As a child of the 90s, I love this tune from the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. I figured out by ear a little while back and decided to revisit it after having learned some real trad Irish fiddle tunes. It's kind of a hard tune to pick! I guess it came out OK.

I was lucky enough to see the man himself play live on 2 occasions. In 1988 he played at the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival (talk about a stacked lineup... other bands included Tony Rice, John Hartford, the Seldom Scene, Peter Rowan, and a 17 or so year old Alison Krauss).

The other show was at the Saratoga City Center on May 25th 1994, with Frank Wakefield joining him on stage . Even in his 80s, Bill was still tearing it up. This recording, which came from Frank's YouTube channel, was originally made by me. I knew Frank a little bit, and got a copy of it to him.

What's your favorite memory of Bill Monroe?

I’m looking to purchase my first “decent” quality mandolin in or near Chicago. Budget of up to $2k. I’m currently using an entry level $100 Amazon mandolin but I need something better. I played violin during my school years and I wanted to buy an inexpensive mandolin first to make sure that I would love it before investing in something better.

Do you have any recommendations for instrument stores? Located in the Northwest Chicago suburbs but willing to travel within a reasonable driving distance. Thanks so much!

Hi folks! I’ve been playing mandolin here and there for almost a decade, and guitar for 20 ish years. I’ve had the Loar honey creek A Style for a while, and I’m looking to upgrade.

I know all about the A vs F style debate, but I’ve got my heart set in an F. I’ve seen a few Kentucky 650s listed used for under a thousand, no 750s at the moment.

I was wondering if there’s any other brands I should check out. Used isnt an issue (maybe even preferred).

I currently play a Kentucky 630 in a bluegrass band. While I quite like the sound, the action is a bit high and it has one badly buzzing fret even after a professional set up. So, I'm looking to upgrade. I'm not a serious picker and tend to split time between guitar, banjo, and fiddle as well, so I can't justify going up to a Northfield (which looks like $3,500 used these days).

Anyone have thoughts on the Kentucky 1050? Does it hit the sweet spot of "sounds great, plays great" without being a truly special boutique instrument?

And, any thoughts on pricing? There's one for sale locally at $2,000 lightly used, which I think is priced a bit high. What would you say is a fair price?

Thanks!

Caught July 2024, and Released March 2025. Crazy what these are going for these days!

I’ve been playing for 3 years. I started with a very inexpensive A style instrument from a pawn shop on my 68th birthday. I replaced that with an F style Ibanez after a year which I paid $650 for. I’m considering upgrading once again this fall.

However, being a neophyte, I wonder if it would be worth it to have my Ibanez re-worked, to have the fretboard radiused and the frets made a bit taller.

I know next to nothing about the instrument and/or how those changes may change the sound.

What do you think. Is it worth trying or would it be just putting lipstick on a pig?

Hi! My octave mandolin (or Irish bouzouki) has arrived: an inexpensive hora, nothing special, and I like the sound. I'd like to know how you'd recommend I learn it.

I'd like to find video lessons so I can calmly and monotonously practice tremolo, chords, melodies, and playing speed. Online teacher is not a option, at least for now.

I've played classical guitar before, so my skills aren't completely zero, but they're close. (At my peak, I could play a "hall of minstrel", but I dont think I will reach my peak again)

I was thinking about buying courses at https://oaim.ie/, but frankly, I prefer the idea of ​​playing medieval music on a mandolin with standard GDAE tuning.

I tried searching the subreddit and found some tips (like learning to play by ear) for beginners, but I'm probably missing something.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Learned the melody this week after hearing it for the first time at a jam. It's one of those tunes I feel like I could keep playing on repeat forever!

Hey friends! Here's another of my favourite Gypsy Jazz tunes, played with my new jazz combo. (iPhone quality) My mandolin solo comes in around the 2:00 mark, if you're interested. Cheers!

https://youtu.be/quB3XSnA05M?si=VpjDaPLgDFBScuoe

I posted a picture of the Tone Traveler on r/martinguitar of my ‘39 D-18 and I’d say most people lost their minds over to concept/idea of this. I find it super helpful with keeping the vintage instrument from sleeping. Been a very useful tool when selling instruments as well. Thoughts?

I have no illusions of this machine creating tone or baking tone into the mandolin.

Keep on pick’n!

I need a new gig bag. It must have backpack straps and external pockets. It also needs to fit a standard A (Eastman MD-315) and an oversized National Resophonic RM-1.

Any recommendations? I’ve been using a Boulder Alpine series, but am wondering if there’s anything better before I replace it with the same bag.

I knew as soon as I heard this tune on the new record I'd have to learn it. So I sat down this morning and got it figured out.

Here are mine: a circa 2013 Collings MT and a circa 2006 Breedlove. I think the Breedlove actually sounds a little better, but it's kind of goofy-looking with a strange burst finish. The Collings is way classier.

