"That other instruement"

[Bill Kammerzell]

Took the Collings to a conference at the Natural Bridge Virginia Hotel and Conference Center November 2nd thru the 4th. One other guy showed up with an instrument, a guitar. We got together on one of the balconies prior to dinner and worked a few songs out. Then again Friday and Saturday evening in one of the hospitality rooms. We drew a small crowd both nights.
The guitarist was probably 20 years younger and played mostly "Classic Rock." He's the lead singer and rhythm guitar in a bar band. I really had a lot of fun, between chopping rhythm, playing some breaks and throwing in some fills. I was really whipping the Collings like a rented mule and at one point knocked the G strings out of their bridge slots. (I'll need to watch that.)
We were doing Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" for about the 3rd time that weekend on Saturday night and we pulled it off nicely. I did some adequate fills and took a break where everything went right for once.
At the end, we got a nice applause and one woman said, to the guitarist, "That was really good. I really enjoyed what 'The other instrument was doing'."

[Mark Gunter]

Great story ... "the other instrument"

I've noticed that a lot of people are drawn to the sound of that other instrument, though. I find busking with mandolin to be a blast that way.

[Bill Kammerzell]

Great story ... "the other instrument"

I've noticed that a lot of people are drawn to the sound of that other instrument, though. I find busking with mandolin to be a blast that way.

All I did was thank her. The next morning she sat with the wife and I at breakfast and finally asked me, "What do you call the instrument you were playing?"

[Bill Kammerzell]

Great story ... "the other instrument"

I've noticed that a lot of people are drawn to the sound of that other instrument, though. I find busking with mandolin to be a blast that way.

Plus One that people are drawn to the sound. I was doing a few double stops with tremolo and a gal sitting close to us was really enjoying it. She let out a couple of whoops. Of course there were people there that knew what it was. They even went out of their way to call it a mandolin.

[Zach Wilson]

Look on the bright side... at least she didn't think it was just a "tiny guitar". At least she knew it was in fact "another instrument".

[Bertram Henze]

Look on the bright side... at least she didn't think it was just a "tiny guitar". At least she knew it was in fact "another instrument".

Second that. It was the wisest thing she could say without knowing what The Other Instrument was. Some people think it's just a TOI...

[Timbofood]

That’s one of the really fun things about playing mandolin! I was at a jam at my wife’s cousins place, eight guitar players all about the same vocal range and talent level, confident but not really sure, I was the only “other” instrument. It inspired one of the guys (BIG biker dude) to go out and buy a Mandolin! Sadly, the guy played only for about a year or so, he was taken by cancer very quickly. I liked the guy, I wish he’d had more time to enjoy it.

[dhergert]

I usually get "Nice little uke, I never saw one like that before..."

Face it folks, we're a strange and obscure group of OCMs (obsessive-compulsive musicians).

As we always say, it could be worse...

[Bluestraveller]

I played mandolin at our church for the first time last Sunday. It worked very well playing mostly contemporary worship songs with piano, acoustic guitar, cajon , & upright bass. After the service I was surprised at how many people asked me what that instrument was I was playing and it wasn’t the young folks asking!

[Bill Kammerzell]

Look on the bright side... at least she didn't think it was just a "tiny guitar". At least she knew it was in fact "another instrument".

"A tiny upside down guitar." Or God forbid a Ukulele.

[kurth83]

Tiny instruments are cute, never underestimate the power of cuteness... :-)

I've been sitting in on our church band rehearsals, preparing for when it will go live, I have been getting compliments also, that's a good sign.

[mbruno]

I usually get "Nice little uke, I never saw one like that before..."

My favorite sticker I have on my case reads simply "It's not a ukulele"

[Randi Gormley]

i was playing at a session Saturday with a box player as the leader and there was an elderly couple sitting in the circle (some people actually don't understand session etiquette, but, hey, they were enjoying the music) and during a break between tunes asked to have the instruments explained -- pointing to a penny whistle and the bodhran. And then pointed at me as i sat next to my-husband-the-guitar-player and said "and that's a little guitar, right?" alas, I just said "no." and then i relented and said "it's a mandolin." sigh.

[Roger Moss]

I've known what a mandolin was since I was quite young. I still feel some mild surprise when someone doesn't know what's that thing on the couch. I guess I don't consider that not everyone grew up surrounded by music. One nice thing though. I get to enjoy ten or fifteen minutes explaining the difference between a guitar and a mandolin.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yeah, I've had people ask me what the mando is.

Obviously, it's a cross between an egg slicer and a ping-pong paddle: multi-tasking at its most esoteric.

[Mark Gunter]

I was sitting out practicing today, while waiting on a customer to pick up a chair I had re-caned. I met her at her car and she nodded toward where I'd placed my mandolin in its case.

"You were playing music? Is that a banjo?"

[JeffD]

I think we under estimate how minority our instrument is. Or more accurately, we generalize too much from our own experience and think that most people are more like us.

Most people do not know what a mandolin looks like, and those that do would only recognize a bowlback. Its just a fact.


I am by no means immune to surprise. For example:

I surmise that a large percentage, maybe more than half, of guitar players, have never seen someone playing the fiddle in the flesh. Sure they have seen videos or movies, but many many if not most guitar players have never played with much less seen a fiddler.

When I meet folk and acoustic guitar players, outside of my local music community, like for example "my sister in law plays guitar and sings, can she come to the party", it is more often than not the case that the guitar player is surprised at all the other instruments, banjos, fiddles, mandolin, bass, etc., and especially in seeing a live in the flesh fiddle player.

This may be less true in other parts of the country, and more true in others, but I have met many a guitar player I don't know, who claims to jam regularly, and as far as I can tell jams only with a bunch of guitar friends because they are surprised to see a violin.

This has happened pretty near all my musical life, and I am still surprised.

[fatt-dad]

hard to believe Rt. 11 goes right over the top of Natural Bridge! We were up there in the late summer this year. It's just a cool spot.

. . . that and I'm a geologist.

. . . and I work for the highway department!

f-d

[Br1ck]

I play mandolin today because my grandson, when he was three, saw a mandolin being played at a farmer's market. When the song was done he marched right up to the mandolinist and asked what it was. Next day we were in the backyard having a BBQ, and, bright child that he is, told my wife I needed to buy one so he could play it.

I didn't put him up to it, honest.

[Roger Moss]

I play mandolin today because my grandson, when he was three, saw a mandolin being played at a farmer's market. When the song was done he marched right up to the mandolinist and asked what it was. Next day we were in the backyard having a BBQ, and, bright child that he is, told my wife I needed to buy one so he could play it.

I didn't put him up to it, honest.

So does he play now?

[Br1ck]

Only violin so far, but he's only five.

[bratsche]

Am I the only one who thought from the title that this was going to be a banjo thread?

bratsche

[Bob Clark]

Am I the only one who thought from the title that this was going to be a banjo thread?

bratsche

Nope, I thought so too.

[Bill Kammerzell]

hard to believe Rt. 11 goes right over the top of Natural Bridge! We were up there in the late summer this year. It's just a cool spot.

. . . that and I'm a geologist.

. . . and I work for the highway department!

f-d

It is a real nice area. IIRC we took Route 11 off of the interstate to get to the conference center. Took a 4 mile hike on a trail behind the conference center, first thing Saturday morning. Just a really pleasant, relaxing weekend. We'll likely attend the same conference next year about a week earlier, in October.