Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 36

Thread: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

  1. #1
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    1,821

    Default Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    I spent a certain amount of time in this Forum, and on the Mandolin, and then (bows his head in shame) moved over to the Ukulele for some strange reason (lol).

    I still remember many of the old timers in here. One whom I recall is Anthony Hannigan, (shout out), and there are others.

    Since being away from the mandolin now for a few years, I find that I miss it. I'm out there looking at the Washburn's again. We'll see. I can smell the purchase; just don't know when.

    There are a couple of videos out there of my "practice" and a sound comparison with and without a Tone Guard. I still remember wrapping leather strips between my strings, behind the bridge; using Tomastik Infeld (sp?) strings, and running my strap over my right shoulder, rather than around my neck. If you search YouTube for Nutmegger1957, I'm sure you'll find, (in that mix of 159 videos or so) the two or three videos done to show my practice time.

    There are a lot of phases I went thru in the beginning in here, including the kind of plectrum, to the best Tab-playing software. I will have most of that out of the way on this second time around........

    "Hello" to all..............I'm holding $750.00 - $850.00 for my next Mando (obviously I can't afford the "best of the best") and am open to suggestions from the current market.

    Chris Thile scares me, and so does Mike Marshall (they are THAT good!!), and make me want to quit, for lack of hoping to ever reach their level (especially at "60"), but there are a number of great players here that I feel encouraged by.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    I divide my time between mandolin, guitar (mostly acoustic), dobro, and banjo, so there’s no reason you can’t play uke and mando As my dad (also a multi-instrumentalist) likes to say, “You can never spread yourself too thin.”
    Soliver arm rested and Tone-Garded Northfield Model M with D’Addario NB 11.5-41, picked with a Wegen Bluegrass 1.4

  3. #3
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    30,753

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Soupy, I remember you but it was quite a few years, right? I found one mandolin video from 9 years ago. I hope your ukulele explorations wee fun and keep going but welcome back to the land of the mandolin.
    Jim

    My Stream on Soundcloud
    Facebook
    19th Century Tunes
    Playing lately:
    1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1

  4. #4
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Richmond, Virginia
    Posts
    7,635

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Just have fun! I love playing and learning fiddle tunes. Going to jams is fun too. Learning what they play.

    It's a choice to be faithful to an instrument! From my experiences, consider a psddke head teens Gibson or a Flatiron pancake! Setup is key!

    There are likely many great Kentucky and Eastman mandolins in your budget though.

    f-d
    ¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

    '20 A3, '30 L-1, '97 914, 2012 Cohen A5, 2012 Muth A5, '14 OM28A

  5. #5
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    1,821

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    I'm kinda partial to the Washburn Mandolins myself............I'm lookin............

  6. #6
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    Lawrence, KS
    Posts
    3,835
    Blog Entries
    14

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post
    I spent a certain amount of time in this Forum, and on the Mandolin, and then (bows his head in shame) moved over to the Ukulele for some strange reason (lol).

    I still remember many of the old timers in here. One whom I recall is Anthony Hannigan, (shout out), and there are others.

    Since being away from the mandolin now for a few years, I find that I miss it. I'm out there looking at the Washburn's again. We'll see. I can smell the purchase; just don't know when.

    There are a couple of videos out there of my "practice" and a sound comparison with and without a Tone Guard. I still remember wrapping leather strips between my strings, behind the bridge; using Tomastik Infeld (sp?) strings, and running my strap over my right shoulder, rather than around my neck. If you search YouTube for Nutmegger1957, I'm sure you'll find, (in that mix of 159 videos or so) the two or three videos done to show my practice time.

    There are a lot of phases I went thru in the beginning in here, including the kind of plectrum, to the best Tab-playing software. I will have most of that out of the way on this second time around........

    "Hello" to all..............I'm holding $750.00 - $850.00 for my next Mando (obviously I can't afford the "best of the best") and am open to suggestions from the current market.

    Chris Thile scares me, and so does Mike Marshall (they are THAT good!!), and make me want to quit, for lack of hoping to ever reach their level (especially at "60"), but there are a number of great players here that I feel encouraged by.
    Your former account with posts, any subscriptions, old PMS, etc. has been merged with the new. The old user name was used. If you'd prefer the newer user name contact us by PM and we'll change that. This is in line with our forum guidelines as the old account was still accessible and members are required to have only one account.

  7. #7
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    0.8 mpc from NGC224, upstairs
    Posts
    10,054

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post
    Since being away from the mandolin now for a few years, I find that I miss it.
    Of course you miss it. You can't run away. It will find you wherever you hide
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  8. #8

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Where ever you go there you are
    Buckoro Banzi

  9. #9
    Mediocre but OK with that Paul Busman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Frederick,MD
    Posts
    2,304

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    "Chris Thile scares me, and so does Mike Marshall (they are THAT good!!), and make me want to quit, for lack of hoping to ever reach their level (especially at "60"), but there are a number of great players here that I feel encouraged by."

