Yooper - Posted - 03/21/2020:  08:37:47

So if a mandolin player were going to play a second instrument, what should it be?
Violin - same scale length and tuning
Guitar- same right hand/pick techniques
Dobro - low string is a G, so easier to know where you are on the fretboard
Banjo - who would want to play banjo? ;)
Thoughts?

Texasbanjo - Posted - 03/22/2020:  05:17:22

What other instrument(s) do you like to listen to? What do you think would hold your interest?

I think the easiest transition would be from mandolin to guitar, although it is tuned different. You'd still use a flat pick, so it would basically be a matter of learning the chords, backup techniques and where the melody is. This is assuming you're not going to finger pick the guitar.

Changing from mandolin to banjo would be somewhat different as you'd have to learn to wear picks, how to do rolls and various slides, hammers, pulls, etc. And there are lots and lots of people (like me) who love the banjo!!

Dobro would mean learning how to use a steel and there definitely is a technique to that and getting used to wearing picks.

The violin/fiddle, to me would be the most difficult. No frets to help you and a bow technique to learn.

Yooper - Posted - 03/22/2020:  10:40:19

Actually, I love banjo. Just trying to be funny. I've spent months to years trying to learn each instrument in the standard bluegrass band lineup. But have restricted myself to mandolin and guitar the past few years. I was worst at fiddle, but only slightly less terrible at banjo. Just trying to generate some discussion. Guitar is great for playing and singing at home, but when you show up to a jam that already has eight guitar players, folks are happy to see the mandolin.

Robert - Posted - 03/22/2020:  15:04:28

I started guitar just before the Beatles came to America, followed by banjo then fiddle. One day it dawned on me that mandolin was kind of a combination of fiddle and guitar and well here I am. What calls to you? That will answer your question.

Greg Connor - Posted - 03/23/2020:  03:55:26

My house is filled with guitars, mandolins, fiddles, keyboards, Banjo’s and more.



Add to that an impressive collection of Irish whistles and the capacity to record everything (8 tracks at a time)

It's a fun hobby!  Recently I've been learning how to play cross harp on the harmonica. Now there is an inexpensive and portable idea if you are looking for a little adventure. 

Edited by - Greg Connor on 03/23/2020 04:08:24

Kapn Krusty - Posted - 03/23/2020:  08:40:32

I love what Greg has said above. My house is just as he describes. Plus recorders, clarinet, fifes, flutes, and bansuris. Then we get to percussion.



Banjo can be played claw hammer style, and that's the way I play most often.



Although I wish I could record 8 tracks! I am jealous. But lately I've been using my Boss JS10 to record audio from two microphones in my livingroom. One pointed at my Instrument, one at my mouth and do them in performance mode.



But truly, if you've been playing mandolin for years, the fiddle is the most capable of all, difficult yes but lyrical.



Thank you for posting this and generating some discussion and information.



Blessings

Edited by - Kapn Krusty on 03/23/2020 08:41:26

Yooper - Posted - 03/23/2020:  09:30:52

Hey Bob, you mention taking up guitar just before the Beatles came to the U.S. Although I own more valuable ones, my favorite guitar is a 1965 Gibson B-25 (adjustable saddle replaced with a regular one - huge improvement). I always imagine that some teenager must have gotten this just after the Beatles arrived in the U.S.

Robert - Posted - 03/24/2020:  07:33:49

I worked to earn half of the price of that $32.50 OM beauty that brings upwards to $400 today. The "steel reinforced" neck bowed like a fishing pole and the tuners got tighter than the dickens, but it was my first guitar. I bought a Harmony electric after the Beatles came along and kids would go by on the school bus calling me a ridge runner. At 15 those were fighting words. I ended up playing in a couple of bands including a soul band. Even got into playing electric blues for a while. Was about to get drafted, went into the USAF where I met Kenny Hall at a local fiddler's convention in the San Joaquin Valley near where I was stationed. Got more deeply back to my roots and now I play too many instruments and ignore some others.

