The Fifth Course

I am writing this and posting it largely to remind myself of the following lessons. Perhaps those of you who also play out will benefit from it.

The Gig:
• Outdoor gig at a Farmer's Market in a small town in California's central valley.
• Four sets.
• One hundred dollars for the band plus tips.
Weather:
• Sunny and breezy with gusts up to 25mph
The Stage
• A dirt median strip in a parking lot
• Awning provided for shade ...

[Reprinted from the April 2010 issue of Stanislaus Connections]

The annual Tule Fog Fete is a fundraising event for Modesto, California’s Great Valley Museum. Held outdoors at Caswell Memorial State Park, the child-centered event includes live animal exhibits, docent-led walks through the park’s many riverside paths, snacks, silent auctions, and live music.

As a local amateur musician, I volunteer my services every year to the Great Valley Museum and the Tule Fog Fete. ...

Hi Folks,
I've just posted a new video to YouTube. The content is apropos of nothing on the Mandolin Café, unless you count the fact that I wrote and can play it on mandolin too.

I left space for you to jam with me...
Key of G. Four bars at the top over the G chord (I'm hammering onto the B note from the open A) and a full verse after the bridge. G, C, Am7, D, G, Am7, G.

If you enjoy it please consider subscribing to my channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Nestlerode), ...

This quote from the recent Mike Marshall interview got my attention:

I just borrowed a nylon string mandolin from Caterina Lichtenberg that with a little work, I think is going to be very very hip. I have always wanted one of these. I think I may tune it to a E, B, F#, C# (low to high) to make it a little looser. This will put it right in between a mandolin and a mandola. I know we all really don't like the Key of E, so imagine playing a G chord and sounding an E! You can do this if you put a mandolin

...

Who says an overdriven 8 string sounds bad?

The attached file is a QDAF (Computer nerds may get the allusion) Quick & Dirty Audio File I did for a class in Audacity I'm teaching on Wednesday.

Tune: Ashokan Farewell
Key: D

I'm actually working on a version of Ashokan that changes keys. I'm going for a Steve Vai/Joe Satriani vibe. Ashokan is such a great melody that I think it can handle a lot of different interpretations. This recording ...

Attached Files

• Ashokan1a.mp3 (1.09 MB, 938 views)

Like Pacific rim mandolins, electric mandolin family instruments are showing some market development. Back down in Hall E, among the acoustic instruments Eastwood Guitars showed their wares, including a soon-to-be issued electric tenor guitar. The example on display was a yellow Mustang-shaped tenor guitar tuned dgbe (low to high). It played well and looked great in butter yellow with a faux tortoise pickguard and white pickups. It should be available sometime this calendar year, and it will likely ...

Scott Tichenor is right. The National Association of Music Merchants convention is a cacophony of debilitating proportions. Everything you can think of that might be sold in a music store is being hawked, pushed, dealt, played, amplified, strummed, bowed, picked, struck, blown, printed, digitized, reproduced, sung, and displayed. All of this activity occurs in the same moment and repeats constantly from 10am to 6pm for 4 days.

Music celebrities are not above hawking wares made ...

I'm off to Anaheim in a week. My wife is calling it my annual weekend long window-shopping trip.

Goals for the show:
1) Get my paws on Jeff Cowherd's JBovier solid body emandos
2) See if Larrivee is trying again
3) Look for new entrants to the mandolin market
4) Cases: emando and mandola. Why are they so hard to find?
5) Amps: I wanna see little ones, and talk to makers about building them for emandos
6) Drum accessories for Kristen ...

Nick Morrison of KPLU has collected 5 tunes you all should hear. He's found folks who explore the space between Bluegrass and Jazz. The five he features are Richard Greene; Grisman, Auldridge, & Brozman; Alison Brown; Buell Neidlinger; and Chick Corea & Bela Fleck.

Of particular interest is the Buell Neidlinger cut, "Stardust." Andy Statman weaves amazing mando lines all through it. Those of you who think Andy is too far out there might be pleasantly surprised, ...

I've been using the mandolin (Gary Vessel F5) as a vocal accompaniment on a few songs for a couple of years. "Wish You Were Here" is one of the easier songs to transfer from guitar to mandolin, and it was the first song I tried.

But developing material for this endeavor is not as easy as playing the same chord progression on mandolin as guitar and learning the runs/leads. Choosing the right songs and choosing approaches to those songs is very important.

...