If Mandolin Did Not Exist........

[bruce.b]

Tenor guitar! It’s my main instrument already. That and fiddle.

[Jill McAuley]

Tenor banjo for me, since it's my main instrument nowadays.

[colorado_al]

I'd play a cash register! Imagine how much more money I would have if I didn't own all these mandolins

[Em Tee]

Theorbo. It's just a damn magnificent instrument. Viola would be a distant second.

[B381]

kazoo......just because

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I'm actually in the market for an instrument with 2 strings and 5 frets - in lieu of the mandolin. But I might consider a kazoo. So, thanks, B381, for that suggestion.

[Mark Wilson]

Probably take all my unspent MAS money and buy a new car or something
And maybe a better TV to fill the time I spend playing mandolin

[Randi Gormley]

What a fun thread to resurrect! Recorder, flute, bodhran and possibly lute. I already played recorder and flute, used to be a drummer so the bodhran seemed interesting, and i actually wanted to learn the lute when i got my first mandolin instead.

[foldedpath]

Although I played (and still play) guitar for 40-odd years, I don't think it would be my main melody instrument if I hadn't picked up mandolin about 12 years ago. At around that same time, I got interested in Irish/Scottish traditional music, and it's mostly what I play now. A guitar is fine for slower fingerstyle arrangements of this music, but it isn't ideal for playing the dance tunes at speed. You don't hear many guitarists doing that, for a reason.

As it is, I've sort of stepped sideways from mandolin and started learning Irish flute to get a little deeper into the music. So it probably would have been an earlier move to flute. Not fiddle, because my S.O. plays fiddle and one in the house is enough.

It might have been something else... I was briefly intrigued by the idea of learning button box accordion. But good ones are expensive, so that was one thing that shifted me in the flute direction. It might also have been pipes, but I've heard that it takes something like 20 years before you sound like something other than strangling a cat on the pipes. And if you think mandolins are expensive, yikes! Try pricing a full set of Uilleann pipes. So it's flute as the "sideways" instrument that might have kicked in earlier if I hadn't taken up mandolin.

[David Rambo]

I'd spend a lot more time with my bass guitars.

[Jeff Hildreth]

Guitar and diatonic button accordeons.

[MMorgan9812]

Nothing..... Without the Mandolin my childhood memories would not the the same. Growing up listening to Grandfather, Uncle, and others in the family gospel bluegrass group to me hold my greatest memories!

[bruce.b]

Funny, but as I was reading this and posting I was opening the box that my new mandolin came in. I haven’t played one for well over a year and I was struggling with the right hand much more than the left. Tenor guitar is a lot bigger amd requires a different touch. It’s a Sawchym Beavertail and it’s great. It’s really tiny! Fit and finish are excellent and the setup is perfect. What a sweet little mandolin. I think I’m going to love it. It’s really impressive.

[Zach Wilson]

I was a guitar player first as a pre-teen. I would have simply spent more time learning how to play six-string better.... I'm also interested in the 12-string. Maybe I would have bought one and learned it.

[Bob Clark]

I play piano, so I'd keep going with that, but might also take up the clarinet. Why clarinet? Who knows? I just like them. No need for a better reason than that.

[Eric Platt]

Would go back to guitar full-time. I still love playing rhythm guitar to back up good players. At one time, would flatpick tunes, but essentially gave it up about 10+ years ago. Wasn't needed (or even appreciated) with the crowd I normally hang around.

Otherwise might have to purchase an accordion. Either one or two row button or keyboard with about 15 bass buttons. Yes, I've thought it through.

[LadysSolo]

I still play piano, organ, recorder and guitar. I am teaching myself oboe and violin. So I would still have those - I learned ukulele when I was a child, but never took to it. I am just glad mandolins were invented.

[Erok]

I'd still be playing guitar. Might try a concertina.

[CES]

Tenor sax. It’s where I started, and what I sold to get into guitar/banjo/mando. Wish I still had it, but now I’m also into mandocello, bass, and some electric stuff...but, still hard to beat good Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Coletrane, and Parker...

Glad I don’t have to ditch the mando, though, it’s by far my fav

[catmandu2]

*I was going to say something re accordians but couldn't stop writing.. I perform with 3 different types, or as many as i can carry... Many ways to go with boxes - recommend!

I guess for the topic - for strings my favorite are the Indian classical instr: vina, sarod, sarangi, sitar.. But I don't play those, although I would had I not gotten into East Asian forms. Something had to replace pedal steel.

What is your *dream* instrument? Dream.

[NursingDaBlues]

Hmmm.

Mandolins never existed, huh?

Well…

In theory, I’d still have all of the money that I’ve spent on mandolins for over 45 years;

Same for all of the strings, maintenance, and repairs;

Same for picks, straps, cases, tuners, and other accessories;

Same for lessons, instructional books & videos, sheet music, and songbooks;

Same for all of the mandolin-centric CDs that I’ve purchased;

Same for all concerts and festivals that featured mandolin players;

And if I put an hourly dollar value on my time at jams, rehearsals, and practice;

And the time I spend on Mandolin Café;

So if I had all that money – in cash – piled in front of me, I’d probably go whoowee, buy an island, and say the heck with picking up an instrument to play. They’re way too expensive.