introduce me

[hendrix2]

Hi,
I play the mandolin for about a year now, but now I find it hard to find new things to play.
That's because I always was into Hardrock,metal,rock,etc...music before I played the mandolin.
Can you guys give me some tips of what I definatly should listen to. I don't know anything about bluegrass, countrey,...all the stuff you can play on mandolin.
The only artist I know is actually Sam bush, but now I want to learn different things. It's not an issue if there aren't any tabs, I have a good ear (I play guitar for 12 years know, and I have studied a lot of music theory, and practiced a lot on ear training).
So introduce me to the wonderfull world of mandolin! Teach me the masters, and let me know the definatly must hear songs.

It's so weird how fast you can fall in love with the mandolin. I got one as a present, and suddenly I like it more then playing the guitar.

And these message boards have been very helpfull to me the last months! thanks!

[Eric F.]

Monroe, Stiernberg, Compton, Long, Reischmann, Mayor, Thile, Marshall, Statman, Grisman, in no particular order. Have fun! Others will suggest plenty I've left out. This list is not meant to be definitive, complete, authoritative or anything but what names first came to mind. Cheers.

[arbarnhart]

Try the MP3 files from the link off the Cafe home page (over on the left).

Listen to Mandolin Radio (click Play button on the page that comes up) or Mandozine Radio.

Go out to Sounclick's search page and search for mandolin in the band description.

Go into the genre specific forums here and read what people are posting about.

You don't have to change your musical tastes to like the mandolin, but you might. Oddly enough, I have started listening to jazz more since I have been playing the mando. I say oddly because I thought of bluegrass as mando music before I got more involved in it.

[sunburst]

I'd say listen to everything, but start with Bill Monroe, and keep coming back. There's a certain amount of Mon in nearly every modern, popular style of mandolin music.
If you're a rock-n-roller, and have a good ear, it won't take you long to find something familiar in the playing of Monroe, and then you'll recognize it when you hear it in other places too.

[hendrix2]

thanks for the reaction!
I'm always looking for something new in music. It all started with rock, metal,etc, but then I started listening to blues and jazz (mostley guitarjazz, like Django Reinhardt)
The last few weeks I started on studiing the classical music.
And since I play mandolin I want to know somenthing about the typical styles also (like bluegrass, newgrass, celtic,...)

I think there's something beautiful in every musicstyle (or almost)

[kyblue]

Tim O'Brien

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Monroe, Stiernberg, Compton, Long, Reischmann, Mayor, Thile, Marshall, Statman, Grisman, in no particular order.

Amen!

Bill Monroe: father of Bluegrass - any CD will do.
Don Stiernberg: traditional Jazz specialist and all around great guy (excellent teacher too) - CD's: Angel Eyes, By George, Unseasonably Cool, etc
Mike Compton: greatest living student of the Monroe style of playing mandolin - CD's: Stomp (with David Long) and recent Nashville Bluegrass Band releases
John Reischman: great mellow player - CD's: Travellers (with Butch Baldassari and Robin Bullock) and anything by the Jaybirds
Simon Mayor: classical to English traditional music - CD's:?? Someone else will know.
Chris Thile: whoo boy! where to start? Very versatile player, likes and plays Bluegrass, rock, pop, country, classical, traditional, and even a little Jazz - CD's (personal faves): Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Into the Cauldron (w/ Mike Marshall), Live Duets (w/ Mike Marshall, and This Side (as a member of Nickel Creek).
Mike Marshall: another versatile player, he started out with the David Grisman Quintet - CD's: Gator Strut, (see Thile above), Tasting the Wine Country
Evan Marshall (no relation): Duo Style player now concentrating on classical music - CD's: I think Mandolin Magic is still available.
Andy Statman: amazing free form Jazz player who once also played Bluegrass - CD's: apparently there is a new one coming out soon. Beats me when. His stuff is hard to find.
David Grisman: All around mandolin genius - CD's (too many to name, really) fave's: Tone Poems, Tone Poems II, Tone Poets, the first self titled David Grisman Quintet release, Doc & Dawg, Garcia/Grisman, Stephane Grappelli and David Grisman Live, and on and on...

