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Thread: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

  1. #26
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Edit: Upon responding, I hadn't yet seen stevedenver's post directly above; he must have been reading my mind! I now return you to our regularly-scheduled musical blather:
    ____________________________

    "Whatever I feel like playing" seems to magically coincide with "whatever the next gig calls for". That's often guitar, bass guitar, mandolin; sometimes uke or tiple. Much of that is just fairly casual, with friends. Except...

    I joined the Bloomfield (NJ) Mandolin Orchestra in 2015, intending to exercise my 7 or 8-year-in mandolin skills, being a good step above beginner-ish. But after a month or two, and having only one guitar player, the request came: "We'd really rather have a second guitar than a 23rd mandolin". So I switched to guitar which, after a year or so, freed up the other guitarist to resurrect the orchestra's mandobass (later, an actual upright). So that's where we sat for some time. In late '18, an excellent guitarist joined us, so it was nice having a combination backup + jazz instructor. In late '19, yet another guitarist joined. Then, post-Covid (whoops, wishful thinking!), a bunch of the longest-time folks retired, leaving us on the verge of... inadequate? So I spent much of yesterday downloading several dozen Mando-2 sheets, setting myself up to feel beginner-ish all over again!
    Last edited by EdHanrahan; Jan-16-2022 at 2:33pm.
    - Ed

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  3. #27

    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Ah the thread has taken a more serious air. I'll be earnest.

    It helps me to have everything out, at hand, in my music room. Cases are stored elsewhere. Instruments are scattered everywhere - a bit chaotic: I've got three harps out, cello, many accordions around on the floor, guitars and ouds line the walls, woodwinds on shelves and on stands...couple of fiddles out. The only thing I have to pull from a case is my hardingfele, where it's kept because of its fragility. At one end of the room is a keyboard, bunch of drums/percussion, more accordions... I've been tempted to get back into synths, but that's going to make things crowded..

    Playing out with bands takes time and sometimes more away from making the music I want - I quit playing in some bands because the time playing straight fours, while it paid, interfered with the syncopated music I enjoy. So, solo playing allows me to indulge all the sounds and styles I like..

    Nyckelharpa - max wouldn't sell me one of his , so I went back to Bach, cello, and guitar.

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  5. #28
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    One of the greatest benefits of being retired is be relieved of the need to be managed by the clock. i wasn't managing the clock, the clock was managing me. The day I retired I came home and hung up my wrist watch on a peg in the garage over the work bench. It is still there 6 years later. I haven't worn a watch since.
    Musically speaking until the pandemic happened upon us I had been playing mandolin and singing in a local bluegrass gospel group Higher Mountain. That was my focus for about 8 years is so. Still loved to dabble in guitar, banjo, and fiddle too. When it became necessary to isolate I allowed my musical journey to drift in a new direction, and the last two years I have concentrated on bluegrass fiddle, which soon drifted into Irish, then into Canadian and New England tunes. Playing fiddle tunes as written on the sheet music has been very beneficial to my mandolin playing, specifically left hand noting.
    So back to time management. I do try to practice my fiddle one hour each day. Most days it's more like two hours at a time. Usually late afternoon or after supper. That's about the only structure I have in my time management. But I'll pick up any other instrument at any time during the day or night and let the prevailing winds drift me musically along.

  6. #29
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Instruments here are mandolin and octave mandolin played for around 15 years now, acoustic steel string and nylon string guitars going back 35 years or so, and "Irish flute" (wooden 19th century reproduction with keys) that I started playing around 6 years ago.

    Where I spend my practice time varies based on whether there are any external pressures like a gig coming up, a workshop, or a local Irish/Scottish trad session. In which case I'll focus more on the main instrument and the tunes I'll be playing there. It's event-driven practice.

    When nothing much is happening outside the house in my life, like during this interminable pandemic, I play tunes at home for myself and with my fiddler S.O. where I'm free to mix up the instruments.

