The Next Steps and Side Steps of the Mandolin Journey

I'm doing a lot of tap dancing and juggling with everything music

Photo by Sergey Zhirnov on Unsplash

I know, it should be simple. But nothing ever is simple with me.

I bought the mandolin, check!

I bought a book about how to play it, check!

I started doing it, not check…

Because, I began looking around in the world of music, getting inspired by listening to people playing the mandolin, finding out that there was such a thing like an octave mandolin as well, and an Irish bouzouki, and a tenor mandolin or mandola, and…

So, for a while, instead of just focusing on getting to learn how to play the mandolin, I spent my time on expanding the focus. Getting some more types of instruments from the mandolin family, and books on how to play them, and studying a lot of different things around history, string types, instrument building and repairs, and so on.

Now I know it all! Almost. At least all that I know there is to know about mandolins, so I’ll no doubt find out that there is more and then add that along the way.

I knew from the start, when buying the mandolin, that it would probably re-ignite the old interest for the guitar, which was collecting dust in the corner under the staircase in my apartment. I used to be enthusiastic about the guitar, but some trouble with my business and, hence, with my economy, made me stop taking lessons, and somehow I had tied up the use of the guitar on the lessons, so I stopped using it.

But, recently, during all the mandolin research and studying, I found a big brush for dusting off the old guitar case, opened the case, and found that there was still a beautiful guitar inside. Now with a need for new strings, but otherwise as new.

I decided to start playing it again, but not right away. However, it was placed in a more prominent place where I couldn’t avoid bumping into it regularly, to make me remember my decision.

Another old guitar, which I had originally bought cheaply second-hand, to have as a spare guitar (I think that was what I had on my mind) was also picked out from under the stairs, and it was in an even better condition – the strings still playable, after all those years. Something like 17-18 years since I last touched any of these instruments, as far as I remember.

But before getting to start playing any of them, I needed to go a few steps to the side, turn around, chassé, and then back. Or something. Pirouettes were plenty, that’s for sure, as I kept finding spots and places in the world of music knowledge that I wanted to examine further.

I had been there before, actually, 20–25 years ago, and before that, even more years ago, when I, by then somehow managed to get into a music study, carry it through and get an exam. Each time being enthusiastic and studying everything I could get hold of regarding music.

That’s how things are not simple with me. I do it all, if first I get started. Not just a selected, narrow path of study.

Discovering how there had been a significant production of musical instruments in Sweden during the times, and that many of these instruments still existed and were for sale, second-hand, also made me interested in seeing such ones, holding them, and playing them. So, I bought an old mandolin, and another, and a third.

Along the way, also a Russian mandolin appeared for sale, together with a balalaika, both produced in a factory in Saint Petersburg, Russia, next to a place where I have been many times for various reasons. It felt natural to pay interest in these instruments as well. But, it should be noted that I already had a balalajka, bought several years ago, as my interest in music never stopped completely, and I even have a study book from then, now impossible to find, though.

An instrument type often seen for sale in Sweden is the “Swedish lute”, which is a lute-shaped guitar with six extra bass strings. It was popular, or attempted to be made popular, in the beginning of the 1900s, simultaneously with a 6-stringed similar instrument, a lute guitar. This somehow connected with a wave of national-romantic activities also in Germany at the time, with walking in nature and playing “traditional” instrument being part of it all. I put “traditional” in citation marks as there really was no tradition for such instruments, it was a, by then, modern construction.

Such Swedish lutes and guitar lutes are often in a quite miserable condition, and if, occasionally, a good one appears for sale, it brings in a moderate price only – not being very popular, it seems. But, my favorite factory/workshop in Portugal, APC, has during recent years produced a similar instrument, even in versions with steel strings as well as the traditional cat gut/nylon strings (the modern version only with nylon, I think). One of these, with steel strings, were for sale on an online auction one day, and I gave a bid – and won! It was cheap, and it is a great instrument, just not popular. It helped me regain the full interest in guitars, now feeling and hearing how they can take different shapes and make different sounds. It happened shortly after I had convinced myself that I needed a Western guitar, a dreadnought model with steel strings, which I then also bought cheaply on an online auction.

And why now these steel stringed guitars? An old complex! My guitar teacher from back in the days didn’t have much respect for such guitars, being a convinced classical/Spanish guitar player, and when I asked about strumming or talked about electrical guitar music, he wasn’t very excited and wanted me to focus on the classical guitar. So, now that I am free, I of course wanted a steel stringed guitar! And an electric guitar, which I also found on an auction.

But when looking around the world for music playing information, you’ll inevitably run into many suggestions for “starting with a ukulele”. It is considered a great beginners instrument, maybe because it comes naturally in several sizes and in any case looks like a children’s guitar.

You’ll need to understand a thing about me, as the world develops: I am growing more and more skeptical toward the American dominance in everything: a guitar is, if nothing else is mentioned, considered an American invention (Western, 12-stringed, electric, etc.), and the same counts for mandolins, ukuleles, and many other instruments.

