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I'm like the Ramones of the Mandolin...
Apr. 15th, 2007 11:10 pm...I know three chords.
Over this past weekend I attended my father's Mandolin Camp in Groton, MA and began the journey of learning to play the Mandolin. Here are some reasons why Mandolin is better to play than other instruments:
I learned quite a bit and was able to give feedback about the beginner track at the camp. There was at least one person who had never played an instrument before in his life and by the end of the weekend, he could play along with the rest of us.
Those of us with other musical instrument background had an advantage, but it was good to learn from the very basics.
I missed the Friday classes due to work but since I knew this going in, I got a crash course from my dad earlier in the week. The information he gave me was useless for the Friday night jam. He'd shown me some simple scales, I needed to know chords. No problem, I found out what chords I would need and then asked him (as he was doing registration in the same room) how to make those chords. The first night's jam for beginners, I thought, went a bit too fast. Seemed to touch on a lot of things that had been taught to advanced beginners but not beginners. The beginners jam the second night slowed things down at the start and built nicely over the evening. I was able to keep up in both jams but I could see some real beginners were having trouble the first night.
I think everyone made lots of progress. I learned some very interesting things and I'm hoping I do a better job of keeping at this than I did with guitar.
Oh yeah, Banjo Camp is May 18-20 and there are generally rides to be had for anyone in Boston who doesn't drive. And there's a Banjo concert in Lexington on the May 17th.
Over this past weekend I attended my father's Mandolin Camp in Groton, MA and began the journey of learning to play the Mandolin. Here are some reasons why Mandolin is better to play than other instruments:
- It's versatile.
- It weighs less than most other stringed instruments.
- It fits into the overhead compartment.
- It's fun.
I learned quite a bit and was able to give feedback about the beginner track at the camp. There was at least one person who had never played an instrument before in his life and by the end of the weekend, he could play along with the rest of us.
Those of us with other musical instrument background had an advantage, but it was good to learn from the very basics.
I missed the Friday classes due to work but since I knew this going in, I got a crash course from my dad earlier in the week. The information he gave me was useless for the Friday night jam. He'd shown me some simple scales, I needed to know chords. No problem, I found out what chords I would need and then asked him (as he was doing registration in the same room) how to make those chords. The first night's jam for beginners, I thought, went a bit too fast. Seemed to touch on a lot of things that had been taught to advanced beginners but not beginners. The beginners jam the second night slowed things down at the start and built nicely over the evening. I was able to keep up in both jams but I could see some real beginners were having trouble the first night.
I think everyone made lots of progress. I learned some very interesting things and I'm hoping I do a better job of keeping at this than I did with guitar.
Oh yeah, Banjo Camp is May 18-20 and there are generally rides to be had for anyone in Boston who doesn't drive. And there's a Banjo concert in Lexington on the May 17th.
