Mandolin to Whistle/Flute

keytonw · Post by **keytonw** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:33 pm

Hello All.

I am predominately an Irish mandolin player considering a full switch to whistle then flute. I want to know if anyone out there has made a similar switch. If so, tell me about it. Did you switch because you liked whistle/flute better or because mando just didn't fit or what? Etc.

Background:
I have been playing for a couple years and can play at speed with OK ornamentation (though I'm certainly no pro). While it can (and has - ad nauseum) be argued that mando is harder than some of the other possible instruments, this is not the reason I'm considering switching. I'm actually OK at mandolin. I can hold my own and am growing comfortable playing in groups etc.

No, the reason I am considering it is because I want to join/start a band of musicians to play ITM on a regular basis, probably even for audiences etc. I don't want to quit my day job or anything. But I want to be in a band striving for the right feel and the enterainment of an audience.

So why not mandolin? Well, among other reasons, I just can't seem to find many examples of such a group. Oh, I can find GREAT music where mando and a guitar or maybe mando and one other instrument get a great vibe going, but VERY few (if any) examples spring to mind of a 4-5 person Irish band where mandolin is a prominant part of the melody line (as opposed to mandola/accompaniment, etc). Maybe because mando would get buried beneath fiddle/flute/etc (even if you know how to play your mandolin loud)? I don't know. Just not many examples.

OK. So enough tome. I'm considering this switch for the reasons above and wanted to know if anyone else has gone through a similar shift and if so why? what was it like? Etc?

Thanks very much.

Best,
Keyton

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:40 pm

I did. I would say Flute is easily twice as hard to learn. Whistle is about the same. The reasons I stoped: Mild CTS from playing so much, calasis, too high string tension for my taste, too expensive, and I hated tuning the thing because I was always afraid the strings would snap I was tramatized by this happening so much I just couldn't take it any more. I played last night and found if I tuned down a half stpe I enjoyed it so much more.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:13 pm

I find guitar and mandolin much easier than whistle, which is no surprise, since I've been playing guitar for almost 45 years, mandolin for about 33, and whistle for only one.

I can play a much wider variety of styles on the guitar and mando, and I can play about 10 to 20 times as fast as I can on the whistle. I mostly play only slow tunes on the whistle. I added whistle in order to get those long, mournful sounds that are impossible on the guitar, and then mostly because I've finally resigned myself to never getting good on the fiddle, but I can't even imagine trying to play "Wheelhoss", "Ragtime Annie", or "Cattle in the Cane" on the whistle.

Anyhow, I'm not really interested in ITM as such, even though about 75 percent of the tunes that I play on whistle are Irish slow airs. I'm still mainly a Bluegrasser at heart.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:05 am

I've recently gone the other way. Just got my first mando, although I've played guitar for about 30 years.

I wouldn't say either whistle or mando is easier than the other. Both seem damn hard to do well. I have a couple of dozen whistle tunes down quite well with ornamentation, and a whole bunch more in various stages of incompetence...

As for mando, I've been at it since Christmas (when the wife bought me the instrument), and have a couple of tunes down ok (Chief O'Neill's and Wonder Hornpipe). As I never played one before, and I don't know any mandolin players, I'm mostly learning by watching footage of Barney McKenna and John Sheahan.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:41 am

buddhu wrote: I'm mostly learning by watching footage of Barney McKenna and John Sheahan.

A wise move Bud,you will not go wrong taking tips from those two boys.
Fiddle being my main instrument,Mando was no big deal to take up though I do sometimes have trouble trying to use a plectrum like Bill Monroe.

A really great set of jigs for mando are "The Knights of St.Patrick,The Pipers chair and Bill Harts Jig" a set which can be found on some of the older collections of the Dubliners.

Slan,
D.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:55 am

I wouldn't say you should switch, you should ADD whistle but keep playing mandolin too. It will take some time to learn, but whistle is a ton of fun. Playing both instruments will add terrific variety to your band.

keytonw · Post by **keytonw** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:10 am

buddhu wrote:I'm mostly learning by watching footage of Barney McKenna and John Sheahan.

