mandolin goals

[keymandoguy]

What is your goal with your mandolin and how close are you to achieving it ?When I first took up mandolin a little over 3 years ago my goal was to be good enough to play in a band. I have achieved that as am now playing with 3 bands. Now I just want to play better. So what are your goals maybe a song you want to learn, Playing a different style.playing with others ? You will get there if you dedicate yourself. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[mandodebbie]

When I first got into mandolin a year and a half ago, my goals were to play simple songs and actually jam with other musicians. Well, I now am at an intermediate level of playing and have "graduated" from strumming chords to picking out more complex Bluegrass and Classical tunes/compositions. I recently joined a local Bluegrass Club and have actually jammed with them as of this spring. I still need to meet more musicians so I can keep practicing with a group. In the meantime I practice about two hours every day by myself. But, it will probably take a few more years to play as well as, say, Marty Stuart... like about another 41! (Oops! I'm aging myself.) http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[steve in tampa]

I try and practice to be able to play anything i can whistle.

[walshb]

My goal is just to be able to jam with other bluegrass musicians, and hold my own so to speak. I don't care about impressing anyone, I just don't want to be the one making all the mistakes in a jam. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
I'm not where I want to be, but maybe halfway there....?

[gnelson651]

My goal is to continue to move toward improvement one day at a time.

I can't afford a teacher even if I can find one around here. So I am self-taught and try to evaluate what areas I need for improvement and go in that direction. I've bought a ton of mandolin books but have yet to find the definitive book that will teach me what I need or want to know.

I have a daily practice schedule where I practice atleast two hours a day. But there are some days I will just noodle, which technical is not practicing. #but for me its fine because I can work on songs I already know to get up the speed and refresh my memory.

I do play with others by going to a biweekly old-time fiddle jam, practice with a mandolin ensemble and play in a church band. All in all, its both fun and frustrating in that I want to be a better player. But I try to remember this is journey not a destination.

[AndyG]

I`m just a beginner on mandolin and took it up after 30 years of guitar playing because it seemed like a fun thing to have around the house.Now it`s rapidly becoming an obsession!
I have no real interest in ensemble playing;maybe the occasional jam with friends,so I`m learning scales,chord inversions and some simple melodies that I can play for my own pleasure.
My goal is to get proficient enough to play through an entire tune without falling over myself!Slowly but surely I`m getting there.

[Jack_Daniels]

I've just reached one of my mandolin goals. I finally purchased a Washburn M3SW.

As soon as it arrives I can get started on goal number 2, learning how to play.

Jason

[DryBones]

I just want to play well enough to sound like I am playing music and not just making noise...:D

[250sc]

My goal is to learn something new every week. It really doesn't matter to me if I first learn it on guitar or mandolin. When I understand it on one I always apply it to the other.

[Cetecea]

New member and player here...
Played a little (very) a loooong time ago. Just started playing again 2 months ago and had a jam this weekend! I was pretty nervous even if it was at the town dump! (No kidding!)

My goals are to be able to be competent and add to the music... nothing flashy yet!

[Jack Roberts]

Playing goal: All six cello suites. 33%.

Purchasing goal: Coombe Mandola. 75%

[johnwalser]

When I took up the mandolin, my goal was to play songs in a manner that people would be able to recognize what the heck I was playing. When that was accomplished, I then wanted to develop a decent tremolo. The tremolo took me a long three years to have that smooth flowing sound. NOW.....I want to sound exactly like Don Stiernberg. I play between 2 and 3 hours ever day and have figured out I am going to run out of years before catching Don, but it sure is going to be fun giving chase.
John

[Jack Roberts]

I play between 2 and 3 hours ever day and have figured out I am going to run out of years
John, that is how I feel. I know I'll run out of years before I get good, so I just play as badly as I do, and enjoy myself. I get enough gigs to know that at least I don't scare away the cats and make all the babys cry.

Tremolo in 3 years? Zowie! I've been at it 3 years, and I can just get triplets. I can play tremolo, but it's like showing my abs: I won't do it in public.

[RBM]

started at age 60, three years ago to amuse myself. Wanted to play some blugrass and old time music strickly for myself. Would like to improve enought to feel comfortable playing with others - so my goal this year is to throw the ego out the door and jump in to some local jams and playing with some neighbors.

[seththedude]

I was felling stagnant for a little while but I just started picking with a swing jazz, latin type group. They have about 60 songs, many of which I have never heard. So my current goal is to learn all the songs to become a permanant member of the band.

[WVPastor]

I've just reached one of my mandolin goals. I finally purchased a Washburn M3SW.

As soon as it arrives I can get started on goal number 2, learning how to play.

Jason

I just ordered the same one today. Now I need to learn also!

Roger http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[jim_n_virginia]

My mandolin goal is to be able to make up breaks on the fly at any setting whether it be a music jam or on stage and also to improvise at will and be able to play with any song whether I know the song or not.

I am not there yet but I am headed in the right direction. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Pedal Steel Mike]

My goal as a mandolin player is just to enjoy playing and jamming with others. I started playing music because I loved it, but when I started playing for money, music became my job, and I started feeling about it the way most people feel about their jobs, and lost that love. I know others who have had the same experience.

Now that I'm retired, I am recapturing the love of music that I used to feel. I've become a far happier and saner man since I gave up "the biz."

At this late stage in life, I've come to the realization that music is too precious a thing to use simply as a means of generating income.

[fatt-dad]

I'm doing real well on one goal - I've sold off most of my collection!! I'll hopefully end up with a few and spend more of my time playing then stringing - ha. Actually, I do feel as if I'm making progress (in little ways). What I want to be better at right now is starting a break - you know jumping on the right note and then taking it from there.

fatt all-it-takes-is-time dad

[Michael H Geimer]

" What I want to be better at right now is starting a break - you know jumping on the right note and then taking it from there. "

F-D, I've been thinking about that one too recently. So, lately when listening to songs I ask myself, "Does that melody start on the root, third, or fifth?" It's slowly helping.

My goal on the mandolin was to give up playing guitar, but I just can't get away. It seems my playing has become a 'crutch' for my bandmates ... they only know the changes if I'm playing the changes. And I play into that by always reverting to guitar when the going gets tough.

So, my goal remains elusive until I am one day strong enough on mandolin (and in my voice too) that I can guide a jam through songs.

[John Zimm]

I want to play like Thile. I am no where close to that goal. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Hondo]

My goals keep changing. For every one that I reach, three or four more pop up. Some of them seem unattainable, but who knows?

At first I just wanted to learn a few simple tunes. Then I decided that I needed to learn notation, and while I was learning that, I thought it would be nice to play in an ensemble. So I went from learning to read and play slow and simple 4/4 quarter note pieces to working on music totally beyond my meager abilities - genres like jazz, choro, etc. Can I do it well? No, but am I ever learning a lot! My current goals include improving my sight reading, expanding my repertoire, and learning to play not just the notes, but to play music. To make the notes, the tone, sound good and clear and musical. Dunno if I'll ever get there, but I'll have a heck of a time trying.