Forum Activity for @mandy

I know it may seem weird but anytime anyone asks me to text them I laugh, or when they tell me they'll text me. I've yet to send my first text and wouldn't know how to. I was upset the other day when I heard they were giving away concert tickets to an artist I like on the radio. I listened in and waited for the right time, but when they said it was time they said text some word to some number or some number to some word. So apparently you can't even call in anymore to win stuff. So though it may appear that I like these kinds of things (since I do videos) I really don't. They are just a necessary tool to share my true love of hearing, playing, and tinkering with music.

Carrie Barnes said:

Mandy, major Congrats on the Folkcraft! Ipad -vs- dulcimer, not even a thought there, LOL! Merry Christmas to you and yours, and a Prosperous New Year as well!

Yes they do! Awesome that you have a system now. We just use a band mates for all our stuff. Now you can get some great recordings . Would love to hear some. All that sound mixing is an art in and of itself though. I don't have the tech skills for such.

Susie said:

Congrats on your Folkcraft.....you'll love it. Don't our hubbies deserve a big kiss this time of year? My husband wanted to get me an amp and the whole setup. I said I'd rather not spend the money on me....he insisted. So, I now have a new amp in my music room. I didn't even have to wait for Santa. Have a very merry Christmas.

I'm grinning from ear to ear! Thanks everyone. You all are such a great group of folks. I've enjoyed this past year of being on FOTMD. Now I just have to figure out how the heck to not just die of anticipation. It seems like every time I know I'm getting something this awesome for Christmas I go NUTS. I usually have dreams about it, and just obsess or something. It's crazy. Instruments are my "crack" I guess. Haha. If I don't play at least one every single day I'm in a bad mood. No exaggeration there either.

Thanks for putting up with me. Haha.

Almost exactly a year ago I found this website. I found out that I was getting a duclimer for Christmas (I had been asking for one) and could not wait to get it. I was so excited I was going crazy.

Since then I've had a wonderful time playing my dulcimer. I play some other instruments, so I knew that it was entry level when I got it. Now I've learned from my sweet papa bear husband that he's getting me a new one this year!!!!

Total shock to me since I wasn't asking for one. But he realized that I really enjoyed playing and he also plays instruments and knew that it would be a great present to get an upgraded one. So he wanted my opinion on what to get since he doesn't really know anything about them. I don't know much, but I think I chose a great one for the alloted budget.

SO HERE WE GO AGAIN!! I'm totally excited again and in awe of how blessed I truly am. So for 2 years in a row now at Christmas I'm going to be ripping open the paper on a brand spanking new dulcimer!

My new baby is a Folkcraft cedar/walnut beauty and I'll be drooling over the pictures until Christmas morning.

My fingers are tingling with anticipation, my heart is bursting with joy, and I can't believe I'll be playing a Christmas tune on Christmas day with a new instrument!

Oh and he was asking me if I'd rather have an iPad or a new dulcimer, like that's even a legitimate question. Thank goodness he asked first is all I can say cause there's no way I'd ever choose anything other than a new instrument of any kind. LOL

So now I just have to figure out what song will be my first song on it. I've gotten into the habit of really trying to pick a first song on a new instrument. Not sure why, kinda sentimental for me I guess. Any suggestions are welcome, Christmas tune or not.

Oh how I've missed my dulcimer these last few weeks. I've been real busy with other stuff, but last night I probably spent a good 2 hours with it.

So I played a few of my regulars and then I just started messing around. I do most everything on dulcimer just by ear so I don't think about chord names, note names or anything like that. I just sort of let my fingers do the walking and my pick do the talking. It was really fun and I found some neat sounding things happening.

Does anyone else find themselves doing this? I probably do this more on dulcimer than with any other instrument I play. Most times on banjo I'm trying to pick some phrase or song out, same with guitar, and now mando. But with the dulcimer I find myself just sort of wandering around and it's fun.

I use beer to make my beer bread, my beer bbq ribs, and beer butt chicken (as Dana described). The food tastes sooooo good. However, I sometimes wonder why I'm wasting all that beer. Haha. Several years ago I was brewing my own beer too, though I've scaled all that down lately due to my multiple love affairs (with instruments that is).

