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Thread: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

  1. #26

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    This thread......inspirational.

    I play guitar, bass ( kinda), mandolin, and have a fascination with keyboard, but can barely chord along.....

    I played mando after guitar, and found mando almost intuitive.

    I play guitar in open tuning, and learned claw hammer, it lead me to banjo. I found banjo close, but very different in many aspects.

    And, most recently, banjo.

    1. Banjo is fun, open G, melodic and percussive. Until i played, i was unaware how nuanced it can be. And, good ones are very musical, almost sweet in tone. While i do play it with others, i dont think of myself as a "banjo player", mostly because my scruggs picking is low level, and not automatic yet.

    2. I find, im sometimes derailed by being in bands, and taking banjo and vocal lessons/growth seriuosly, ie too much on my plate.
    I am reminded that spending a lot of time with an instrument, especially early on, is essential.

    3. I have a desire for a fiddle, but, i think i dont have the commitment to really dig into it, for a few years. Hurdy gurdy too, but seem too expensive and fiddly to dabble with.....but id love one.

    4. OP, go for it! Consider how youll use it, and how much you're willing to work. Portability , has become something im aware of ever since playing mando.

    To my mind, fiddle may be facilitated by your mando background. From what i know, mid level violins start around 3k, decent beginners, 1k. Bows and often cases, are extra.

  2. #27
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

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    You need a prim (the smallest of the tamburitzas, to make things perfectly clear). Not only does it play a great "Never on Sunday" and "Norwegian Wood", but Serbian and Croatian ladies go crazy over prim players -- according to the salesman anyway.

    By virtue of my sophisticated high-tech skills, I'm able to send you this photo in reverse. Hold your device to a mirror to see it properly.

    For the curious the tuning is, high to low:

    D-tuning, which I use: D,D, A,A, E, B
    E-tuning: E, E, B, B, F#, C#

  3. #28
    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Here's the reversed version:

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    Bandcamp -- https://tomwright1.bandcamp.com/
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  5. #29

    Thumbs down Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranald View Post

    You need a prim (the smallest of the tamburitzas, to make things perfectly clear). Not only does it play a great "Never on Sunday" and "Norwegian Wood", but Serbian and Croatian ladies go crazy over prim players -- according to the salesman anyway.

    By virtue of my sophisticated high-tech skills, I'm able to send you this photo in reverse. Hold your device to a mirror to see it properly.

    For the curious the tuning is, high to low:

    D-tuning, which I use: D,D, A,A, E, B
    E-tuning: E, E, B, B, F#, C#
    I play bisernica tamburitza, I use G tuning E A dd gg which is nice being close to guitar. So far I've used it in one recording, a song where I paired it with my kantele and guitar.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #30
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

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  8. #31

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Mandolin was a big gateway instrument for me. In chronological order:

    Mandolin
    Fiddle (Discontinued)
    Tenor Guitar (GDAE)
    Tenor Guitar (GDAD)
    6 string guitar
    English Concertina
    Button Accordion
    Clawhammer Banjo (fretted)
    Mandola
    Tenor Banjo
    Bouzouki
    Telecaster
    Clawhammer Banjo (fretless)
    Pump Organ
    Clawhammer Banjo (gourd fretless)
    Pedal Steel

    None of this would have happened were it not for the cafe. You have been warned.

    If only I had the restraint to own only one of each...

    Thanks,
    Baron
    MandoLessons: Free Online Mandolin Lessons
    Velocipede: My Fiddle Tune Duo
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  9. #32
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by stevedenver View Post
    This thread......inspirational.
    ...
    4. OP, go for it! Consider how youll use it, and how much you're willing to work. Portability , has become something im aware of ever since playing mando.
    ...
    Thank you, I will...

    The bass, and in particular the bass I acquired, sort of calls to me lately. In a little over a month I've become pretty attached to it. My playing is relatively simple but I can do some advanced things with it, mostly due to previous instrument experience... Among other things, I've pretty much learned ways to transpose and play in any key, which since I play with 2 bands, has always turned out to be handy with my other instruments.

    I've restrung this bass and am very happy with the setup, tone and volume, so that's working out well. My wife and I have painstakingly repaired the very nicely padded bass bag that came with it and I've acquired a Bass Buggy for walking it around, and I've figured out the best way to carry it in the car, so transport is working out. Not that I would call it "portability" with something as big as a double bass, but I can get it from point A to point B without damaging it.

    My primary band has an excellent and experienced bass player who also plays guitar expertly and who also plays mandolin much better than I. I play banjo with that band going on 10 years now and probably won't try to change that. My other band has a couple of bass players, one with a double bass and one with an electric bass -- but circumstances have already called on me to play bass for that band, which as my first public bass playing was both scary and fun. I may play bass more for that band, we'll see.

    My main desire with playing bass is to have something to play in those jams that already have plenty of banjos and plenty of mandolins -- you can have a bunch of mandolin players in a jam, but more than two banjos tend to get pretty obnoxious unless all the banjo players do a very careful job of controlling their volume (and that's the word of an experienced banjo player).

