Guitarists who converted to die-hard Mandolin Players first?

[Swandoline]

I have played guitar for over 25 years. Just a closet Clapton really. Three kids and real life relegate my time to picking at home while watching the kids play in the backyard. I'm even semi convinced that if things got tight financially my Martin may end up going before my mandolin. Since taking up mando two months ago, I've barely played the guitar and I am glued to the mando. I'm guessing the newness of the mando may diminish, and my new found obsession may dwindle a little over time, but I don't know. Obviously the guitar is more versatile as to the different types of music I can play, but there is something about a mando. The tone, the woody chop, the convenient size of the instrument ( especially when you have three kids packing everywhere you go ). I definitely have more patience and enjoy picking out melody lines more on the mando. Maybe there just tend to be fewer bad notes? I know you still always play guitar, but who are the converts who consider themselves mando players first now after being guitarists. Heck, I'd even have converted to banjo but that instrument scares me. Seems like way too much going on for this clown to comprehend or make sound good, but hey Steve Martin plays and pretty darn good to.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Me, defintely. Guitars are confined to their cases... I should probably sell the Martin and the Gibson... and keep the other three...

[Jim Garber]

My gigs are usually guitar and sometimes fiddle. Mandolin ones are few and far between. Mandolin is the easiest to pickup when I am in my rather cramped office. Still i like them all

[catmandu2]

Heck, I'd even have converted to banjo but that instrument scares me. Seems like way too much going on for this clown to comprehend or make sound good...

Well, Steve Martin plays Scruggs-style bluegrass, which does take some practice to even out those rolls and make music. But there are lots of other picking styles that are easier--some folks have even gotten the swing of the "bum-ditty" in three hours--once you get the bum-ditty down, it starts sounding musical. You can pick the banjo more like a guitar, too--a la Dock Boggs.

I think the mandolin is a respite from the gravitas of the guitar--when I began playing mando, I was quite smitten too and the guitars rarely saw any action for a couple of years. Banjos too. But, if you're into playing solo gigs and do a little singing, it's hard to beat banjos and guitars.

*These days, I rarely play mando at all, and instead play fiddle.

[Mike Romkey]

Count me in.

[outdoors4me]

My Taylor 810 has sat in the case since my mando periods - both of them. I'll dabble on the guitar once in a while, but I play my mandolin in earnest as my first choice.

Beck

[Flowerpot]

Definitely. I played guitar for 10 years before picking up the mandolin. After a couple of intense years of working at the mandolin, it was clear that it was a "fit", and my skills quickly surpassed what I had ever been able to do on the guitar. Took me a while to adjust to being known as a mandolin player, but now 2 decades later, I can't imagine anything different. I still pick up the guitar, often, but it feels bulky and clumsy in comparison.

You gotta follow your muse... the fun is in the trip, not the destination. Follow it wherever it goes.

[allenhopkins]

Love playing mandolin, but performing as a solo, with vocals, I sometimes don't take one along; it's guitar, banjo, ukulele. In band situations, always one or more members of the mandolin family. I'm starting to use my OM-strung Octofone as a vocal accompaniment instrument on some Celtic songs, so I may be taking it out more.

I couldn't contemplate dropping or de-emphasizing any of the instruments I play. There's a place for each of them (not so much for the bowed psaltery, though!).

[JeffD]

I think the mandolin is a respite from the gravitas of the guitar--

That is a very interesting observation.

[wadeyankey]

I had been playing guitar for a few years before I got a mandolin, and as several of you had mentioned before, my guitar rarely came out of the case after I got the mandolin bug. However, lately I have founf myself with a guitar in my hands really often, maybe even more than the mando.

I attribute this to the fact that all of my gigs are on mando, and the guitar is just a nice break from that. Plus, flatpicking fiddle tunes is just a really good time. I'm starting some fiddle and clawhammer banjo lessons this week, so things might begin to get a little more complicated...

[catmandu2]

That is a very interesting observation.

I should probably qualify a bit...it often seems that it is so for many folks, myself included--especially in conext of the OP. We hear this often, don't we. The guitar is big, burly, and its range seems to require some mastery from the player. Many folks seem to become fatigued in some way, from the challenge of playing an instrument with such range. We get 'hold of a mandolin--with its delightful double-strung resonance and plucky tone--play a few fiddle tunes, and voila...music. Its a great way to recover a sense of musicality and fun in playing. And for flatpicking guitarists, the relative ease provided by the short scale is refreshing.

