Desisions, decisions

[M D SMITH]

I know this might not be the best place for an unbiased answer, but I wasn't sure where else to ask. I've been dabbling with both the mandolin and banjo for a couple years on and off. I know basic chords and a few tunes on both of them, but thats about it. I've decided it's time to buckle down and really pursue on of them, but I'm having a tough time deciding which one to go with. I love them both, and would like to be able to play both at some point, but I don't think that learning both at the same time is such a good idea, plus I don't have the time. I will say that I seem to be able to pick up tune quicker on the mandolin. I'm not sure if that's just me, or the mandolin is a little easier. Anyway, I was hoping for some advice or input. Maybe what made you chose the mandolin over other instruments. Thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

A picture tells a thousand stories.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/images/evolution.jpg.

[M D SMITH]

:)) Lol... That's pretty funny.

[RichM]

I play both banjo and mandolin (and guitar, for that matter). You'll no doubt hear lots of banjo player jokes before this thread is over, but the reality is that nobody can tell you what your preference is. I agree that learning multiple instruments at the same time is very difficult, especially if you don't have prior musical training. After playing banjo for many years, I started focusing most of my efforts on mandolin for a few reasons, not the least of which was how much easier it was to haul a mandolin around than a banjo.

I found the banjo to be an easy transition from guitar, although learning the rolls and fingerpicking technique took some time. Switching to mandolin was tougher, since the tuning is different and I had to completely reset my brain when it came to shapes and strategies. However, I imagine if I were choosing a first instrument, I would be more drawn to the mandolin-- the fifths tuning is more logical, and easier to pick out a tune on. I think I would also find mandolin flatpicking technique much easier to master than Scruggs-style rolls (assuming that you play the banjo Scruggs-style, which you may not).

[M D SMITH]

Thanks. Yes, I do play Scruggs style(or at least try to), and I do play acoustic guitar as well. I've played guitar for about 10 years, but a few years ago I got into bluegrass, and wanted to try a something different. It seems like the mandolin picking technique is close to guitar technique, but the banjo fretboard is closer to the guitar. I'll tell you what, my wife and my neighbors sure like the mandolin better:)

[testore]

Play all three well. Why not?

[Elliot Luber]

Follow your heart. You won't be good at it either if your heart isn't into it. Which sounds better to you? At which are you better, or to which better-suited? Which best fulfills your image of yourself as a pro musician?

As Dave Mason once wrote: "In a world of so much choice, follow close that inner voice."

Hey, the world need banjo players too -- if only so we can rest from those constant chop chords.

[BPV]

Play all of them and have fun doing it....

[M D SMITH]

Playing all three would be great, but so far trying to learn all two at the same time hasn't gotten me very far. As I said, I can pick either of them up and play a tune or two, but not to the point where I could go to a jam. So, I thought focusing on one may help me get to that point, which is my primary goal.

[David Zaruba]

It depends upon what kind of music you want to play. Nothing says "bluegrass" more than 5 string banjo, so if you want to play trad bluegrass, go for banjo.

Mandolin, on the other hand seems to me to be a more versatile instrument...it can be used in almost any style of music and sound great.

Good luck!

[Tim Heenan]

"Playing all three would be great, but so far trying to learn all two at the same time hasn't gotten me very far. As I said, I can pick either of them up and play a tune or two, but not to the point where I could go to a jam. So, I thought focusing on one may help me get to that point, which is my primary goal. "

Hey MD...As a guitar player for 35 + years, who mainly played electric, a little acoustic, and bass, "found acoustic music" a little more than a year ago, got my fingerpicking thing happening,along the lines of Doc Watson, Jorma..etc..then "FOUND BLUEGRASS" AND the mandolin.....I was trying to learn mando, work on Tony Rice flatpicking type of stuff....and came to the realization that due to the intrinsic differences in fingering...if I really wanted to make some time on mando the guitar would have to sit for awhile...due to my thinking was completely guitar concentric and I really wanted to learn to play the mandolin, not just apply guitar licks to it......SO.....I 've concentrated totally on mando for the last 6 or 7 months, have gotten considerably better and when the mood strikes, pull out the six stringer and after a few minutes am almost back to my normal guitar playing level...SO...possibly if you where to concentrate soley on 1 instrument for a predetermined amount of time you could make some real progress and shift over to the other and work the same way......sorry maybe a little long winded.....
PS.....go for the mando :mandosmiley:
Tim

[M D SMITH]

Great point David. I had been thinking about that. I do love traditional bluegrass, but most of my family and friends are into other kinds of music, and since they are the people I know who usually have jams, it would be nice to be able to play with them. My real goal, no matter the instrument is to be able to improvise no matter what setting I'm in. I'm much more interested in this then learning actual songs.