Great discussion. I play mostly by ear now. I'll listen to the song (if it's not already stuck in my head) and pick it out. Or I'll have a song in mind and look up the guitar chords to it and play some stuff out of the chords. I'll spice it up by playing some alternate chords or a few melody notes here and there depending if I'm playing dulcimer or banjo. I began learning with tab and though it has gotten me here, I wish I could almost start over (not really just metaphorically) and not get dependent on tab. I think it slowed me down.

Plus picking things out by ear is so much fun. Once you realize you can actually do it and it's not as hard as you made it out to be it's a total blast. And you can play around with notes with in a chord and add in harmony notes and things.

Wowzers! You call knowing 75 tunes a smaller number. I would be thrilled to be able to really know that many songs.

I totally agree with your thoughts here. I think of it in the same way. Memorizing any monkey could do (hey wait a sec am I calling myself a monkey? hmm not sure). But really getting intimate with and knowing a tune is different IMO. I could memorize tab, but listening to tons of version of it being played helps me much more than any tab ever could.

Strumelia said:

I don't think of it as memorizing a tune. I think of it as knowing a tune. Once i listen to a tune many times, and then play it many times, either alone or with others...that's when I know the tune. I might still make an occasional mistake or lapse, but I'll know it's a wrong note immediately and I'll hear in my head what it was supposed to be.

I learn tunes through several methods- sometimes sheet music, sometimes TAB, sometimes a recording, sometimes from other people playing it live with me so I can learn it. But no matter what method i use to 'catch' the tune, once I know it well I won't need to look at paper anymore.

That said, if time passes I might need a memory jog as Robin said, but usually I can pick the tune back up pretty quickly at that point, because I once knew it under my fingers.

I'm all for really knowing a smaller number of tunes, rather than half-knowing a whole bunch. I usually work on a current repertoire of about 75 tunes, putting other stuff on the back burner for a while. I don't try to 'keep knowing' everything I've ever known how to play well, and when i go back to stuff i knew in the past I often need to refresh it for a while. I've read that the great fiddler Tommy Jarrell only had a repertoire of less than 50 fiddle tunes that he played wonderfully over the years.

Very pretty dulcimer!

New mando vid LOL

Been wanting to mess around with the mando lately.

Hey that's pretty neat. I'll just look around and see if I can find some better pictures of them. My husband is a pretty handy guy and I'm sure he could build me one. I'd like something with a mini-washboard on it too me thinks .

If you ever get interested in learning clawhammer banjo, let me know and I can help.

Aha - that Boomba looks pretty cool actually ! Where would someone get one of those????

The banjammer - I see. I'm betting you could learn to play the banjo though too

Thanks Sue and Macy !

Jennifer - Hahaha, a full house of instruments!! LOVE IT. Everyone normally has at least one room in their house that gets drastically less use than others anyway right? So why not fill that room up with instruments. Not sure what a Boomba is, but i bet it's cool. Do you mean a banjo when you say banjammer? I think families that play together stay together, that's my philosophy anyway. I've yet to explore the fiddle though.

LOL

Ken Hulme said:

Mando Mandy and the Goat Ropers -- now there's a name for a CW/Folk/OldeTyme band!

Ummm actually I already have a country middle name, so no need to do any changin'. It's better than Lynn even. It's Luanne (Lou Ann), so there you go. This girl is already country to the core. And I never wear shoes unless I have to (that's no joke).

Thanks for watching!

Strumelia said:

Mandy you sound like a total natural on that mando. Very impressive!

...are you going to change your name to Mandy Lynn now?

Thank you!

Thanks for watching! Making music is just so fun. Even a simple little tune makes me smile.

Thanks Patty, yep $40 - well actually it came with a guitar too for a total of $80 with free shipping.

Haha , thanks Sue!

Here's the vid - fun little thing to play!

Haha Susie! Maybe I will work up to that many someday. We have a bunch already-

1. Washburn guitar (hubbys grandma gave it to him, it never gets played but it counts)

2. Martin guitar (gift to hubby from father)

3. Blueridge guitar (my guitar I got this year)

4. Gold Tone Banjo (my baby)

5. Dulcimer

6. uke (for my daughter)

7. Oil can banjo (hubby made, 5 string)

8. Cigar Box guitar (hubby made, 4 string)

9. Harmonica (never gets touched)

10. 3 "D" tin whistles

11. Egg Shaker with handle (not sure what it's called but it's cool and I've been using it in some of our group songs when the banjo isn't needed)

12. NEW Beater guitar

13. NEW Beater mando

Hmmm, guess that's it. Maybe something else lying around here that I forgot about too.

