Guitar players too?

[Jocaef]

I was wandering how many of you can also play acoustic/electric guitar? I assume many but how many would call them self good guitar players?
Also is playing mandolin much easier than playing guitar? (if at all)

[Jill McAuley]

I played guitar for 20+ years prior to picking up the mandolin. I wouldn't say the mandolin is easier than guitar - just different.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I play banjo (54 years at it) & guitar for 20 + years. I'm still a pretty solid banjo player in straight forward 'Scruggs style',but i'd hesitate to claim the same for my guitar playing. I sold my last acoustic guitar,simply because after having had it for close to 7 years,it had only been played for maybe less than 5 hours in that time = i found it too large !. I do have an elec.guitar which i drag out from time to time,but,again,i'm no 'rock legend'.

My big problem with the guitar is this - i totally love every style of guitar playing out there - so WHICH style do i go for ??. I've yet to make my mind up !!.

As for 'easier to play' - everybody knows that the VERY easiest instrument to play,is any one of them 'played badly' !. Seriously,all instruments have their own difficulties & we have to work hard to overcome them. I will say one thing that most Cafe members will agree with - the tuning of the mandolin ''in 5ths'',helps to make it a very logical instrument to learn. That does not mean it's an 'easy' instrument to learn,simply that one step,that of learning the fingerboard fingering is made slightly easier because of the tuning.

Possibly if i'd spent as many hours on guitar as i have on mandolin these last 13 years,i'd be a pretty good guitarist as well - maybe my next challenge - actually play the darned thing !.

The biggest step in learning any instrument,is believing that you can do it !. Unless you have that belief & the determination to 'stick with it',you've failed before you've even begun. Nothing worth while comes easily,but the satisfaction gained when we achieve our goal is immense. I taught myself to play Bluegrass banjo in just over 3 years,& not for one single instant did i ever believe that i'd fail. The same with mandolin,although it took a tad longer to 'get there'

Do what you need to do to learn,& try to work thing out for yourself - that way,things 'stick' a bit more. Any real obstacles,& on the Cafe,you're in the right place to get the answers (mostly),
Ivan

[TallMikeM]

caveat, I am not a very good guitar player, however I would say that, melodically, the mando makes a lot more sense (as said above, it's a more logical instrument). I would say the guitar is physically easier, certainly on the fingertips (mine are starting to toughen up now after a few years mostly playing fiddle) however there is generally less moving about required on the mando (I can comfortably reach 8th fret from 1st pos on mando without moving my hand). I would say that, after only a few months playing mando and over 10 years on guitar, I am a better mando player than guitar player.

[almeriastrings]

I played flatpick guitar for many, many years in various bands before taking up the mandolin seriously. I still perform with both, and teach both, but oddly enough I would say that if I really had to choose, these days it would be the mandolin

[Eric Platt]

Spent nearly the last 30 years considering myself a guitarist. Only picked up mandolin seriously this year. It's what I spend almost all my time practicing and playing at jams. But most of my friends still consider me a guitarist.

[onassis]

My guess is that you would find many more guitar players than not among the forum members. Culturally, guitar is the instrument that young people have taken up, and is the most common gateway drug to other instruments. Whether many of those players would claim to be good - well, that's entirely up to them.

I came to the mando from guitar when I realized just what an all-guitar orchestra my regular jam was. I wanted to do something different, and the mando was an inexpensive ($200?) alternative. I haven't looked back. I still play a lot of guitar, but seldom with groups. There are always other guitar players, so it's really for my own enjoyment these days. It provides a certain thrill that the mando doesn't. But I consider the mando to be much easier to learn and progress on, in it's own way. Much more logical.

[CES]

I would consider myself a better/more versatile guitar player at the moment. It's the one I've played the longest and the one for which I took lessons. I play both acoustic and electric. That said, I head up the youth praise band at church, and play much more bass/uke/mando/mandocello than I do guitar, simply because there are plenty of guitar players in the band, and I want to keep some variety in the wall of sound. Mando is by far my favorite for most applications. This past Sunday, though, a couple of kids were out, so I played some rhythm and lead acoustic guitar, and will admit it was like running into an old, comfortable friend, lol...

If only I could get all four limbs doing different actions at once...finding a good, consistent drummer is tough...

I also don't feel that one is "easier" than the other. They each have strengths and weaknesses, and challenges.

[Victor Daniel]

I came to mandolin after many years on the guitar. I still love the guitar. Something about it’s deep soulful sound always make me happy. Mandolin is my primary instrument these days. The small size and logical scale of the mandolin allow me the most freedom of expression. I find it harder to fluidly move through the scales on the guitar. The frets just seem too far apart after years of mandolin. I can go to a festival and play for days on the mandolin without loosing stamina. If I’m on guitar duty my hands cramp up after a few hours. For me Guitar is physically more challenging but much better as accompaniment for vocals. It’s also better solo performances as the mandolin is a little thin without some bass or guitar backing it up.
I also enjoy playing an occasional banjo and the fiddle, but with 2 young kids, any musical time I can squeeze out gets split between Mando and guitar.

