E mando rhythm

[Kevin K]

Considering an electric mandolin to use for our youth's music program at Church and want to add a different flavor to the sound.

There will only play rhythm no lead parts, would the 8 string mandocaster be a good choice?

Or are the electric mandolins more for lead playing?

[Klaus Wutscher]

Not my first choice for rythm, but depending on the setup, it could work.

I found it hard to find a spot for a strummed emando in a band context and view the emando as a lead instrument primarily. Of course there are other ways of playing backup that may work better than strumming, which I consider a domain of the acoustic mandolin.

But who am I to judge? If it works it works!

[Kevin K]

That's the report I'm getting from other e-mando players as well.
What about using my acoustic mandolin and adding a Schatten or something similiar and doing rhythm with that? Either going direct to the PA or an amp just enough for flavor.

[Klaus Wutscher]

An amplified acoustic would be the way to go imo. You should get good results using that combo.

[Martin Jonas]

Charles O'Connor played solid-body 8-string e-mando in the 1970s Irish band Horslips, and many of his parts were strummed rhythm, alternating with picked lead:

Furniture
Dearg Doom (e-mando only in second half)
Faster Than The Hound
Comb You Hair And Curl It (little strumming, but great lead mando!)
The Man Who Built America (dubbed clip)
Dearg Doom (35 years later...)

As you will no doubt discover, Horslips also had a somewhat dubious taste in clothes...

Martin

[mandroid]

for the singers,you will be the sole accompanist?

I offer the thought [since no guitar] of a lower
mandola/viola voicing for accompaniment.

My 2 favorite electrics are 4 strings in CGDA tuning.
one solid body the other based on an EM 150 acoustic A.
.. stacked coil humbucking type pickups..
3 string chords sound nice on it/them.

a'hollow body' can be approximated with reverb on a solid instrument.
-a 'wood plate' reverb is offered on some digital effects on mixers.

[mrmando]

Wow Martin, thanks for the Horslips clips. Check out Charles' right hand in the '70s Dearg Doom video ... it's painted silver and he has a chain mail cuff. Nice decollete on the bass player too.

In the '70s Charles played a "Danvel" e-mando by Derrick Nelson. Don't know what he's playing now.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Brilliant Horselips clips. I used to see them live when I was a teenager. "Nobby" Feehan , the guitarist, was a neighbour of mine. Thank's for the memories.

[Martin Jonas]

Sorry for the off-topic, but I thought I'd mention that all of these vintage Horslips clips that are on Youtube are also available on DVD in full TV quality. A couple of years ago, the band released a two-hour documentary on DVD, with a second DVD that has 19 full-length 1970s performances. More at the band's homepage here.

I have the DVD, and it's very well-made even if some of the claims made in the film for the greatness of the band are perhaps a bit over the top.

Back in the days of second-hand vinyl shops, it was a favourite game of mine to check in every shop I visited for the obligatory old Horslips LP in the racks -- it was always there. Nevermind which country (I can speak for Germany, the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and the US), nevermind which town, nevermind what the shop specialised in: they all had at least one Horslips album, and 90% of the time it was "The Man Who Built America".

Martin

[mandocrucian]

I gbought Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part when it first came out (with the fancy die-cut concertina LP jacket). There's a lot of lead electic mando on it - if it's higher up and run through a flanger or phase shifter, that's not a guitar. (i.e. "Hall Of Mirrors").

Really liked that first album. (They lifted a number of tunes from the early High Level Ranters repertoire, such as the Ranters' Shetland medley which they admitted to as being "Scalloway Ripoff". Also "Sir John Fenwick's Flower Amang Them All" and "Dance To Your Daddy".) (Actually, I've got the album [playng ight now.) It seems to be one of the "forgotten" albums of the folk-rock canon (along with 5 Hand reel and some other stuff.)

The Tain was OK, but the subsequent stuff (Dancehall Sweethearts etc.) didn't do much for me.

O'Connor ended up later playing with (post Steeleye) Maddy Prior bands.

NH

[crazymandolinist]

Going back to emandos as rythm:

Well you have to remember that mandos are in fact tuned an octave higher than guitars, so they stand out a lot. (pluck the e string on a guitar and then a mandolin, the mando is obviously an octave higher). What you could do is simply do bluegrass chops, with a little knob tweaking you could probably get it to sound good.

[Evan Mahoney]

thinking "choir" is the best way, imo. think about how a typical choir is arranged with SATB, The mandolin is the S (soprano) and if you are going to use it make sure you have strong support, even stronger if you want it to play rhythm; the sopranos typically have lead parts and rarely give up melody to an alto. Just ask an alto. Think about having to play jazz rhythm if you still want to go with it, though.