    Anyway, it seems if you have a bass, you almost always can start a jam, and just about all bass players recognize that one bass is more than enough for any jam.

    Since I'm the op, I'll strive to be a little more on-topic for a moment: Banjo, mandolin, Dobro, flute, recorder, harmonica and jug band instruments have all helped with my learning double bass, but to my awareness each has influenced me only subtly. The bass is not fretted, is tuned differently than any of the instruments I play and the double bass uses neither flatpicking or fingerpicking. I think mostly it's the combined years of experience with music in general that has me making progress on the bass.

    Here's my bass:
    It's an early 1930's 3/4 Alcoa Aluminum Bass that's been rescued, custom restored and hot-rodded.
    (And yes, I'm loving it, but I'm not giving up my mandolin or banjo playing. )
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    -- Don

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    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


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    [About how I tune my mandolins]
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  11. #33
    Registered User meado's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    I've played guitar for over 50 years and picked up the mandolin about 4 years ago. I've no interest in learning another instrument...but I did play pickle ball for the first time this morning...and that was a lot of fun!

  12. #34
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by stevedenver View Post
    I played mando after guitar, and found mando almost intuitive.
    That's it! That's the phrase that I could never think of to describe my (comparatively) quick ability to pick up on the mandolin!

    As a guitar player it took me over 35 years to figure out how to play a decent lead in the recording studio, without having to stop every 4 or 5 seconds and splice things together . . . however, within just several months, I was recording long mandolin solos without even thinking about them - my fingers just kind of fell into place, INSTINCTIVELY! Granted, these were not solos that would impress any REAL mandolin player, but for a guy with a severe case of no-talent, it was almost nothing short of a minor miracle.

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  14. #35
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Great thread. I’m amazed at the range of instruments many of you play. Kind of surprised there aren’t more banjer pickers, but that’s more a reflection of how I came to the instrument than anything. I realize the mandolin has strong classical and European folk roots. But for me what draws is its rural Americana exoticism. Every once in a while I pick up my mandolin and just look at it and am filled with wonder that I have one and can (sort of) play it. The next step after mando for me was/still is clawhammer banjo. I love that it’s a combination of a stringed instrument and a drum. Feels very elemental to play. Which is not to say easy.

  15. #36

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by Baron Collins-Hill View Post
    Mandolin was a big gateway instrument for me. In chronological order:

    Mandolin
    Fiddle (Discontinued)
    Tenor Guitar (GDAE)
    Tenor Guitar (GDAD)
    6 string guitar
    English Concertina
    Button Accordion
    Clawhammer Banjo (fretted)
    Mandola
    Tenor Banjo
    Bouzouki
    Telecaster
    Clawhammer Banjo (fretless)
    Pump Organ
    Clawhammer Banjo (gourd fretless)
    Pedal Steel

    None of this would have happened were it not for the cafe. You have been warned.

    If only I had the restraint to own only one of each...

    Thanks,
    Baron
    DOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!
    very very cool

  16. #37
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    I don't plan on anything after the mandolin. Maybe something in addition to the mandolin someday, but not after the mandolin. I don't foresee a time when I won't play the mandolin.
    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

  17. #38

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Miller View Post
    ... Kind of surprised there aren’t more banjer pickers...
    Fwiw, I was a big banjo nut - most every style. I used a plectrum and tenor for about 10 years as a primary performing instrument singing standards, rags, jelly roll morton. (Got into tenor/plct from mandolin.) At the same time I was studying accordian playing because I knew I'd eventually get tired of singing. On that one at least I had a plan - most everything else I just fell into..

  18. #39
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by foldedpath View Post
    I have a small Hercules mandolin stand with a jury-rigged flute holder clamped to the side. When there is something that comes up in a session I can't play well enough on flute, I have the mandolin right there to play the tunes with more authority.
    Love to see a picture of that.
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  19. #40
    Still Picking and Sawing Jack Roberts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by Seter View Post
    I've become interested in getting a taishogoto from Japan, basically an interesting cross between a typewriter and a dulcimer. The didgeridoo talk also has me interested.

    HA! I remember back in the days (shows how old I am), at a very old bar in Hitachi city, the hostess brought out a Taishogoto to play along while the patrons sang Enka--sort of the Japanese equivalent of Country-western music.
    It's not a terribly difficult instrument to play. It is sort of like a mountain dulcimer with keys, or a very simple autoharp that plays melodies (like a mountain dulcimer) rather than chords. They can be found in second hand stores, and I think both Yamaha and Suzuki still make them.

    There are still song books with the peculiar Taishogoto tablature for playing old Japanese tunes as well.
    Last edited by Jack Roberts; Feb-24-2018 at 11:23pm.
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  21. #41
    Registered User lowtone2's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    I'm much more a double bass than mandolin player. Bass is not difficult to play a little, but depending on what you want to do with it, is probably as or more challenging to play than anything. In bluegrass, when a lot of people know that a band sounds great or terrible but they don't know why, it's the bass player.

