Mandolin Cafe Site Information

EDIT: Since posting this a few years ago we've also added a video tutorial on how to subscribe to the podcast which some of you might find easier.

We're going to show you how to add the Mandolin Cafe MP3 podcast to your iTunes software in 5 easy steps in this brief web tutorial. This is not difficult so if you're gun shy about working with a little bit of technology, read on.

The MP3 podcast is a collection of most of the free tunes available on our MP3 page. We currently ...

Mel Bay has entered the Instant Access Download market for lessons. This is welcome news for mandolin players (and those of you that play guitar, banjo, fiddle, dobro, bass, uke, you name it). What's more, for those of you who have been using the Mandolin Cafe's Instant Access Software for lessons there's even better news: Mel Bay's catalog awaits you the next time you launch your Instant Access software.



For starters, ...

Like to contribute to new growing resource on the Mandolin Cafe? We're putting the finishing touches on our own searchable database of TablEdit files and welcome contributors.

TablEdit for those of you who haven't used it is a favorite piece of software in the mandolin world for creating and sharing music in standard notation and tablature. It can import music from formats such as midi and ABC (and others) and exports to many other formats. Audio playback of the tune is one of the ...

Version 2 of the Mandolin Cafe iPhone app has been released and is available from the Apple store as an update if already installed, or just search for the term "Mandolin Cafe" to download for the first time.

It's free.

What's new in version 2? We've expanded the forum access and created a separate Forum area that contains all forum subsections which then leads to a list in each sub-area ...

Here's some fun for fellow iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners. I recently implemented a series of Apple icons on the Cafe so that if and when you set a short-cut to a web site on your desktop (I'll show you how in a bit) you get an image of our choosing instead of the default screen shot of the web page (boring, too small! hiss...). I encouraged Dan and Ted to do this on the Mandolin Archive and JazzMando.com and here are the results below--you should see the icons for the three web sites contained ...

iPhone owner? There's a new way to connect to the Mandolin Cafe thanks to mandolin player and ace programmer Steve Smith who makes his home in Florida. Meet v1 of the Mandolin Cafe iPhone App, available for free from the Apple App Store, developed by Steve as his first steps into programming for the iPhone. We think he did a terrific job.



What's in it? For starters there's a mandolin chord finder, a simple hook into the MP3 of the Day, a search ...

Didn't lose you last time? Let's try harder. We had fun in a previous post presenting some tips and tricks to navigate this site more effectively, but let's get a little more involved.

11. Search the Mandolin Cafe from your browser's default search bar, from anywhere on the web.

Proof we wilfully engage in stupid web tricks.

Example: observe the screen shots of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and FireFox below, the two most widely used browsers on the ...

... and may not care about after reading them all.

1. OK, first, let me get this off my chest. It's..

Mandolin Cafe
not
Mandolin Café

The acute accent at the end of Café might look good if you're a French restaurant, but this place is a diner. Customers here put their elbows on the table, belch, wear their ballcaps and wipe their hands on their jeans. Just like I do. Now, I like a fine 6-course, one-seating dinner where the menu is selected ...

We want to give our visitors a preview of the new Mandolin Cafe ball cap colors. In addition to our original Khaki (center), we'll soon have options for Olive Green (left) and Charcoal (right). The samples we just received from our supplier are outstanding and we're really happy how they've turned out, and glad to offer different colors to those that have inquired. We anticipate receiving and then making the new colors available approximately one week from today.

Pricing will remain ...

I've always thought it a good thing to avoid talking browsers and software systems on this site. And quite frankly, I don't really care what people use as long as they're comfortable. Macs rule! PCs drool! Less filling, tastes great! Kentuckys are better than Eastman! No, Eastman is better than a Kentucky! Pegasus over Calton, no, other way around! If it ain't Gibson, it ain't ####! That ain't bluegrass...

But once in awhile, in musician terms, it's good to try out a new pick, a new ...