Well if I can’t have all that fun at camp, I might as well have some fun by myself.
I’ve reached the halfway point with the 2020 Mandolin Project.
Here is Mississippi Sawyer, I don’t think this is on Ben’s site at all, this one I got years ago from Brad Laird and found a backing track that wasn’t 283 bpm on You Tube.
This gets me caught up to the end of June - so far my repertoire looks like this - Wildwood Flower, Cripple Creek, Red Haired Boy, Blackberry Blossom, Whiskey Before Breakfast , AK Traveler, Temperance Reel, Saint Anne’s Reel, Solider’s Joy, Liberty, Old Joe Clark and Mississippi Sawyer.
My original plan was for all the tunes to be Ben’s arrangements, but I’ve had to keep some of them down to basic melodies I found in an old Mel Bay book at the library years ago, repeating the same A part and B part. What I really like about Ben’s lessons are the slight variations in each of the A parts and B parts, so it doesn’t sound the same. It’s a great learning site Ben, thanks for all you do, you talent and teaching skills are impressive.
What have I learned? The mando is a tough little instrument to play, I figured years and years of guitar playing would help, but there isn’t as much crossover as I would have guessed. There is some real skill needed in that right hand to find the sweet spot to pull out that tone. No matter how I try that dang E string always sounds scratchy. I have also learned that I suck at alternate picking. That’s the great thing about making these videos, I notice the weak points which I never notice while playing by myself. I’ve also learned I’ll never be able to play at BG speeds - maybe I’m an OT guy. I can’t commit things to memory like I use to (dang middle age) and I suck once the camera comes goes live.
I’ve also learned you don’t need an expensive instrument at my level. I love my Northfield but in my hands it doesn’t sound much better than my Eastman. Curse you MAS and Ben’s Black Friday Sale!
What’s next? I’ve got to try to get some half learned songs ready for the next half of the project. Been picking at Eight of January, East TN Blues, Wayfaring Stranger (dang tremolo), Cherokee, Beaumont Rag, Billy in The Lowground. I’ve recently hooked up with a fiddle player and he has me heading towards a bunch of Waltz’s and old time stuff I had never heard before - maybe I’m at OT guy
Thanks to all 5 of you that have been following my journey and passing along pointers. I’ve always been obsessed playing music, guitar, harmonic, ukulele, banjo but MAN this mandolin, I can’t put it down - I’ve got it bad.
Sorry for the long rant. Hope everybody is staying healthy and sane. Maybe next year will be my year to attend camp!
Peace.