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I've been playing mandolin for about 4 months now. It's going really well, and I'm mostly playing Irish trad stuff and some basic improv with the band, but I'd like to get to grips with some bluegrass style stuff- turnaround licks, playing styles, stuff like that. There don't seem to be that many resources for that kinda stuff online, like tabs and poo poo. Anyone have any good sites? I'd rather just tabs, it's less hassle than sitting through a video.
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Jan 23, 2017 12:57
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Chris Thile is amazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=770rJqDwRXo I've been playing mandolin coming from 13 years of electric and folk guitar so sometimes I slip into incorrect positioning habits and all that, but a slow and constant approach to scales, arpeggios, and jamming every Sunday is helping me make mad progress.
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Feb 28, 2017 10:54
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Bilirubin posted:Do you play traditional Scottish music (I guess, based upon your avatar)? Familiar with Kevin MacLeod or Dagger Gordon's playing? I do a bunch of stuff, but I got started on reels and jigs, yeah. I've given them a listen and it's pretty iconic trad mandolin playing. Hadn't really bothered doing much exploring, I just sat down with a bunch of tunes I liked from sessions and started playing. This is me, btw. https://soundcloud.com/user-365559034/the-tar-road-to-sligothe-nightingalethe-lark-in-the-morning?in=user-365559034/sets/oneills18-01-2017
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Mar 9, 2017 09:37
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Candlelight Virgil posted:Looking to get a mandolin; never really played an instrument but have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and really love the sound. Is it practical to start out playing music on a mandolin? Is this still the right thread? I started the mandolin on a whim after 13 years of guitar playing. I found it really easy once you get used to playing in 5s instead of 4s and adapt your picking if you need to. I started with Irish reels and jigs that there's tablature for readily available and after about 6 months I'm playing regularly at trad sessions and with my band doing improv as well. When you say "start out", you could probably do far worse for a first instrument tbh. It's a fairly easy instrument to self-teach given the availability of tabs. Chris Thile has a couple of instructional videos online as well and I've found the instrument very accessible. Just as with anything, make sure you spend enough time using a metronome and practicing scales and arpeggios, not just the fun stuff. I just bought myself a beautiful handmade Irish bouzouki yesterday and I'm kicking myself over the amount but I'm sitting at work just so excited to get home and play the drat thing.  It's so loving pretty. Still smells of a woodwork shop.
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Apr 20, 2017 12:56
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Planet X posted:Yes, get a mandolin. They're a lot of fun, very lightweight and portable. They fit in well at Old Time and Bluegrass jams, if you're into that sort of thing. I bought an ibanez f shape for about $300 in Arizona and it plays really nicely after I got a local craft dude to lower the action and reset the intonation (and install a pickup, all for about £80). You can hear it on the soundcloud I linked above and here: https://soundcloud.com/user-365559034/sets/23012017a I'll upgrade at some point but it's working out just fine for me. Thanks, I'm quite happy with it. Been getting to grips with GDAD tuning for rhythm stuff and just obsessively watching Andy Irvine videos to get a hold of his rhythm and counterpoint playing. I'm still not sure how he manages to keep his singing in tune while he's playing such melodic stuff but hey. It sounds great. MacArthur Road: https://www.facebook.com/elijah.fynmore/videos/vb.907630383/10158525431525384/?type=2&theater McKechnie's Farewell: https://www.facebook.com/elijah.fynmore/videos/vb.907630383/10158526548570384/?type=2&theater
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Apr 26, 2017 10:39
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Actually do you guys think there'd be much call for a traditional/Celtic/folk thread? I could write up a massive OP, it's my bread and butter.
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Apr 26, 2017 11:25
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Including it in this thread would probably be better, since there's a lot of shared instrumentation. I'll write up an effortpost later today then.
