Congrats on the NMD! Sweet!
I have wanted a mandolin for a long time too. Maybe I should try your method and tell my wife...
My wife surprised me with an early birthday present today. I'd mentioned to her some time ago that it would be fun to have a mandolin someday just to use it for recording, or play it with our group at church, etc.
I was floored today when she gave this to me. It's a really cool instrument and I've been having a blast all day learning new chords and getting familiar with it. It's really fun to play this thing.
For an starter mandolin it plays great and has a really nice sound. It's all Mahogany and has a really sweet tone. The brand name is Morgan Monroe. I think I'm hooked. I love playing this because it forces me to re-think everything. There are no familiar licks under my fingers, I'm forced to rely on my ear. There's a lot of great lesson videos on youtube that have helped me to get some basic chord voicings. The rest is all from trying to piece together voicings on my own, and this has been really fun. I can't wait to use this for some recordings to see how it sounds with other guitar tracks.
I feel very lucky to have a wife that supports my interest in music. I'm counting my blessings.
-- Jim
Electrics: Hamer Newport, Fender Clapton Strat, Ibanez AF86, Line6 Variax 700
Acoustic Guitars: Taylor 514CE, Martin J40-M
Dobro: Regal "Black Lightning Dobro"
Mandolin: Morgan Monroe Mandolin
Amps: Egnater Rebel 30, Vox AD120VTX, Roland Cube 60
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandid=301718
Congrats on the NMD! Sweet!
I have wanted a mandolin for a long time too. Maybe I should try your method and tell my wife...
The Law of Gravity is nonsense. No such law exists. If I think I float, and you think I float, then it happens.
Master Guitar Academy - I also teach via SKYPE.
Ah, yes, the mandolin..... It WAS next on my wish list, when I thought I had all the guitars I needed/wanted. It can go back on top now that I have the resonator......: It sure would make a nice present...
I remember fiddling with one (oops, bad metaphor - if that's a metaphor) in high school, and really liking it. Back then, the interest came from hearing Rod Stewart's 'mandolin wind'.
Anyways, have lots of fun with it!
"GAS never sleeps" - Gil Janus
"Now you got to pay your dues. Get that axe and play the blues." - Spudman
Gear: Epiphone Sheraton II, Epiphone Wildkat, Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass, Fender MIM Strat, Tacoma DR-14, Johnson JR-200 resonator; Fender Super Champ XD amp
I've been having the itch to get a resonator too someday. For some reason my wife really wanted me to have a mandolin. She really likes the sound of them. I have to admit that I have had a lot of fun with it all day, just trying to find may way around. So far, I've figured out how to get my basic chord forms going and even that has been really fun.
Next I need to get a few scales under my fingers. It's really cool for some of the intervals like 6ths where you can grab them on two adjacent strings. It's much harder to do that on guitar because of it's tuning.
The only bummer is tuning it. They're very sensitive with the shorter scale, and also the floating bridge makes them a little tricky to set up. Once you have it adjusted they sound great.
-- Jim
Electrics: Hamer Newport, Fender Clapton Strat, Ibanez AF86, Line6 Variax 700
Acoustic Guitars: Taylor 514CE, Martin J40-M
Dobro: Regal "Black Lightning Dobro"
Mandolin: Morgan Monroe Mandolin
Amps: Egnater Rebel 30, Vox AD120VTX, Roland Cube 60
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandid=301718
Very cool! I would love to add a mandolin some day. I bet you will sound great on it in short order!
Steve Thompson
Sun Valley, Idaho
Guitars: Fender 60th Anniversary Std. Strat, Squier CVC Tele Hagstrom Viking Semi-hollow, Joshua beach guitar, Martin SPD-16TR Dreadnought
Amphs: Peavey Classic 30, '61 Fender Concert
Effects and such: Boss: DS-1, CE-5, NS-2 and RC20XL looper, Digitech Bad Monkey, Korg AX1G Multi-effects, Berhinger: TU100 tuner, PB100 Clean Boost, Line 6 Toneport UX2, Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi, DuhVoodooMan's Rabid Rodent Rat Clone, Zonkin Yellow Screamer Mk. II, MXR Carbon Copy Delay
love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. . .
- j. johnson
Congrats on the mandolin. Morgan Monroe makes really nice stuff. Hey, they make resonators too:
http://www.indianaguitarman.com/cata...p?category=148
cool mandolin....i do like the sounds you can get out of one of those....
