Chris Thile in London Interview
Kudos to Mandolin Cafe staff writer Dan Beimborn on an excellent, insightful interview with living legend, Chris Thile. Dan had some prime moments to speak Read more»
02.04.12
Digital text format to dominate the future
We've personally found the iPad to be extremely useful for performance and practicing. The iReal b for practicing with jazz "Standards" accompaniments, the unreal Book Read more»
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"Good improvisation communicates harmonic progression melodically. Effective melodies manipulate harmonic content through the use of guide tones and preparatory gravity notes, masterfully woven in systematic tension, release, and transparent harmonic definition."
January 30, 2010 | Hayseed Dixie: Bohemian Rhapsody
Unbelievably good execution, the Hayseed Dixie crew are at it again in full deadpan acoustic splendor. Here's a sneak peak of their upcoming release, Killer Grass, February 8th, 2010. If you're a Queen fan as are we, you'll find this doubly amusing:
The inner geek in us was out yesterday full throttle. The JazzMando staff was all atwitter (no pun intended) over the Apple press release of the new iPad. Besides the incredible entertainment value, this could be an valuable educational tool (telling our spouses that, and sticking to the story...).
JazzMando Research assistant Charlie Jones was the first to bring up the notion of a PDF sheet music reader. You have the Nook and the Kindle already out there with their proprietary readers, but this would be in a much cooler package, let alone the potential for instant audio accompaniment through the vast iTunes library.
From a publishing standpoint, our question is would you buy method books in this format? We're thinking of the exhaustive Mel Bay library, and selfishly, our own "Getting Into Jazz Mandolin" book. If you could buy this sort of material with the accompaniment CD built into the program, would you?
Okay, so if you're way north of the equator, you aren't exactly thinking T-shirt weather, but there's always the gym or lounging around the house. Bring out the optimist in you by donning one of our newly released "JazzMando Pick" T-shirts.
We are now shipping Large, Ex Large, and 2X Large from our Merchandise Center and can make you wearing one of these fashion statements a reality. You like these picks small, you'll like them big, emblazoned across your chest. The artwork came out even better than we thought, and you can't beat the price, $15 including free domestic shipping. ($18 2X Lg) They tend to run on the slightly smallish side, so we didn't bother with the mediums, but contact us is you are interested.
January 24, 2010 | Vintage Guitar Magazine Builder Profile: Manndolins
Terrific write up from our friend and innovative builder, Jonathon Mann in the February 2010 Vintage Guitar Magazine. A special thanks to Jon for publicly crediting the banner advertising prowess of the JazzMando website for some of his initial success, as the Tennessee craftsman's signature "neck-through" body design is now very much in demand internationally. His American-made craft continues to defy the indomitable domestic manufacturing migration offshore, and we couldn't be prouder of him.
With permission to reprint text of the article from the publisher, we've excerpted its contents below.
After making a living playing guitar and mandolin for more than 20 years, in 1995, Jonathan Mann got married and moved from Florida to Nashville. There, he made ends meet for his family by working as a staff songwriter and woodworker who did various projects, including building a mountain dulcimer. but...
"I'd always dreamed of building a mandolin, but had no clue where to begin," he said. "Then I discovered Roger Siminoff's book, "How to Construct a Bluegrass Mandolin, which was responsible for getting a lot of mando builders started. I studied it for about a year, but still didn't feel confident enough to dive in. Then one day I got a Stewart-MacDonald catalog, and they had just added a mandolin kit. So I ordered it, and once I had the pieces in my hands and started assembling them, I was hooked. I knew then what my new calling was."
So, did you keep writing songs Manndolins to pay the bills, or shift all of your focus to building mandolins? Well, my songwriting career was shortlived, so I had to choose between going on the road to play or getting a "real" job that would allow me to stay home with my family. I chose the latter and took a part-time job in sales at a big-box music store in Nashville, which allowed me to be close to my family and also left time to tinker on my newfound passion for building mandos. A couple of years later, the stringed-instrument-tech position came open at the store. I worked there three days a week while my mandolin business steadily grew. In September of 2008, I reached the point where I was just too busy at both jobs to really enjoy either one, so I quit the tech job to focus on building.
Were you building just one model at the time? At first, yes. I followed the traditional approach, per Siminoff 's book, building mandolins with a carved back and top, bent sides, and a dovetail neck joint. I had only built a handful, then one day I found a really nice piece of curly maple that was a tad too thin to carve for a back. So I built an electric solidbody five-string mandolin and used that flamey piece to make a drop-top. It was a miniature Tele-shaped thing with half of a Bill Lawrence P-46 pickup. I used a neck-through style because it seemed easier at the time, and I'd always been a fan of neck-through guitars. It was fun, so I built another one, but with a carved top and chambered body. After that, I thought, "I can build a neck-through mando with a flat, chambered body... So why not go one step further and carve the back and make an acoustic neckthrough?" From then on, I built every mando as a neck-through.