    I need daily practice on flute to avoid backsliding, it's a harsh mistress. I can't just set it aside for a few months without losing anything like I can with mandolin or guitar. But after the flute practice I'll often rotate in a bit of mandolin, OM or guitar to make sure I don't lose my chops, or forget how to play a few favorite tunes on those instruments. And by "practice" on all these instruments I mean playing tunes for fun. I'm not one for running scales or other technique-only drills.

    P.S. I'm another one with instruments out on stands in our music room and a few more in the dining room/group session area. Ready to hand, with good climate control in the house and no pets or small kids risking damage. Only exception is the wooden flute which has a specific maintenance routine after daily practice, swabbing out and storing the different sections in a flute case.

  7. #30
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Count me as another who follows their musical ADD…mando and guitar are my two favorites and get the most time, but I also play bass, uke, OM, and 5 string banjo. Mando gets the most practice time (esp since I started Mike Marshall’s course on Artistworks a couple of weeks ago), followed by guitar. I’ve been playing a lot of Drive By Truckers and Jason Isbell stuff of late, which has been a lot fun.

    The others get played pretty much based on what I need for our praise band or whom I’ll be playing music with next. With the pandemic I’ve only played in church twice, so my bass is actually with a friend who’s been learning it. My wife can’t stand the banjo so I only pull it out when she’s out of the house or I’ve really got the urge to play it. I have a friend who got a uke for Christmas so suspect I’ll be playing more of that as he gets up to speed. I do play these some just for a change of pace, but not too often.

    I play for fun/out of interest and am far from a pro, so take that into account. If I were a pro or aspiring pro without my actual career I’d be much more disciplined. Heck, even when i was just playing a couple of times a month in church I was more disciplined. The good thing is a lot translates between the instruments I play, so it doesn’t take too long to get back up to speed (which is admittedly not as high on any of these as I’d like).

  8. #31
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    I only play three instruments. I usually manage to play two on a given day, three maybe twice a week. A thing I did was set up seven daily play lists so I touch base with a melody at least once a week. I go through those tunes on one instrument or another. Things get added or taken off as time passes. There are those tunes I struggle to plan and those I have fun with. R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

  9. #32
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Gnann View Post
    One of the greatest benefits of being retired is ... let the prevailing winds drift me musically along.
    Love it. Thanks!
    - Ed

    "Then one day we weren't as young as before
    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
    But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
    - Ian Tyson

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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    There seem to be instruments that are difficult to fit into the kind of sloppy 'play what ya brung today' approach that myself and many of us here appear to have to playing multiple instruments. The two I gave up on for that reason were 5 string banjo and Chapman Stick. In the case of banjo, I realised I'd have to put a LOT of time into getting my right hand technique rhythmically stable, if it was ever going to sound convincing on it. Chapman Stick was great fun, but the Chapman Stick community is very Zen (any coincidence a lot of them are in California?). They have a great Forum, but if you ask say "Which Chapman Stick is right for me (they come in a lot of different flavours), you're apt to get an answer along the lines of "The perfect Stick for you will reveal itself, good luck with your journey". Now that's real nice, but I was hoping for something like "I think you want a 10 string, this scale length, in tuning (X), made of wood (Y). Also, I got the feeling it's an instrument that some guys play because they find jazz guitar insufficiently challenging. I think it's a total submersion deal, anything less and you won't be happy with it (and, little brother...it won't be happy with you).

  11. #34

    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Doood, (lol)

    Banjo is hillbilly zen
    Part of ‘the practice’ is learning not to hear banjo, but music, like the inner flame>……
    Namaste……..

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  13. #35
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Well, despite the decrepitude of advanced age, I'm still gigging, and the requirements of each performance largely determine on what instrument I place my emphasis. Most of my solo gigs involve guitar, 5-string banjo, ukulele and harmonica, so those get preference. If I'm playing with my Celtic band, it's octave mandolin, mandola, and concertina. Historical music jobs usually include "gut"-strung banjo (actually Nylgut), guitar, Autoharp, concertina –– sometimes bowl-back mandolin or mandola. I always take a mandolin and mandola to any Celtic seisun where I sit in, along with concertina; old-time jams I've been known to bring along the Octofone as well as a standard mandolin. There was a regular weekly sing and jam -- pre-pandemic -- to which I'd show up with 5-string, mandola, and Dobro.