Other folks to look up-
Jazz:
Paul Glasse
Will Patton
Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project
Michael Lampert

Classical:
Marilyn Mair
Nicola Swinburne

Bluegrass/trad:
Ronnie McCoury (of the Del McCoury Band)
Ricky Skaggs (& Kentucky Thunder)
Frank Solivan II
Adam Steffy (early Alison Krauss & Union Station, Mountain Heart)
Wayne Benson (John Cowan Band)
Tom Rozum (with Laurie Lewis)

Other:
Radim Zenkl
Emory Lester
Tim O'Brien

And really too many other to mention ... help me out here folks!

Seems to me if you're approaching mandolin from a rock background, it might be easier to get into the mandolin through the Garcia/#Grisman material (they did about four CD, but their first one is the best and it's self titled). Also look into Chris Thile's The Deceiver, Mutual Admiration Society (Nickel Creek w/ Glenn Philips of Toad the Wet Sprocket) and Nickel Creek's Why Should the Fire Die? Though, if you're a Hendrix fan, then Jazz might be up your alley too. If so, Stiernberg, Statman, Masefield, Glasse, Lampert, and Patton are good guys to get into. Patton has no Bluegrass background at all, so his approach lacks any of the Bluegrass standard licks or voicings.

HTH,
Daniel

[Steve Davis]

Don't forget Butch Baldassari and Skip Gorman

[hendrix2]

Well I know what to listen to the next years
Thanks!
I'll print this page and go searching in the musicstore tomorrow!
I must say people are very friendly here!!!

[lkb3rd]

Yea, Grisman/Garcia is really cool if you are into-or even familiar with the Grateful Dead. #They play a mix of old timey stuff and some dead and grisman stuff. #Really cool, and you could move to the David Grisman Quintet self titled debut album if you like grisman's playing.
Also, Bill Monroe has a ton of cool tunes with awesome, recognizeable mandolin feature parts to learn. #Like: #Roanoke(that right there should keep you busy)Big Mon, Dusty Miller, Devil's Dream, Get Up John, My last days on earth..
Mandozine has tabs for em all

[bluegrassplayer]

Bill Monroe
Herschel Sizemore
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

A good cd that is all mando music is the
Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza. It has a lot of big-time mando pickers on it.

[Jim Garber]

There is also a whole world of classical music on mandolin. There are a few threads in the classical section, if you are at all interested.

Jim

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Also, Bill Monroe has a ton of cool tunes with awesome, recognizeable mandolin feature parts to learn. #Like: #Roanoke(that right there should keep you busy)Big Mon, Dusty Miller, Devil's Dream, Get Up John, My last days on earth..
Mandozine has tabs for em all

Wow slow down there pard. Are you sure you want to throw in the tunes in alternate tunings right off the bat? I mean we don't want to scare the guy off, right?

Daniel

[Eugene]

The last few weeks I started on studiing the classical music.
And since I play mandolin I want to know somenthing about the typical styles also (like bluegrass, newgrass, celtic,...)

For some of us, classical music is the "typical style." If it does appeal, try a read through this thread. Also, here's something I posted a couple years ago (it took me a little while to find it):

I definitely would recommend that one introduce oneself to the instrument through music composed for the instrument, not arrangements. I have thoughts on a couple directions that could take: 1) you pursue standards written for mandolin by famous, recognizable composers that are standards by virtue of the general musical quality of the output associated with those famous names or 2) you pursue music by mandolin specialist composers/performers that represents the state of the technical art. In those veins, any of the following would be recommended introductions:

I. Mandolin music by really famous guys
Galfetti, Duilio. 2000. Mandolin and Fortepiano. Arts Music, 47610-2.
The four Beethoven works, the Hummel sonata, and a couple groovy sonatas by Hoffman played on a period mandolino Cremonese (i.e. four gut strings).

Galfetti, Duilio & Il Giardino Armonico. 1993. Vivaldi: Concerti per Liuto e Mandolino. Teldec, 4509-91182-2.
This is my favorite recording of the venerable Vivaldi stuff, on period instruments including 6-course, gut-strung mandolini.

Stephens, Alison. 1994. Music for Mandolin. Amon Ra, 53.
The four Beethoven works, the Hummel Sonata, the two Mozart songs as well as suites for two mandolins by Calace and Barbella for good measure. Alison plays a glorious modern mandolin by Embergher.

Walz, Richard. 1998. Works for Mandolin and Fortepiano. Globe, GLO 5187.
A great recording of three of the Beethoven works and the Hummel sonata as well as a great sonata by Neuling on a period Neapolitan mandolin.