What was the next move in terms of expanding your product line? To adapt the neck-through to the acoustic mandolin, I started with the simple A-7 model, then an F-7 about a year later, and about three years ago I started building a two-point model. I was still building electrics, which were beginning to outsell the acoustics. I ultimately settled on three body styles for electrics--the EM, a flat-top, one-pickup, single-cutaway available as a hollow, semi-hollow or solidbody, and the SEM in a single- or double-cutaway. Those have two pickups, a carved maple top, and a solidbody. I offer all my electric models in four-, five-, or eight-string configurations. In the last year, I added an octave/long-scale version of the EM and SEM models. They're really cool, about halfway between a guitar and mando with 18" scale, they get down into the guitar tonal range. The five-string version has a high B string.
How did you spread the word about your work? I was lucky enough to have a few good reviews early on. In 2005, I had two web reviews on the EM-5, and I keep a banner ad on jazzmando.com which helped. Then, a review on my two-point flat-back acoustic appeared in American Songwriter magazine in July, 2006, and Steven Stone reviewed my SEM-5 in the October '08 issue of VG.
What sets your instruments apart? As far as I know, I'm the only builder who uses neck-through construction on an acoustic mandolin, and one of very few who uses it on electrics. Because they have short necks and adjustable bridges, mandos rarely need a neck set, unless they have a joint failure. Mine have no joint to fail and there's less mass to the heel of the neck than on a traditional joint. On my electric semi-hollow and solidbody models, I use my hand-made wrap-around tailpieces machined from aircraft-quality aluminum, plated to match the other hardware.
Do you have any help in the shop? Nope. I'm still a "one Mann" operation (chuckles)!
Comparing your mandos to others on the market, what do you point out to potential customers? Well, one of my goals is to use as many U.S.-made parts and supplies as possible. I also hope that when a prospective customer is looking for a new instrument, they'll look at one of the many great small U.S. builders before going for the Pacific-rim stuff.
Do you have any goals in terms of growth or expansion? My immediate plans are to keep making the best instruments I can, add a few more models to the mandolin line, then maybe build some guitars; I have a couple designs I've been wanting to try. Ideally, I'd have two or three hired hands and move into this old art-deco building I've had my eye on.
Vintage Guitar | F e b r u a r y 2 0 10 VintageGuitar.com
Django Fans, the Django in June website has been updated for 2010 and they are now ready to take registrations for full-immersion offering for musicians, Django Camp. The dates for this year are June 15-20. Celebrate Django's 100th birthday by joining in!
The first full-fledged music camp in the US dedicated entirely to the Gypsy jazz tradition, Django Camp offers an unparalleled opportunity for musicians who would really like to dig in with both expert teachers and enthusiastic students of the style. Whether you want to build a strong Gypsy jazz foundation or add another floor above the one you've got, there is guidance, inspiration and camaraderie at a depth you won't find anywhere else this side of the Atlantic, including the return of JazzMando royalty, mandolinist Jamie Masefield.
The teachers and performers this year will make up an internationally diverse group. Included in the roster below, players of guitar, violin, accordion, mandolin and bass:
Joscho Stephan, guitar (Germany)
Biel Ballister, guitar (Spain)
Gustav Lundgren, guitar (Sweden)
Aurelien Bouly, guitar (France)
Gonzalo Bergara, guitar (Argentina via California)
Michael Horowitz, guitar (Djangobooks)
Tim Kliphuis, violin (Holland)
Evan Price, violin (Hot Club of San Francisco, Turtle Island Quartet)
January 20, 2010 | Mando ModeExplorer and the Lydian Dominant
We mentioned awhile ago that the popular windows-based mandolin program Mando ModeExplorer includes FFcP study and analysis as well as a plethora of chord and mode personal discovery. Author and software innovator Craig Schmoller dropped us a line to remind us this program includes Augmented 11th research supported in his own program, albeit it under a different name, the Lydian Dominant:
If you don't have this on your PC yet, you should!...
January 18, 2010 | New FFcP! Augmented 11th Exercises
Music theory can be so uninvitingly dry. We are very much aware of the dangers of the cerebral side of theory lulling one to sleep, so we always include the caveat of "just play it" with all our exercises. This one simply sounds cool, including what jazz mandoloin mentor Will Patton calls the "verdant" sound of the raised 4th.
Fingers, Ears, Brain. Play these, get them into your fingers; the sound will enrapture. Once they get embedded into fingers and ears, you can look under the hood and understand the theory. We have plenty of accompanying articles to explain why we call this the 2nd most important scale in jazz for you to dig into later.
Enjoying the latest new things displayed at the 2010 Winter NAMM Show, and we've uploaded pictures to an ongoing message thread at MandolinCafe.com for you to gander. Of particular interest, an exciting Headway mandolin pickup and direct box at Nova Strings, new emandos at JBovier, and a whole new line of acoustic mandolins and bouzoukis at Luna Guitars. We're anticipating JazzMando reviews in the near future on most of these.
Also enjoyed meeting some great folks at an informal Cafe Meet 'n Greet before the show Monday morning.
January 14, 2010 | Lawrence Smart FF10 10-string mandolin
We've had a delightful time with a Lawrence Smart FF10 mandolin, and now it's time to share with you the details. You can read our observations in the JazzMando Builders Showcase. This is truly a ground-breaking design, from an insanely great craftsman.