Guitars: Gibson 1998 Les Paul Special : Peavey Predator (Early 90's Fat Strat Copy) : Ibanez GAX30TROriginally Posted by just strum
Brownsville Reso - 101 Electric Reso : Fender GDO-300 Maple Quilt Top Acoustic
Amps: Fender Super Champ XD
Effects: Digitech RP250 Modeling Guitar Processor : DVM "Phased and Confused" Script Phaser Clone : Digitech Bad Monkey
Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus : Behringer Distortion Modeler : Ernie Ball Volume Pedal : Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Sweet mando, jim...congrats
Actually, not bad at all, tj. The mando is tuned the same as it's cousin, the fiddle...er...violin.Originally Posted by tjcurtin1
: 'Maggie May' is loaded with really neat mando interplay with a 12-string acoustic git.... Rod Stewart's 'mandolin wind'.
Once you the setup nailed, mark (outline) the position of the 4 corners of the bridge with a finely-tipped china marker (grease pencil) so if the bridge gets dislodged, it's a cinch to relocate it and recapture your intonation.Originally Posted by jpfeifer
And when you restring, do it one-string at a time instead of all at once so the other 7 strings hold the bridge in place.
^^
AXES: Fender '81 The STRAT, '12 Standard Tele, '78 Musicmaster Bass, '13 CN-240SCE Thinline; Rickenbacker '82 360-12BWB; Epiphone '05 Casino, '08 John Lennon EJ-160E; Guild '70 D-40NT; Ovation '99 Celebrity CS-257; Yamaha '96 FG411CE-12; Washburn '05 M6SW Mando, '08 Oscar Schmidt OU250Bell Uke; Johnson '96 JR-200-SB Squareneck Reso; Hofner '07 Icon B-Bass; Ibanez '12 AR-325. AMPS: Tech 21 Trademark 10; Peavey ValveKing Royal 8; Fender Acoustonic 90, Passport Mini, Mini Tonemaster; Marshall MS-2 Micro Stack; Behringer BX-108 Thunderbird; Tom Scholz Rockman. PEDALS/FX: Boss ME-50; Yamaha EMP100; Stage DE-1; Samson C-Com 16 L.R. Baggs ParaAcoustic D.I; MXR EQ-10.
wingsdad,
Thanks for the tips on the Mandolin setup and re-stringing.
I'm really having fun with this thing.
It's kind of cool to go through the process of learning chord forms and applying them to the mandolin. I'm using the same process that I use with guitar - learning movable chord forms based on the location of the root note. Once I know where the root is then it's easier to make chord progressions. I found a really cool chart online that shows a bunch of movable chord forms based on their function in any key, (I ii iii IV V etc) This has been a huge help in getting some progressions under my fingers.
-- Jim
Electrics: Hamer Newport, Fender Clapton Strat, Ibanez AF86, Line6 Variax 700
Acoustic Guitars: Taylor 514CE, Martin J40-M
Dobro: Regal "Black Lightning Dobro"
Mandolin: Morgan Monroe Mandolin
Amps: Egnater Rebel 30, Vox AD120VTX, Roland Cube 60
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandid=301718
+1. Never take all the strings off anything with a floating bridge at once unless you really, really have to. I'd use a piece of masking tape on either side of the bridge base to keep it in place if tempted to remove all the strings.Originally Posted by wingsdad
Electric: Fat strat > Korg PB > TS7 > DS1 > DD-20 > Cube 60 (Fender model)
Acoustic: Guitar > microphone > audience
Yes, they look suspiciously like the Johnsons.... and undoubtedly come from the same factory, as Wingsdad noted in another post.Originally Posted by piebaldpython
"GAS never sleeps" - Gil Janus
"Now you got to pay your dues. Get that axe and play the blues." - Spudman
Gear: Epiphone Sheraton II, Epiphone Wildkat, Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass, Fender MIM Strat, Tacoma DR-14, Johnson JR-200 resonator; Fender Super Champ XD amp
Very nice addition. The mandolin is a beautiful instrument. I'd love to acquire one myself someday. Enjoy it!
"I happen to have perfect situational awareness, Lana. Which cannot be taught, by the way. Like a poet's ... mind for ... to make the perfect words." - Sterling Archer