Mandolin!

oldsak

My best friend lives in Texas. He and I are talking about going to Old Settler's Music Festival this year. His girlfriend is knocked up so this is probably going to be one of our last guy trips for a while.

Anyway, it's always been fun to play some music together and I'm expecting we'll want to do so at the festival. I really don't feel like trying to fly down with a guitar and was thinking a Mandolin might be a little easier to travel with. I've never played mandolin, nor do I know much about them.

Can anyone offer insight as to how difficult an instrument it might be for a mediocre, albeit out of practice, guitarist/pianist to pick up in 3 months? Does anyone have any book suggestions?

Also, can anyone offer suggestions on a mandolin to purchase? I'm looking for sub $200 as we're going to be camping. Ebay has served me well in the past for guitars so I'm willing to look there. I just have no idea where to start.

schattenjaeger

My understanding is that cheap mandolins are a lot harder to find than cheap guitars, something to keep in mind.

As for playing, it doesn't sustain notes very long so from a style standpoint lots of mandolin music involves rapid picking (tremolo).

It has 4 pairs of strings (the pairs are usually tuned to the same note) The common tuning is GDAE. Notably, that's the same as the standard tuning on the top four strings of a guitar, but backwards. If you can think fast, you should be able to convert chords.......I'm not sure if the structure would hinder this for some reason, but if you strung it backwards from the traditional way, it'd be tuned to the same notes as the guitar...hmm.

EggyToast

Guitars are one of the few instruments to be available cheaply, as mentioned, due to mass production. There's basically one line of mandolins that are available under $200, the Rogue brand, and they basically suck. Not in a "kind of mediocre" way, but in a sucky way. But that's that. You might as well buy new from somewhere like Amazon and see if you can set it up yourself -- adjusting the bridge, etc.

A mediocre mandolin will cost between $300-$600, and older mandolins go for a lot due to being vintage. They are easy to physically play if you're comfortable with guitar, but can be difficult to wrap your brain around due to using the same tuning as a violin, in fifths, which changes how chords are played. Plus, the neck is narrow and they're strung in runs, so you have pairs as mentioned, so it's not as easy to just pluck away. By being in fifths it does mean it's easy to sound pretty, but figuring out chords can be complex.

So, if I'm making it sound like mandolin is not an ideal instrument for something to just pick up for a fun camping trip, I am! Don't buy a mandolin for this trip.

Buy a ukulele!

Seriously -- they're similar in size, are much cheaper, and baritone ukes use the same tuning as a guitar so you can transfer your existing guitar skills directly.

oldsak

My girlfriend suggested the ukulele. I'm thinking about it, but it is a bluegrass festival so mandolin would be more in theme with the weekend. But yeah, it would be totally lame if I couldn't wrap my head around it by the time the trip rolls around.

I took a quick look at musiciansfriend.com it looks like there are a few other sub $200 brands out there. I'm seeing Ibanez, Washburn, Epiphone, and Kentucky. Anyone know if any of those Mandolins are worth picking up?

EggyToast

I don't think there's going to be too much difference between the $150 mandolins. The process is basically the same for the construction and you could select one based on its look or style. But two things:

One, at bluegrass festivals, it's better to bring an instrument you're relatively proficient at, because that's the atmosphere. You're going to probably see most any acoustic instrument, with the exception of brass and reed. I'd be surprised if you were the only person hauling a uke.

Two, I own a mandolin. I personally prefer mandolins to ukes because they have a shimmering, bright quality to their sound which I find attractive, and the tuning makes more sense to me. But I don't play guitar; I play upright bass, so I don't have to mentally transfer chords to new finger positions. What's more, I'm a firm believer that you should consider instruments that you see yourself playing for a while. If you buy a mandolin, is it just for this trip? Which do you see yourself playing more in the future, once the trip is over?

If you're just looking for something small and portable and in a higher melodic range compared to guitar, I think you'll be happier with a uke, as a $150 uke is nicer than a $150 mandolin. If you're considering a mandolin somewhat seriously as an alternative to guitar, a way to stretch your knowledge and learn something new with a sound that's distinct from guitar (but still a fretted instrument), then a mandolin could be a lot of fun.

I think you could pick it up if you're a somewhat competent guitar player; I told a guitar friend of mine some chords and he was able to jam some songs on it. The tuning also makes it somewhat logical to play runs of notes and not fuck up, which is nice for us non-chord people!