January 12, 2010 | Merchandise Center closed for Inventory (and road trip!)
Just a heads up that we will be temporarily closing up the shipping department at the JazzMando Merchandise Center while we finish our end-of-the-year inventory (yeah, we're a little behind). Also the crew is packing the bags to head to the Winter NAMM show, leaving the big Midwestern sub-zero freeze for the more moderate Southern California clime.
You may think we are joking but pictured below is the snow mound our mailbox is literally carved from, 30 inch accumulation, and that's not including the drifting or plowing.
You can still place orders for strings, picks, books, and cloths, but we won't be back shipping until Monday, January 18th. Meantime, stayed tuned for pictorial reports of the new mando toys unveiled at NAMM.
January 10, 2010 | A Day in the Life--Providence Mandolin Orchestra
Mandolin orchestras by nature front an atmosphere of formality, and what one perceives as precision, another might see as rigidity. By nature, larger ensembles require corporate accuracy in plectrum timing and lockstep execution. That's why we enjoy watching when they can let their hair down and display a little creativity. Such is the case with this interpretation of the Beatles tune, "A Day in the Life" by the Providence Mandolin Orchestra recently captured on YouTube. Arranged for the ensemble by member, Robert A. Margo, the concert took place on Dec. 5, 2009 at Rehoboth, MA, U.S.A. as part of the Arts in the Village series.
We ran these suggestions back in 2007, and it never hurts to review how best to deal with cold weather shipping when most of the US is deep in the grip of an arctic cold front. Three words you don't want to hear in the same sentence: "record," "cold," and "January," and with the extended temperature forecast seeing lots of negative Fahrenheit numbers, one should be concerned about long term car storage and shipping.
The biggest concern isn't so much the temperature as it is the extreme transition. Leaving an instrument in the trunk of a car in subzero for more than an hour demands special precaution returning to room temperature. The natural insulation of the case won't do much good if a frozen instrument is exposed to a 50-80 degree rapid temperature variation. Move slowly.
We also listed some shipping tips worth reviewing. Many are rightly concerned about sending instruments around the country during the colder months, but understand music stores do it all the time. Caution is imperative on the receiving end, so be sure the recipient is savvy to proper warming procedures. For more details read the archive article, The Cold Facts
We are now fans. It's a simple solution, really. Make a mandola on one end of the instrument (16") and make a mandolin scale on the other (14"). Then, you graduate the length of the middle three courses of strings to scale. What you get is weird looking, but amazingly intuitive and comfortable in the fingers. Indeed, you have to feel it to believe it.
Inspired by the recent experience with a Lawrence Smart 10-string instrument, we wrote about this system in last week's "Tips and Tricks" column, " succinctly titled "Fanned Frets," where we discussed this along with other examples of instruments with this system.
Stay tuned for our hands-on review of the Smart 10-string. We are the last leg of a tour of this special instrument and are in the process of documenting our thoughts before it has to make the return journey home to Idaho.
January 4, 2010 | Winter NAMM Show Cafe Meet 'n Greet
Some of you are attending the January 14-17th NAMM show in Anaheim, California, in one capacity or another, whether as a vendor, a retail buyer, or just a certified gawker. If you have qualified for a badge and are showing up, join us for a brief, informal 'Meet and Greet' at the NAMM designated "Quiet Place" in the Marriot, Friday January 15th in Grand Ballrooms A-C, 9:30 AM.
If you're an exhibitor and want to pass out some free stuff (we'll have some JazzMando picks...) or fellow mando junkie wanting to swap what you think the hot mandolin booths are, this will be a great opportunity to share information. We're looking forward to seeing old friends and despite a packed appointment dance card during the show, sharing quality time here before the show opens.
Drop by, and if you'd like more information about the Meet & Greet, email us. Rumor has it even the MandolinCafe Site Administrator himself will be there.
Maybe some free stickers!
Friday 9:30-10:30AM
NAMM 2010 Convention
Marriott Grand Ballrooms A-C
Anaheim, California
We've been out of the T-shirt business for a while, having offered the classic flagship Bluemando original, the "Bill meets Django," "Dogs playing mandolins," the signature Clark JM shirt, and the recent "GiJM" long sleeve. We're getting ready to beta-test a new design and have a handful of samples en route.
The goal is to keep it simple; this one we're simply calling the JM Pick Shirt. Here's a mock rendition:
Hoping when the get into full production we'll be able sell these for under $15, shipped US domestically. Drop us a line if you are interested in one of the prototypes.
With over 24 inches of snow on the ground last December, nobody is more excited about thinking T-shirt weather than the JazzMando staff...
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January 30, 2010 | Hayseed Dixie: Bohemian Rhapsody
The biggest concern isn't so much the temperature as it is the extreme transition. Leaving an instrument in the trunk of a car in subzero for more than an hour demands special precaution returning to room temperature. The natural insulation of the case won't do much good if a frozen instrument is exposed to a 50-80 degree rapid temperature variation. Move slowly.
