New Gal

Hello!

I am brand new to playing music and just purchased my first mandolin last Friday (Washburn A-model). This instrument was a long-time consideration and so I finally decided to pull that loose thread to see what happens. :)

I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and checking out this site for some time before finally deciding to sign up and meet the folks A huge thanks to all of you kind people out there as there are some really good tips and advice.

Kind Regards,
brobmarketing
(I'm a marketer by day, hence the handle)

Welcome!
This is a friendly place to share and learn.
You're going to love it.

Welcome aboard

Nice to have you here, and glad you decided to make the move and get started. Get ready to have some serious fun :mandosmiley:

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Originally Posted by brobmarketing

Hello!

I am brand new to playing music and just purchased my first mandolin last Friday (Washburn A-model). This instrument was a long-time consideration and so I finally decided to pull that loose thread to see what happens. :)

I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and checking out this site for some time before finally deciding to sign up and meet the folks A huge thanks to all of you kind people out there as there are some really good tips and advice.

Kind Regards,
brobmarketing
(I'm a marketer by day, hence the handle)

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Welcome. This is a terrific forum. You will get a lot of great advice here. Now that you have a mando it's time to start thinking about the next one!

Welcome to the cafe’.

I believe that what you will find here is just about everything you need to succeed at mandolin, various kinds of mandolinning.

Its all here for us. It is only us that can let us down. We supply the mandolin, the sweat equity, the practice, the exercises, the jam sessions, the courage. What is left to us is everything that is up to us.

One of the greatest adventures of my life.

Welcome to the forum, what kind of music are you interested in playing?

Welcome!

The resources available to a new player today are mind-boggling compared when I started.
And there are links or threads or posts here on this site that will lead to all of them.

(Goes into old-person rant:
Back in my day ...If you knew no local players or teachers,
You might learn off a book
But how would you even know of the existence of such a book?
You couldn't search the internet
You library probably wouldn't have one listed
You would trek to your nearest music store
Which might not be that near
The music store owner would see what was in the catalogue and offer to order
something like "a complete mandolin method"
which seemed to have scales and everything except the music you wanted to play
Only the city stores had things like Jack Tottle's or Jethro's books
Which only came out in the mid-to-late 1970s)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bren

Welcome!

The resources available to a new player today are mind-boggling compared when I started.
And there are links or threads or posts here on this site that will lead to all of them.

(Goes into old-person rant:
Back in my day ...If you knew no local players or teachers,
You might learn off a book
But how would you even know of the existence of such a book?
You couldn't search the internet
You library probably wouldn't have one listed
You would trek to your nearest music store
Which might not be that near
The music store owner would see what was in the catalogue and offer to order
something like "a complete mandolin method"
which seemed to have scales and everything except the music you wanted to play
Only the city stores had things like Jack Tottle's or Jethro's books
Which only came out in the mid-to-late 1970s)

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"Yes, but we were happy." ;)

Welcome to the Cafe, "brobmarketing," the folks here will answer any questions you have. A highly knowledgable and supportive group.

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Originally Posted by Ranald

"Yes, but we were happy." ;)

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Part of the happiness was that we could indicate the difficulty of finding resources with our lack of progress, (which was just as likely due to lack of practicing).

Today we can't be happy because everything we need is right here in front of us, there is no excuse for not being excellent. :) Those who need new and better reasons to avoid practicing, there is a resource even for that. My infamous thread.

Already have, DaveGinNJ...... it may be an F-model and something most likely a little less budget-friendly. :)

However, I've given myself a goal - if I continue practicing for a solid 6 months, I will pick out a nice leather strap for the Washburn.

I like a little bit of everything - classic rock, bluegrass/country and Gaelic - which is one of the many reasons I ventured more to the A-model as I wanted the versatility a bit more. (well, that AND the cost)

If I'm being completely honest.... I originally thought that my favorite Fleetwood Mac song "Never Going Back Again" incorporated mando in it. I've since learned that the iconic sound was produced from a detuned guitar, but I'm still a sucker for the sound of a mandolin and have loved this instrument for years.

As a first step on this journey, I'm spending a couple of weeks to familiarize myself with the mando, watch a couple of YT videos - and build up some callouses - and then it's off to the luthier to ensure a proper set up and maybe get a new set of strings. From there, I think it might make sense to take some actual lessons as videos are great but I would prefer not to develop bad habits that would be harder to break down the road.

Thanks for the question, @707erich

If you look at the top right of the home forum page you’ll see Learn/Listen, that has a lot of information in it. If you haven’t already started playing the two finger cords you can then go to cord library then two finger cords to get you started on some easy strumming. I started with the G, C, and D cords. Good luck with the callouses.

There are a lot of great learning resources out there, but you can't go wrong with www.mandolessons.com.

+1 on mandolessons.com

Lots of us got our start with Baron....

What music do you like?

She answered in post # 13.

welcome to the cafe! looking forward to updates on your progress!

Welcome to the Cafe, check out the social groups here. You might be interested in the song of the week and the Newbees sections.