The superior instrument.

[fscotte]

Is the mandolin. I'm new to the mandolin, but not really. I've had a good one since 1999, but really just used it as a rhythm chop every now and then. For most of the last 25 years I've been flatpicking guitar in the style of TR, (I have the TR Tab Page), and I dabbled in banjo before that, was actually pretty decent on it too. Picked up the dobro a time or two, got into classical guitar and lately have been doing lots of fingerpicking ala Chet Atkins style on acoustic.

But recently something has turned me on to mandolin, don't know what happened. Well I guess I do know what happened, dad wanted me to pick the mandolin for a number our group did in church, so I actually had to sit down and figure something out on it. You know, actually make some sort of melody on a medium tempo song. As I worked on that to make it sound good and clean something clicked in my head and I was hooked. It's as if the mandolin was trying to bait me for the last 11 years with a plastic worm, then suddenly it threw on a big old juicy nightcrawler and I went for it.

What is it? I guess I can see how the music was written on mandolin. I can see the structure of the music. For some reason on guitar, it's difficult to actually see the structure of the music and how it moves and how the melody shapes and develops. Does that make sense? Hard to explain but I SEE it, I feel it moving across the fretboard as if the strings were musical notation.

Then there's this element of how one approaches the different instruments. As an example it seems that playing the guitar was more about the performance, about how good you sounded, but not necessarily the music. However, playing the mandolin seems like it is more about the music. Sure it sounds good too, the mandolin sure does sound good, the tone the woodiness, the punch, but it seems as if the music takes front stage rather than the performance. And this is what's important - the music. It's like coming home. And the versatility is amazing. I thought guitar was versatile. Not even close to the mandolin. You hear a melody in your head and you play it on the mandolin and it sounds good. You really can't quite do that on guitar without some alterations and sometimes creative improvisation.

Anyway, good to be here. I've known about this place for a long time but have never really paid much attention. That's all gonna change. Haven't been this bitten with any instrument. Ever.

[Jim DeSalvio]

Great story, and welcome aboard! I wish I could "see" the structure like you do. And the mandolin is such a cool instrument.

[JeffD]

I guess I can see how the music was written on mandolin. I can see the structure of the music.

I never played guitar, but I know exactly what you mean. The mandolin is so orderly and symmetrical, and the fifth is an important interval in western music, it all just makes more sense.

I can see the music better on mandolin than I ever could on clarinet or bassoon. (Bassoon as more than four keys just for the left thumb!) And I even understand music theory better visualizing a mandolin than a piano. Those black keys are as if there is something sacred about the key of C.



However, playing the mandolin seems like it is more about the music.

I agree. I know that its all about the music for me, and perhaps that is why I was drawn to the mandolin.

[Chuck Naill]

Someone else's request has been responsible for me getting serious about two instruments. I learned to play the banjo (clawhammer and two finger fingerstyle) because the band leader wanted to add the banjo layer.

While I played before, since last year the church worship leader wanted a mandolin in the mix and my wife was very supportive. At first I had my doubts about what real value it would play but it has had a very positive response. I am like a kid in a candy store.

Thanks for sharing. Yours is an inspiration for others.

[hank]

I found the same thing when I began to dabble with mandolin from guitar. After some investigation I understand why. It's the tuning. The mandolin shares the same tuning as the violin and other bowed instruments that mirror musical structure in the same way it has been organized and is written today. Our tuning in fifths seems so intuitive and perfectly structured making the melody fall effortlessly under the fingers because it follows the basic architecture of music. A friend of mine who teaches and plays many instruments effortlessly told me guitar is tuned in a way that the hand can comfortably play chords as opposed to the fifth tuning which is more geared for melody on single string and double stops which as you can imagine is also ideal for a bowed instrument. Anyway thats my explanation and I'm sticking to it.

[catmandu2]

Although the guitar can do it all, it's nice to take a break from its "gravitas" and "play" the mando--a very fun instrument with a bright, plucky sound. I always say that it's "refreshing" for a guitar player to pick up the mandolin.