[blawson]

A few years back when my old car was broken, the mandolin fit easily into a backpack so I could make practice/gigs on the motorcycle.

Mandolin also fits nicely into the overhead on airplanes.

(Full disclosure: I seem to recall Fred Frank having a photo of banjo case bungeed as the passenger on his motorcycle).

[M D SMITH]

Thanks OAITW, and nice name. They are what got me into bluegrass.

[JeffD]

(Full disclosure: I seem to recall Fred Frank having a photo of banjo case bungeed as the passenger on his motorcycle).

Banjo advantage: You can seat belt a banjo case in the passanger seat, put a rubber mask on the end, and drive the HOV lanes!!!

[JeffD]

Anyway, I was hoping for some advice or input. Maybe what made you chose the mandolin over other instruments. Thanks

I didn't chose between mandolin and any other stringed instruments. It was a departure from the woodwinds, the clarinet, bassoon, and a little oboe, that I played in high school band and orchestra.

I didn't "discover" bluegrass until I had been playing mandolin for many many years. I knew, of course, that it was there, I knew who Bill was, etc., but at the time I was engrossed elsewhere.

I play lots of different stuff on mandolin, BG included. But I enjoy playing the mandolin more than I enjoy any particular style of music played on it.

I have made expeditions into guitar land, banjo land, and always came back home to the mandolin. My most successfull expedition was to the fiddle, and I still mess around with it. But the fiddle is a jealous instrument, and will not allow itself to be anyone's second instrument. So as long as my main instrument is mandolin, I will never get beyond the fiddle plateau I have reached. (Its kind of pathetic to plateau in the foothills I have to say.)

[Tim Heenan]

"Thanks OAITW, and nice name. They are what got me into bluegrass.


MD ya know it's funny...I remember buying the Old and in the way vinyl back in '75 and as big time Dead Head. ( at the time, thank you)..didn't really care for it......and actually when I started down the BG road ,again, didn't really care for it.( I was more "hearing" the trad Hardcore stuff).( I do really like their stuff now ).I have to admit it was Ricky Skaggs Kentucky Thunder Instumental's cd that completely opened my ears to the mandolin and really made me want to play it, learn it... and it was Chris Thile who opened my ears to the classical implications as well as Mike Marshall, and Reischman and Grisman who opened my ears to the latin flavor as well as the jazz side. The mandolin is an all encompasing instument. and ADDICTIVE, and easily portable. My guitars are jealous......very very jealous....
And although at the time I registered on this site I was listening to OAITW "'Till the end of the World comes round"....My screen name , as it where , was more a nod to my being OLD and in the WAY , as my wife does not particularly share my love of the mando and while practicing in the LR , I'm in the way.....;)

Tim
PS.....I really wouldn't mind learning banjo or fiddle for that matter, but I think that might push the family over the edge:mandosmiley:

[billkilpatrick]

A picture tells a thousand stories.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/images/evolution.jpg.

i'm in agreement here ... plus - something you might consider for later on (assuming you ain't already "long in the tooth") - as string instruments go, the banjo is pretty percussive ... what your eardrums might tolerate at 20 or 30 years old isn't necessarily what they can handle at 50 or 60.

i've heard some very soulful "old-time-y" banjos but by in large ... banjo picking tends to be a frenetic, full-tilt, in-your-face, all-out (painful) aural assault.

- bill*

[mandozilla]

Hi there MDSMITH and Old and In the Way and welcome to the Cafe!