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Apr 26, 2017 17:20
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So, traditional and folk music. Where to begin. Traditional music is generally the name used for the instrumental playing of Celtic music, mostly Irish and Scottish (although there are well liked historical contributions from Brittany and Canada and whatnot). This mostly takes place in pubs, at a "trad session" where a bunch of people playing violin, various pipes, banjo, mandolin, accordion, tin whistles and flutes, will play their favourite pieces. They'll often be accompanied by one or two guitar players and a bodhrán or spoon player for the percussion. Traditional music involves different types of pieces named after the type of dance that gives them their rhythm: Jigs (6/8), reels (4/4), slipjigs (9/8), hornpipes (4/4, like reels, but with accents on the first and third beats), strathspeys (4/4 similar to a hornpipe but slower), polkas (2/4), and slides (12/8) being the most common. Melody players will mostly learn the tune in the same key, or should be talented enough to transpose it well enough. Accompanying players sometimes have a harder time. Trad players can be really snobby about accompany playing sometimes, and some of them insisting guitar players only accompany pieces they know so they can work out the PERFECT arrangement or whatever. IMO this is bollocks, as a melody and accompaniment player, because really, it's not that hard to listen for the changes when you're playing a bloody onetwothree onetwothree from G to C to D or whatever. Some pieces are more complicated, and you should definitely familiarise yourself with how hornpipes and slipjigs feel rhythmically before trying to play along because you WILL miss a beat and hit the wrong chord if you go in blind. For guitar playing, I like using DADGAD for sessions and just capoing up depending on the key. You'll generally have three types of accompanying chords, although being a good enough player and knowing the tunes will let you embellish and make some really nice counterpoint or harmonies. That's up to you though, and is a question of experience. In any case: 1) a song in a major key following a I-IV-V where you can toss in a relative minor (ex D-G-A-Bm/G-C-D-Em/etc). Like not necessarily directly going from I to IV to V, like check out the Kesh Jig which you can accompany easily enough in G. 2) a song in a minor key where you'd go I-VII-VI-V or something along those lines. Check out Morrison's Jig for a fun piece in Em. 3) A major piece that only really needs the I and the VII. These are rarer and you can pretty much tell from the melody. If you can read standard notation, you're in luck. https://www.thesession.org has a massive collection of pretty much any trad piece you're ever going to want to find or learn. If you play mandolin or tenor banjo (both tuned in GDAE, like a fiddle), you can find tabs here http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/mandolin-tab/mandolin-tab-A.html and here http://www.mandolintab.net/index.html Note: One of my favourite features on thesession.org is the Recordings section. You can look up any record you want and find out what trad pieces are being played on it, which is useful for when bands annoyingly include a trad piece in their songs and don't include it in the song title (looking at you, Pogues). Took me ages to find out that the great instrumental at the end of South Australia is called Salmon Tails Up The Water. Some common and popular session tunes that you could get started with: The Kesh Jig Cooley's Reel Banish Misfortune The Mason's Apron Drowsy Maggie The Rights Of Man The Lark In The Morning The Sailor's Hornpipe The Jig Runrig The Ramnee Ceilidh The Butterfly The Swallowtail Right, folk music. This is singers, usually, collectors of old songs and sometimes writers of new ones. There's a wealth of songs from the shared cultural histories of Scotland and Ireland, too many to even begin listing. I can give you some big names in the scene and you can start from there but holy poo poo it's huge, there's so much to discover and it's never ever going to stop. Scotland: Dick Gaughan. Political minded folk singer in the tradition of Ewan MacColl. Excellent DADGAD guitar player. Very unique instrumental arrangements. Check out No Gods And Precious Few Heroes and Now Westlin' Winds as a taster. The Corries. Scotland's biggest folk band, largely credited with spawning the folk revival in Scotland in the 60s. They wrote our very corny national anthem Flower Of Scotland. They also wrote a bunch of pretty funny comedy tunes (my favourites are Scottish Holiday and The Bricklayer's Song). Occasional racisms. Invented the combolin, an instrument combining guitar, mandolin and sitar so they wouldn't have to keep lugging three instruments each around on tour. Malinky and Karine Polwart. Excellent more modern folk band. Karine Polwart is incredibly soulful. I love her song Follow The Heron. Malinky are just great with arrangements, like the old child's song Bonnie Banks O' Fordie. Old Blind Dogs. One of my favourite bands, a northeastern folk band featuring Johnny Hardie, one of our greatest fiddlers of all time. If I had to pick a band that personified what I thought the perfect folk band was, it would be them. I heard their version of Burns' Is There For Honest Poverty/A Man's A Man For A' That and was immediately hooked. The pipe solos at the end are stunning. Ireland: Planxty. Holy poo poo Planxty. Pretty much kicking off the entire folk revival, the band composed of Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, Donal Lunny, and Christy Moore pretty much defined how to play their respective instruments- bouzouki, mandolin, pipes, and song. Check out anything by them. Anything at all. It's all amazing. Each of the members went on to have solo careers of varying success, Christy Moore's being the best known one. Andy Irvine has some great bouzouki playing albums and writes some great ballads, one of my favourites is Never Tire Of The Road, a lovely tribute to Woody Guthrie. The Pogues. Yes they count. Shut up. The Chieftains. You should know about the Chieftains already. If you don't, well, you've got 38 albums to pick from so maybe just give a listen to a Best Of or some of their collaboration records. Some absolutely excellent examples are The Foggy Dew with Sinéad O'Connor and The Frost Is All Over with The Punch Brothers. Listen to Magdalene Laundries with Joni Mitchell if you want to feel really, really, undefinably sad. The Dubliners. Duh. Like the Chieftains, huge repertoire, so good luck. Luke Kelly is still considered possibly the best male Irish singer anywhere. That's to get you started. I've got a way longer list if people are interested. I'll add some youtube links. Playing folk music as a singer/guitarist is mostly, in my view, finding old tunes that deserve a modern approach and maybe a wee makeover. Lost gems. I once heard a tune called The Wild Geese/Norlan' Wind sung by Jim Reid, an old Dundonian fellow, on a random compilation album I'd been given by a tourist promotion thing. The song was amazing, and it's become one of my live staples and everyone I've taught it to loves it and it's been played by other people as a result. That's folk music to me, that sharing of hidden beauties that pop up every now and again. The songs are there, they just need to be interpreted, so knock yourself out. Tune your guitar to DADGAD and you can play most anything with three chords to start. I've got more to come but this is a good intro. Coohoolin fucked around with this message at 13:58 on May 5, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 18:27
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I've added youtube links!