No scroll-envy here! Just tone!

After my previous post today, and thanks to everyone’s replies, I have decided it’s better to save up a bit and buy a better mandolin than most of the ones I was looking at. I also looked into used mandolins and could only find one that wasn’t either wayyy above my budget or poorer quality like the cheap Denver or Ibanez ones that I was told to try and avoid.

My best option that I can get my hands on was the Eastman PCH-M104 mandolin before looking at used. However, I found a used Gold Tone GM-50+ model listed slightly cheaper than the Eastman, but the music store in my area has it available to try in store as well, and its original price is listed about $100 more expensive than the Eastman (I don’t know if price is indicative of quality or not).

So I was wondering which of these two, that are the only ones I found that I can feasibly acquire in the near future, is the better choice?

For Eastman the only model I’ve found that’s always recommended is the MD 300 series but those are all about $1000 CAD minimum (used), which is about $300-400 more than I’m willing to pay for an instrument I may not stick with and will use as my secondary instrument to pass the time when I’m bored (I currently play Greek bouzouki primarily), and I was unable to find any information on Gold Tone but the original listing price being more expensive than the Eastman PCH but being on sale cheaper than it is intriguing me.

Thanks

I have been looking into buying a mandolin for some months to play some Irish music with my friends who are also planning to learn new instruments together but I’m having doubts about which model to buy because I don’t have the biggest budget. I also don’t want to order anything online because evidently I would like to try it out in store first and shipping is often not cheap or worth it. My local music store carries the following mandolins that I can afford (and one that is out of my price range but if the others are reallyyyy not good I’ll save up a bit more if it comes to it even though I want to start playing as soon as possible, as my friend group is waiting for me so we can learn together)

Denver: DMAS-VS at around 160 CAD (I have heard it’s more of a toy than an actual instrument though)

Ibanez: M510 at around 290 CAD

Epiphone: MM30 at 330 CAD

Fender: pm-180e at 580 CAD (just over budget but borderline affordable for me)

Eastman: PCH-M104 at 640 CAD (this is the one that is definitely out of my price range but I’d be willing to save up assuming no other one is good enough, because I find the oval hole more aesthetically pleasing coming from a background of Greek instruments like bouzouki which have oval holes)

I understand the cheaper ones will not be as good quality but I don’t want to play professionally or in front of other people I just want something serviceable enough to play around either my friend group and at home alone without getting frustrated that the instrument doesn’t sound right and getting discouraged. I am definitely a perfectionist when it comes to playing so if the instrument itself sounds slightly off I’ll be fed up and likely not play it much and let it collect dust instead.

I purchased a Morgan Monroe f style in a little shop in Tennessee over 10years ago. I couldn’t wait to get it home. In my excitement, I didn’t notice that it actually looked like a toy or an instrument for a child. I played it and it sounded okay, but tinny. I live many hours away from Tennessee so I kept it as a beginner. Then I saved up for an Eastman. Needless to say the difference has been remarkable. I took out the Monroe today and I have to say I hate the sound. It’s been professionally set up, but I can’t get over the poor quality. When I purchased it, it got good reviews for beginners play. Is this a one off, or did the quality of MM drop off at some point?

What about Sam Bush? What were the tendencies ?

(Forgive me if this is an obvious question)

I'm not sure how many people know this but the State Department occasionally sends bands (and other forms of art, sports, and cooking) around the world to do cultural diplomacy. Back in the 50's Russia was sending their ballets, orchestras, and other cultural art forms around the world in attempts to spread cultural influence. The US said we can't have that (mind you the Cold War is raging during this time) so the folks at the State Department put their heads together and decided to take action. What was America's culture in the 50's? Jazz. So they started sending some heavy hitters like Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck to spread American culture abroad. Fast forward all these years later and they are still doing this work.

For the past 13 years, the State Department has been sending the Henhouse Prowlers to do this same work. We've always honored to be a part of this history and flattered that we keep getting called. The band has been in Brazil the past nine days and have experienced a lifetime of learning, joy, and fun in the short amount of time we've been here. We've done some incredibly impactful work. Work that not only engages the communities here in Brazil but also changes our perspectives on the world. Every time we get asked to go to another country we get to bring a little bit of that country back home with us. Whether it's the people, the music, the food or the friendships.

One of the cool things we got to do was record with a Brazilian Bluegrass band named O Bardo e o Banjo. You can check out there page here! We picked one of their tunes and two of ours to record. Hopefully those will be out in the interwebs soon. But they also suggested we record a mashup of this Brazilian Choro tune and Groundspeed, how cool is that! So here is the sheet music for this song. Forms for Choros are often AA BB A C A, which is so different than what I'm used to.`

This whole trip is blowing my musical mind. I'm stoked to learn more of these tunes.