[Mandoplumb]

Unlike most, I started on mandolin at about the age of 10. I would watch the guitar players hand for the chord changes. As I progressed I would play a simple lead, maybe even taking breaks, still watching guitarist in unfamiliar songs. In time I started chording guitar and later flat picking. I did not quit mandolin and became very competent on guitar never great but I could play it till a guitar player came along. I always considered myself a mandolin player first. Now due to some hand problems in an old man I have some difficulty reaching across the guitar fretboard so l don’t play guitar often. Thankfully I can still handle mandolin.

[Mark Gunter]

Like so many others on here, I played guitar for many years and was good enough to sit in here and there and put on shows now and then, never great at it. But played so long that I explored many styles (the key is to start young, I guess, Ivan! . A few years ago I got an interest in Bluegrass and started playing at jams ... and then picked up mandolin.

I still suck at mandolin after more than two years, but I love it more than guitar. So I've been playing mandolin almost exclusively at home, and guitar when I play out somewhere.

Like Jill said, it seems to me that neither is easier to learn, but very different. And like Ivan said, it's easy to play any instrument and suck at it. Whichever you go for, enjoy the learning and have as much fun as you can. It's a journey, and no one gets good overnight, but anyone can have fun. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly - at least for awhile.

[Timbofood]

Once again, Ivan has made the critical point about playing an instrument! If you WANT to play an instrument, any instrument, it is not hard if the desire is there, every instrument demands different attention to its particular design and place in the musical world. I started out playing OT banjo, then I saw Bill Halsey play. I was hooked, sold off the crappy banjo and bought a Harmony mandolin. From there it’s been mostly mandolin all the time, I still enjoy OT banjo but, have not played it much in years. BG guitar, I play because sometimes you need a guitar player but, I’m not particularly good. I honestly have not taken my Guild out of the case since I had the bridge repaired six months ago. I keep telling myself I need tojust dig out my old stand and put it by the idiot box and play instead of watch TV!! A buddy of mine has also left me a delightful old Washburn OT banjo which deserves the same “Stand over Case” treatment! I’m just lazy I guess.

[fatt-dad]

I play guitar. I got a bit of a collection too! So, they are similar in that regard!

I just bought an OM28A and it may be my last guitar! Love it!

f-d

[JeffD]

I play mostly mandolin, a little guitar and that relatively recently.

My impression is that both are about equally difficult to play well. But the mandolin makes so much more sense. To my experience (and mando bias) there is so much about the guitar that is arbitrary, stuff you just deal with and memorize. Do this except here, always do that except there and there, this works, but only starting here.

Where from the get go the mandolin just seems to make sense. There is a system there.


Hey six strings, four fingers. The guitar wins before you even started.

[Caleb]

I played guitar for about 15 yrs before picking up mandolin. I’m a pretty good rhythm guitarist, but overall a mediocre player with a very limited knowledge of the instrument. When I play guitar it’s almost always to sing songs.

I’m a better mandolin player and can do much more on it than I can guitar. From day one it has made more sense to me. YMMV.

[Roger Adams]

I play banjo, guitar and mandolin. The mandolin for a little less than a year. My experience is that the mandolin has made me a better guitar player. That said, my friends would most likely say I am a banjo player!

[Steve Lavelle]

I can still play guitar, but I rarely do it in public. Now it's mostly a tool to use when I am working on vocal melodies and i want a richer chord to sing over. Living in the SF bay area means the supply of good guitarists is nearly inexhaustible, so the mandolin is always the first choice now. Still play some bass and banjo, too. Grew up with 2 brothers who filled the lead and rhythm slots, and another on keys, so bass ended up being my focus during the decades I played in electric bands. Got tendinitis from all the long stretches on the bass fret board with my short fingers, and that's when I started to focus on the mandolin. Guitar mastery is elusive because of the wide variety of instrument forms and techniques. I would say mandolin is easier, but not easy.

[DavidKOS]

I've been a working guitar and bass player since 1972, long stint in the AFM, played touring shows and theater work, big bands, jazz combos, wedding bands, etc.

Once in a while I got hired to play mandolin or tenor banjo.

[Steve Ostrander]

I play guitar, bass, mandolin, mandola, OM, and mandocello. I started playing guitar when I was about 14. Worked on my chops for about 5 years; then joined a band on electric rhythm guitar. Switched to another band on bass since they already had 2 guitar players. Played bass for about 20 years, then took up mandolin on a lark. Now I play mando in a duo and bass in a 4-piece rock band.

