Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 26 to 50 of 72

Thread: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

  1. #26
    Registered User mee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Shenandoah
    Posts
    261

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    Divine providence.
    A fleeting thought that I would like to learn it, must have spoke aloud and then the next day my hubby came home with one for me. I was in my forties at that time and had no musical experience and knew not what to do with it. I didn't do much with it for the next ten years and then doors opened for me to join my guitar playing hubby in a nursing home ministry and I quickly picked up enough to accompany him.

  2. #27
    Registered User zedmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    At home
    Posts
    816

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    As far back as I can remember I wanted to play guitar-don't know why.
    So after three years of piano lessons as a kid I got a cheap acoustic guitar & tried to teach myself
    I made some progress, but needed some help-so I took guitar lessons for a few years.
    Along the way I also had some bass lessons.
    As I progressed I wanted to learn some other things & I always liked the sound of a mandolin & started looking into it gradually.
    I would look stuff up online & try them out in a store.
    I wasn't influenced or inspired by any specific mandolin player or song-just in general.

    I decided after i bought my fretless bass (another example of learning other things) that when a certain store had their next half price rental sale I would rent a mandolin for 30 days & see how that went.
    However 3 or 4 of those came & went & for one reason or another I was otherwise committed to other activities those days (I was out of town for at least one)
    Then when I knew they had a sale & a half price rental sale I was near the store while out doing other things-
    I stopped in to take a peek at what they had to get ideas for their sale--as well as the half price rental day
    There they had a used Epi Mandobird VIII on sale for a greta price--so after trying it out & thinking about it--I took it home.

    Now 3+ years later I am still playing it--and this place helped.
    I'm no virtuoso--but I am having a bunch of fun making stuff up & mostly playing stuff I made up or arrangements of rock & blues songs on the mandobird...
    Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?

  3. #28
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Gainesville, FL
    Posts
    2,664

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I played the guitar for years, then fell in with some good ole boys in Arcadia, FL. We decided to form a bluegrass/country band. They all played guitars so I got a mandolin just to give some variety to the group. I got hooked and have played the mandolin, not exclusively, for the past 40 some odd years.

  4. #29
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Surrey, BC (Vancouver)
    Posts
    430

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by mr ken View Post
    Now at 75 the hips, arms, back, neck & etc are a pain on going . Have enjoyed the mandolin helps with my mind an time filling, even picked a guitar. I take P.T. about 3mos per yr. The mandolin has been a help in this time of life.
    Mandolin and guitar are great for me when injury keeps me from practising karate. How frustrating it is to be nursing a hand injury (stupid judo!). I'm up to about 20 minutes playing time before I have to (or should) put it down.

  5. #30
    Registered User Frankdolin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    near Boston, MA
    Posts
    859

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I was born, there was a mandolin in my house and that's all I ever wanted to do. Then age and reality stepped in and I had to work for a living. Thank goodness for the mandolin that is always there for you good and bad days, if you suck or not, and never not respond to your touch.

  6. #31
    Registered User Radish's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Crewe
    Posts
    15

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I wanted to start playing an instrument for some time. I like singing and was looking for something fun to accompany myself with. Was originally thinking of a ukulele. Then watching an episode of 'Boardwalk Empire' where Al Capone mentioned playing the mandolin for his kid, and something in my head just went 'Yes!' It then also turned out some of my wife's family are mandolin players (sadly they're all in Canada), which seemed serendipitous. So got myself a cheapskate instrument and off I went.

  7. #32
    Gibson F5L Gibson A5L
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    2,526
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I got real tired of being the thirty-third guitar player at a jam. That was in 1980 …. circa 2000 I got tired of being the fifteenth mandolin player at a jam and I took up with the fiddle. So far that is still working ……. Don't get me wrong I still LOVE to play mandolin and guitar both. R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

  8. #33
    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Halfway, MO
    Posts
    2,128

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    1975 or 1976 I was in Junior High School. Some buddies had a pretty good kids bluegrass band. I wanted in. They didn't have a mandolin player. A cheap Montgomery Wards mandolin, a few lessons and I was on my way. I really should be a lot better picker by now.
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo

  9. #34

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    It's really fun to read how everyone got started!

    I started playing classical violin at 10 or so, in 5th grade, and picked up guitar as well when I was 12. Somewhere around age 14/8th grade I figured out that mandolin was a "cross" between violin and guitar, to my mind anyway. My grandparents had an old mandolin that I didn't think much of, they let me borrow it and some chord charts and I plunked around for a few months before giving it back. The strings on that poor instrument had to be at least 40 years old, and the frets were worn to almost nothing, making playing it a real challenge, plus I was growing into violin and didn't really have the time to devote to learning the mandolin well. I'll come back to that mandolin in a sec.