I have experienced this with guitar, but I often experience it with doublebass and fiddle: sometimes, I just don't want to have to work that hard for tone.




I couldn't contemplate dropping or de-emphasizing any of the instruments I play. There's a place for each of them (not so much for the bowed psaltery, though!).

I used to go round and round trying to figure out which instrument I'd concentrate on. But then I decided to play folk music, and take the instruments and the gigs as they come. In 1985, I fell in love with the sound of hammered dulcimer in Russell Cook's shop in Estes Park. I've always had at least one in my possession since then...but I don't play out with them, due to logistical challenges. I so admire people with the dedication to haul these instruments about and tune them with changing environmental conditions--allowing them to share its lovely sound with others. With some people, their vision is uncompromising and such factors as logistical barriers don't impede them in their pursuit of expression. Me--I'm lazy: I opt for little instruments--fiddle, mando and accordians--whenever I can..

[Ed Goist]

I was a very raw, self-taught guitar player (read as: not very good) who played in a new wave rock bar band for a year or so back in the early 80s. In 1982, after graduating from college and getting married, I fully joined the rat race and the guitars were consigned to my closet. Fast forward 25 years...

About three years ago, I decided I wanted to re-visit my love of the guitar and music. I started to play my guitars much more regularly, and was on the brink of beginning guitar lessons.

Then a few months ago, while revisiting the albums Led Zeppelin III & IV, and, kind of on a whim, I thought that I'd like to try mandolin...I purchased a Kentucky KM-172 in March, and I basically have not put it down since.

I now consider myself more of a mandolin player (though that's being generous) than a guitar player. I've further reinforced my devotion to the mandolin by picking-up a very nice used Breedlove Quartz OO from the Cafe classifieds last week.

Though still quite new to mandolin, I find myself much more comfortable with it. Playing the mandolin seems much more intuitive to me than playing the guitar. I find it much easier to chord or riff along to tunes with the mandolin...Maybe it's the tuning in fifths?

Anyhow, I've started taking mandolin lessons, I practice about 2 hours per night (and it doesn't at all seem like a chore), and I have even volunteered to play a few pieces (easy stuff - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; Greensleeves; Edelweiss; and maybe a surprise version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) at an alternate service at our church later this summer...

I would have never considered doing this on the guitar...Maybe it's because there are so many really good guitar players around I would have felt intimidated to play in public so soon?...I don't know.

Anyways, put me down as a 'former guitar player' who has drunk the mandolin Kool-Aid!

[Alex Orr]

Lots of us here. I picked up the guitar in my late twenties and spent three or so years desperately trying to be a great flatpicker. Never really happened. Picked up the mandolin three years ago as a second instrument and almost from the outset people were telling me that it sounded like I had a better feeling for it. Fiddle tunes especially seemed far more natural. I tried to keep up my country-blues fingerpicking repertoire but really even that has gone by the wayside due to time constraints. I do wish I had time for both instruments, but it just doesn't seem to be the case. That being said, I do still play the guitar a good bit, except that now I basically just play simple rhythm and use it to accompany my singing either when jamming with friends or on a few tunes that me and a buddy (who is a far more talented picker) perform together. I can still find some basic lead lines for songs with easy melodies, but I have a hard time remembering my scales on the guitar and all the cool flatpick licks and breaks I used to know have all but vanished.

[300win]

Mandolin first for me, but I still fool around with guitar and banjo. I begin playing all three kind of around the same time, within a year. Then I got up in a band that needed mandolin, so there I went. Have played both guitar and banjo in band situations over the years, but the mandolin is the instrument I'm the best on.

[raulb]

I played the mando for about 10 years before I picked up a guitar.

At the time I told myself, "everyone plays the guitar." Well, so much for my logic. I have been to several jams of late where the mandos out numbered the guitars! I once went to one jam where there were 9 mandos and 3 guitars.

Now after 30 years of mando and 20 of guitar, I still mostly play the mando. I can extemporize better on it than I can the guitar. Of course, I am not very good at either.