I played BG rhythm guitar (and a bit of lead flatpicking) exclusively and sang in a BG band for 12 years before I laid hands on the mandolin. This background helped me immensely when I took up mandolin...I pretty much knew what it was supposed to sound like and already knew hundreds of tunes and songs.:grin:

I briefly tried learning the B**jo and the mandolin at the same time but I quickly realized that, for me anyways, if I wanted to get good on mandolin the 5 string had to stay hung on the wall...it's there to this day, 28 years later...someday maybe I'll get a roundtoit...I dunno. :disbelief:

I guess what I'm trying to say is, for now, choose one or the other and learn it well before trying the other. If you want to pick BG, listen to as much of it as you can and as often as you can. Try not to focus on the mandolin parts exclusively but learn the mandolins' role in the BG ensemble and how BG music is structured as well. There's so much more to BG music that most people aren't aware of and you can't learn it overnight...except mechanically. :))

Learning to pick out tunes on the mandolin is the easy part...the difficulty comes from leaning proper techniques, timing, taste, and TONE. Oh! and I forgot to mention picking often with others in jams or whatever is a MUST!

:mandosmiley:

[chordbanger]

My heart is into playing guitar, but I also like to play mandolin and other instruments.

[Brad Weiss]

Not to hijack, but: I have to admit that on occasion I think, I should really just put down the mandolin and take the guitar more seriously, take lessons, really study the style I want to play. To be honest, if I could be great at either, I'd choose the guitar, because I think solo guitar can sound fantastic, and even great solo mandolin is not nearly so full and appealing a sound (for what I like to hear). But, I can't quit on the mandolin because I've come this far now, and I think it'd take me forever to get halfway decent on the guitar, and then I'd still be halfway decent!

So, my advice: for godssake don't play the banjo!!
No, it's actually, which do you feel more of an aptitude for - you'll enjoy it more if you feel some satisfaction in what your playing.

[fredfrank]

A few years back when my old car was broken, the mandolin fit easily into a backpack so I could make practice/gigs on the motorcycle.

Mandolin also fits nicely into the overhead on airplanes.

(Full disclosure: I seem to recall Fred Frank having a photo of banjo case bungeed as the passenger on his motorcycle).

This was back when gas was $4 @ gallon! I actually prefer playing the mandolin when I go to jams where I'm playing unfamiliar material, but playing the fast bluegrass stuff is easier for me on the banjo.

I was working on both at the same time for a bit, and then got a gig as a banjo player in a band. So the mandolin got put aside for a few years. Then, I decided - actually my back decided - it was time to get back into the mandolin.

[man dough nollij]

Mandolin is my first instrument, and is definitely my favorite. A couple of years ago I got completely swept away by the sound of clawhammer-style banjo, so I bought an open back five. I dinked around with it for a while, and just realized that I was splitting my meager talent and time between two different pursuits, and never passing mediocre in either one. I decided to sell the banjer, and stick to mandolin.

Since octave mandolins are so similar, I don't see a conflict of interest there. I plan to to stick to the mando and OM until I feel limited by them (probably never!), and then maybe give CHB another whack.

:mandosmiley:

[M D SMITH]

So, my advice: for godssake don't play the banjo!! No, it's actually, which do you feel more of an aptitude for - you'll enjoy it more if you feel some satisfaction in what your playing.

I think I have more aptitude for the mandolin, and it has the added bonus of being able to play it whenever I want. With the banjo I'm either trying to play soft, or muting it, in which case it doesn't really sound right. I do love the sound of a good banjo break though. When I hear Jim Mills play Pig in a Pen it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

[Randi Gormley]

It kind of sounds like you'd like to throw your heart and energy into really playing, and that you can't do that with the banjo because of its loudness ... which kind of argues for the mandolin as an instrument that will let you be a free spirit more easily, if that matters to you. I like the sound of a good banjo as well (one of our band members plays one on occasion and he can pretty much take over the whole tune if he wants), but I play a mandolin because it allows me to make music pretty much without restraint.

[Ivan Kelsall]

If you enjoy both instruments,stick WITH both instruments. If you decide one of them 'really' has to go,go with your gut feeling as to which you want to play,
Saska

[Mike Snyder]

How 'bout accordion..................or the washboard?

[M D SMITH]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I figured I wouldn't get many replies except for people saying: "It's your decision, no one else can tell you what to do" type of stuff. I've never had the opportunity to take lessons private for any instrument. I've got a couple extra bucks right now, so I think I'm going to give mandolin lessons a shot, I think this might help give me some direction, and a goal to work towards.

[Rick Schmidlin]

I also play guitar but my heart is with the mandolin and also a special friend.