learn to play the mandolin

I’m still plinking away at the mandolin. I’ve picked it up almost daily for a year and tried to play for a minimum of 10 minutes – if for no other reason that to keep my fingers working.

It’s great. My mandolin sounds a lot better than it did a year ago and I’m not talking about my playing (though that’s improved too). The instrument had opened up a lot through use and seems to have louder, but sweeter tone.

Good stuff.

I’ve now had my new Eastman 615 for a week (and a Fullerton Gloucester for 10 days). I’ve managed to learn a very simple lead line for “Red Haired Boy” from TAB I got in a DVD I rented on Netflix. I’ve got a couple more DVDs coming, but I’ve really got to buckle down and get into some sort of lesson plan.

Yesterday I even went and got a Belkin Tune Talk adapter for my iPod so I can record myself when necessary for practice purposes.

So far so good. At least I’ve got no buyer’s remorse over all of this stuff.

This weekend I’m going to a jam in a local park and see what’s what with that. I probably won’t be able to join in as I can play exacty 3 chords and have one slowly played lead, but it might still be fun. Hopefully I can find someone to give a few pointers!

Aloha

So I’m home from work on break (a long one it seems) waiting for the FEDEX truck on which a cheap mandolin should be sitting.

I’ve ordered one discussed at the Mandolin Cafe in this thread.

I’ve loved bluegrass music since college. I went to college in Ohio and they’d often have a bluegrass band play on campus. After that I worked in a folk club in Milwaukee that regularly featured bluegrass. The interest kept up over the years, though I’m a failed guitar player (that is, I’ve had one around for most of my life, but haven’t played much since I was 11 or 12 and studied classical).

Now I have two mandolins on the way, a reasonably nice one and a cheap one for taking to the park, the beach, the whatever.

The cheap one should be arriving by the weekend, the nice one next week. We’ll see how it goes. :-)