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May 5, 2017 13:57
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Planet X posted:I just want to say that the trad post is great. I don't really know where to start with trad, and that's very helpful, and I'll be spending time going through it. I spent two weeks in Galway for work a few years ago, and fortunately got invited to some house and pub jams. They were as fascinated with my Scruggs style playing as I was with their plectrum playing. You play the banjo I take it? 5 strings confuse the heck out of me because of that extra fifth string that doesn't go the whole way and fucks with my fretboard thinking. Tenor banjos are a lot of fun though.
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Jun 1, 2017 20:09
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I tried to set up my H4 Zoom as a usb mic but my mac's not picking it up so might have to hold off on recordings until I can get it working or buy a decent USB mic. In the meantime I had a wee jam/audition with a bluegrass band called the Lost Highway Ensemble and it looks like I'll be joining them on mandolin for the upcoming gigs. https://www.facebook.com/LostHighwayEnsemble/videos/937580222994382/ A bunch of Scottish people playing ridiculous cabaret Americana and Louven Brothers tunes should be fun. Coohoolin fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 19:40
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Slowly getting better at this mandolin malarkey. I'm probably gonna apply for a performance degree at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow. https://www.facebook.com/globe.inn/...G-M&pnref=story
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Sep 7, 2017 06:16
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That's my bluegrass band doing Gotta Travel On and Rocky Road Blues at a festival today. Need to work on my solos some more. Our fiddler has a degree in folk violin and spent a year in Tennessee on exchange studying bluegrass, he's ace. https://www.facebook.com/DoricanaFest/videos/1623010494408508/
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Sep 23, 2017 21:40
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Bilirubin posted:Just to follow up on a couple of things here. For a fantastic resource for music check out The Session, loaded with scads of dots and tab for tunes and variations for multiple styles. That's a good shout, hadn't really considered it. I'm not aware of any local new luthiers around here but there must be something. In terms of music I've been working on some modern trad pieces, learning these two for my upcoming audition. The time shift into 7/8 is fantastic and gives me chills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hur5jYWD9B4 https://thesession.org/tunes/14109 https://thesession.org/tunes/15398
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Oct 30, 2017 15:55
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We need more activity here. What if people posted clips of what they're currently playing? I'll kick it off. Been working on some tunes for my auditions. First one's a lovely wee strathspey from Aberdeen, The Bonnie Lass O' Bon Accord, with a fun variation. https://streamable.com/qcxss And one of the pieces I'm considering for the performance audition is the Allegro from Vivaldi's violin concerto in A minor. https://streamable.com/gcu64 Coohoolin fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Nov 3, 2017 |
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Nov 3, 2017 15:12
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Squiggle posted:Oh shiiiit, I never thought to check for a Musician's Lounge thread when I picked up the mandolin over a year ago - Coohoolin, you are my fuckin' muse, man. I've been shying slightly away from bluegrass and into the traditional Celtic tunes, and your fantastic posts are exactly what I dreamed to find. Cheers man, glad I could help! I fell in love with the instrument, been playing about 4-5 hours a day for the past year. It's so much fun. I can't get into A-styles, I have no idea why. Just sound too flat and round to me, I like the edge and cut you get from an F-style, even though I play mostly Celtic stuff. I also play in a folk punk duo and fast chucking just doesn't sound right without an F. I have no idea about lefty mandos, but speak to a luthier and see what they say. Then again Chris Thile plays an F style. I'm looking to upgrade myself (probably gonna stick myself with a £40/m financing deal or some poo poo) and I'm looking at a nice Eastman F style, which for the price range seems to have about as good a quality level as your way pricier ones. Unless I can find the time to go exploring with some of the luthiers in Shetland. I want a loud, sharp, cutting, F style, and unless someone can make that specifically for me I'll probably go for Eastman.