[Perry Babasin]

Similar story! I played guitar for years in my youth, studied art in college the whole while playing in rock & roll garage bands, acoustic and electric. I eventually settled into making a living in the real world, became a Graphic Designer and gradually sold off all the equipment. Many years later my wife bought me an HD-28 at a pawn shop, and I started playing again. The whole time I had drug around an old no-name electric A-model mando that a friend had given me. In 2000 I dug it out to play with, and much to my dismay the neck collapsed when I tried to tune it up. Since then I have negotiated my way through several ebay mandolin deals (some better than others ha,ha,ha) but the end result is that I love these silly little things, I play constantly. I have an instrument that plays fantastic and sounds great, I will always play mandolin and consider myself a mandolinist, more than a guitarist... So for me, guitar is a great tool to lay down tracks to pick mandolin over...

[Jill McAuley]

I considered myself a "guitar player" for 20+ years, played in a bunch of bands, G.A.S sufferer - have owned something like 75 nice electric and acoustic guitars. But here I am, about one an a half years into playing the mandolin and I don't own a single guitar anymore. And quite frankly I hardly notice - I'm too busy playing my mandolin! I definitely think of myself as a mandolin player now. At one point recently I thought to myself "I should try to pick up a decent guitar just to have around the house again...." but then had a lightbulb moment and realized the better thing to do would be to get a tenor guitar - that way I still get my GDAE fix! Don't have the funds for one yet but just coming to that realization has made me stop trawling craigslist for guitars...

Cheers,
Jill

[Earlyman67]

I think being a guitar player makes it easier to learn mandolin. Already being
a stringed instrument player is a big advantage when converting. Chord shapes are different but we already know how to work a fret board. We can figure a song out on guitar then transpose to mando, something I need to do at times.
I play guitar semi-pro and learn only what I need to learn for our sets. Mandolin has taken over as my instrument that I can't put down, I think playing guitar for so long maybe it's just more fun to be playing a new toy, even if the new toy is in it's third year here.
I have started adding mandolin to my bands set list. I can't wait till the mando songs come up!
I also love the reaction I get to the mandolin. I have been asked many times "what instrument is that" pretty funny.
Just fun to be in a new world..

[pickloser]

Me too. Was a guitar player. Now I'm a mandolin player. Love it.

[Denny Gies]

Add one more. My split between the mandolin and guitar is about 80-20. I still like the sound of my Martin but play my Randy Wood most of the time. It still is all fun.

[JeffD]

I have been to several jams of late where the mandos out numbered the guitars! I once went to one jam where there were 9 mandos and 3 guitars.

.

That has never, ever happened to me. I may need to move west. When and where ever I have attended a jam, the majority instrument, usually by far, is the guitar, though sometimes neck and neck with fiddles. (Once I was played in a session in Scotland where the majority instrument was the bodhran, very spooky sound.) I have often been the only mandolin in the room, rarely more than three of us.

Until the internet and this cafe came along, it was a big deal to find anyone that played mandolin, we were all like long lost friends.

[Mandolin Mick]

I was a classical guitarist; i.e. Bach, Segovia, etc. for decades. Used to practice 6 hours a day, was in demand for weddings & Christmas concerts, etc.

I can honestly say that I play the guitar less than a few hours a year now and actually get annoyed at the sight of them and the sound of them; really!!!

It's a matter of personal taste, but I prefer the mandolin to the guitar.

Here's pictures of me playing both at a school performance.

[tree]

I came to the mandolin after 30+ years playing guitar. I think the mandolin is easier to play - everything is right there within fairly easy reach, plus everything is so much more symmetrical on mandolin. I think the symmetry has a lot to do with why it seems harder (to me) to pick out the melody on guitar.

I still play guitar, though. Just not as much, and often not for days at a time. But I get on these OCD kicks where I have to play it for a spell . . . and oddly enough, it seems to make the mandolin that much easier when I go back. Guitar requires more mental and digital athleticism, it seems like.

[jim simpson]

Played guitar (electric, acoustic, & bass) for 25 or so years before switching to mandolin as main instrument. I still play guitar frequently and had to play guitar with the band last Sunday as our guitarist was sick. We still had fiddle, bass, and banjo so it worked out. If you fill in with other bands, I find the mandolin will get me more work than guitar.

[Gelsenbury]

That is a very interesting observation.

Isn't it? My boss is a great guitarist. When he first saw my mandolin and started playing around with it (here was someone who had never played mando before playing on a whole different stratosphere than old butterfingers here), he said something very similar. He has since been considering the purchase of a mandolin because, as he puts it, he enjoys its fresh and "innocent" sound as a contrast to the seriousness and "worthy" routine of guitar playing.


