Search:

I imagine that lots of folks here are in the same boat as me, local jams cancelled for now. We're trying to figure out what if anything might work as a platform for jamming together online. Has...

Nice article. Great quote from Monroe at the end!

Absolutely make the change. Listen to and watch that Mike Marshall video. I had been playing for about two-three years by the time I realized that some basic right hand technique issues were holding...

That was great, Mark! Huge fun and very nice playing and singing. Thanks for posting it!

Wow, I can't say I've ever done that, but it definitely makes a difference to the speed and quality of my learning if I listen, listen, listen.

I was born in Raleigh. Mom’s from Mt Airy and Dad’s from Statesville. But I’ve been living in Chicago for over 30 years. I’m waiting on a Cedar Mountain Banjo from Tim Gardner who’s near Brevard. So...

I’m becoming increasingly impressed by how differently different people learn. There’s no one right way. I used to learn a lot from tab and books. Lately I’ve been learning exclusively by ear. To me,...

Thanks to all for the encouraging words ! The backing track is from GrassTrax. They have a bunch of bluegrass tunes. Each one is at a bunch of tempos from 60 to around 130 I think.

Why not start by copying licks you’ve heard and liked from the players you like best? YouTube is so great for this now, with its slow-downer feature.

This is about the best I've done yet on a bluegrass tune. I'd appreciate any feedback. I'm trying to play David Grisman's solos from Home is Where the Heart Is.
...

To me the coolest thing here is not the pick but how he holds it. He shows a lot of pick, yes. Also looks like it’s flopping around like crazy in a couple of those pictures. I know he says to hold it...

No mandolin content, but a great biography of a musical giant: Say No to the Devil. A bio of Rev Gary Davis. Maybe read that one right after Satan is Real.

Wow! That is one stunning banjo. You are certainly worthy of it, no matter what kind of banjo player you are. Owning something like that will get you behind the instrument. Post a video sometime....

...in his opening solo of Long Journey Home with Doc Watson from the Home is Where the Heart is cd. That is, until the closing run of that solo, which I can only play at 3/4 speed. But I’ll take it! ...

On a whim I recently tried a set of d’addario nickel bronze strings. Hated them at first, they sounded harsh and metallic. But now they have settled in and the tone is great. Especially on the chop,...

With that attitude, you’ll do great! Maybe a good time to work on string crossing too with open-string exercises, unless you’re better at that than I am.

Thanks to everyone for your very helpful thoughts. I play a lot with the metronome as part of my daily practice routine. Like everyone else, I imagine, I've been doing two things there -- finding...

I’m having trouble getting into a good groove when I play. Not a problem with fingerpicking guitar (which I’ve played for longer than I have mandolin) or clawhammer banjo (which I’ve played less than...

Same thing happened to me. Coming from guitar, when I first learned 7th chords on the mandolin I just couldn’t hear that sound. You can get it in the appropriate places by playing tremolo on a double...

Hey Mark, I’ve wondered about the flatpicking boom-chick too. Especially since guys who played in an older style, like Stokes, often hit something more like a hard, driving brush stroke on the 2. ...

I agree with Mark. It's all in the thumb hitting the alternating bass on the bottom three strings, laying down a rhythmic carpet and establishing both the groove and the chordal background. Then...

How often do you play through the chord progression of a tune you know? It’s natural to skimp on that since the melody is what draws you to a fiddle tune. But I find that if I play the chord...

Sigh. I have to stop reading threads like this. I like my mandolin fine while I’m playing it. Then I read this, or visit the classifieds, and MAS sets in. Why do I do this to myself?!?!

Anyway,...

I haven’t hit that point yet. But for a while now I’ve been feeling like I can see it just over the next couple of hills. I have had that feeling, multiple times, with fingerpicking guitar, which...

Glad your set went so well! And of course you are far from alone. I sometimes take a mandolin or guitar on vacation, took one with me all the way to China right now as I'm here for a month working....