Bud,

Can you tell me where you've found this footage? Sounds pretty useful to me.

My (unasked for advice) btw on the mando is to keep on just like you are. Make it sound like someone else (with ornamentation or at least the correct accents) rather than just playing straight notes, etc.

Keyton

keytonw · Post by **keytonw** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:11 am

Thanks for all the comments!

Whistling Willie · Post by **Whistling Willie** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:29 am

keytonw wrote:
buddhu wrote:I'm mostly learning by watching footage of Barney McKenna and John Sheahan.
Bud,

Can you tell me where you've found this footage? Sounds pretty useful to me.

My (unasked for advice) btw on the mando is to keep on just like you are. Make it sound like someone else (with ornamentation or at least the correct accents) rather than just playing straight notes, etc.

Keyton

If it's the same footage that I have,it is on the Dubliners 40th anniversary DVD....some great stuff on it

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:20 am

I'm going the other direction more/less...

I've got a tenor banjo on its way to me. This will be my (mostly) first attempt at playing a stringed instrument. I have been practicing the fingerings on a baritone ukulele that I retuned to GDAe, but I'm a little worried about the right and left hands both working on different types of movements simultaneously, and especially trying to get banjo triplets down (they sound amazing but I bet they're very hard to do).

-Brett

lollycross · Post by **lollycross** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:04 am

Oh, don't give up tht Mandolin.
I think the whistle is very simple to play. Just blow and move
your fingers.
With Mandolin, guitar, violin, banjo...well, you have to have one
hand on the proper string and be doing something different with the
other hand. A lot harder.
I would love to be able to add Mandolin to my instrument list,
but I added flute, bowed psaltery and hammered dulcimer as
they are so much easier to learn quickly.
Keep up your blowing and you will get it quickly.
Lolly

Jeff Stallard · Post by **Jeff Stallard** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:56 am

I've been playing the mandolin for about four years, and yes, the whistle is easier to learn (can't speak for the flute)...WHEN TALKING ABOUT IRISH TRAD. Try doing all of that complex irish ornamentation on a mandolin. It's tough! I think the mandolin is one of the more difficult instruments in the guitar/lute family, mostly because of the high string tension and close frets. There's no room for error.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:02 am

I have never played the mandolin, but it looks a lot easier to sing along with than the whistle or flute.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:39 am

dubhlinn wrote:A wise move Bud,you will not go wrong taking tips from those two boys.
Fiddle being my main instrument,Mando was no big deal to take up though I do sometimes have trouble trying to use a plectrum like Bill Monroe...

Hell, not as much trouble as I'd have trying to play a mando with a fiddle bow instead of a plectrum!

That's my area of difficulty at the moment, trying to get that 'tremelo' picking down like Barney has it. Not only do I have a hard time getting the right speed/rhythm of picking, but trying to make it even remotely as relaxed and fluid as Mr McK does on mando or tenor banjo is (understandably) beyond me at this stage. I *so* wish I'd started playing mando and whistle (and banjo for that matter) at the same time I started guitar. :roll:

keytonw wrote:
buddhu wrote:I'm mostly learning by watching footage of Barney McKenna and John Sheahan.
Bud,

Can you tell me where you've found this footage? Sounds pretty useful to me...

Yeah, Willie's got it right. It's The Dubliners 40th aniversary DVD. Everyone should have a copy of that, it is absolutely brilliant. Some great close-ups of John and Barney playing.

I think my next mandolin practice is going to be trying to get the hang of those nice melodic mando runs in the accompaniment to the Dubs 'Leaving of Liverpool' that I have on a CD somewhere (I think it's the version with Ronnie singing).

Talking of mandolins, I find the teardrop shape a nightmare (although I'll get used to it, no doubt). Has anyone any experience of those Crafter electro acoustic mando's that are shaped like wee guitars? Are they any good, or total cr*p? I might eventually be tempted to get a plug in one...

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:43 am

By the way, I find the way the tuning of the strings in fourths the other way round to guitar (GDAE instead of EADG) makes the fingering of most Irish melodies on mando really very intuitive and natural. Playing the same tunes on a guitar is a bit harder to memorise.

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