Small victories

[Br1ck]

Last night I took my mandolin to an open mic I frequent, as an early celebration of my three years playing the little beast. I did my set, and it went ok. Then a guitarist came up and asked me if I'd play with him on a song. I said sure, as long as it was in G, LOL. We played Walls of Time, but he kept throwing me solo breaks, so I kept repeating my small repertore of BG cliche licks in varying order. I also sung vocal harmony and was able to chop through the chorus while singing. Anyway, I came to the conclusion the open mic crowd is starved for some variety.

So there I was, basking in the glory of getting through a number, and a bass and guitar duo asked me to play with them. I asked what they were going to play and they didn't know. I said OK, as long as it's in G. So three more numbers winging it on the fly. What did I learn? People crave different and are easy to please, you can string six licks together, mix and match them and people think you can play, all those hours playing scales and arpeggios pay off, and I need to learn a few more keys.

Having strangers who are good players ask you to play with them is a high in itself.

[Doug Brock]

Excellent! Lol, about the "as long as it's in G."

Being in the Mandolin Cafe environment, you sort of get into the perspective that EVERYBODY plays mandolin, and that they all have much better instruments and play a lot better. The reality is that in a lot of places, the mando is uncommon and appreciated by other musicians and audiences, no matter what your playing level might be.

After a long break from music (guitar, piano, and mandolin), I began relearning mandolin a few months ago. After a month or so of relearning chords (lol, I had forgotten everything except the open G, C and D!), I started playing mandolin with a casual group that has two guitarists and banjo and bass players. The group is almost embarrassingly appreciative of having a mandolin, whether I'm playing basic rhythm, background "solos," or real solos. Just having a mando fills in the high end of the audio spectrum, so I think you can be at just about any level of mandolin playing and as long as you know a reasonable number of chords and can keep up with other players, you'll be well received.

(I love the three-note closed mando chords. You don't need to learn a lot of chord forms before you can play in any key, and the chords are easy to modify from major to minor to 7th's and various other extensions. I like practicing the chords by playing songs in pop music books because a lot of songs will be in piano friendly but not mando friendly keys like A flat and E flat.)

[onassis]

It almost feels like cheating, sometimes. If you have a reasonable idea of what's going on, it can feel absurdly easy to slide into someone else's groove when playing the mando. It occupies a distinct little aural region that folks outside of roots music traditions aren't accustomed to, and they're often surprised by the fact that it fits so well.

[Br1ck]

Yes, mandolin is a fantastic rhythm instrument, but the fact I can sing harmony on the fly is an equal component to the instrumental aspect. Having a ton of bass guitar band experience is a plus. I've spent quite a lot of effort trying to get solo players to collaborate in this particular open mic environment. They seem to think rehearsal is a must, LOL.

[Doug Brock]

Yes, mandolin is a fantastic rhythm instrument, but the fact I can sing harmony on the fly is an equal component to the instrumental aspect.

The ability to sing is definitely a valuable skill (and one that I wish I had).

[Bertram Henze]

you can string six licks together, mix and match them and people think you can play, all those hours playing scales and arpeggios pay off, and I need to learn a few more keys.

Thanks for confirming that dark suspicion I always had about BG solos

[Paul Busman]

That's a terrific story!

[William Smith]

Very Good, open mic situations can be great fun and a learning experience, once you get a bit advanced it also can be a drag, for sure when the older guys refuse to tune their instruments! I've ran into this many times at an open mic and it can be seriously disheartening and it has made me leave them. Its kinda hard to tell/ask some of these older guys to tune up, I give hints but they seem to say the old evil saying "its close enough for bluegrass!" Personally I never understood that especially when they are picking old Martin Brazilian D-28's and such! We have an open mic bluegrass thing every week close to my home about a 20 min. drive but I'd say I've only been to it maybe 2-3 times this past year, but my band has practice at least once a week.

[pops1]

Br1ck, move some of your G licks up a set of strings and you are now playing in D, down a set of strings and you are playing in C. Barely have to learn anything new.

[Mandobart]

Several years back I started mandolin and in a little while a friend got me to back him up at an open mic. The same thing happened to me. The open mic host asked me to play with him, then asked me to sit in with his band. I ended up playing in several bands and contributing on a few albums. Its still great fun to play with others, but the new shine of spontaneously throwing a band together has dimmed a little for me. I've been a musician since I was 10 and have performed many times with many groups in many venues, and the open mic/jam night format is prone to ending as a rail bender if not a full on train wreck. But the message I got was there are a lot more opportunities for me as one of a few dozen mediocre mandolin players than as one of a few thousand mediocre guitar players.

[Mandoplumb]

Br1ck, move some of your G licks up a set of strings and you are now playing in D, down a set of strings and you are playing in C. Barely have to learn anything new.

Move your G up two frets and you are in A, move that D that pops1 mentioned up two frets and you are in E. Now you can play in G,C,D,A, and E. That is the beauty of tuning in fifths, the pattern works in any key, just on different strings and different frets. What you learned is called "faking" it and is very prominent in most bluegrass jams.

[Br1ck]

My problem is a lot of my G licks bounce off open strings, so I just need new licks that don't. I'm concentrating on the middle of the neck now, so it's coming along.

We have a lot of old guys at our open mic. If anything, we are more in tune than the younger folks. A bigger problem for me is a lack of adventure. I'd like to hear different songs, not the same ten all the time.

I drive forty miles to go to mine because it is special. The venue has hosted it for 25 years. We have an African drummer who is 88 and attended the first one. We have had ten year olds. We have jazz players, classical guitarists, adults taking their first ventures into performing, several singer/songwriters, some pros, some struggling to get through a song, and folks passing through. We have a very nice sound system with acoustic pre amps and monitors that are crystal clear. We go out of our way to make everyone glad they came.

I've been to open mic nights with one speaker and no monitor, where I had to ask if the PA was on. No thanks. But due to a few of us playing with each other, people are starting to show up with their neighbor who plays harmonica, or their friend who can sing with them, and they realize how much fun they can have. We provide three mics, and three quality acoustic inputs, and word gets around that you can sound good. You can bring your electric rig if you want. Everyone gets to play as there is no limited amount of slots.

I am the backup host, so am somewhat invested. I've been in very high quality groups, so I do miss the tightness you can get and how much more rewarding having a band can be. But building a musical community is worth doing.