I remember those Gibsons, some parents spent more money on their kid's guitars but mine worked just fine for me.

Edited by - Robert on 03/24/2020 07:35:07

TSSN - Posted - 03/28/2020:  10:58:45

Like most responders, I have a house full of instruments (mandos, guitars, fiddles, banjos, tin whistles, harmonicas, even a ukulele), and varying degrees of skill on them all. For me the banjo was the toughest, though I find clawhammer style a bit easier, as it doesn't require finger picks. Even so, I keep coming back to the mandolin.

I think Robert is right: "What calls to you?"

Yooper - Posted - 03/28/2020:  14:09:57

I've been a bass-strum with bass runs between chords kinda guitar player for a long time. I've been working on some Homespun video lessons. Steve Kaufman is excellent. I rarely play guitar at jams (plenty of guitar players, and I'm a lot better at mandolin), but when I do, it would be nice to be able to take a break.

UsuallyPickin - Posted - 04/06/2020:  06:25:04

yooper .... If you want to spend the next decade learning to fiddle it is what I would recommend. A bow is not a pick , it has no frets and you hold it under your jaw..... and that's just the beginning or it. However .... there are rarely too many fiddlers at a jam. A good fiddler can usually find a place to play even if it is a street corner and make some money and have some fun. R/
PS .... You will eventually have to learn how to play Ashokan Farewell and Orange Blossom Special .... R/

Robert - Posted - 04/06/2020:  09:51:32

quote:

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Originally posted by UsuallyPickin

 

PS .... You will eventually have to learn how to play Ashokan Farewell and Orange Blossom Special .... R/

---

Truer words were never written.

Yooper - Posted - 04/06/2020:  13:53:23

When my older son was 7, he started fiddle lessons. I thought it would be fun for both of us to take lessons and practice with him. After a year, during which I practiced about 4 times as much as he did, he was a lot better than me. I just could not get a decent sound out of the bow. And no frets! Who ever thought up that idea?
Fiddlers have my respect.
PS - as a mandolin player, I had to learn Ashokan Farewell and Orange Blossom Special anyway. :)

Robert - Posted - 04/06/2020:  14:52:56

I played guitar and fiddle before mandolin. As a result once I got used to the frets being where it felt my fingers should be the only other hard part were those four finger chords!

TSSN - Posted - 04/12/2020:  09:45:03

I thought fiddle would be the most daunting when I first started out. I am still not that proficient at it.

I think my big hang up was the centuries of mystique built up around the violin, the Stradivarius, people stressing how hard it is, especially at first. It isn't easy, to be sure, but once I stopped giving a damn how I sounded (came home and played over my lunch hour when I was the only one there), I improved pretty quickly.

ilenerichardson - Posted - 02/21/2021:  09:37:18

Violin to Mandolin, in my experience, was a piece of cake. Seamless integration of what you already know in muscle memory. So, I would imagine going Mandolin to Violin would be almost the same if you let your ear find the notes and let your fingers slide up or down a bit to find the in-tune location. 

You could start by not holding the violin snug under your chin and play with it leaning on your upper right breast muscle, but please don't stay playing there forever. (I'm sure my violin teacher from decades past is rolling in his grave at this suggestion.) Another suggestion that may be better is to hold the violin like a mandolin and pluck scales until the neck feels comfy and your fingers will find the sound.

Bowing can be learned from the many YouTube videos and practice. Some of the greatest violin players use a slight figure-eight path to their bowing, it's the easiest. 

Moving from violin to mandolin was amazing for me because notes are always in tune, thanks to wonderful frets.

I seem to acquire string instruments with unrealistic expectations and temporary motivations. My decades of muscle memory and knowledge of the violin along with mandolin are second nature to me. Yes, I have guitars that just have (too many LOL) six strings and only get played when my sons visit. I love my banjo, ukuleles, octave mandolin too, but rarely play them. If it has strings, I will love to bring it home, but the main instruments win every time, violin and mandolin. They are the easiest.