    It really is a lot of fun, though. In bluegrass, check Mike Bub, Mark Schatz, Edgar Meyer, many others. It is possible to play 90% roots and 5ths, and still make a melodic line. Time and tone are major though, and time is primary.

    Right now I'm most active filling the baritone sax chair in a big band. That's a lot of fun, too, and definitely presents a different set of challenges. I suck at mandolin.

  22. #42

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Sax is fun indeed - my daughter has taken to bari and plays my old horns ... she said yesterday she wants to busk, ha (I play wwind duos with her).

    Larger bands *are* a gas to play - ive been fortunate to do a few really different and always had the most fun.

    *egads I'm glad the site is up! Thanks Scott et al.
    Last edited by catmandu2; Feb-25-2018 at 12:24am.

  23. #43
    Registered User Cochiti Don's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by catmandu2 View Post
    And btw, that's how I became a fiddler - I got a double case so I could break out fdl in public knowing if it went bad I could redeem myself with mndln ... this advanced my fiddling more than anything.
    Yes. The transition from mandolin to fiddle is not the Mt. Everest I thought it was going to be. After only a week of playing, I’ve got confidence I can switch back and forth at a gig at some not too distant future. Lessons are costing more than the fiddle, but at this point, I no longer care.
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  24. #44
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    I have an old washtub in the basement that I keep meaning to turn into a bass.

    I also keep saying I want to learn jug, but since I don't buy wine by the gallon, opportunities are limited. And which brand has the best tone? Christian Brothers? Gallo? Carlo Rossi?

    Wish my mom were still around. She'd DEFINITELY know!

  25. #45
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    I already play a pretty wide range of stringed instruments, with mandolin being very much my primary. I'll probably add either hammered dulcimer or Celtic/lever harp next year, or maybe earlier than that if I decide to sell off some of the instruments I own but don't play enough.

  26. #46
    Registered User Roger Adams's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Started on guitar, went to the banjo, then the ukulele and now the mandolin. Thinking the pedal steel is next, but at my age, I doubt I will become the next Ralph Moony!
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  27. #47
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Bought a 5-string banjo 57 years ago; added (pretty much in this order) harmonica, Autoharp, then acoustic guitar. Mandolin came along when I inherited two of them, and wanted to play bluegrass with a guitarist and a banjo picker. Over the years I've added the other members of the "mando" family: mandola, octave mandolin, and mandocello, plus a "sopranolin." Picked up ukulele -- it's just guitar chords, really -- a bit of tenor banjo, and Dobro. Got into English-system concertina when I started playing more Celtic music, and I've always had a few unusual instruments around for particular uses: bowed psaltery, kalimba, mouth bow, Jew's harp, some hand percussion. I got a bass to play country dance music with a local ensemble, and now have an aluminum bass fiddle, plus an Ashbory electric which gets pulled out about once a year. Since I have a serious weakness for accumulation, I've ended up with multiples of each type of instrument.

    But "What's next?" Nothing, I fear. In my mid-seventies, learning comes more slowly, and just keeping up with what I have when I'm "playing out" three or four times a week, really is enough for me. Though I do have a major acquisition on the horizon, a bit of a departure though not really a "different" instrument...stay tuned...
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  28. #48
    Registered User lowtone2's Avatar
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    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Quote Originally Posted by catmandu2 View Post
    Sax is fun indeed - my daughter has taken to bari and plays my old horns ... she said yesterday she wants to busk, ha (I play wwind duos with her).

    Larger bands *are* a gas to play - ive been fortunate to do a few really different and always had the most fun.

    *egads I'm glad the site is up! Thanks Scott et al.
    Oh yeah, lots of fun. I'm just a hack, but here's a bari feature from about a year ago. One of the sax players said I sound like a dying boar hog, and that is exactly what I was going for. The dancers can barely contain themselves.


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  30. #49

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Maybe that cool Giacomel Saturno in the classifieds Allen?

    I had a vid of our bari-duo but I guess it's erased. Ya, bari is cool. I enjoy all the bands using them these days...you can get immediately low down funky with em.. I still get out my bass clarinet too occasionally, but that's harder to keep chops on.. ive been planning to write some simple reggae & calypso charts for my kids (trumpet & sax) - on which I'd play charango for home fun, but the trumpet player's nooot quite there yet.

    Horn bands are a gas - I played tenor banjo (trad jazz) with one for a while. I wanted to transition from bass to horns in a trad salsa band I played in, but then got busy with kids. At least I still get to blow, even though I don't get to gig around anymore..

    *Well, here's at least a selfie from laundry session -
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  31. #50

    Default Re: Next frontier: What's next after Mandolin???

    Btw, a lot of this, like tnr bnj and stuff was via mandolin. I still like cafe as I play a lot of stringed instr, but the chat on the other stringed-instr sites is much less frequent. Sorry to be tangential all the time.

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