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But I always wanted to BE a cowboy! And I've been playing country and bluegrass music with standard tuning for nearly 60 years. Too old to start doing otherwise!

I use a heavy gauge on my main mandolin because I play bluegrass and a) need the volume and b) love the chop sound they provide.Recently, however, as I’ve been struggling with developing new skills...

Ivan, You didn’t know it, but you were the reason I bought my Weber Fern! I think of you often whenever I take it down off the wall, and I’m going to play the best I possibly can for you. You deserve...

I agree that my learning is a mix of many approaches. I've become much better at learning by ear, but that's taken me a long time. If I hadn't had the option to learn some basic tunes from sheet...

Australia and the US are about the same size.....

Phil, I just got to the Tiny/Up TENT/Down TENT section of Laura's wonderful book. It is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. I had found some useful videos (some mentioned above) for using DS on specific...

I've recently figures out how to pick out melodies "up the neck", using the plant-your-pointer-finger-on-the-root-note method. It works quite well, and I keep getting better at it :) BUT.... I...

Much depends on your individual Loar 520. I have one, and I like it very much. It served me well for BG, although it wasn't exactly a cannon. After a few years of playing and -- literally -- selling...

Thanks for these ideas. They all sound quite reasonable, and the mandolin itself is not much.

Just learned Clinch Mountain Backstep after someone played it at a session last night. What does the "backstep" mean? Is that a reference to the odd half-measure in the B part? to a dance? something...

When you answer this question so clearly and sensibly, I wonder how I could ever have asked such a foolish question! OF COURSE, any of the other melody notes played under a G chord would be harmonic...

Wow! Thanks for all the helpful posts! It will take some time to digest these useful pieces of advice, but wanted to say THANKS for helping. Oddly, bigskygirl's reference to the "plant your index...

Whew! And I thought I was finally getting a handle on things cuz I'm now learning to play White Dove in F instead of D, where I'd always played it previously! It reminds me of just how poorly I play...

Again, thanks for all these helpful responses. I suppose one of the characteristics of BG that distinguishes it from old time mountain/country music is its use of more sophisticated, jazz-like...

I think Mike's Satan explanation serves best. I'd have suggested "perversity" myself..... But WHY -- in a mandolin instruction book -- would Tottle pick these keys to present tunes for mandolin...

So is Andy Leftwich related to the Bloomington fiddler Brad Leftwich? Same level of talent!

I wrote Saga to ask about the top on the RM-25, and it is indeed maple. I think the Specs listed described it as maple, but the Features listed it as spruce. Saga says the Features is incorrect and...

Freezing up doesn't happen to me, but many other "psychological" things do when I play with a group (or for an audience). But there's only one ultimate solution, and that's for you to break through...

I have to agree with sblock. You just need to keep at it. I started fiddle and mandolin in my mid-sixties, and every day, I kick myself for not starting at 5 years old. But I didn't, and I'm stuck...

I've broken enough E strings and cannibalized my stash of once-complete sets of EJ74s that I'm putting a dozen E strings on my Christmas wish list! The individual envelope inside a set of EJ74s says...

Sorry, Jamie. The image is all I have -- I don't have the mandolin. There must be a label, as the fella who has it gave me a serial number -- 97900029 -- which is part of why I figure it's about...

No one's rung my bell yet, but the day's still young. And do you guys get yer knickers in a twist over "piano" too, instead of "piano forte"? Just wondering.... :)

OK, an important refinement on reading the info passed on by Ed. Makes sense, since Eastman's 2007 through 2010 serials appear to be numbers based on instruments manufactured each year. By the time...

Ask and you shall receive! (sometimes....) Thanks Ed -- Just what I wanted!