Search:

LOL -- thanks, Charlie, for setting me straight -- I'd been told that the 'chop' that mandolin does in bluegrass is a percussive sound that takes the place of the drum kit in, say, rock and roll --...

I worry about the "AI is just a tool" argument because your average airbrush, chisel, CNC machine or synthesizer is still wielded by a human being who may choose to copy something else but that's a...

i mean, banjolins exist.

also, if you're interested in ITM, mandolin is considered a melody instrument and in bluegrass, it's considered a percussion instrument, from what i've been told...

were you planning on playing it? also, to help those who have expertise, if you could add photos of the back, the back of the peghead to see the tuners and from the side to see how the strings sit...

welcome to the cafe! you have an appreciative audience, if nothing else! we can all marvel!

Just a spectacular looking (and sounding) instrument. Congrats!

I attended the shaskeen session a couple of times pre-covid as a drop-in after my granddaughter was born and I was keeping my daughter sane; fairly fast-paced with excellent players and while they...

Another suggestion to go to a session, whether you can play the tunes at all, or play them at speed. Tutoring and learning one-on-one is good, but there's nothing like seeing a working session to see...

to cull from other suggestions: you don't have to play every note; you don't need to play ornaments; mandolin is normally quieter than the fiddles, so if you make a mistake, nobody can actually hear...

welcome to the cafe!

welcome to the cafe! and the mandolin!

I don't have any advice except that sometimes you need to just take a break, play something entirely different and then come back to it, although I don't have any real suggestions on timing.

was there an olive colored Cafe cap at one point? I love them but keep misplacing them. I have two on hand ... or maybe make that one. i don't know what I did with the other one ... that are khaki.

In addition to adding my 2 cents about double checking your mandolin technique (which, as was mentioned, is not guitar technique -- case in point, it's good guitar technique to hold your hand...

I know Marla Fibish -- and I've taken courses with a few guitar-and-mandolin players like Mary Coogan -- but I'm curious who else is teaching ITM mandolin. There's got to be some up and coming...

Individual capacity for alcohol varies and so do the effects. So it's not a one-size-fits all kind of thing. I spent some time as a bartender when I was in college, and my experience was that your...

As for Gene and the boys -- as long as they were in tune with each other, it probably didn't matter if they weren't in tune with A=440. Just putting that out there.

The one-inch nut on my snake is one of the reasons I bought it -- but I don't think that was a standard size even back in 1923; like rcc56 said, the nut width can vary on the early Gibsons. So now...

welcome to the cafe!

I don't own a capo, but if you do (for a guitar or whatever), you can pull up the strings and put them on the posts, capo the strings near the top and then wind the strings...

the clip-free ones look interesting -- but i only own two or three tuners (all clip-ons) so I need to be able to move them from instrument to instrument; that, and I have no logo on my headstock,...

anecdotally, my bandolims are noticeably deeper than my snake or Eastman and they seem to have a warmer tone and longer sustain/ring. Just a note from someone who doesn't study this stuff.

Rob Meldrum's book has saved many a not-quite-there-mandolin from the rejection camp but even a Rogue A-style from Musician's Friend for $99 can be played with a bit of a tweak. Even with an $80...

I've glanced at this over the years and realized today I've never added any milestones of my own -- and I should have, since my snake turned 100 in 2023! so happy belated birthday to my favorite...

Just lovely playing! And i actually knew three of the tunes! What a great session!

Such a great update! Glad it finally came home to roost!