school, I always knew that I enjoyed playing mandolin the most, and really wanted that to be my go to instrument for everything, so when I finally brought home an instrument I could play, it was a really good day!

[Gary Leonard]

My older brother has played the guitar since he was like 12. We couldn't afford lessons for all, so Mom told him to teach me and my twin brother guitar (you can guess how that turned out).

Fast forward 4 decades later, I worked around the corner from the local guitar shop. A friend I had worked with told me he had taken mandolin lessons, so I said to myself as I was walking by, I wonder if they have mandolins? Guitar was out, as my brother owned that, plus I was put off by the large size. Walked in, saw a wall of mandolins, and actually didn't buy one. Called my friend, asked him what I should buy and he gave me good advice. Buy used, go to the Old Town School of Folk, don't buy the cheap ones...


The next day, I ignored his advice and bought a cheap Gretsch that I ended up being very unhappy with, tinny sounding and hard to play. 30 days latter I ended up talking with the owner, and he said bring the Gretsch in, I will give you full price for it for trade for something else. So I ended up with a Collings MT and a higher credit card balance, and havn't looked back since.

[Bill McCall]

Played guitar, but put them in the case 40 years ago. Five years ago a buddy said he was taking up mandolin because his Dad played. Oddly, my Dad played (Appalachian boy, grandma played the banjo, uncles on guitar) although I never heard him since we didn’t have an instrument when I was young. I jumped in with both feet. My buddy quit but I’m going strong.

[farmerjones]

June 2003, I took my first violin/fiddle lesson. My instructor pointed out the similarities of the mandolin, and declared, "You just as well learn mandolin." So I did. Five or ten years down the road, if I heard an unfamiliar tune, I'd grab a fiddle rather than a mandolin, if offered a choice. This told me the mandolin would have to take a backseat, but it's never far away.

[fatt-dad]

in 1968 somebody gave me a Kay.

f-d

[LemonyLobster]

I grew up around music but I never really found "my" instrument. I tried several and none stuck so I gave up on it after middle school and didn't even think about it until years later around age 24 when I first discovered the mandolin existed. (Bluegrass wasn't exactly the kind of music my family and friends were into...)

I immediately knew this was "my" instrument. After that I pretty much wouldn't shut up about how I wanted to play the mandolin. A couple Christmases ago my lovely boyfriend gifted me a Rogue. It was difficult at first so I would intermittently try learning for a few weeks then give up then start again until this January when I started playing every day and now I consider myself an addict. I pick it up practically any chance I get. My mando has become my best friend (and a pretty cheap therapist!). I'm never going back. :)

[THart]

I just thought they were cool & it would be fun to have one. I'd seen some of my musical heroes play them even it wasn't their main instrument. Loved the sound and the size & the fact that not that many people played them. Got mine in the early to mid '80's through the classifieds in the newspaper. Remember them? I swear I must have watched for over a year til one finally popped up. Anyway, after a few years it pretty much sat in its case (guitar too) but now some 25 years I'm giving it another go.

[jab]

had been playing guitar in a classic rock band for 15 years and one night on Saturday Night Live I saw REM play Losing My Religion and said "that's it, that's what our band needs". And the rest is history, probably play mando on 1/4 of our setlist.

[mandolin breeze]

I'd been playing guitar for about 10 yrs. Mostly Southern Rock, AAB Gregg's other stuff, Marshall Tucker, some folk like James Taylor. Well, in about '81 my roommate and I were headed to the beach to go surfing. He drove and on the way popped in a cassette of Mondo Mando. "holly crap, what is that?" is most likely how I put it. Didn't actually purchase my first one until 3 yrs later when I spotted a nice Washburn asymmetrical 2-point in a music store. Thank goodness for eBay which came along a few years later and gave me the opportunity to get my first F5 . . . a Gibson. It's been a wonderful ride for sure.

[LKN2MYIS]

In the mid-70s, I went to a small club in Roslyn, N.Y. called "My Father's Place". Went there a LOT.

Went to see Ry Cooder, because I loved his guitar playing. Really wasn't that familiar with his mandolin style.

The club was a first come, first seated situation. Long cafeteria table running lengthwise to the stage. I was first in line and took the first seat against the stage in front of Ry. A couple of songs in (it was a solo show), he took out a Gibson F4. Played "Billy The Kid".

Next week I drove to Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island and bought an old Gibson oval hole. No doubt I needed to play it.

[Charlie Bernstein]

My friend: "Want to buy a mandolin?"
Me: "No."
My friend: "Fifty dollars."
Me: "Okay!"

