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Thread: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

  1. #1
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    Default Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Hey, y'all...nice place you have here!

    My sweetheart, Pickles, bought me a Kentucky A model for my b-day, which tickled me to the core. I've been playing bass since the late '70s (Lākland 55-94, Conklin GT-7), and make what money I get by it. This is a new thinking pattern, entirely!

    I'm just tickling Hot Brown (the name of the 'baby'), under the chin, mostly. Having a wonderful time hacking and jamming with my stepson Red, all the while daring myself to get shot down at his open mic tonight...

    I fully understand that I need to get learning, in a structured fashion, on this powerful nugget of an instrument, and I will...tonight, however--I JAM!


    So glad to come across MC, and to meet you fine folks. I'll try to lurk more than I post, and 'search' more than blather, this post excepted.

    Yours,
    Dixon Creasey, Jr
    'Daofktr'

  2. #2
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Welcome. Looking forward to your post and blather.

    I suspect that you will find more paying opportunities with the bass, so don't give that up.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  3. #3
    Registered User Malcolm G.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Welcome Dixon.

    Bass to mando, eh?

    I play both as well, and switching back and forth at a gig drives the muscle memory completely crazy!

    Now throw banjo, guitar and ukulele into the mix.

    Wahooooo........

    Have fun tonight!
    Malcolm Grundy from Montreal

  4. #4

    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Welcome to the world of mandolins. I've played bass and guitar for many years and got my first mandolin last Christmas.

    For playing basic rhythm chords, the transition hasn't been as hard as I expected. My "chop" isn't great but it's there. Lead work is coming along but more slowly. So far, the different fingering (tuning in fifths instead of fourths) hasn't messed up my bass playing but sometimes it throws off my guitar playing.

    My theory is that the longer scale of the bass helps my brain keep the different tunings straight where the guitar scale is closer to the mandolin and my fingers automatically jump to mandolin patterns. The other theory is that my bass is fretless and maybe that puts my brain in a totally different place.
    Tom Groleau
    Breedlove Quartz KF
    Taylor 314ce
    Ibanez SR400fl
    tgroleau@carthage.edu

  5. #5
    Registered User G7MOF's Avatar
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    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    I play both bass and mando too, Different scale length, different instrument size, and to top it off the tuning is upside down as well.
    Not easy at a gig after a few beers!!!

  6. #6
    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Welcome to the Cafe. I hope we can be useful and entertaining.

    Jamie
    There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946

    + Give Blood, Save a Life +

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Thank you all for your kind welcomes!

    @JeffD--
    If you only knew what kinda blather oozes out!
    Where I am, there are too many folks that play mando poorly, better than me...don't think I'll make dollar one, which is fine.

    @Malcolm G., tgroleau, G7MOF--
    While lurking, I saw that there are more than a couple bass players here that play mandolin. Very interesting, and very cool, and yes, last night, I did play a line on the bass, thinking mando tuning....lol.

    @JEStanek--
    Thank you, and I hope to be entertaining, at least, considering that I'm so seldom useful.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    well i am old mandolin player , green bass player myself . it is definitely a different mind set between the 2 instruments .

  9. #9

    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Yes, some nice things...some special things...the guy who plays the bass



  10. #10
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    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Long time player of both instruments here. You get more work on bass.

  11. #11

    Default Re: Old bass player, green mandolin player here.

    Same here; I have played bass for nearly 40 years and that's ALWAYS in demand, especially since I read music; I'll never be that good of mandolinist to be hired out, but I have fun in ensembles. I just like being able to play tunes for a change! I mess around on fiddle (what I originally started on in 5th grade), too.
    Yvonne
    "There are two refuges from the miseries of life--music and cats" Albert Schweitzer

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