    My senior year of high school I was trying offload a very pointlessly large Fender amp that I had purchased in middle school, and my local used music store was one of those places that will offer you more in trade than in sale, so I swapped the thing for a Fender acoustic/electric mando, also with non-existent frets. Played a little at church, but the sheer weight I needed to put on those strings dovetailed nicely with the onset of carpal tunnel, and as much as I liked playing, it went largely unused.

    Fast forward another 4 years, I really started playing mando after I discovered a "the Loar" A-style at a Musicgoround that I could actually play without hurting myself (it had real frets and everything!) Unfortunately it was a little outside my grad student price range, and I left it there. I called my then fiancee and told her about it. A few hours later she called me back, and after calling at least 6 music stores had found the one I was at and bought the thing (there's a reason I married her)!

    So, after two aborted attempts to start learning mandolin I finally got going. After learning a little bit more about the instrument I discovered, in a truly cringeworthy moment, that the mandolin my grandparents had lent me was a 1920s Gibson A-style! Whoops! I will say though, that regardless of what I was playing or where, pretty much from the moment I got that Fender in high school, I always knew that I enjoyed playing mandolin the most, and really wanted that to be my go to instrument for everything, so when I finally brought home an instrument I could play, it was a really good day!
    Last edited by Benjamin Gieseke; Jul-02-2018 at 9:24am.

  10. #35

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    My older brother has played the guitar since he was like 12. We couldn't afford lessons for all, so Mom told him to teach me and my twin brother guitar (you can guess how that turned out).

    Fast forward 4 decades later, I worked around the corner from the local guitar shop. A friend I had worked with told me he had taken mandolin lessons, so I said to myself as I was walking by, I wonder if they have mandolins? Guitar was out, as my brother owned that, plus I was put off by the large size. Walked in, saw a wall of mandolins, and actually didn't buy one. Called my friend, asked him what I should buy and he gave me good advice. Buy used, go to the Old Town School of Folk, don't buy the cheap ones...


    The next day, I ignored his advice and bought a cheap Gretsch that I ended up being very unhappy with, tinny sounding and hard to play. 30 days latter I ended up talking with the owner, and he said bring the Gretsch in, I will give you full price for it for trade for something else. So I ended up with a Collings MT and a higher credit card balance, and havn't looked back since.
    Girouard Custom Studio A Oval
    P.W. Crump OM-III

  11. #36
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Forest Grove, Oregon
    Posts
    2,776

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    Played guitar, but put them in the case 40 years ago. Five years ago a buddy said he was taking up mandolin because his Dad played. Oddly, my Dad played (Appalachian boy, grandma played the banjo, uncles on guitar) although I never heard him since we didn’t have an instrument when I was young. I jumped in with both feet. My buddy quit but I’m going strong.
    Not all the clams are at the beach

    Arrow Manouche
    Arrow Jazzbo
    Arrow G
    Clark 2 point
    Gibson F5L
    Gibson A-4
    Ratliff CountryBoy A

  12. #37

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    June 2003, I took my first violin/fiddle lesson. My instructor pointed out the similarities of the mandolin, and declared, "You just as well learn mandolin." So I did. Five or ten years down the road, if I heard an unfamiliar tune, I'd grab a fiddle rather than a mandolin, if offered a choice. This told me the mandolin would have to take a backseat, but it's never far away.

  13. #38
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Richmond, Virginia
    Posts
    7,635

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    in 1968 somebody gave me a Kay.

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

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

  14. #39
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Posts
    7

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I grew up around music but I never really found "my" instrument. I tried several and none stuck so I gave up on it after middle school and didn't even think about it until years later around age 24 when I first discovered the mandolin existed. (Bluegrass wasn't exactly the kind of music my family and friends were into...)

    I immediately knew this was "my" instrument. After that I pretty much wouldn't shut up about how I wanted to play the mandolin. A couple Christmases ago my lovely boyfriend gifted me a Rogue. It was difficult at first so I would intermittently try learning for a few weeks then give up then start again until this January when I started playing every day and now I consider myself an addict. I pick it up practically any chance I get. My mando has become my best friend (and a pretty cheap therapist!). I'm never going back.
    Last edited by LemonyLobster; Jul-02-2018 at 12:10pm.

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


  16. #40
    Registered User THart's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Chanhassen, Mn
    Posts
    100

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I just thought they were cool & it would be fun to have one. I'd seen some of my musical heroes play them even it wasn't their main instrument. Loved the sound and the size & the fact that not that many people played them. Got mine in the early to mid '80's through the classifieds in the newspaper. Remember them? I swear I must have watched for over a year til one finally popped up. Anyway, after a few years it pretty much sat in its case (guitar too) but now some 25 years I'm giving it another go.