    So it's what circumstances demand. I taught intro classes -- again, pre-pandemic, though I also did a couple last Fall -- in mandolin, harmonica and ukulele, so I had to concentrate on those to build curricula and create hand-outs for each. Left to my own devices, I think I'd play a bit more Autoharp -- getting a bit rusty on that -- and I keep wishing I were in a group where I'd break out the Dobro more often.

    Oh, did I mention bass fiddle -- and mando-bass? I get roped into playing my (aluminum) bass fiddle at country dance gigs, and take the Stahl mando-bass when I (infrequently) sit in with our nascent mandolin ensemble.

    There are other instruments I get out once in a blue moon. I use a kalimba a little bit for Christmas holiday programs; I've been known to deploy a tenor banjo and a tenor resonator guitar for specialized programs, as well as a mandolin-banjo. And I've done a gig or two with tiple, even bowed psaltery (Ren Faire stuff), Appalachian dulcimer, and, yes J-Bear, kazoo.

    And you wanta know the instrument I never play? It's my tourist-grade Honduran guitarron. I'll have to get that out some day.
    Allen Hopkins
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  15. #36
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    I tend to play guitar or mandolin after morning farm chores, and then in the late afternoon/evening when work is done either tenor guitar or tenor banjo. All instruments are kept in their cases both for climate control reasons and also because of having an extremely enthusiastic Beagle in the house! The first two get played in the morning because they're quickest to access, and the last two get played in the evening because I find them more user friendly for tired hands.
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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    When you say "farm chores," does that include milking the cows and chickens, as in the refrain of this charming ditty?



    I ain't got nobody, just as blue as can be
    I ain't got nobody to make a big fuss over me
    If I don't get somebody, I'll go back to the farm
    Milk the cows and chickens, I don't give a golly gosh darn
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  17. #38
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    I think you should stick to single instrument, so that when you are avoiding practicing you know which instrument you are avoiding practicing.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    I respectfully disagree. If you play only one instrument, and you are avoiding practicing, yes, you know which one it is. If you play many instruments and are avoiding practicing, you know that's all of them. Same difference. x - x = 0, regardless of the value of x.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    When you say "farm chores," does that include milking the cows and chickens, as in the refrain of this charming ditty?



    I ain't got nobody, just as blue as can be
    I ain't got nobody to make a big fuss over me
    If I don't get somebody, I'll go back to the farm
    Milk the cows and chickens, I don't give a golly gosh darn
    At the moment farm chores = chickens, and maintaining a large market garden (we'll be selling veg this year), and I've just discovered today that we'll possibly have a couple of alpacas arriving soon possibly within the month. More critters (sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, ducks) by the end of the year as well!
    2018 Girouard Concert oval A
    2015 JP "Whitechapel" tenor banjo
    2018 Frank Tate tenor guitar
    1969 Martin 00-18




    my Youtube channel

  21. #41
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    Well, despite the decrepitude of advanced age, I'm still gigging . . . .
    I'm the other way around. Decrepitude is just what I needed to get going! I didn't start gigging until I retired, which freed me up to play. The virus put a big crimp in it all, of course, but before it hit I was playing out at least a couple times a month.

    Looking forward to being back in the saddle again. I figure, if Ramblin' Jack Eliot can still be doing it at ninety, I've got plenty of good miles left.
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    When you say "farm chores," does that include milking the cows and chickens . . .
    Thought I'd done just about everything worth doing, but I still haven't milked a chicken!
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

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  25. #43
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Perhaps you've watered a horse; have you then milked a cat?
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jill McAuley View Post
    More critters (sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, ducks) by the end of the year as well!
    Good thing you're in Ireland. This wouldn't go over too well in Oakland.

