Bach: Presto from Bach's violin sonata in g minor

Still uber excited about my new Mandolin. Mycroft may be a cheaper Chinese knock-off, but I'm quite happy with how it's sounding and playing.

The new E strings seem to be holding up alright, after I managed to break them both in an attempt to lower the bridge action. D'oh! They're a tad tinny sounding though, and probably too bright compared with the other strings so I'm tossing up if I should try medium gauge strings next time or if I just need to try a different brand. There are a few variables to consider - who would have thought a silly string instrument could be so complicated!

After two and a bit weeks playing mandolin I have almost got the A section of the Presto from Bach's G minor Violin Sonata down. This is really making me appreciate just how much thought string players put  into hand positions. There are always a couple of solutions for every phrase, so I have had to make some decisions... eep! Still not quite happy with some of my choices, but I may yet find better solutions. We will see.


Here's me, not quite rockin' the Bach yet, but getting there:

Here's Chris Thile rockin' the Bach big time. How to put a beginner to shame:

And so it begins

I finally bought a mandolin. It's been a long time coming, and technically I have the Punch Brothers to thank in a very round about kind of way, though I think it was inevitable that the day would come.

It began when I was a kid and I heard REM's Losing My Religion. Though I was a fairly grungy kid, and dabbled on guitar from time to time, I distinctly remember hearing that mandolin and thinking "Geez, there's something a bit special about that...". Of course I got distracted by other bands and had flings with other instruments (brass is to blame, mainly) and started having to focus more solidly on piano during high school.

The mandolin was somewhat forgotten until years later my uncle brought one back from Vietnam. Ooooh the envy. I had a bit of a play and it seemed a fairly decent instrument considering the price. When I mentioned I'd like to get one some day, my uncle kindly offered to get me one next time he went to Vietnam. But even then I was quite an audiophile and was a little freaked out by the idea of buying an instrument I had neither tried nor heard. It didn't end up happening and I forgot again - memory has never been a strong point.

Then came the Punch Brothers. Can't precisely recall how I stumbled across this group. I think I was doing some research into mandolins and progressive rock and I found some Chris Thile videos on YouTube which led to one of them doing a Radiohead cover. Oh my GOD!!

Radiohead... ah... Folks who know me know that I'm a little obsessed, so this was a perfect match really. I knew then that I definitely wanted to (nay, needed to) start learning. But I still wasn't in any rush to blow my precious dollars on a new instrument.

I'd been listening to the Punch Brothers albums on high rotation (between Radiohead) for a few weeks when the announcement came that they were coming to Australia. I could hardly contain myself. And then I looked at the dates and venues. They were coming to Sydney and Melbourne and even Adelaide, for f%@& sake, but not Brisbane. Gutted. Desperate, I looked into getting a flight to Sydney to see them, but the best case scenario would have be at least $250-$300. I could put that kind of money towards something that would last a lot longer...

So, I did it. I went to the only music shop in Brisbane that stocks more than a couple of second-rate mandolins (thank you, The Guitar Shop at Paddington!) and was in raptures with the little entry level F style Eastman - the MD315. It was bright but not tinny and had some nice, sweet overtones. "Fruity" as the helpful sales assistant described it. It's no Gibson, but it sure kicks the ass of the entry level Fender.

Introducing Mycroft the Mandolin, my new favourite distraction. ❤