That has never, ever happened to me. I may need to move west. When and where ever I have attended a jam, the majority instrument, usually by far, is the guitar, though sometimes neck and neck with fiddles.

Think about those of us outside the U.S.! Where I live, there seem to be a fair few people dabbling in mandolin because the local music shops do sell entry-level instruments. But I have seen *one* mandolinist on stage since I've lived here, and I know of *two* mandolin instructors in the whole county. Guitarists? I usually see several of them just walking around town. On the plus side, it gives me a sense of uniqueness even though I can't play for toffee. :D

[tnt2002]

I've been playing guitar since high school, but was never great. A few years ago, my wife decided I could get myself a 'real' guitar for my birthday (she's a keeper), So I got a nice Ovation Legend, but I also got a starter mandolin at that time. And I decided. This time, I'm going to learn the theory, do the scales, excercises, practice etc.

Turns out I rarely playeded my new guitar for the first year or so, and mostly played the mando. I tend to go full in when I discover a new hobby (beer brewing, smoking (meats that is)) etc.

But I always come back to the guitar. It's like an old friend. And I'm finding that some of my mando lernin' is translating to the guitar. But I think I'm a better mando player than guitar player. I wish I had time to master both, so if I had to chose one, I'd lean toward the mandolin.

TnT

[M.Marmot]

When i first got a mandolin it was because practically all my friends played guitar and i thought the world did not need another guitar player.

After a few years on mandolin i did actually buy a guitar just for accompaniment when singing but i never did warm to it, it did prove to be a great investment for my mandolin playing though as manys the jam was had with friends playing that guitar.

I also tried out a mandola as an alternative instrument for backing singing but again just was'nt my thing i'd always end up back with my mandolin.

Then i decided to just get a decent mandolin, one with a sound that would support singing, i found one and sold most everything else to finance it, and i have never looked back and have never again been tempted by those six stinged strumpets ;)

Outta curiosity, how manys of the big name mandolin players started out on guitar?

[Perry]

Similar story to many here...rock guitar player for years, never knew how to read music. I always had a pretty good right hand yet electric guitar, rock and roll and beer does forgive much sloppiness.

Got into acoustic mandolin; flat picking fiddle tunes; worked on getting the right hand "right" with proper ups and downs; learned how to read music; got into a bit of jazz; learned some theory.

Never gave up guitar completely, never will, but there were times when I did not pick up my guitar for almost a year.

A few years ago I started trying to translate the fiddle tunes I learned on mandolin back to the guitar and I never stopped. Lately I've been ignoring my mandolin at home though I play it out often at gigs.

Fiddle tunes are a blast on the guitar too! You can get some very phat sounding things going on the six-string. Give it a try :mandosmiley:

[Pete Counter]

Started on the guitar about 30 years ago, then about 15 years ago I took up the banjo for 6 years and traded that for the mando and have been primarily a mando player and part time guitar player \ part time bass player ever since. I like to be able to fill other rolls if the bass player dont show up or when you got two mando's and no guitar.

[JonZ]

Like a lot of people, I took up the guitar as a teenager. As a result, it has some teenage baggage attached to it--fantasies of rock and roll stardom, or whatever. For me, picking up the mandolin has been a more pure musical experience. I play it simply for the pleasure it gives me in that moment.

I am lucky to have a few valuable guitars and have been thinking about selling them to purchase my "last" mandolin. I think the possibility that my kids might take up guitar, or maybe that two of them belonged to my now deceased father, are the only things that are holding me back. I haven't really touched them since I started playing mandolin.

[250sc]

Started playing guitar and pedal steel, then picked up a mando. Played mando exclusively for 8 years or so until I developed repetitive movement issues in my left hand and needed surgury. Now mandolin agravates my nerve damaged left hand but guitar is fine so mando is out, guitar is in. It doesn't matter much to me as long as I can still play music.

[Swandoline]

Nice to hear from you other crazies.;)

[OldSausage]

Guitars are too big. Sometimes, though, the guitar is a respite from the gravitas of a mandolin.

As a side note, I don't think banjos have much gravitas.

[catmandu2]

As a side note, I don't think banjos don't have much gravitas.

Perhaps not...perhaps it's more gavy/vittles.