  17. #41

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    had been playing guitar in a classic rock band for 15 years and one night on Saturday Night Live I saw REM play Losing My Religion and said "that's it, that's what our band needs". And the rest is history, probably play mando on 1/4 of our setlist.
    Collings MF Gloss Top mandolin, Kentucky KM-1000 mandolin, Godin A-8 electric mandolin, Pono Ukulele, Gold Tone PBS Signature Resonator guitar, Martin/Taylor 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars, Les Paul/ES-335/LP Jr./Strat/Tele elec guitars.

  18. #42
    Registered User mandolin breeze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    "My Home Is On My Back"
    Posts
    352

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    I'd been playing guitar for about 10 yrs. Mostly Southern Rock, AAB Gregg's other stuff, Marshall Tucker, some folk like James Taylor. Well, in about '81 my roommate and I were headed to the beach to go surfing. He drove and on the way popped in a cassette of Mondo Mando. "holly crap, what is that?" is most likely how I put it. Didn't actually purchase my first one until 3 yrs later when I spotted a nice Washburn asymmetrical 2-point in a music store. Thank goodness for eBay which came along a few years later and gave me the opportunity to get my first F5 . . . a Gibson. It's been a wonderful ride for sure.

  19. The following members say thank you to mandolin breeze for this post:

    apple 

  20. #43

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    In the mid-70s, I went to a small club in Roslyn, N.Y. called "My Father's Place". Went there a LOT.

    Went to see Ry Cooder, because I loved his guitar playing. Really wasn't that familiar with his mandolin style.

    The club was a first come, first seated situation. Long cafeteria table running lengthwise to the stage. I was first in line and took the first seat against the stage in front of Ry. A couple of songs in (it was a solo show), he took out a Gibson F4. Played "Billy The Kid".

    Next week I drove to Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island and bought an old Gibson oval hole. No doubt I needed to play it.

  21. #44
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Augusta, Maine, USA
    Posts
    1,814

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    My friend: "Want to buy a mandolin?"
    Me: "No."
    My friend: "Fifty dollars."
    Me: "Okay!"

  22. #45

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    My grandpa played old world music on mandolin.I never was interested until I recently heard some folks playing bluegrass mandolin at a college festival.I play guitar and though I enjoy that endeavor,I got hooked on mando,after hearing those folks(one was wearing a Mandolin Cafe hat).....Just got my first mando a few days ago(Eastman MD-815V) and my instructional series arrives tomorrow....recently retired,so I'm in for some fun I guess.-

  23. #46
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    1,322

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    Played piano since age 9, added guitar in the 1960s (as most of us did back then,) put it away after college to raise a family and work, got the guitar out a few years ago. Spotted a mandolin in the window of a pawn shop I went past to work for a couple years, always meant to go in to check it out. One day it was gone, so I decided to research mandolins, found this site, bought one (and then another, and another, and another.....) and have never looked back.

  24. #47

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    Somebody offered me a Flinthill mandolin as a trade for a plastic PVC pipe Doug Tipple Irish Flute. I thought wow, what a great trade.

  25. #48
    Still Picking and Sawing Jack Roberts's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    sigmaX>=hbar/2sigmaP
    Posts
    1,701

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    17 years ago I walked into a music store and saw an inexpensive Samick laminated top mandolin on the wall. I thought "I can play that" and I've been proving myself wrong ever since then.

    After a few months, despite my inept playing, I was invited to join a band because the real mandolin player wanted to play guitar, so I bought his 1958 Gibson A-5 and I've been playing in public every now and then since then.
    Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
    When time is broke and no proportion kept!
    --William Shakespeare

  26. #49
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Surrey, BC (Vancouver)
    Posts
    430

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by Radish View Post
    It then also turned out some of my wife's family are mandolin players (sadly they're all in Canada), which seemed serendipitous.
    Sadly, you're not in Canada.

  27. #50
    Out of tune HappyPickin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    NE 10EC
    Posts
    76

    Default Re: Why/how did you start playing mandolin?

    About a year ago I had a Guitar Center gift card for $50 and they didn't sell any of my favorite guitar strings so I bought a Rogue mandolin to hang on my wall. I tuned it up and started picking out melodies with it. Then I bought a Michael Kelley Legacy O, then an Eastman 515 and finally a Doug Clark. I try to learn a new fiddle tune every week or two.
    Out of tune and out of time.

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
  •