Getting My Mandolin Played
I have built a couple of mandolins now, but have had no idea about how they actually play or sound. In fact, I am left handed, and can’t even hold a right-handed mandolin correctly. I have just completed a left handed mandolin for my own use, so we'll see if I can learn to play it at all. I will admit to being more of a woodworker than a musician. I entered the lefty mandolin in a woodworking show this week, and it won best in show in the non-professional division.
Here’s my left handed mandolin:
That award was based on looks, not playability or sound. I wanted to find someone who could play and evaluate my mandolins.
My wife and I recently visited Cambridge, MA to see several of our favorite singer/songwriters play together under the band name “Redbird” at a little club there. I emailed one of the folks that would be playing and asked if they would be interested in having a mandolin available to play, explaining that I had built it. He responded that he hadn’t played mandolin very much recently, but encouraged me to bring it along and come see him before the show. So, I did.
The musician’s name is David “Goody” Goodrich, and he primarily plays guitar, but is really a multi-instrumentalist. I found him before the show, and he was encouraging about my mandolin. He liked the feel and the sound, and started playing little riffs. It was nice to finally hear real music coming from it! He played the mandolin on several songs that first night, and asked me to bring it back the next night. During that next night’s show, he played it during about half the band’s songs. The fact that he kept playing it encourages me that I must be doing something right.
Here is a little video I shot of my mandolin getting played by Goody Goodrich with the band Redbird at Club Passim in Cambridge MA on Friday night, August 22. The other band members are Peter Mulvey, Kris Delmhorst and Jeffery Foucault. The shows by Redbird have the feel of sitting around someone’s living room as each player in turn comes up with a song, with the others joining in. The video is a cover of Alejandro Escovedo’s song, "Wave."
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Originally Posted by Dotneck
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