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).

I got interested in folk music about ten years ago when my family and I accidentally attended the Beavers Bend Folk Festival near Broken Bow, Oklahoma while trying to find a nice quiet place away from the big city crowds to pitch our tent and enjoy a quiet camping weekend. We've been back to that festival every year since, and every time I attend any music festival I get the urge to really buckle down and learn to play music.

In probably the second or third year we attended the Beavers Bend festival, one of the performers asked me if I played an instrument. At the time I was trying to teach myself to play the guitar and told him so. He gave me some great advice that I'm still ignoring today. He said that a man who tries to learn to play an instrument on his own has a fool for a teacher.



He was right, of course. I didn't make much out of my guitar playing. The axe still hangs on my living room wall and I can get a few chords under my fingers, but that's about it. (I actually took some lessons in high school, but that was so long ago that it doesn't count.) I'll get back to it eventually.

I don't remember exactly when we bought the mandolin, but I'm sure it was shortly after attending a festival. We've had it for quite a while now, but I never did much with it. I got the two finger G, C, and D chords down and then let it collect dust until I loaned it to a friend from church who actually gave it some attention and even performed with it. He moved away recently and gave it back. I must've missed it, because now I've really got the drive to learn that thing.