Hello everyone, New to the mandolin and the mandolincafe. But it seems like everyone else, I have been a lurker for a while. I just received my first mandolin the other day - a used Kentucky KM-630. I have been eager to get started in playing, and have been using some of the online resources to get me started. I dropped the instrument off at Sullivan Music here in town to have a complete setup performed. It seems that there a couple of issues which need to be address (crooked tailpiece, neck, action, etc.). The owner of the place is wonderful, so hopefully he will have it set up perfect in a week or so. In any case, at least the mandolin will get a short break from be strangling her for a while. Which leads me to the reason for my first post: does anyone here know of any good instructors in NC? I am in the RTP area, closer to Chapel Hill than Raleigh. Bear in mind, that I have zero natural musical talent or rhythm whatsoever, so whoever you recommend would need to either have the patience of a saint, be a little crazy, or possibly someone you have a grudge against! The good news is that I am excited to get started and maybe just stubborn enough to make it work. Thank you for any help you might be able to provide. This website has provided me tons of guidance already.
Welcome to the bunch, NCEric. Unfortunately I don't know any NC teachers, but I bet there is somebody in the area that help you. Since you have been lurking, I assume you have seen recommendations for on-line resources, both free and paid, skype or youtube, etc. But I'll mention the one I started with (and still make a yearly contribution to): mandolessons.com -- Baron Collins-Hill. He has good basic lessons on stuff like right hand technique, tremolo, posture, pick grip, etc. And he has great lessons on individual tunes. All free, with a quick mention that he takes contributions if so moved.
RTP = Research Triangle Park?
Welcome, NCEric!
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Yes, I am in the RTP (Research Triangle Park) area. At this point I have received a recommendation or two for mandolin teachers in the area from acquaintances, and I will trying giving them a call next week. So my next question is this? How do you ‘audition’ a teacher? What do I need to look for and ask? I tried playing guitar way back in high school and my parents got me lessons with a friend of a friend. Unfortunately, while this guy was a great guitar player, he was a poor teacher. Needless to say, it was not a good experience and I didn’t progress very far before throwing in the towel. I have always wanted to learn an instrument and regret almost making it to forty with making zero headway toward that goal. So this time around I would like to do things right.
I haven't 'shopped around' for a live instructor and I am not sure how I would do it. But I bet that if you posed the question out in the main forum, you would get a lot of input from both students and instructors. It is a good question.
Hank - Good idea. I think I might give that a try.
Welcome, NCEric. Forty is nothing. I was in my 60's before I started to learn mandolin, just a couple of months ago. I regret nothing!!! What a beautiful instrument.