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein View Post
    Thought I'd done just about everything worth doing, but I still haven't milked a chicken!
    Very few have even made the attempt, as far as anyone knows.

    There are rumors of some such occurrences, but no survivors. Chickens get very aggressive in defensive situations

    BTW, this song is permanently ingrained in my brain, thanks to R. Crumb. The refrain was immortalized in a full-page one-sheet panel cartoon in Bijou Funnies No.6 long ago. I've tried and tried but been unable to find this on the interweb. If any of you remember this, good for you! The look on the chicken's face while being milked in the last panel is priceless!
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  27. #45
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    +1 to “don’t watch TV”

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  29. #46

    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    Quote Originally Posted by DaveGinNJ View Post
    I know many of you play multiple instruments. I am now up to a mando, upright bass, occasional guitar and now an electric bass. With limited time how to you break it up?
    If you're just starting out on a new instrument, this is different than keeping up chops/repertoire among them. You may want to spend quite a bit more time/energy with the new one - I've always found that immersion is the way to go. When I immerse in a new project, the others naturally take a back seat - sometimes for years.

  30. #47
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    I play banjo, mandolin, double bass, uBass, square neck Dobro, harmonica, flute, and I'm working (very slowly) on trumpet. I'm most known for playing banjo (50 years of serious playing), secondarily mandolin and double bass, and most of the other instruments tend to get at best an hour or so a week altogether -- except for trumpet which I'm at the very beginning with, and I probably put in a few hours a week working with it.

    Since March 2020 I've been jamming online for a couple of hours daily on JamKazam. The mandolin simply started out as the most convenient instrument for me for that purpose, but it has really since become my favorite instrument for other jamming too, as well as for some performing. I practice and play banjo and double bass for gigs and for special events, but in general they've both suffered some neglect on a weekly basis, while the mandolin is getting played a lot and in fact is becoming my favorite go-to instrument.

    While my wife and our band's fiddler both prefer me on the banjo for gigs because they're so used to the rhythm foundation it lays out, I'm starting to play mandolin for variety in our gigs. I hope to get to a point where the banjo / mandolin ratio is about 50/50, but I don't know if the rest of the band will let me get away with that.

    Our band's bassist is also a multi-instrumentalist, actually best known for his vocals and his guitar work, but he also does very nicely on mandolin so in gigs we may both switch off every once in a while. Our styles are pretty different on mandolin, so I'm hoping with a little bit of practice they might compliment each other.

    Playing mandolin most of the time is a pretty big change for me. Starting in January 2018 I also spent about a year and a half concentrating on double bass, laying down a serious playing foundation for it, for on into the future. Even though banjo is my primary instrument, I try not to feel guilty about this kind of thing, just trying to move forward with whatever instrument I'm concentrating on at the time.

    While I love playing banjo and will probably always love the tone of the instrument, I really dislike playing banjo in jams where there is already one or more banjoist. And there is almost always one or more banjoist. Banjos are such loud and distinct-tone instruments that, unless the players are extremely volume-sensitive and part-compatible, two or more banjos tend to just create an obnoxious clamor. And having more than one double bass in jams creates confusion. In contrast, you can have a bunch of mandolins in a jam before they are either obnoxious or confusing.
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
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  31. #48
    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    Default Re: multi-instrumentalists: how do you manage your time?

    I've really neglected mandolin over the past year or so in favour of guitar. But when I picked guitar up again I realised how much better I'd become through playing mandolin, especially my picking. The podcast I run is all recorded on guitar so I've naturally focussed there, but I've also really enjoyed it. Now, getting back to mando a bit more I realise how much better my playing is for taking a break and working on guitar!

    I interviewed Justin Moses for the podcast last year - there's a picker who knows his way round several instruments to a high standard (and also a really nice guy)!

    We chatted a bit about splitting time between instruments and he sometimes won't pick a certain one up for a while. You can her the conversation here if you're interested.

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