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Thread: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

  1. #51
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Yes. I like other genres but the social playing vibe is what got me started on mandolin.

  2. #52
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    so that's 3 "yes" and a lot of no, I admit if someone heard me attempt to play Bluegrass that might say "that ain't no part of nuthin" but I still enjoy "trying". There does seem to be a fair amount of negative context, but I think that is mostly against the "limitations" applied to the instrument. I recall when I first joined this forum someone posted they held thier mandolin up and asked for Bill Monroe's blessing, which I found to be kind of silly and it made my stomach turn a little. I sure can't do things like Rawhide or Get Up john, and probably will never bother trying, and I can't really sing harmony so that excludes me from most BG anyway. But I love bluegrass music, and love hearing the great players do it right. Who is the best, right now probably Sierra.
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  4. #53
    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    My answer is "yes. On mandolin I'm mostly a bluegrass player."

    Now for the qualifications:
    Most of my actual hours of playing and practicing mandolin are spent in the bluegrass genre. I play with friends a lot, in 3 acoustic music clubs. Two of these clubs are devoted to mostly bluegrass.
    I play a few other genres as well....when I play old time, newgrass, Americana, classic CW or folk, its still pretty much in a bluegrass style. So especially if you subscribe to the "big family" concept of bluegrass (vs traditional only), you'd likely consider the majority of my playing as bluegrass.

    Now when you branch out to other instruments (mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello, violin, viola, guitar, ukulele) and the other genres (gypsy jazz, swing, latin, Hawaiian slack key, jazz, Irish trad, Nordic, Italian, classical) that I play you'd probably see no bluegrass connection (I don't myself).

    I have a couple friends who've decided they only want to spend whatever time they have left on old time music. I don't want to focus on just one instrument or genre.

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  6. #54
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No.

    Lots of other genres over the decades: old time, classical, Italian, Québécois/Acadian, choro (for awhile), swing (for another while), probably a few other things I forgot, but rarely if ever bluegrass.
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  8. #55
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    60% of the time I’m a bluegrass picker all the time.

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  10. #56
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Yes.

    Keep yer pinky on the 5th fret!

  11. #57
    Registered User Louise NM's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Nope.

  12. #58
    Registered User Eldon Dennis's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    A bluegrass wannabe with a side of fiddle tunes here!
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  13. #59
    Registered User Lucas's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Yes. I play bluegrass almost exclusively, except when a fellow bandmate decides to sneak in an occasional folk or a rock tune.

  14. #60
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No.

    Can play bluegrass but I almost never do when I grab the mandolin at home. I would have answered differently in years past but living/playing in Kentucky for a long time burned me out on it somewhat.
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  15. #61
    Registered User Willi Bahrenberg's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    This has been very insightful so far. Thanks, everyone!

    I think we are beginning to see a clear tendency through all your (understandable) ifs and buts.

    I'll wrap this one up when I get back to my PC next Monday. Keep it coming until then

    Oh, and for those who were wondering: Nitzhonot is a subgenre of Goa coming from Israel. Bronycore is a type of dubstep created by and for adult men obsessed with the show My little Pony. It is a thing. I don't judge - I still kinda like Pokemon.
    Both genres aren't usually associated with the mandolin, though.

  16. #62
    Registered User Bren's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No.

    (but have faked it for money)
    Bren

  17. #63
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Quote Originally Posted by j. condino View Post
    When the bluegrass guys call for a paid gig, I'm a bluegrass musician.

    When the jazz guys call for paid gig, I'm a jazz musician.

    When the Irish guys call for a paid gig, I'm an Irish musician.

    When the Django guys call for a paid gig, I'm a Django musician.

    The rest of the time, I'm just a guy who likes to build and play the mandolin without the need for labels....
    Boy howdy, does that open a can of worms. So the "Django guys" ain´t no part of nothin´ to the "jazz guys"...

    Now wait... actually the "jazz guys" don´t know that they ain´t no part of nothin´. Because all that jazz is only what the "Django guys" are playing.

    Uh... wait..., now I´m all confused.
    Olaf

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  19. #64
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Quote Originally Posted by Willi Bahrenberg View Post
    ...that is the question!

    In the name of science, I'd like to conduct a little survey:

    In order to find out how high the percentage of Bluegrass players among the cafe members really is, every member is asked to answer the following question:

    "Are you, by your own definition (we don't want to make this too complicated), a (mainly) Bluegrass Player?"

    Possible answers are: "Yes" or "No"

    Feel free to name your preferred genre/style. I might include it in the subsequent evaluation - exotic stuff like cosmic Bronycore Nitzhonot will most likely be categorized under miscellaneous, so better keep it simple.

    Everyone please take part - truth must prevail in the end!
    To pee or not to pee, that is the question.

    ... YES ...

