Mandolin

[Mikey]

After all your positive commenst itook the plunge and ordered a mandolin. Well, you knew I would!
I had a fifty quid Amazon gift voucher that's been burning a hole in the sideboard drawer so I had a look at their site to see if they had any. I nearly gave up after searching under "Music" and related headings and then I found some under "Electronics & Photo"!
There was a Stagg ME50 electric model for an amazing £59. I convinced SWBMO that I would only have frittered the voucher on CDs and suchlike. Reviews were good although one mentioned that it went out of tune easily. Another said the same but that it settled down after a while. Probably the strings stretching. Some places were selling this model for almost £100 (as if i neede convincing). I could have paid a lot more for a higher spec but it's a "suck it and see" - sorry, "pluck it and see" exercise so didn't want to splash out too much (I'm still habouring thoughts about a Burns HM Signature).
Here's a pic:

Mandolin.jpg (5.08 KiB) Viewed 8514 times

It's on order and I'll let you know how I get on with it. Now I'm off to download some mandolin chords!

[Alan Prudhoe]

Hi Mikey.
This should save you some time.

1.Go to www.Chordie.com
2.Choose your song.
3.Go to the drop down box labelled "Tuning" on the right of your screen.
4.Select the "Mandolin" option.
5.The screen will display chord boxes showing your mandolin chords and away you go.
6.Same applies for the "Ukulele" option.

Good Luck

[Mikey]

Thanks Alan, that really helpful of you

[peter roest]

Hi,
Is there anyone who can explain why a guitar has the dot or mark on the 9th position. The mandolin, banjo, bouzouki etc. has the dot on the 10th position on the neck. On the link you can see a greek guitar whith the dot on the 10th position. the bouzouki
has also the mark on the 10th postition. http://home.tiscali.nl/peterroest/DSCN0166.JPG
The bouzouki is a special one with 6 strings, with the tuning A-D-A as it was in early years

Peter

[Mikey]

Bouzoukis? It's all Greek to me
Seriously, i have no idea about the position marker but it's an interesting point.
Anyone

[peter roest]

A slip of the pen. The tuning of the Bouzouki is D-A-D instead of A-D-A.
Peter

[siesta beach]

Hi Mikey,

congratulations on buying a mandolin. I have been playing mandolin for several years and play in a bluegrass band which is the perfect music to feature this great instrument. The band consists of acoustic guitar, dobro, banjo, double bass (called a bass fiddle is bluegrass circles) harmonica and mandolin. Once the banjo gets rollin' and the bass gets slapping you can get a great groove going.
You will find there is no sustain on the notes compared to a guitar.
There are two popular shape for mandolin - an A shape which is the style you have ordered and also an F shape that has a scroll and is a bit more ornate.
The tuning is completely different to the guitar - G - D - A - E and the chord shapes and scales are totaly different.
There are various styles of playing - if doing back up you can play a chop or cross pick and of course you can play lead.
It will feel very strange at first but stick with it and it can be very rewarding - lots of tips on UTube etc.
I have an A shape (cheap model) and also an F shape. As the mandolin is small I keep the A shape in the car and usually spend a bit of time in a lunch hour having a noodle around. Also handy if you are stuck in a traffic jam - but can look a bit dodgy if your right arm is going up and down!
Lance

[siesta beach]

Hi Mike,

did your mandolin arrive? How are you getting along with it? Do tell!

Lance

[RayL]

Ray Jackson (from Lindisfarne) also played mandolin on- and co-wrote allegedly - Rod Stewart's Maggie May although all he received was a £15 session fee.

Just re-read this thread and remembered that it was John Peel who played the mandolin on Maggie May. That has to be right because I saw him do it on Top Of The Pops.

Ray