    Don't let the playing of the great ones discourage you or make you want to quit. Enjoy them and learn from them. VERY few of us will ever approach that level of playing.Accept that fact and just enjoy your own playing.
    For wooden musical fun that doesn't involve strumming, check out:
    www.busmanwhistles.com
    Handcrafted pennywhistles in exotic hardwoods.

  10. The following members say thank you to Paul Busman for this post:


  11. #10
    ************** Caleb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    DFW, Texas
    Posts
    3,676

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post

    Chris Thile scares me, and so does Mike Marshall (they are THAT good!!), and make me want to quit, for lack of hoping to ever reach their level (especially at "60"), but there are a number of great players here that I feel encouraged by.
    I used to be discouraged by the "great" players myself. And while I admire what they can do (understatement), I'd usually rather hear some much simpler music than all that technical stuff. When I see collaborations with heavy-hitter players, I usually find the music too busy and not enough melody on display. Different strokes.

    I figure the average picker on his couch having fun and really enjoying his mandolin is doing about as good as any of the pros. YMMV.
    ...

  12. The following members say thank you to Caleb for this post:

    JRG 

  13. #11
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post
    I spent a certain amount of time...on the Mandolin, and then...moved over to the Ukulele for some strange reason (lol).
    I must have missed the memo that restricted our interest to one instrument at a time.

    Considering my long-windedness on the Cafe, it may (or may not) interest folks to know that I spend much more of my time gigging with guitar, 5-string banjo, ukulele and harmonica, than I do performing -- or practicing -- on mandolin.

    Which doesn't mean that I can't find mandolin endlessly interesting, and the Cafe a great environment for exchanging views and information. If all my mandolins were to disappear tomorrow (a catastrophic, but unlikely, event), I'd still be here throwing in my 2¢ regularly. Which may say more about my inflated sense of self-importance, and affection for the sound of my own voice, than about the actual substance of my contributions.

    In any case, welcome back.
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  14. #12

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Thile scares me, so does Nino Schurter, but that don't keep me from riding my mountain bike 3 or 4 times a week and trying to play mandolin @ 72. So welcome back, get that mandolin and embrace it.

  15. The following members say thank you to JRG for this post:


  16. #13
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    1,821

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Caleb View Post
    I used to be discouraged by the "great" players myself. And while I admire what they can do (understatement), I'd usually rather hear some much simpler music than all that technical stuff. When I see collaborations with heavy-hitter players, I usually find the music too busy and not enough melody on display. Different strokes.

    I figure the average picker on his couch having fun and really enjoying his mandolin is doing about as good as any of the pros. YMMV.
    i’ve noticed a trend in the mandolin world, and particularly by folks like Sam Bush for example, of rapid mistake free play; and I think I commented about this in another thread. I’d much rather hear the front porch version, mistakes and all, at a moderately slow speed. Bluegrass is turning into, (imho) in many circles, a 33 LP record that’s being played at 45!

  17. #14
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    0.8 mpc from NGC224, upstairs
    Posts
    10,054

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    What's up with this "discouraged by the great" thing? This is not a race, not a competition. Music was made for collaboration, not for warfare. Here, you're not happy because somebody else is miserable, you're not in front because others are behind. It's a together thing, and happiness is a collateral benefit of reaching out to others' abilities.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  18. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Bertram Henze For This Useful Post:

    Jess L.JRG 

  19. #15
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    1,821

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    My concern has more to do with what’s being presented as “bluegrass music” today, -vs- what it was 100 years ago. “We’re cleaning it up too much, and making it too perfect,” is all I’m saying. Yes we are a community, yes we are brother and sister hood, yes it’s about uplifting and supporting each other. I get that.
    Breedlove Crossover FF SB
    “The weather was so bad even my iPhone was shaking!”
    -SDC

  20. #16

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Now I remember you.

    Folks used to call you the soupster. Lotta posts, little to say. You ran off to the mandohangout when it first opened or whatever that place was and started publicly posting criticizing folk here. Not enough action there? Little brings me out of lurk mode.

    Welcome back. See you've already started a ton of threads even tho you apparently don't even own a mandolin. lol

  21. The following members say thank you to JPerkins for this post:


  22. #17
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    0.8 mpc from NGC224, upstairs
    Posts
    10,054

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post
    My concern has more to do with what’s being presented as “bluegrass music” today, -vs- what it was 100 years ago. “We’re cleaning it up too much, and making it too perfect,” is all I’m saying.
    That's what happens when you marry music to money, in any genre.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  23. The following members say thank you to Bertram Henze for this post:


  24. #18
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    13,103

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post
    My concern has more to do with what’s being presented as “bluegrass music” today, -vs- what it was 100 years ago. “We’re cleaning it up too much, and making it too perfect,” is all I’m saying.
    Hm. Well, there was no bluegrass 100 years ago. I don't necessarily favor the bands that play what I think of as ultra-slick bluegrass, but I don't begrudge them or their dedicated fans either. And when I listen to old Stanley Brothers and Blue Grass Boys recordings and hear flubbed notes or instruments that aren't quite in tune or single-mic mixes that aren't all they could have been, I am thankful that recording techniques have improved.