[magictwanger]

My grandpa played old world music on mandolin.I never was interested until I recently heard some folks playing bluegrass mandolin at a college festival.I play guitar and though I enjoy that endeavor,I got hooked on mando,after hearing those folks(one was wearing a Mandolin Cafe hat).....Just got my first mando a few days ago(Eastman MD-815V) and my instructional series arrives tomorrow....recently retired,so I'm in for some fun I guess.-:)

[LadysSolo]

Played piano since age 9, added guitar in the 1960s (as most of us did back then,) put it away after college to raise a family and work, got the guitar out a few years ago. Spotted a mandolin in the window of a pawn shop I went past to work for a couple years, always meant to go in to check it out. One day it was gone, so I decided to research mandolins, found this site, bought one (and then another, and another, and another.....) and have never looked back.

[sbhikes]

Somebody offered me a Flinthill mandolin as a trade for a plastic PVC pipe Doug Tipple Irish Flute. I thought wow, what a great trade.

[Jack Roberts]

17 years ago I walked into a music store and saw an inexpensive Samick laminated top mandolin on the wall. I thought "I can play that" and I've been proving myself wrong ever since then.

After a few months, despite my inept playing, I was invited to join a band because the real mandolin player wanted to play guitar, so I bought his 1958 Gibson A-5 and I've been playing in public every now and then since then.

[AndyV]

It then also turned out some of my wife's family are mandolin players (sadly they're all in Canada), which seemed serendipitous. :)

Sadly, you're not in Canada.

[HappyPickin]

About a year ago I had a Guitar Center gift card for $50 and they didn't sell any of my favorite guitar strings so I bought a Rogue mandolin to hang on my wall. I tuned it up and started picking out melodies with it. Then I bought a Michael Kelley Legacy O, then an Eastman 515 and finally a Doug Clark. I try to learn a new fiddle tune every week or two.

[yankees1]

You are smart to start early in life ! I didn't begin until I was almost 64 ( 71 now). I play in a band at nursing homes each week so my audience isn't too picky with our playing !

[Joey Anchors]

I was a bassist for 22 years.. stopped playing music altogether. Being away from music for almost 8 years, I wanted to get back into but not as a bassist. Heard Chris Thile, and Sam Bush and Mike Marshall.. I knew then that mandolin would be it. That was three years ago..

I still am horrible and need tons of practice

[Roger Moss]

You are smart to start early in life ! I didn't begin until I was almost 64 ( 71 now). I play in a band at nursing homes each week so my audience isn't too picky with our playing !

It can depend on what your expectations are. If you want to play for enjoyment, any time is a great time to start. If, on the other hand, you have as your goal some relatively high level of expertise, then the earlier you start the better. Not to say that an older person can't acheive a high level of ability; far from it. But different people play for different reasons. I'll never play for an audience, or perhaps ever for another living person. I therefore have the luxury of knowing that whatever level I attain is just part of the fun of playing at all.

[stringalong]

That's a "cute" story -- sorry for the word "cute" but I can't think of a better word to describe your droll humor! I wish you the very, very best at playing both the guitar and mandolin!

[stringalong]

As a young child, my piano teacher forbade me from doing what came naturally -- namely playing by ear, figuring out chord shapes on the keyboard, and improvising. Fast forward to age 30 something -- I was moving overseas and could not take a piano (!) and had fallen in love with a friend's mandolin. I loved the sound, even though she didn't know how to play hers. So I bought a cheap round back in 1970 for $25 and a self-teaching classical mandolin book, which was all that was available at the music store. I taught myself (poorly) to play some classical mandolin. I had to read everything, and if I wanted to learn something else, I would write it in notation, then read it. Strange, but true, and I know other classical players who do this on various instruments. Then I was invited to an Old Time Fiddlers Jam, and a guy played Redwing on the fiddle -- I instantly played it by ear! It was an epiphany! We started various jam sessions around town, and the first one was with folks like myself who had never jammed before. We played weekly, and when we finally got through one tune from beginning to end without breaking down, we cheered! I became very active in the Old Time community there in the mid-70s. Then I moved to an area of the USA where there were no jams, and had to revert to piano for 20 years or so because I was teaching that instrument and could not find anyone who wanted to make a band with the mandolin or jam. Later I moved again, and started over on the mandolin about 10 years ago. I know maybe 100 tunes, and am learning more regularly. Oh, I must add that it took me 10 years after the Redwing event to learn to play by ear and improvise on the piano! But I was glad to get my talent back as an adult, that had been taken from me as a child.

[Digital Larry]

I learned how to play the easy guitar chords when I was about 12 but never had a guitar until much later.

I started playing mandolin after hearing David Grisman and seeing his band play many times in the late 1970s through the 80s. I went to UC Davis so one time I visited Tiny Moore's shop in Sacramento but didn't buy a mandolin until a year or two later. First one was a relatively cheap Kentucky A-model. Sold that about ten years later to a guy whose expertise is sound synthesis and bought a slightly better Kentucky A-model which I still own.

