Mandolin Musings

Random thought #1: an aikido teacher I very much like and respect said something that's stayed in my head. "You're a martial artist every day you train. Every day you don't train, you're not." Simple to the point of being simplistic, but a good reminder - if you want to be something, you have to do it every day. And you can replace "martial artist" with "musician", or any other avocation.

Random thought #2: at a recent acoustic jam meetup, I was talking with the best musician (by far) in the meetup. He plays everything, and plays them all well - at a given meetup, he might bring a guitar, a mandolin, a dobro, or a bass. Sometimes he'll jump up and play the piano. He plays the fiddle (though he hasn't brought that to a meetup), and he just bought a set of bagpipes. Anyway, I told him that I'm now playing the mandolin and asked for advice on getting good enough to play in a group like the meetup - how to do the little leads and fills he throws into a song. He didn't hesitate with his answer. "Scales. Over and over and over again."

Well, duh. As he said it, I couldn't believe I'd asked the question. Of course the answer is scales. That's what made the difference for me on the guitar, of course that would be the answer for the mandolin. So I'm now doing a set of exercises with the major and the pentatonic scales on the mandolin - every day. I'm also working on picking speed, and I need to throw some tremolo exercises into my daily routine.

There's also the possibility of playing the mandolin on some songs with the acoustic band. They know I'm playing the mandolin and want me to bring it - and I very much want to, but it's too soon. I need to get better. At the moment, we're rehearsing intently for our first gig (8 days away!), but when that's over, maybe we'll identify a song or two where I can play the mandolin instead of the bass.

Finally, here's a YouTube clip that I simply adore. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on the mandolin and Paul Gilbert on acoustic guitar playing "Going to California" (a *gorgeous* Zeppelin acoustic song - definitive version here.) If I was forced to pick one musical hero of mine, JPJ might be the guy. He was the musical anchor of the greatest rock band ever, playing bass, keyboards, mandolin, and even a little acoustic guitar.

Enjoy.