I love mandolin, so I am now ready to progress a bit from the starter instrument my beloved wife bought me.
I might get another mandolin a step or two up the ladder from the beginner one I have, OR…
Why can’t I get a mandola? (Bear in mind I am typing this after a couple of drinks, so my thinking may not be all that clear…). Surely a mandola will play in C and G and, with a capo at the second fret, in D… so where’s the problem?
I strongly suspect I’ve worked this out wrong… I’m gonna feel stupid in the morning.
I once spent a merry hour in the Lark in the Morning shop in Seattle playing a Fylde Portuguese mandola. It had 10 strings arranged in four courses, viz. Ccc Ggg dd aa. Amazing instrument – like playing a lapful of cathedral bells. I don’t know how the hell I’d use the thing if I had one, but oh do I want one.
I have one of the Mid Missouri mandolas. It is the one getting the most playing time at my house. It’s got a reasonable reach and really nice sound. I got mine off ebay but they don’t show up there very often at all. I waited about six or seven months before I found this one.
BTW, I have a Troubadour mandola for sale. It got enough play to let me know I wanted to upgrade. Good value for the money. Asking $175 and we can discuss shipping costs.
Do you play standard tunes on it? If so, how do you play something like “Boys of Bluehill” in D? Do you drop down an octave and play it as though playing in A on the mandolin, play the same as the mandolin (going way up the neck for the high notes), or just play it in G with the same fingering as mandolin in D?
I’m just playing solo at home at the moment but on Boys of Bluehill I can play in either G or D. Most of the time I play it in G, fingered like the mandolin in D but it’s no big deal playing in D, I just drop down (tone wise) a string and start from there. I hope I’ve said this right
I’m trying to learn the fretboard on the mandolin and mandola so that I have more choices but I’m not there yet. With the mando family tuned in fifths, I find it really easy to move around in the first position but I’m working to get beyond the limit of first position.
Here’s the Gibson mandolin and mandola I bought from an old man (a neighbor) who bought them new for he and his wife in about 1922. I use them for celtic music mostly, and for a mandolin ensemble with my cousins–who also have Gibson mandolins and one Gibson mandocello. The mandola gets tuned several different ways, including an open minor tuning for a Russian tune. I’ve even had it tuned like an octave mandolin (large strings!)
Does Mr Brown have it tuned to the normal CGDA, do you know?
I’m in a bit of an agony of indecision here. Whatever I get I’m unlikely to be able to spend more than £250. With that in mind I have to decide between a better mandolin, or a mandola.
So far I’ve been considering a Michael Kelly A-style mandolin, or maybe a Kentucky KM380s. The other one I’ve seen is the Trinity College mandola.
I plan to pop down to The Acoustic Music Co in Brighton when the time is right, and have a go on a few things, and to take a bit of advice.
I’m fairly sure Peadar has it tuned in GDAE like a banjo or a mandolin. actually im sure of it. ive played it and i wouldnt have been able to play it if it was tuned any other way.
if ya can get your hands on one like this, yer sound and its excellent for backing in a session too.
I know Donal Siggins, Emer Mayock’s accompaniest, plays mandola. When I saw them in Donegal last summer, I think he had his tuned standard mandola tuning, or some close variant (the sounds of his chords were a bit different from the recordings where he plays bouzouki).
I think a good happy medium would be to go for an octave mandolin. If you capo at five, you’ve got a mandola
For several years, my cousins and I knew this guy had these instruments, but he wouldn’t sell them. One day I decided to visit him and play some tunes for him (his fingers had lost their strength). He seemed to really enjoy that. I never once asked if I could buy them. But, after a year or so, one day he volunteered that I should have them. I told him I’d be glad to carry on the tradition. He thought he should have what he paid for them…in all fairness. And I never objected to the $65 apiece.
If ever there comes a time when you find your fingers are failing you, drop me a line and I’ll fly over there and play you a few tunes on them Gibsons. Heck, I might even carry $130 in my back pocket, just in case…
49 here. I can’t speak for my wife…she’s up in the woods right now. And besides, I wouldn’t want to be accused of robbing the cradle.
“Only a Gibson is Good Enough” was on the head of the Southern Jumbo (1943-45). Cool guitars, but not like the deepers sound of the Advanced Jumbo (dreadnaught style).