II. Music by mandolin specialist composers
Orlandi, Ugo & the Orchestra di Mandolini e Chitarre "Citta di Brescia." 1998. Calace: Works for Mandolin Quartet and Mandolin Orchestra. Nuova Era, 7302.
A very nice recording of ensemble music by one of mandolin's greatest champions/composers. An excellent orchestral arrangement of the 3rd concerto is here, but with the movements recorded in reverse order (III, II, I).

Stephens, Alison. 2004. Con Espressione. Astute Music Ltd., AS05.
Unaccompanied solos by mando-pillars Calace, Munier, Pettine, Nakano, et al. Really tasty.

Troester, Gertrud. 1995. The Romantic Mandolin of Raffaele Calace. Thorofon, CTH 2211.
This features all 10 of Calace's unaccompanied preludes for mandolin. They must be heard to be believed: no overdubs!

Walz, Richard. 1999. Mandolin Treasures from the Golden Era. Plucked String Disc, PSD-007.
Munier, Calace, Pettine, et al., half with piano accompaniment and half unaccompanied solos played on a chic 1908 Pettine Special Model mandolin by Vega.

[Mockingbird]

I think that the ultimate album for any mandolin player to listen to and learn from is John Hiatt's "Crossing Muddy Waters". The mandolin player is David Immergluck, and the mandolin playing is absolutely spectacular.

Beyond that all my reccomendations have already been mentioned...Chris Thile, Mike Marchall, et cetera.

[mandroid]

a couple acoustic disc digitalized #old recordings Brazilian Jacob do Bandolim v1&2
Dave apollon 2 disc set

back to back with jethro burns and tiny moore

just got #'all the rage' nashville mandolin ensamble .. performing material from end of 19th century written for .. mandolin orchestras..

[250sc]

hendrix2,

I wouldn't count on finding too much of this material in stock in many music stores. I like shoping on line and getting them from my mail box.

BTW, I really like DNestler's suggestions.

[DryBones]

you can find a lot of those listed on eMusic. all the Garcia/Grisman stuff is there and you get like 40 songs for $10. cheaper than buying the CDs. no financial interest in eMusic but thats where my collection started.

[fishdawg40]

Okay, I'm just going to repeat some suggestions.

Imo, 1) David Grisman Quintet's first and self-titled album (1977) 2) Bill Monroe and Doc Watson: LIVE DUET RECORDINGS
1963-1980. 3) Frank Wakefield and Red Allen: The Kitchen Tapes (can be found on David Grisman's record label) Oh 4)Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza, nice stuff.

1, 3, and 4 can all be sampled and/or purchased at the website given. There's also a heck of a lot more albums on his label than I mentioned (others had mentioned though).

Hendrix2 you are well on your way...

[lkb3rd]

Also, Bill Monroe has a ton of cool tunes with awesome, recognizeable mandolin feature parts to learn. #Like: #Roanoke(that right there should keep you busy)Big Mon, Dusty Miller, Devil's Dream, Get Up John, My last days on earth..
Mandozine has tabs for em all

Wow slow down there pard. #Are you sure you want to throw in the tunes in alternate tunings right off the bat? ## I mean we don't want to scare the guy off, right? ##

Daniel

The only hard part to alternate tunings is finding out what the tuning is. #I assume he knows how to use a tuner #
"Get up John" is pretty straightforward and has a sweet raucous sound using an alternate tuning, as does "My last days on earth."
For get up john it's (F#A, DD, aa, ad)
Still looking for the "last days" tuning, but i fake it in standard and it's fun to play still.
Anyway,
Len
edit: i found a page discussing cross tuning including tunings for those two tunes. #I think his get up john tuning is wrong(but i am just as, if not more likely wrong lol ) but he gives "Last Days" as (G#G# C#C# G#B C#E).
Link

[groveland]

There's some guy named U. Srinivas that has played with John McLaughlin from time to time. #I haven't heard him yet, I know nothing about him, but if he's hanging with McLaughlin, he's on my list of things to check out (and he hasn't been mentioned yet).

edit: I listened around, and McLaughlin's "Remember Shakti" band and on his "Industrial Zen" CDs you hear Srinivas in the band. #(Srinivas' solo CDs aren't my cup o' tea, but in a Western fusion context, it'll raise the hair on the back of your neck.)