By this time (college) I was learning bass, guitar, and mandolin all at the same time so I never really got confused by the differences. I did get a little confused later when I started playing ukulele as its scale length is similar to mandolin but tuned like top 4 strings of guitar.

I learned some bluegrass and Celtic and Grisman tunes and used it as a rhythm instrument when playing folky rock stuff with others. Then I heard David Swarbrick and finally Fairport Convention whence I became a bit of a fanatic. I haven't played much mandolin lately, gravitating towards the guitar, but now I'm starting to record some original tunes again and thought mandolin might find its way into some of those.

I have learned more tunes out of this book than any other.

https://www.amazon.com/English-Welsh-Scottish-Irish-Fiddle/dp/0825601657

[PH-Mando]

As a teenager I had a classical guitar and began listening to recordings of famous guitarists. When I came across an album of the Romeros playing Vivaldi concertos I was intrigued with the pieces that were originally written for MANDOLIN. I found a mandolin version of those concertos and became fascinated with mandolin. I got a cheap one and became frustrated with it since I had no teacher nor teaching materials available. It was years later before I seriously took up mandolin. Many years were spent playing guitar which I wish had been spent on mandolin. I really enjoy playing mandolin and I find it easier than guitar.

[Mark Wilson]

I started working out the details of mandolin when I decided 'a little mandolin' would be a nice addition to my guitar/vocal home recordings. I think the idea came from watching one of Mandolin Orange's early videos on YT.

It took 3 years to self learn and begin recording with the guitar so I figured it would require same or less for mandolin. Figured wrong - haven't played my guitar or recorded a new track in 5 years.

[AlanN]

Seeing this guy jamming in the bars in Saratoga Springs, NY in the mid 70's.

[lflngpicker]

As a singer/guitarist/songwriter right out of high school in '73, my wife's grandfather passed down a Gibson A to us in 1982. That was the instrument that got the mandolin bug started in me. I am always primarily a guitarist and entertainer, but the mandolin has been my focus in my personal time in the last five years.

[MandoNina]

This performance is why I started playing the mandolin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n3wHljJQ4M

[Frogstar]

I got my first mando, the ubiquitous Rogue, figuring it might be a decent segueway into violin, since I'd already played guitar for 15 or so years (off and on) by that time. Plunked around a little, but wasn't ready to put time into learning a new instrument at that time. A few years later, I started going to a local jam that's mostly guitars, so I figured I'd take another stab at the mandolin, and this time it stuck.

[apple]

Over a decade ago I was at an auction trying to buy a guitar but was being out bid at every turn. I saw an old handmade mandolin on a table of junk and ended up getting it for $7.00. When I got it home I found a tag on it that read, "Made by cousin Chas G Harber 1185 Lorain St, Cleveland, 0H in 1895". It was unplayable but it was from there I began taking notice of mandolins. Questions I had about mandolins led me here. When I finally purchased a mandolin a year and a half ago based on recommendations I got here, I discovered it was the same mandolin I was advised to get twelve years ago today (July 5, 2006) when I asked the first time.

[BJ O'Day]

I do woodworking as a hobby. I was tired of making furniture. I wanted to make something challenging but small. I thought I would make a bowl back mandolin because my uncle had one when I was a kid. I started researching and realized that bowl backs are really not very common in the US. So I bought some books from Roger Siminoff and Graham McDonald. Was getting ready to begin and I thought "I should know how a mandolin sounds before I build one". So I found a Morris in the classifieds here and took some lessons. It's been 4 years and I still haven't started on that build. Life and fun get in the way.

[Christopher Stetson]

Actually, besides the upright piano in the dining room, and violin lessons at school, mandolin was my first instrument. I found it in the attic when I was about 13 (that would be 1965), and asked my mother if I could use it. She said, "Oh, that's that old mandolin. A friend of your grandmother (who died the year I was born) left it with her and never came back to get it." It's a Vega cylinder back, ca. 1924. I still have it and play it. It lead me not only to Italian and "Golden Era" music, but also to guitar, lute, shamisen, etc. I'm glad my father decided not to trade it in for a better guitar, as the music store dealer offered when he bought me a Yamaha classical guitar for my 18th birthday (still have and play that, too). Maybe it was the way the dealer played "Lady of Spain" for him, and how good it sounded. Thanks for asking!

[Steelee]

Went weekly to a local community center in Vero Beach to hear a local BG band. Had listened to BG cd's for years. These guys were having so much fun, it made me want to learn to play something. I asked the leader which instrument was the easiest to play since I was 57 years old and somewhat fearful of picking up an instrument that was hard to learn. Leader recommended a mandolin. Went on ebay and bought a cheapo and a Bert Casey beginning mandolin book and taught myself to play.