    Oh wait... we´re talking "by my own definition"... Then I´m just a musician. Because apart from Bluegrass... is there music or just noise (as I have been accused of voicing)?
    Or did I turn that sort of all over Irish something session in allmost pre internet days at the "Froggy´s" in Hamburg into bluegrass with my undying attempt to keep time. Or am I a bluegrass musician for the lack of mostly playing with people.

    Okay. My preferred music: Bluegrass My pet peeve: People proclaiming to play bluegrass whereas they clearly have not understood how bluegrass music is put together (in a band context) and failing to try (this is why oldtime music and - years back - Irish music was/is more popular; people think that they can get away with sloppy playing easier). Another pet peeve: People thinking bluegrass is hick backwoods music with no musical merrit (had that happen to me with a pro musician and music teacher; until we jammed together: I played circles around him in his own genre whereas he struggled with the simplest things = counting beats in "Evening Prayer Blues" and keeping up in "Red Haired Boy"; in the end he said: "It´s not my kind of music anyway")

    So: If you can play bluegrass you can play a lot of music...
    Olaf

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  21. #65
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No.

    “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” ― Albert Schweitzer

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  22. #66

    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No, I am not.

    I do enjoy hearing good Bluegrass music, though.
    The first man who whistled
    thought he had a wren in his mouth.
    He went around all day
    with his lips puckered,
    afraid to swallow.

    --"The First" by Wendell Berry

  23. #67
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No.

    Since getting serious about mandolin the focus has been on Finnish and other Nordic music, "Upper Midwest" style, a touch of old-time and more recently Quebecois music. There are also some other styles I would like to try, but bluegrass is not on that list.
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  24. #68

    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Yes

  25. #69

    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    I make it so far 2:1 votes for "No I am not a bluegrass player". But remember guys, we are all different.


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  27. #70
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    I make it so far 2:1 votes for "No I am not a bluegrass player". But remember guys, we are all different.
    I am not.
    Olaf

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  29. #71
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    I make it so far 2:1 votes for "No I am not a bluegrass player". But remember guys, we are all different.
    Some are more different than others.

    I've been trying to hold off on numerical analysis until this thread reached 100 posts, so I could figure in percentages. But there have been multiple posts from some participants, some are hard to categorize, and the above analysis seemed way off.

    My current estimate is 40 nays and 12 yeas, a ratio of 10:3 or 3.3:1. I'm including responses with too much explanation, rationalization, and obfuscation as nos. There's just too much going on with them to be counted as yeses. That is, maybes are going in the no file, except for one that was a yes with qualifications.

    Honestly, I'm a little surprised. I expected there to be more bluegrass representation. Though perhaps this much response declaring fealty to any genre is worth considering - even though this is weighted toward the topic of the survey. I wonder what the response would have been ten years ago, or even five. It could well be more and more mandolinists have been exploring more and more genres. I think that's great. It's long been my belief that the instrument can be used in many more ways than conventional assumptions suggest.

    Quote Originally Posted by Willi Bahrenberg View Post
    I'll wrap this one up when I get back to my PC next Monday. Keep it coming until then
    Good luck with that! Once started, threads develop minds of their own, and may well run much longer than anticipated.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  30. #72
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Mulling over my perception of the trend toward diversification of mandolinists' tastes in genres, I took a look at another thread which has held my attention lately, "Even the cafe is biased towards f's." It started out with an observation concerning the type of mandolin used in Café merch, but has ventured far and wide, as these things often do. There's been some crossover in the conversation as far as genre goes. For instance, Post #15 in this recently revived thread has gotten a lot of pushback, many from more recent responses than those from seven years ago. That may well be due to its revival was initiated by someone's disagreement with that post's assertion - "Most cafe members are bluegrass devotees" - which the current participation in this thread disproves. Most members are not bluegrass devotees, by a wide margin - though clearly many still enjoy the genre, just not exclusively.

    Alrighty, then. Enough analysis, let's get back to play.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  31. #73
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Nope, I play irish trad music.
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  32. #74
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Honestly, I'm a little surprised. I expected there to be more bluegrass representation. Though perhaps this much response declaring fealty to any genre is worth considering - even though this is weighted toward the topic of the survey. I wonder what the response would have been ten years ago, or even five. It could well be more and more mandolinists have been exploring more and more genres. I think that's great. It's long been my belief that the instrument can be used in many more ways than conventional assumptions suggest.
    When I first joined the Cafe 15 years ago, my subjective impression was that Bluegrass was the dominant genre here. Bluegrass still has the highest number of posts in the "Music by Genre" sub-forums, but over the years the other sub-forums have grown in size and interest.

    Again just a subjective impression, but the "General Mandolin Topics" forums feel more balanced now than they did before. I've noticed an increase of members from outside the USA in recent years, which may be a factor in that.

  33. #75
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    Default Re: To be or not to be (a bluegrass player)

    No. I play in the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra. About half of what we play is classical. The rest a sampler of everything else, but very little bluegrass.

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