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There are at least hundreds of great players you've never heard of who can't travel because of their jobs or family, who play in local bands and local clubs, steadily honing their skills and their...

I had a rather demoralizing experience at a local session this afternoon. Great musicians, nice people, good music. I'm hardly a beginner at this point, but I knew not a single tune they played. I've...

Love that mandolin, and obviously, I love Mike Compton.

Something that often gets lost in conversations on this board about mandolins, technique, theory, etc., is the importance of musical...

I highly recommend players of all levels check out Mandolin Camp North in Charlton, MA, April 19-21.

There is really something for everyone, beginner through professional players, with many...

Who knows if I have literal ADHD, but I've always struggled with attention. When I was doing my PhD I found I could only focus on research so many hours a day, but I had tons of energy left over. I...

Context is everything. Beginner jam? Anything goes. Whatever gets people playing. Jam at my house? I really can't stand the Grateful Dead (sorry!), and I'm tired of hearing Wagon Wheel. Traditional...

Here's Bill Monroe's "The Chilly Winds of Shannon," which sounds totally natural on tenor banjo, IMHO.


https://youtu.be/J2R4bK2O034?si=ndLGTeQqR40inqVI

I was thinking exactly the same way until a friend let me play an Artist model recently. I was really, really impressed! We evaluated it in my living room next to a Weinman, a Duff, and a Stiver, and...

An Eastman was my first "real" mandolin when I just started to play in college. It was all I could afford (actually, it was slightly beyond what I could afford at the time). I got so much mileage out...

I have no idea of the answers to your questions but I totally bless this adventure! Send them an email? They probably won't be able to sell you anything there.

We know what we need to do: metronome, study, exercise, learn, write, improvise, play.

To work!

I recently went to an old time party at a friend's house. There were maybe half a dozen fiddles, plus banjos, etc. Big jam. I was playing my Duff. I played a few tunes and thought, well, this is...

Banish Misfortune on the Duff F-5.

https://youtu.be/eq5_G4oFQpI

And on tenor banjo, for sonic comparison.

https://youtu.be/tyCr49rPG0c

It's not lacking in expressive possibilities at all, there are just different possibilities than on the mandolin. I think tenor banjo is the winner here, and you should give it a shot.

Currently working my way through Enda Scahill's books and online instructional materials, which are really inspiring. Even as a melody instrument, there are new techniques, and it's very fun having...

Your comment sent me down a Tyler Jackson-sized rabbit hole. Stunning stuff!

I recently bought a 1923 Bacon Style-C 17-fret tenor banjo, my very first, and I am completely obsessed. I just can't get enough of the sound. Pray for me!

I was there, too. This festival rules. It's a great size with a great lineup. I so appreciated not having to jockey and muscle for position at the campsite when I arrived on Friday at noon.

I...

This is going to sound like a smart-alec answer, but you should learn the instrument you want to play, not the one that will help you approach the one you really hope to play. Since it sounds like...

Saw Noam's solo show in Vermont a few years ago (in the "before times," pre-Covid). My husband and I laughed so hard we were practically sobbing. Such a funny guy. The playing was also simply...

Just gotta find the song that suits your voice. If one doesn't exist, you can write it.

I recently had a picking party at my house. At one point there were four or five nice mandolins rotating among all the players, occasionally resting on the couch awaiting their next pilots. So much...

No matter what I do or how much I study I feel like a bull in a china shop at many old time jams. At one jam a "wise elder" told me that mandolins simply have no place in the genre. Whatcha gonna do....

Pour one out for this guy. I've never seen somebody admit they were wrong on the internet before. Hat off to you, sir!

https://youtu.be/573q7OSm_aI