/r/mandolin
A subreddit for the wonderful world of mandolin.
From A-style to F-style, bowl-back to flat-top, bluegrass to metal, differences do not separate us, the mandolin unites us. If you love picking, strumming, listening, crafting, or just plain love the mandolin, this is the subreddit for you!
We're working on our FAQ, got a good idea? Tell us on the stickied thread! Cheers r/mandolin!
Relevant Subreddits
Mandolin Websites
Mandolin Cafe the internet's biggest mandolin website
Jazz Mando great resource website for a wide range of styles for mandolin run by Ted Eschilman
Emando the electric mandolin resource page
Mandozine a web site for mandolin, which hosts a music archive of almost 3,000 songs, transposed or transcribed for mandolin.
Free Bluegrass Backing Tracks A wide range of free bluegrass backing tracks with OR without solos, all at variable speeds. An essential resource for the improving picker. It's a labour of love so feel free to donate! (the site is in no way affiliated with r/mandolin)
Mandolin Tuition
Artistworks mandolin instruction with Mike Marshall
Banjo Ben banjo, guitar, and mandolin instruction
MandoLessons for free mandolin lessons, including tablature and standard notation for tunes
Bradley Laird "everything you need to know to start playing the mandolin" according to Bradley!
/r/mandolin
21,550 Subscribers
Wonder by Sean Bear
17:00 UTC
Not sure how this happened, but now I need a new mandolin.
What is a good, affordable mandolin for beginners?
16:41 UTC
Acceptable octave mandolin tension?
Hey all! I recently bought an Eastwood Mandola Model S electric. Been having a blast. From the factory, it's tuned CGDA with an 18" scale, .036-.026-.016-.010. Obviously this is a bit long for a normal mandola, but a bit short for an octave mandolin. If I wanted to swap strings and make it a super short scale OM, what tension / string gauge is ideal?
I'm calculating 60.86 lbs factory. Emando's heavy gauge GDAE totals 69.45 lbs and the medium totals 62.28 lbs. I would think I would want heavy gauge for the extreme short scale, but is 69 lbs too much overall increase? Would I need to adjust the truss?
Interestingly, it's been done with a 17" scale! (linked video)
12:08 UTC
Classic folk songs that old timers might recognize
I'm quite new to the Mandolin and laster this month I'm going to participate with my local Calliope Society in a Folk song circle.
02:07 UTC
"Lute" mandolin tuning/chords
Hi all! I'm planning to use an octave mandolin as a "lute" for a musical (Something Rotten) with middle school actors. The Minstrel needs to play Cm, Fm, and Bb chords. I'm trying to figure out a tuning/voicing/chords that'll make this as easy as possible for kids without any mando or guitar experience. I've tried:
- Tuning down to CGDA, and having them play Em, C, & D chord shapes. This works but sounds awful detuned that much.
- Standard GDAE tuning, capoed up on the 8th fret. Sounds OK but is really hard to smush fingers in.
- Tuning top 2 strings down to open CGCG, capo up 3, and play 2222, 2323, 0000. A little convoluted for young hands, but mayyybe the best option?
I can't think of anything else that doesn't involve some barre chords, which I think will be too hard for the kids. Any clever ideas? Thanks!
00:13 UTC
Shine (Collective Soul) on Mandolin
Hey friends! The 90's rocker Shine by Collective Soul works well on the mandolin, too. Check it out here! TAB available on my Patreon page. https://youtube.com/shorts/jOvuEDN9REg?si=zXtsO95TFwmMSy8K
23:18 UTC
Army dreamers mandolin chords?
Hello! I’ve been wanting to sing army dreamers by Kate bush with my mandolin but can’t find the chords anywhere do y’all know where I could go or if you know em? Thank you :)
13:04 UTC
Another wee bit of Bach for the nerves (taking a cue from Thile’s IG post yesterday)
05:09 UTC
Relative got this for me as an early bday gift!
She said she found it on Etsy and the maker of it is Deckard Designs
22:11 UTC
New Mandolin day! Morgan Monroe!
21:30 UTC
Collings vs Weber
Who has the better baseline models? Any other smaller unsung US builders to compete here?
Better meaning “woody” tone, volume, and responsiveness for professional use.
Most used Webers have Sitka tops and most used Collings have Adirondack. But given Weber’s build history with Gibson, maybe the baseline Webers outshine the baseline Collings? I have no way of telling currently.
21:08 UTC
Blue Virginia Blue kickoff
I am trying to learn some more licks through transcribing. This has some neat stuff in it.
15:02 UTC
Celebrating
Taking a break from a particular good practice session. Breakthroughs on both mandolin and guitar. So I'm doing a little happy dance.
Working on chords and chord progressions. Major/minor and all that. It's pretty freaking awesome. Pentatonic scales too.
What y'all working on?
03:58 UTC
ID & Restoration (Redo - Pics Broke!)
Hi there! I bought a bowl back mandolin today at an auction for $15. After using the absolute hell out of Google lens, traditional Googling, the search function here on Reddit - here I am. What I have learned is the parts of a bowl back and that bowl backs aren't very popular (I think I read that correctly) and that's about it. From the looks of it, it seems like I may have just simply found myself a neat wall-hanger at a steal of a price but I'm not content with 1) not knowing what type it really is aside from a bowl back and 2) the condition.
So, what I can tell you flat out is that there is no sticker inside that provides me with any information. Just a sliver of a corner of what once was, lol.
I guess to get down to it, if anyone would be so kind:
- What on earth do I have in my possession?
- How would I even go about starting with restoring this, in your opinion (aside from the nut and bridge)?
- Recommended strings if I were to try playing it?
- Is the pick guard unique to this particular type or can I just replace it with whatever I want?
As a very casual guitar player, I'm a lover of instruments and just wanted to try and learn how to play this as well. That or just have a really neat conversation piece to add to my collection of stringed instruments lol.
Thanks so very much in advance.
02:56 UTC
Mysterious Overtone Ringing Out on A Course
This feels like a dumb question, but I just started getting a really ugly overtone that rings out when I hit the A course, and I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. This is a Kentucky KM-272 that I’ve had for 3 years, and never heard this before. I have a leather strip through the strings behind the bridge, and that’s always done a good job of dampening overtones. I moved that around a bit but it doesn’t seem to make a difference for this new sound. Is there anything else that folks know of that would cause something like this to pop up?
16:51 UTC
Thoughts on Michael Kelly mandolins?
14:19 UTC
Having some fun with “Dusty Miller”
22:11 UTC
Good thread for “what tune is this” posts?
Is there a better thread to ID a tune from a partial melody? Im constantly getting melodies and tunes stuck in my head and might post more of these types of vids. Then I can make a note to myself of titles to reference and actually learn them. But remembering titles is 😵💫…Other day was freakin Autumn Leaves and I couldn’t pin it for the life of me until I hummed it to several people. Mostly Bluegrass and Irish tunes tho.
17:57 UTC
swing 51 baby
had to bust out the dawg pick for this one.
04:59 UTC
It ain’t much, but it’s mine.
02:47 UTC
Why are all the KnK pickups for mandolin the duo tone? Seems like the KnK with 3 or 4 connections would give more complexity to the sound instead of 2 but idk
EDIT: K&K*
02:17 UTC
Billy in the Lowground - Mandolin & Banjo
Thanks for watching!
22:00 UTC
1907 Gibson
Picked this up a couple years ago and always meant to share. Built before the Titanic and older than anyone alive today. After getting it regretted it plays beautifully!
21:47 UTC