Played with a guitar picker for several years which helped a lot. The $200 cheapo lasted about a year, then a JBovier and now a Nashville flatiron festival F. I practice a lot in winter; not so much in summer. Now 69 years old, and love to play. I know about 50 tunes, and the last one I learned was Liberty which is a lot of fun to play.

The quality of this picker is not up to the quality of the flatiron, so I cannot blame my mistakes any longer on the instrument.

[Hypoxia]

I trained on clarinet young but it didn't take. (I wanted a sax!) I started abusing strings on mountain dulcimer at age 15 and guitar a year later. That was a bit over a half-century ago. I lead a rambling, dissolute life for over a decade. US Army put some structure in my life and my aunt decided four decades back that I was mature enough for my legacy: Grandpa's 1918 Gretsch banjo-mandolin. About a decade later I hit a yard sale, bought a pro-quality Ibanez Performance guitar for US$100 and a cheap 1960s Kay mandolin for $25.

Those two have been my primary mandos for many decades now. But playing in 5th all started with Grandpa's legacy. It play anywhere from soft to raucous. It probably ruined me for anything serious. As if I care.

[jimmy powells]

Elton John has had Davey Johnstone playing lead guitar for 40 years or so. Story goes that Elton saved his life after a family tragedy.
Davey is also a brilliant tenor banjo and mandolin player and when I saw him playing with the Fife Rievers in 1970, his mandolin playing blew me away. Looked effortless. I had to have a mandolin so it's his fault that I've spent a huge amount of money over all these years.
I was also influenced by Hamish Bayne of The McCalmans folk trio. Hamish had a wonderful way with the mandolin. I then bought a Dave Appollon vinyl which I had sent from USA to Scotland. That knocked me out.

Seriously, it was a great decision to join the mandolin fraternity or should i say 'freternity'.

JimmyP
UK

[Jess L.]

Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

I'm in the "already was playing fiddle" category, so when I found out that mandolins are tuned exactly the same as fiddles, :grin: that was reason enough to finally try to play something on mandolin.

There was already a mandolin in the house, as my dad played but he did only tremolo waltzes and stuff (the only thing he played fiddle tunes on was oldtime banjo), and while his tremolo mandolin style sounded good when he played it, I just didn't see myself wanting to play a bunch of tremolo stuff at the time.

But fiddle tunes, that was different - I already knew a bunch of tunes and the notes were in the exact same locations on the neck - and with frets! how convenient! :))

Just had to learn how to stop the pick falling on the floor *all* the time. :( :crying: I was about to give up in disgust, but my dad told me the secret to making picks behave: "Hold that pick so lightly that if you turn your hand sideways, the pick almost falls out of your hand." That worked! :mandosmiley:

Then, the next problem, I quickly realized that my existing callouses (fiddle, banjo etc) were insufficient for mandolin, but that just took some patience to build up better callouses.


Did the universe dictate this, or is it just telling me I have no free will?

Lol that's a good question. Especially when opportunities to learn something, or reminders to get back into something that you already used to do but had forgotten about, keep appearing seemingly out of the blue... I've had that happen a few times with various things (including, in later years, mandolin). Makes a person wonder sometimes. :)

[Jill McAuley]

I was already a tenor banjo player but was finding it difficult to get any decent play time in living in a tiny apartment surrounded by neighbors (as compared to my farmhouse back in Ireland where I could play til all hours of the night with nary a complaint!). I saw an old Harmony mandolin in a local music shop in Berkeley and bought it a birthday gift for a friend - their birthday was a fortnight away so that meant I had two solid weeks of being able to mess around on it meself and I was hooked! After I gave it to my pal I had to get a mandolin for meself as it was a much more apartment friendly instrument than the tenor banjo. That first year of playing mandolin I cycled through an eBay purchased '60's Gibson A50, a Flatiron pancake, a Redline Traveller, a Weber Aspen II, a Pomeroy A4, and then finally found the Weber Custom Gallatin F that stuck around for a few years before it too moved along!

[Drew Streip]

Played guitar and saxophone since I was about 11. Then I heard Nickel Creek, and Sam Bush playing with Bela Fleck on "Stomping Grounds."

Within a few hours of owning my first mandolin (a gift from my parents and grandparents) I had learned NC's "This Side." But I took several years off before starting my current group and beginning an intense obsession with the mandolin and acoustic instruments in general.

Now I've probably seen Chris Thile ten times in different iterations, I'm trying to get my group booked at festivals, and I'm building an F5 and a dreadnought.

It's a slippery slope!

[BluesPreacher]

I don't remember really well. I started (on strings--I got piano lessons as a kid, and played trombone through college) on guitar, and took a few lessons on fingerstyle. Something interested me in mandolin, I forget what, so I asked my guitar teacher, who worked at Bowlby Music (now defunct) in downtown Rock Island, Illinois to see if he could find me a mando. He found an old bowlback which I played until it fell apart. I then bought a used Kentucky A style from the same guy.