Hopefully someday I'll get that upright bass too - that's for looks too because it's so beautiful.

I gotta say this little $40 mando is sweet sounding. The action is pretty good, the frets feel nice, and I'm just shocked at how decent it is for such a cheapo.

That's so cool your hubby made you a cabinet. So I take it he doesn't play anything? My hubby has basically just let his beautiful Martin collect dust until I started a weekly jam session here at the house. Now he's right in the thick of things and it has really rekindled his desire to play and sing.

Well my cache of musical instruments is growing! Today the UPS man will deliver a shiny new mando and I'm totally psyched about it.

It all started last week when my hubby was sayin' he's really wanting a beater guitar to take and leave at work so he can play at lunch. So we started looking around online(been looking at music shops locally for awhile, but nothing has fit the bill). Came across a real cheapo one that gets really great reviews. Kind of hard to believe for the price, but for just a bit more you can get a mando too. So naturally I saw that and my brain was like "hey here's a chance to try out another instrument". So I said let's get both so we can beat around on both of them. I actually had a mando for a few months in 2005, so it's not completely new, but i had no clue what to do with the thing and it was gone quick.

So we bought them and it's gonna be here today! Now I know what you're thinking. Mandy, gheesh just get real good at one before you go jumping around all over the place. LOL. But I dunno it's weird. Most people get the dulcimer, or banjo, or guitar syndrome where they want a million of one instrument. Like - Dana for instance ( ) we all know she has like 20 dulcimers. Haha. Well for me it's just that I want every possible instrument I can get my hands on. Strange I know. But really I still want a stand up bass, a fiddle, and basically anything I can get. But I'll be honest, the fiddle scares me (haha).

So I'm gonna pull that baby out once it arrives and tune her up and go to town! After I youtube some chords that is, hahah.

Anyone wanna throw out any tips or advice it's all welcome.

My only problem with all this is that I'm not independently wealthy so I'm going to have to go back to work and won't be able to play constantly anymore! That's gonna be a sad musical day IMO, but at least a job will afford us the cashola to acquire more wonderful instruments. Catch 22 there I guess. Hahah.

Love the looks of it, but my goodness that poor stump has been impaled by a TON of booze.

COOL

Our band name is.............. narrowed down to 2. HAHAHAHA. You thought I was going to have it, but no our vote was tied. So we'll have a final vote next week with the winner. Our choices are Blackbird Courting and Pickers Local 151. One of those is our name! Such fun tonight. We've started to sing one a'capella (no idea how to spell that) song that's Irish that is so cool. We plan to sing that while our fiddler is retuning between songs. She only has to retune one time, so we'll get it worked in somewhere in our set. Wish I would have done this years ago. SOOOO FUN!

UPDATE - At tonight's practice we are voting on a band name!! We've also picked up another upright bass player and this time, he can practice with us on our regular nights. YIPPIEEEE. I'll update once we pick our cool name!!

Thanks Dana, it was!

Here's a partial vid of my lead song. You got to see the whole band in this one.

This is 4 out of 6 of us. There is another banjo player and another guitar standing to the right. The fiddler's husband took the shot

We had our very first LIVE PERFORMANCE last night as a group

I had a BBQ and invited everyone to bring their families and invited some neighbors over too! After we chowed down on good ole hotdogs and hamburgers and pot luck dinner, we ROCKED the HOUSE! Hahah. It was so much fun that I forgot to even get out my camera and get some pics or recordings. We had kids running all over the house too, so their was stuff going on everywhere. For my daughter (only child) it was awesome to have a bunch of kids her age to run around the house with. Their ages were 4,5,6,7, 11,14,and 17. Hopefully somebody will send me some pics and vids I can share. I did see a bunch of cameras out, so I know it got recorded somewhere.

Fun times, and I'm officially over my first-time jitters of singing in front of a group of people. I've got to learn to project my voice though (so does our other girl, the fiddler). We were both told that our voices were really nice but not loud enough. Anyone with advice for me, I'm all ears.

