All Blog Entries

Three or so years ago I wrote a blog about not being a musician. At the time I of course thought that I had exhausted my musings. For reference.

Well here I am with more musings.

I am not a natural musician. Not at all. I am living proof that the Average Joe, someone of average ability, through a whole lot of constant enthusiastic practice and above average stubbornness, can get to a level that could only be considered an accomplishment if I were eight or ten years ...

Hi I am new to Bluegrass and Mandolin playing,and loving it.

I'm looking at Movable and Closed Chords and wandering where my focus should be initially.

My goal is to be able to play chop chords and have fun.

Any advice?

I'm a beginner mandolin player and came across a Como mandolin (which I've never heard of). Does anyone know anything about them. There is nothing on the internet.

Hello, Mandolin Cafe Folks...

Macovitski here...this is my first post so bear with me. I have been a long time flat picker on the guitar and lover of bluegrass. As part of duet I play in, I decided to add the mandolin to the mix. I was advised by my local music store to try out the Eastman 305 and 315 and I purchased the 315. I am very very happy with the instrument. I purchased it before Thanksgiving and my guitar does not venture much into the light of day anymore...I might ...

Just wanted to acknowledge Rob's contribution to the mandolin community by putting together a guide for setting up a mandolin.
Regards,
Paul

Hi All,
This is just a big thank you to Rob for sending me his eBook so promptly.
I will take time to digest it's contents but all the points I needed to know have been covered, so once again Rob thanks for the information.
Regards Tony.

We're privileged to be the first outside of the production team to receive any information about the new Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg J.S. Bach duo recording coming in April. This is sure to be one of the highlights of the year in what is already a very strong one for classical mandolin.

Since there's not enough information to share via a news release we're parking what we have in our blog.

The tracks:

The Fifteen Two-Part Inventions
...

I just saw the movie Whiplash, and it inspired a couple of reactions I think are relevant to us in the community of mandolinners.

The movie is about being pushed beyond your expectations into the realm of excellence, and asks the question how much pushing is useful and how much pressure is just over the top and damaging. The basic idea is that the two worst words for inspiring excellence are “good job”, as it encourages complacence, and real genius is not going to give up or be intimidated ...

Following the recent discussion about a fretboard from Bill Monroe’s mandolin being for sale on eBay for $75,000, and all the expected jocularity about that much money for a fragment of a mandolin, etc. Most of the fun was about the out-of-proportion expectations of the seller and the absurdity of expecting someone to buy it for that price.

Be that as it may, I would be the first to cheer if it is sold for that much or more.

I am beyond wondering why some things are ...

I'm Chris Paganoni and I play with a local band in Brevard County (Melbourne, FL) and I was looking to see who our local Mandolin / Violin player community has in it... We occasionally need a mandolin or fiddle player to sub in from time to time, and hoping that we can find someone that can fill in when we need it. Yes we are a paid band and don't play for free, but we are not in the "we do it for a living" category so pay tends to be modest but good for a non/full-time group. ...