Edited by - ilenerichardson on 02/21/2021 09:44:21

Robert - Posted - 02/21/2021:  10:23:31

Patience is the key. Be kind to yourself but persistent.

ilenerichardson - Posted - 02/21/2021:  20:37:32

I agree!
Interest and motivation go together to create success!

Robert - Posted - 02/22/2021:  05:38:47

They say the fiddle is the devil's instrument, but I can tell you it was the devil who made the bow. While I still enjoy fiddling, the mandolin is much less work.

Yooper - Posted - 02/22/2021:  06:13:36

One of my favorite quotes - "Lots of people want to play music, but not many want to practice."
Another one - "It takes thousands of hours of practice, just to be mediocre."

Take home lesson - you have to love the journey, not just want to get to the destination.

Robert - Posted - 02/22/2021:  06:16:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yooper

One of my favorite quotes - "Lots of people want to play music, but not many want to practice."

Another one - "It takes thousands of hours of practice, just to be mediocre."



Take home lesson - you have to love the journey, not just want to get to the destination.

---

After over a half century of playing I can testify, there is no destination. Ah I would not give nothing for my journey now.

Robert - Posted - 02/22/2021:  11:21:14

quote:

---

Originally posted by yankees1

You are correct in that many people would LOVE to play music but want the skill handed to them and don't want to work for it ! This could be related to our society but that would be getting into politics so no comment ! :)

---

That is why I continue to teach after retirement. I teach youth and adults on a variety of instruments. We sometimes have frank conversations about waiting until you are in your mid to late 70's is a handicap often due to physical limitations. The kids are great when they want to learn. But I had a college grad ask one time "Can't you just tap me with a magic wand I could all of sudden play?"  I said yes but that costs a lot more. There is a joy to playing music that either you find or don't. It doesn't really matter how good you get if you get satisfaction in the act of making music. That in itself can be enough. But those who want to be rock stars well that is their problem. Most of the best musicians are people you never heard about. They just make great music.

TSSN - Posted - 02/22/2021:  12:55:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by Robert

There is a joy to playing music that either you find or don't.

Amen!

yankees1 - Posted - 04/20/2021:  18:37:16

Jaws harp

TeachinMandolin444 - Posted - 04/30/2021:  16:54:55

What calls you? Dobro is fun,tho I'm still learning. Guitar was my 1st instrument and I still play.  I also play fiddle. I'm not the world's greatest fiddler but I do enjoy it and I can play tunes.  Harmonica.....I've been thinking of getting back into that. Loved playing as a teen (we won't go into how many decades ago that was!)  I think if you went into Dobro that would be awesome. It's not that difficult to learn and you hardly hear of them being played anymore.  I have a Rogue dobro and it suits me fine...except that it's really big. Once I've got a good handle on playing I'd like to go to a smaller model.  But like so many here have said.....go with your heart. 

yankees1 - Posted - 05/10/2021:  06:09:39

Making my debut with my mouth harp this Wednesday at a nursing home ! Playing my mandolin also and singing ! :)

TSSN - Posted - 05/10/2021:  08:14:45

quote:

---

Originally posted by yankees1

Making my debut with my mouth harp this Wednesday at a nursing home ! Playing my mandolin also and singing ! :)

---

Break a leg, Scott.

yankees1 - Posted - 05/10/2021:  09:41:43

You will feel bad if I trip going in the nursing home and break my leg !! :)

TSSN - Posted - 05/11/2021:  10:15:27

On the bright side, they'll have nurses right there to help you.

yankees1 - Posted - 05/15/2021:  04:53:05

On my last doctor visit I asked my doctor a personal and off topic question ! I ask him why in the medical and health field so many nurses are , let's say over weight ? I didn't say obese ! He agreed but I better shut up and move on ! As for playing a second instrument my Jews Harp , whoops ! My daughter tells me I have to call this instrument by another name so let's just say mouth harp! Anyway, it fits perfectly with the song Froggie Went a Courtin ! The residents at the nursing home loved it ! As well as my fellow band mates ! Anyway, TSSN, I didn't break my leg ! :)

TSSN - Posted - 05/15/2021:  05:58:06

Glad you survived the gig. And always be nice to the nursing staff...