Yeah Dusty, the time has really flown by for me.

Christine, that will be so much fun ya'll playing together.

Planning a big BBQ next Friday night for our group. Everyone will bring their families and after we eat we'll give everybody a show!! This will be my first real live audience beyond just our parents. Can't wait. Good food, good company, and good music.

We are forming a band. I know it's been quick, but we've really come together as a group. Hopefully this week I'll get a video of the whole band together instead of just a few of us.

FUN CITY ! Oh and anyone who is near the Orlando area and wants to pop in and eat and listen to music come on! Just be sure to bring a side dish that will feed 20 people.

Guess i was typing while you responded, LOL

Yeah the time has flown and it's been such a great time! I really wish everyone would either get to a local jam or start one of their own, because it really is a total BLAST.

Strumelia said:

Wow, the time has flown- seems like just last month you were thinking of starting up a jam, Mandy!

Great that it's turning out to be such fun for you guys.

Just wanted to add that it's kind of funny now looking back at the first few posts of my thread here. I was all nervous and it's been so great and everything just seems to have fallen into place. One of the guys who showed up that first time and was way out of tune with everyone else never came back (though i invited him several times), we play a wide variety of tunes and only a couple are even what i would call old-timey, everyone is very interested in doing open-mics, and all of us seem to click and are friendly and we give and receive each others help on stuff.

I think one big factor in all this was that I placed the ad saying it was a folk/bluegrass/old-time jam. And I also told each person coming to bring at least 2 songs that they would like to play. So we've got a bunch of different influences that came in from that and no one had ever really even been to any bluegrass or old-time jams. So there were no ground rules, which suits me tremendously. The only OT jamming experiences I'd had previously were less than fun for me and I was not welcomed, and at one I was even ridiculed. Nothing against OT jams, but this just suits me better I guess.

Oh yeah forgot to add this - we have 3 guitars, one also plays mando, 2 banjo's, and a fiddle! Our upright bass had to drop out because his work schedule sucks, but we are a well rounded little group I think.

Thanks Beth and Dana! We are having fun. Our little group has grown to 6 consistently now, but it seems every time i get out the camera most have already left. We are having a great time, wish I would have done it years ago.

We are coming up with a band name now (because all 6 of us want to start doing open mics), and going to have a huge Bar-B-Q in a few weeks so that friends and family can see what we've been up to the last few months. Fun stuff

After our session a few of us left hanging out recorded this. You can definitely hear the kids playing in the background. Mistakes and all, I think it turned out pretty good.

Our jam sessions are going great! We've now got 2 banjo's, 3 (4 if I pick mine up) guitars, a bass, mando, and a fiddle will show up within the next few weeks. Having a blast and anyone who is considering starting their own jam session should really just take the plunge and do it.

I just put up an ad in Craigs asking for people to show interest, then once they told me a bit about themselves in that first post, I gave them the address. There were of course a bunch of people who said they would come but never did, but in the almost 2 months now that I've been doing it, I've had one guy come every single time, and at the minimum I've had 2 other players besides myself and my husband. So it's always a good time.

There are 4 of us who have been together enough now that we are talking about doing an open mic in the next few months. So we've got a list of all our tunes we play (around 15 or so) that we work on each time we meet. We are honing the singing parts and arrangements. It's a fun time.

The best part about it is there are no set rules. We play whatever songs we want ( I just told each person to bring a few they wanted to play in the Folk/Old-time/Bluegrass genre). We've got contemporary Irish tunes, 4 or 5 OT tunes, a couple of gospel standards, some old country, and a couple new songs in the works. We've got a songwriter in the group who has written a couple that we also play.

75 songs, HOLY COW! No way. That's really great that the parks and rec would do that. Wonderful idea.

Here's an after vid from last weeks session (others had already left). Michael stayed and played this with us (Jon and I) so I grabbed the camera. Just learning this song so I know I screwed up on the instrumental, but man it's fun!!

HAHAHAHA, that is great! You are right. Then I'd never have to say anything.

Jam went AWESOME tonight. Had a second banjo show up. We played a bunch of tunes, sang, and had a great time. Gonna make it a regular Thursday night thing.