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Nov 15, 2017 17:34
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Korwen posted:It’s not an F but I’ve got an Eastman 505 and I absolutely love it. I played a lot of similarly priced Kentucky mandos and it beat them all out on sound. If I want something that sounds noticeably better I will have to go with the much nicer ones, a Collings or Weber or that price range. I'm looking at this baby right here. http://celtic-chords.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_4_54&products_id=2705&zenid=lqfhdokpcdu513dd1gfv8n3017 The problem is there's not a lot of stuff stocked around where I live so I'm gonna have to take a daytrip down to Stonehaven and try some stuff out (although looking at the page that seems to be the only other F style he's got in apart from this slightly odd take- http://celtic-chords.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_4_54&products_id=2103)
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Nov 18, 2017 19:36
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Yeah my beginner mandolin was a lovely £60 Stagg off of amazon but it took me no time at all to realise I loved playing it and jump for a decent Ibanez. You can get like a basic ozark or a Barnes & Mullins and it'll do the trick just fine for a beginner one. Wouldn't spend more than £150. Mandolins are amazing though, definitely get into them.
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Nov 20, 2017 18:53
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Bilirubin posted:You know about Trevor's shop? He deals in moderate to high end mandolins for all seasons. I know the standard for celtic music are oval holes like Sobel (and if you have never played a Sobel do so, the most cathedral-like, majestic tone I have ever heard a mandolin make) and he's not in Shetland, but he has some of the finest selection of F holes (which do great for celtic too, Dan Beimborn plays a Weins--with Virzi--fwiw) shipping should be easier from inside the UK I am aware of that site, but the problem is the only thing feasibly within my price range is the Eastman and I'd rather buy local if the fella in Stonehaven can do financing. Otherwise, have you had good experience with that website? And no, I haven't played a Sobell, I don't reckon I will anytime soon, and there's absolutely no way I can afford it, but I don't reckon it's quite what I'm after anyway. I want something fast, load, and sharp.
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Dec 2, 2017 02:37
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Bilirubin posted:
I'd love a mandolin specific thread. My Ibanez keeps losing tuning on the A course, flat AND sharp, and I have no idea what the poo poo is going on. Nut seems stable. Bah.
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Dec 2, 2017 02:41
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Bilirubin posted:OK, enormous effort post incoming. Yeah I'll bring it to the folk shop down in Stonehaven for a checkup. It's a pain in the rear end having to retune after every single piece, and sometimes even lose tuning in the middle of one. If the online shop guy is reliable than I might take him up on his financing offers for an Eastman. Unless the folk shop does financing, in which case I'd prefer buying locally. Edit: this is what my current wee duo plays, so an instrument that works well for this type of stuff is what I'm after. https://soundcloud.com/user-47088428-313963836/sets/demos
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Dec 2, 2017 21:38
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Did you get a 5-string or tenor? If tenor, Gerry O'Connor has a good book on Irish banjo that might be a good starting point for anything.
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Dec 11, 2017 14:02
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Sneak peek into the Lost Highway Ensemble rehearsals, minus our fiddler and double bassist. Any criticism of my mandolin solos would be well received! https://youtu.be/0SYYRrrwLIY Coohoolin fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Jan 24, 2018 |
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Jan 24, 2018 23:18
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New demo recording from my folk punk band, we had some fun with it. Stripped down cover of Streams of Whiskey. https://soundcloud.com/cominupthrees/streams-of-whiskey Coohoolin fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Mar 20, 2018 |
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Mar 19, 2018 21:42
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Planet X posted:That’s a good song, well done. Cheers, we've got a new one up as well. Coohoolin posted:Drunken Lullabies, stripped down tae gently caress! Give our page a like and you'll get the updates, should have another one coming this week. https://www.facebook.com/cominupthrees/
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Mar 28, 2018 14:24
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Colonel J posted:Thanks for the answer, I'll keep doing what I'm doing then. Banjo is amazing, it's like easy mode, better sounding guitar for me so far. I really like the reactions people have when I take out the banjo and just start doing random poo poo, kids in particular get very impressed. Probably not much difference. I hear good things about Savannahs for that price range though.
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Jul 15, 2018 09:30
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Tias posted:Hey, sorry but I can't find a better thread: What's a good, cheap brand of starter ukulele? I'm in northern Europe, if that matters. Buying a mandolin instead.
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Jul 26, 2018 00:26
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