Heady - Posted - 05/25/2021:  18:18:45

If you're into Celtic in the umbrella sense, bows take strathspeys to the next level imho. I could play reels all day long on my mandolin, but once I get in the mood for a strathspey my viola comes out.

yankees1 - Posted - 05/26/2021:  02:25:20

I really enjoy playing my Mouth Harp and use it in song Froggie Went A Courtin ! My daughter tells me I can't call it a Jews Harp anymore ! :( It really doesn't refer to the Jewish people but I succumb to her wishes ! :)

TSSN - Posted - 05/26/2021:  06:42:18

I agree Heady , certain tunes sound better on certain instruments. There are a few that I will only play on my fiddle, and several others I play only on the tenor banjo. Just because I can play it on my mandolin, doesn't mean i should (to my ears anyway).

And yankees1 , I always thought it was a "Juice" Harp, but I could be wrong on that as well. It has its place, but to me it's kind of like a triaingle or a cowbell---very limited, specific uses.

Just my $0.02...

yankees1 - Posted - 05/26/2021:  11:30:47

Yes some do call it a juice harp around here but more call it a Jews harp ! According to my daughter I have to call it a mouth harp ! Anyway, I only use it on the Froggie song !! ??

Yffisch - Posted - 06/15/2021:  14:15:11

I'm an accordionist and flute player as a base. The last 6 months I've spent 60% of my musical practise time on mandolin and it's such a great instrument so I almost regret spending all that time on the accordion! It's just so convenient compared to for example the bouzouki which has like one inch between every fret making it impossible to do the same kind of chords and stuff.
I've been trying to learn the violin a couple of periods during my life but I just don't get the intonation right and I don't want to practise when it sounds basically crap all the time and yeah...fiddle must be one of the harder instruments to master.

Bowfinger - Posted - 06/24/2021:  06:00:14

I started as a teen playing the guitar; took up the mandolin in my 20s. played fiddle a little. Taking up the banjo helped a great deal in adding an ability to shift positions up the neck, because it is so essential to banjo playing. Before learning banjo it was more difficult to shift up. Now it doesn't seem like a big deal. Each instrument adds to your musical knowledge, and can be translated at some level to another instrument.

I think if I didn't know guitar I would want that as a second instrument. That way I could see what chords were being used in a tune.

TSSN - Posted - 06/24/2021:  08:39:11

I started on guitar as a teen, as you did Bowfinger, but quit when I had the tip of my middle finger (fretting hand) nearly cut off. The recovery time made me lose interest.

I started in on mandolin about 22 years ago, and played in a band for a while starting in 2012. I got back into guitar after a while, as it was useful, as you said, to "see what chords were being used in a tune."

While mandolin is where I play best, I actually have more guitars now than mandolins. Strange...

Ron Lacey - Posted - 06/25/2021:  05:40:02

I play or have played all of these plus bass and the only one I gave up on was fiddle. I could make a passable noise after about three years of working on it but the right hand is what drives the bus. I just never got the feel of it. No frets, no problem if you have a decent ear and pay attention to it and use the open strings as reference. Ironically, I picked up mandolin in the late 70s as a path to fiddle. I’m a big fan of John Hartford.

As others have said, pick the one that strikes your fancy and enjoy the ride. My latest is the square neck resonator (aka Dobro) now that banjo has gotten me used to finger picks. This is my retirement plan, to learn how to play all these instruments better. But, guitar offers the most variety of styles and resources to genres of music. Flatpicking, fingerstyle, Travis picking, etc. take your pick.

molinas888z - Posted - 07/01/2021:  17:53:09

starting to like the tune