Am I a good guitar player? I can hold my own on rhythm, but I'm not great. I'm probably better on mando and bass. But I can't imagine not having a guitar. I have an acoustic that I play a lot and an electric that I hardly ever play. Seems like guitar players are on every corner, but everybody needs a bass or mando player. So diversity gets you more gigs.

[Mike Scott]

I started late in life (51 or so , 71 now). That was on guitar and was about 12 years before trying out mandolin. I have more guitars than mandolins, but because I don’t plan to play guitar outside the home so they are all of lesser quality than my mandolins. I play guitar and mandolin about the same amount of time. I play fingerstyle on guitar, so mandolin seems a bit easier at this level, but had a devil of a time getting into it.

[foldedpath]

Like many others here, I played guitar for 30-odd years before picking up mandolin.

I'd rate myself as a good player. I've moved through several styles over the years, starting with Graham/Fahey/Kottke fingerstyle, then moving into Blues and eventually playing lead guitar in an electric Blues bar band. I've dabbled a little in beginner-level Jazz guitar, some Bossa Nova, that kind of thing. I also play slide guitar.

I don't play guitar now as often as I do mandolin, since getting interested in Irish/Scottish traditional music on mandolin (and lately, flute). But I still pick it up occasionally for strummed backup along with my fiddler S.O. at home, or when friends come over for a kitchen session. I've worked out some fingerstyle arrangements of the slower trad tunes, but it's more of a sideline now. All the electric guitars have been sold off... I'm down to one steel string acoustic, one nylon string guitar, and one vintage roundneck Dobro for slide (which I hardly ever play any more).

On the question "is playing mandolin much easier than playing guitar?" I'd say the mechanics are equally challenging to learn to do well. The choice of music genre has a larger part to play, I think. I found it easier to learn how to play Blues on guitar than Irish/Scottish music on mandolin, because Blues is 100% guitar-centric music. That's where it was born, it just falls under the fingers. With Irish/Scottish trad, it's a question of making a non-sustaining instrument fit into a genre that originated on sustaining instruments, where the mandolin is something of an outsider. There is a challenge in figuring out how to make it fit in. But it's fun when it works.

[Phil Goodson]

Strummed mediocre rhythm guitar (pop music) for ~40 years (off and on) in garage bands and at home.
Tried banjo for a couple years, then rejected that idea.

Discovered mandolin in my mid fifties and wondered where it had been hiding all my life.
(Guess I was the unenlightened one.)

Still pick up a guitar at home for fun, but never take one out to a jam or try to play serious music on it in public.
Took up the upright bass in my sixties and play regularly with a small group, mostly in private. Find that it's a great combination with the mandolin in terms of my satisfaction.

[TallMikeM]

tell you one things that's easier on guitar than mando, bends. 2 tone bends on mando, boy that stings!!!

[allenhopkins]

I long ago foreswore virtuosity for versatility, so -- starting on five-string banjo 50+ years ago -- I added, in no particular order, acoustic guitar (6- and 12-string), Autoharp, mandolin family. Appalachian dulcimer, bass fiddle, harmonica, ukulele, Dobro resonator steel guitar, National slide guitar, English system concertina, tenor banjo, and a bunch of instrumental oddities like kalimba ("thumb piano"), mouth bow, bowed psaltery, tiple, Jew's (or jaw) harp, guitarron, whistle, and other miscellany as needed.

Most of my semi-professional performing is done on 6-string guitar, 5-string banjo, ukulele and harmonica; a lot of my sporadic studio work on harmonica (which I also teach at a local music school), mandolin family instruments, and Dobro. I seldom go to any musical event -- jam, sing-around, family gathering with other musical kin -- without a guitar and a mandolin. I have an urge, also, to show up with an instrument no one else will have, which could mean any of the oddball "toys" i can dig out.

If a person wants to work as a solo acoustic musician, a guitar is almost a requirement; its timbre and acoustic range are so suited for vocal accompaniment, and it's become the standard for "folk music," which is how I see my performing niche. I play guitar almost entirely to back up singing, rarely attempt a "lead," but am relatively comfortable with a modest finger- and flat-picked style repertoire. I think the guitar, which seems to be the world-wide standard instrument, has become a near-necessity -- especially if you want to perform as a "single."

[Dave Sheets]

I play both mandolin, mandola and guitar, and switch back and forth between them with both the bands I'm in. Changing the instrumentation alters the texture and feel of the band, which I like. I like playing them both a lot, I feel like there is more "texture" available when playing mandolin (or mandola), because of how it sits in a mix relative either a guitar or a piano when comping. Lots to explore there, whereas the guitar seems to have more of a standard or set role. I play these blends of jazz/rock/folk/contra with room to try different styles. Not everyone's cup of tea I suppose, but this is for fun after all.

Play'em both, or follow Allen's lead and play everything you get yer mits on!