    In the beginning of jazz there was only one kind of jazz. But as jazz grew and gained popularity, it developed and diversified. There's nothing wrong with King Oliver, but personally I'm glad that not every jazz artist sounds like King Oliver. The same thing is happening with bluegrass. It's a sign of a healthy genre. If there were such a thing as a style of music whose only existing practitioners all sounded alike, that would be a style of music that's dead and soon to be buried.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

    Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls

  25. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to mrmando For This Useful Post:


  26. #19
    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Sugar Grove,PA
    Posts
    3,371
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    All one can do is play and try to get better, it helps when you play with better pickers but when you live in a picker deprived area like me yes it can get discouraging! Life takes over if you have a wife and kids, health problems also. One just has to persevere and keep at it, that's what any of us can do if we don't play pro! Sure if your pickin all the time you'll be a better picker so to speak that's why us mortals do it for fun, not saying I wouldn't mind to find a group of like minded guys/gals to play with/gig with. I used to juggle 5 bands but it was just doing the bar business and while fun wasn't as serious as I'd like!!!!

  27. The following members say thank you to William Smith for this post:


  28. #20
    mandolin slinger Steve Ostrander's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Capitol of MI
    Posts
    2,795

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Chris Thile scares me, and so does Mike Marshall (they are THAT good!!), and make me want to quit, for lack of hoping to ever reach their level (especially at "60"), but there are a number of great players here that I feel encouraged by.
    CT and MM would not want you to quit, they would want you to PLAY!
    Living’ in the Mitten

  29. #21
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Quote Originally Posted by Soupy1957 View Post
    My concern has more to do with what’s being presented as “bluegrass music” today, -vs- what it was 100 years ago...
    Weren't no bluegrass 100 years ago; Bill Monroe started performing in 1929, and formed the "Original Bluegrass Band," the Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, "Chubby" Wise, Howard Watts version of the Blue Grass Boys, in 1946. The music we currently recognize as "bluegrass" is about 70 years old.

    Heck, I'm older than bluegrass. That's really, really scary.
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  30. The following members say thank you to allenhopkins for this post:


  31. #22
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    1,821

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    If you consider that the Irish and Scottish immigrants were coming into this country as early as 1914, and even before THAT, and bringing their folk music with them, (which was the root behind what Bluegrass became), I think it’s safe to say it’s at LEAST 100 years old!
    Last edited by Soupy1957; Dec-16-2017 at 6:45pm.
    Breedlove Crossover FF SB
    “The weather was so bad even my iPhone was shaking!”
    -SDC

  32. #23
    Registered User Kevin Stueve's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
    475

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    I think Irish and scottish immigrants started arriving here about 200 years before your estimate.

  33. #24
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    1,821

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Yep, I suppose you’re right.
    Breedlove Crossover FF SB
    “The weather was so bad even my iPhone was shaking!”
    -SDC

  34. #25
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Back Again Soon.........Still Interested

    Well, if you want to define "bluegrass" as "British Isles sourced instrumental music," you can make bluegrass 400 years old, I guess.

    But that's a definition so broad it's meaningless. The banjo showed up among non-African-American musicians less than 200 years ago, and the "Spanish" guitar -- six-string, similar to modern instruments -- around the same time, early 19th century. Mandolin was a rare instrument in the US until about 1880, Dobro steel guitar is based on Hawaiian music that got popular here in the 1920's; the first resonator guitars were built in 1927.

    So the definitive bluegrass instruments were mostly here 100 years ago, but the bluegrass style of playing them really doesn't come together until the 1940's, when the Carolina-based style of finger-picked banjo combined with "long bow" fiddling, added to Bill Monroe's idiosyncratic (at the time) approach to the mandolin, percussive as well as melodic. Completing the sound was open-chorded rhythm guitar and plucked bass fiddle. As to vocals, bluegrass owes some to African-American blues, some to Southern church harmony singing, and some to "pop" harmony quartets and trios of the 1930's and '40's.

    We tend to think of bluegrass as "old as the hills," but it's actually a fairly recent genre, younger than Dixieland jazz, African-American blues, Western swing, ragtime, and "old-timey" string band music. It was developed by professional entertainers as a variety of commercial country music, and while it incorporated parts of earlier "hillbilly" music, it was meant to be performed for an audience, not really played around a back porch or a kitchen table.

    Bill Monroe was a star of country music in the 1930's and '40's, playing on the Grand Ole Opry, recording, and touring constantly. He put together an amazing and influential Blue Grass Boys band right after WWII, and the sound of the Flatt-Scruggs-Wise-Watts lineup, fronted by Monroe and his mandolin, became what we call bluegrass. It didn't rise organically from the soil of Appalachian/Scots-Irish balladry and fiddling that preceded it; it was consciously invented and developed by a single band-leader, who left his indelible imprint on it. Which is why it's called "bluegrass," after Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys.
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  35. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to allenhopkins For This Useful Post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •