Progress Report: Cripple Creek

I think I remember this from when I was a kid, though I could be remembering it from when my kids were little. I love this lady's voice, but the bow could get old after a while.

I still haven't made any progress on learning to read music. I've thought about it, but still need to work that into my practice time, or as a separate session apart from actually playing the instrument. Also, my callouses are building up nicely--I'm having a harder time typing because now I can't feel the little nub on the "F" key to position my left hand.

Since my last progress post, I've been working on the A major scale and the song Cripple Creek. The song is one of the standards of roots music, and it was the song my book used to introduce both the key of A major and hammer-ons.

Most of the time you hear Cripple Creek, it's only an instrumental. It has lyrics, and they could even be considered a little risque, especially for earlier last century. The lady with the pretty voice in the Sesame Street video actually sings the more colorful content for the preschoolers. I guess by today's standards the lyrics are really nothing shocking, and maybe I'm reading too much into them. It's a fun tune with or without the words though.

The A major scale I've been working on is in the open position, but I'm pretty sure it's the pattern for the closed position scale form that can be moved up the neck--just add a pinky. I'm mostly playing it open--trying to get the notes all clean, but I've attempted it a few times using the pinky instead of the next higher open string.

A Major Scale This exercise is introduced in my book as a prep for the song Red-haired Boy, which is still a couple of songs away, but I wanted to add a little spice to my scales. I call this the three steps forward, two steps back arrangement.

Cripple Creek Finally, here's my current progress on Cripple Creek. The hammer-ons add some nice color even when not executed perfectly. I was hoping to add a guitar track underneath, but I was lazy tired and couldn't work out the bass runs, so maybe next time.

Tan Lines

After doing lots of reading about beginner mandolins, and in particular the sorry state in which they usually arrive at your door from e-bay sources, I realized that my instrument needed to find its way into the hands of a luthier for a good setup. So I took it to Murphy's Music in Irving to ask them if they thought it was set up OK to learn on. As soon as the luthier got it in his hands he was shocked at how high the action was. No wonder my fingers hurt.

So I left it with him and he lowered both the nut and the bridge. When I picked it up that evening, the luthier had already left for the day, but a few of the sales guys were hanging out and I gave it to one of them to play. He was surprised at what a "good playing mandolin" it was. He played the Music Store Concerto for Mandolin in G, Second Movement and it sounded great. Then he told me it was a better playing mandolin than some other much more expensive brands he'd had his hands on. It made me feel like I had spent that forty bucks well.

Week 1 Progress Report

No self-respecting self-teacher works without some kind of curriculum, and since I have a modicum of self respect, I am starting off my studies with a book/CD/VHS combo. This is the set of learning tools we bought at the same time we acquired the instrument. The book by Bert Casey is redundantly titled Mandolin Primer for Beginners and begins by describing the parts of the mandolin, what to do with your left and right hands, and how to tune--pretty much what a primer should do. It then moves into simple exercises and songs in the key of G.

WARNING: In this entry I'm going to publish some stuff that only a music teacher (and the family of a beginning music student) should ever hear. I recorded myself playing a few of the exercises that I had been practicing during the first week of my mandolin studies, and I'm going to post those recordings here.

The Venice

We found this pretty little mandolin on e-bay, oh, at least six or seven years ago. It was made in the mountain village of Paracho, known as the "Guitar Capital of Mexico", by a very old mustachioed gentleman who has forgotten more about the craft of lutherie than most people will ever know. Actually, it was probably made by the new guy that had just been hired a week before. It sells for about a hundred bucks, after all.

But cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad--it just means you shouldn't expect the best. I've heard this mandolin played by a real musician, and in the proper hands it makes beautiful music. In my hands, well, sounds come out of it. I'll get there eventually.

Genesis

I've pulled out my cheapie little mandolin (again) and decided that this time I'm really gonna learn it. This blog will hopefully chronicle my efforts. Though I'm sure there's a good chunk of narcissism involved--this is the facebook generation after all--I'm writing this blog at least in part to watch my own progress and have something to look back on when I'm an accomplished musician (cough).