Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Who are your favorite artists to listen to on the mandolin?

#41

Spot on. Nickel Creek got me into Mandolin I guess back in 2003 or 4. Before then, bluegrass was for my guitar. But listening to Thile made me REALLY want to dig into the mandolin. Then, you hear some stuff from, say, Punch Bros. and the melodic lines are…well…let’s just say they’re often not traditional…at all.

Someone mentioned Bela Fleck - I’ve seen some stuff with Fleck/Thile, and while impressive, just doesn’t do anything for me musically. Like, compare the Fleck/Thile stuff to Fleck with the Super Pickers from way back (Fleck, Bush, Rice) and the picking is GREAT, but also has melodic lines that are easy to follow and love AND are technically inspiring.

Also reminds me of Dave Mathews and Tim Reynolds - technical wonders, but the music sucked.

I think some of these guys are so good they just get bored. That’s when you see all the jazz inspired stuff and obscure note relationships start coming into the mix.

What’s the old saying… One bad note is just a bad note; two bad notes is jazz. :slight_smile:

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#42

As Bulldog mentioned a while back Chad Fadely, a really good mandolin player. Just watching him play draws you in… great technique and tone. He’s somehow associated with Greg Boyd’s House of Fine Instruments in Montana. That’s at the top of my list of instrument stores to visit… but I live in Ohio… maybe someday. I’m at least on the west side of Ohio, close to Indiana… not that that helps.

Another one that I completely forgot (don’t know how) is Jesse Brock. I’m not sure if he was mentioned or not, but what a great player he is! You all should check him out if you haven’t yet.

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#43

A few of my favorites are Sierra Hull, Ronnie Reno and Mike Andes. Sierra and Reno together are hard to beat and Mike is as much fun to watch as he is to listen to.

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#44

Went to a place called the caverns in Pelham, TN this past weekend and saw David Grisman and Del McCoury play. It was a great show in a really cool place! I never thought I’d go to a concert in a cave, and I’d go again even if it was fifty below zero. I was wearing a @BanjoBen hat and Mr. Grisman asked me if I played mandolin. He then gave me the pick he used in his show that night and a book of tablature he made a few years back, signed it and took a picture with me. Good moment. I think I got a picture with Ricky Skaggs in my banjoben hat somewhere too! I learn so much each time I see a mandolin player in person. They all have such different styles. I want to see about Adam Steffey and Wayne benson next! I missed Marty Stewart when he was touring a few years back and Sam Bush, who both came through Macon, GA on tour. Unfortunately for both shows I didn’t even know they were in town until the day after! Ugh!!!

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#45

That is too cool, wow!

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#46

I recently saw where Ricky Skaggs is coming to Lincolnton, GA in May. It’s about a 2 hr drive.

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#47

I love all the mandolin players already mentioned. I’ll throw in Sierra Hull. This yong lady is phenomenal and is only getting better. She is a great singer and guitar picker as well. I highly recommend her music.

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#48

I see your Sierra, and raise Katy Lou and Penny Lea Clark!

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#49

Although Katy don’t play mando :thinking:

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#50

When I heard Mark O’Conner play the mandolin break in “Sittin’ on top of the world” From Will the circle be unbroken Vol. II I was done…

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#51

Recently, I’ve really been digging Silas Powell, AJ Lee, and Kelsi Harrigill (of Flatt lonesome)

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#52

Of late, I have been blown away by Adam Steffey and he is now playing with Volume Five… so I eagerly await hearing the forthcoming album!

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#53

I’ve always been a huge admirer of these two…I’ve slap wore this out and continue to…oh yeah this is the entire album…just too dang good or maybe I should say great!

Tiny Moore & Jethro Burns

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#54

So cool to share what is out there… So many gifted players.

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#55

Oh wow! That’s a Bigsby 5 string electric mandolin. Talk about rare. A friend of mine worked on a 10 string version that looked almost just like that one. It was owned by Paul Buskirk. Great hand made instruments for their time.

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#56

I’ll add Justin Moses! (Sierra Hull’s husband) he’s one of my musical heroes, since he plays more instruments than I do!

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#57

Gibson Brothers -I think I have 9 of their albums (although i can not name the mando player(s))

My preference is expressiveness over speed. While their player can go fast he also knows how to back off.

Actually I have been trying to improve my playing by playing their 104 some songs over and over while trying to pick out the melodies and generally learning the neck -scales, chords, double stops, etc…

Compared to the previous 10 years or so mostly played in the first position being able to use the full neck has been a pretty big improvement.

Although I am not a particularly fast learner and started off slowly, Over the past year I have gotten to the point where I really look forward to playing every day and have started to develop an intuitive sense of where the notes are and how to move between positions.

I began like many, -learning fiddle tunes (which I could forget faster than I could learn). They never really improved my ability to improvise or really understand structure like learning the fretboard has.

My current opinion is that learning the whole neck is absolutely essential to ever becoming any good at playing.

I like the Gibson Brothers because they have a nice variety of speed and keys -I started off with a subset of their slowest songs. We do many of their songs in the band I play with.

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#58

I know that Joe K Walsh played for them for a while, he’s awesome!

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#59

Oh yeah Thanks that’s one and also Jesse Brock played with them.

Interestingly I found a video where Walsh is also talking about the importance of learning the fretboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w20Mafd6dDM -starting around 2:30

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#60

Joe also happens to be an instructor at peghead nation, and Berklee college of music. He’s also got a pretty good voice

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