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Originally posted by Estella Hey! Koss. As far as lessons, I've looked around in my area. It seems that anyone who plays geetar, teaches the mandolin as well. How similar are they ?

Guitar and mandolin are similar in that with both you place your fingers on varying parts of the strings to create different notes. Difference with the mandolin though is that the strings are much smaller and shorter, meaning the finger placement must be much more precise to get the desired note compared to the guitar. You must develop very nimble fingers in order to play it well.

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Originally posted by tranceDJ Guitar and mandolin are similar in that with both you place your fingers on varying parts of the strings to create different notes. Difference with the mandolin though is that the strings are much smaller and shorter, meaning the finger placement must be much more precise to get the desired note compared to the guitar. You must develop very nimble fingers in order to play it well.

That is not what I wanted to hear ! Even the geee-tar was a challenge and I would suspect that you should know to play that first? or no?

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Originally posted by Lateralus I've been looking into it recently, and I'm thinkning of learning to play the mandolin. No, not for bluegrass, probobly for jazz or celtic style music. Has anyone ever learned to play it before? Is it hard to learn? Any thoughts/comments?

everyone here play mandolin, its been wide used in cretan music.
i dont know how hard is it to learn, but i have many friends who play it, so i guess its not so hard.
personally i dont listen to our music (its too sad) but i like a few tracks [[ LINK REMOVED ]]
of my favourites (with mandolin) recorded live, it will sound strange to you, anyway,even the rest of the greeks cant understand cretan music, so its ok
btw, the title is: panta thlimeni haravgi....means something like: always a sad dawn.....

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Originally posted by vrahnos everyone here play mandolin, its been wide used in cretan music. i dont know how hard is it to learn, but i have many friends who play it, so i guess its not so hard. personally i dont listen to our music (its too sad) but i like a few tracks [[ LINK REMOVED ]] of my favourites (with mandolin) recorded live, it will sound strange to you, anyway,even the rest of the greeks cant understand cretan music, so its ok btw, the title is: panta thlimeni haravgi....means something like: always a sad dawn.....

where's the link?

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Originally posted by Estella That is not what I wanted to hear ! Even the geee-tar was a challenge and I would suspect that you should know to play that first? or no?

well, to a point there is something to what TranceDJ says, i've seen some highly skilled mando players tear across the fingerboard at speeds i wouldn't think possible. especially on an instrument where the frets are so much closer and the strings are all double (similar in concept to a 12-string guitar).

but alternatively, there is just as much range of skill involved in learning guitar. there is always a basic level involved. listen to some of the mando tracks in some Led Zepelin tracks - not particularly complex but they sound wicked. and there's a lot of folk-celtic stuff that does not get into feats of musical wizardry but still sounds pretty amazing. chording is also quite useful and sounds decent for folk-mando.

the tuning and physical structure is different from guitar, but if you have the idea (i.e. rhythmn and some sense of musical structure, melody, etc.) you will be able to pick up the basics quite quickly and then go from there.

i wouldn't say that knowing the guitar is necessary first, but by yht sound of it you already play a bit, so that can only help.

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Originally posted by Estella where's the link?

on "here is one"
click on "free" when you're in that page

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Originally posted by kossack well, to a point there is something to what TranceDJ says, i've seen some highly skilled mando players tear across the fingerboard at speeds i wouldn't think possible. especially on an instrument where the frets are so much closer and the strings are all double (similar in concept to a 12-string guitar). but alternatively, there is just as much range of skill involved in learning guitar. there is always a basic level involved. listen to some of the mando tracks in some Led Zepelin tracks - not particularly complex but they sound wicked. and there's a lot of folk-celtic stuff that does not get into feats of musical wizardry but still sounds pretty amazing. chording is also quite useful and sounds decent for folk-mando. the tuning and physical structure is different from guitar, but if you have the idea (i.e. rhythmn and some sense of musical structure, melody, etc.) you will be able to pick up the basics quite quickly and then go from there. i wouldn't say that knowing the guitar is necessary first, but by yht sound of it you already play a bit, so that can only help.

Battle of Evermore !

How long have you been playing?

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Originally posted by vrahnos on "here is one" click on "free" when you're in that page

hahaa I kept looking for like 5 min.

Listening now...

edit*/ thanks for the link! It reminded me of Italy for some reason.

Last edited by Estella on May-18-2005 at 14:26

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Originally posted by Estella Battle of Evermore ! How long have you been playing?

yep.. wicked track.

i took up mando maybe 5 yrs ago but haven't really pursued it as much as i'd like to. (violin since i was like 4, but took up folk/irish maybe 6 years ago...) play a bit of the bodhran, tinwhistle, guitar, mando-guitar, whatever else too... just so little time to play these days.

you play anything right now (guitar?), or thinkin' of takin' somethin up (mando, or somethin else)?

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Originally posted by kossack yep.. wicked track. i took up mando maybe 5 yrs ago but haven't really pursued it as much as i'd like to. (violin since i was like 4, but took up folk/irish maybe 6 years ago...) play a bit of the bodhran, tinwhistle, guitar, mando-guitar, whatever else too... just so little time to play these days. you play anything right now (guitar?), or thinkin' of takin' somethin up (mando, or somethin else)?

Yes, I just need to make the time. I dont play anything right now Instead of wasting breath on TA I could be playing an instrument, painting, whatever.
I would want to learn piano, harp and this thread has sparked interest in the mandolin. What is the bodhran ?

I know to play the piano a bit (it's said that i actually studied it 8 years). Mandolin would be interesting, though. Any professional teacher here? Or at least dedicated?