While it’s true that there has been a strong development in the USA of new types/varieties of instruments, connected to the strong commercialization of the musical world, making it a music industry, it is also true that not everything comes from there. But Americans don’t always know that, as they tend to have a very selective view on history (the little history they know).

Also, I am skeptical toward the current Chinese dominance in the industrial sector, where nothing seems to be made in neither the USA nor Europe anymore, everything is from China.

But I am ambivalent with both, as I do recognize the drive forces behind it all and the historical developments that lead to the world going this way.

So, finding out that a ukulele is a good instrument for getting into the habit of playing music, and that the learnings from it can be useful when moving to playing the guitar afterward, the next finding wasn’t too surprising: American brands dominate the market, but almost none of these instruments are made in the USA, they are almost all from China.

And I just had to recognize that this was how it was, when I noticed a (to me) new development: the carbon fiber ukulele. It was from a Chinese brand called Enya, which, with some research, turned out to have nothing to do with the famous singer Enya, just named the same. Also, their products are often available with other brand names as well, so they may not have invented anything themselves, being just a name, or they may indeed be the inventors, just allowing OEM sales of their products – or more likely both, since Chinese manufacturing is all about the money, so they do what they can earn money on, just like the Americans.

A carbon fiber ukulele, in two different sizes, appeared when searching for something else on Amazon, and I got interested, somewhat, and made a note of it. Later I decided to go for it, bought the cheapest of the models, and found out that this was another one of Amazon’s zillions of wrong product descriptions, as the instrument was even smaller than it had been described as.

It was a small soprano size, and me, with my medium-sized hands and thick fingers, found it complicated to fret the strings on the tiny fretboard, so I looked for a better option. A lot of research later, and I knew all about ukuleles, including that they had their origin in Portugal, and my favorite manufacturer there actually had several models to buy – and I aimed for a tenor-sized one this time.

What is the situation now, is then that I am studying how to play this, using a “How to Play Ukulele In 14 Days” book, which I find absolutely amazing! I also just started a similar process with the guitar, using another book from the same series, even more amazing.

As the titles indicate, it won’t take long to get through each of them, so I have some more studies planned for afterward, but squeezing similar studies of the violin and bass guitar in along the way – two more instruments that have appeared along the road of my mandolin journey.

And when I get to a good understanding of these, along with freeing a little time, both the mandolin, the Portuguese guitar, Lisbon style, and the Brazilian viola Caipira, that I have added to the collection, will become important subjects of my interest.

There is also the origin of the ukulele, the cavaquinho, which can be used for such an insisting rhythm like on the famous song Recordai by Cesária Évora:

I think that the pitch on this recording is a bit too low for being a cavaquinho, though, so I guess there is a 10-stringed guitar involved, typical for the Cape Verde, and similar to my viola Caipira.

I have now a Portuguese cavaquinho, and soon also a Cape Verde version of it (slightly bigger), as these instruments fascinate me more than any ukulele could ever do, I think, perhaps because of their steel strings and vitalizing, insisting sound.

And what did I forget? Probably something. I have picket up my old tin whistles, wanting to get going with those as well, but so far without much effort put into it or result coming out of it. I have several times been close to buying an old accordion, since I like the sound of such instruments, but they cost a lot when new, so an old one could do. I have been scared away, though, by the fact that they are rather complicated instruments that require maintenance, which the old ones didn’t necessarily get, so they may not work.

One major discovery about the music industry is that it is, indeed, such one. An industry. A lot of what is going on, a lot of the fashions in musical instruments, what people buy and play, what they want to sell off second-hand, is directed by what the big companies find that they can earn money on.

Many waves of mandolin-fashion or guitar-fashion, or whatever, have been introduced during the last couple of centuries, during the industrial age, telling ordinary people who now had money because they had jobs, that they could also learn how to play an instrument, it wasn’t only for the wealthy who had nothing better to do.

And dreams have been created for you to adopt, about fame and glory, about being part of one or another trendy band – such as, currently, Fado in Portugal, “traditional” Irish music or Celtic music in Ireland and much of the Western world, and “folk” music, whatever that is considered to be locally, in many places.

All of these dreams require you to have a correct instrument, not just any old, odd, instrument, with a correct brand name on it, and a lot of extra equipment. And, of course, you cannot just play as you want, you must bid in on Country, Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues, Classical, or whatever, making sure that you consume books and courses on exactly the right way of doing it.

This music world is almost all about fitting in, being someone together with others in a way that is considered socially acceptable, just like doing sports or shopping clothes.

But deep down, below that commercial layer, is, for some of us, a profound interest in the music itself, the joy of making it an listening to it, maybe spiced up a bit, and as something positive, something inspirational, by trying to conform to some of the established styles, making sure that our violins have the correct color for being accepted into a symphony orchestra (even if all we want to do is play it at home), and making sure that our Chinese guitar doesn’t have a Chinese symbol on it but rather an American brand name, to show everybody that we are fashionable (and wealthy) musicians.

We, who play music, are in dual minds, all the time, about what exactly to play – which instrument, which style of music – and what we need for playing it, in terms of equipment, courses, books, etc.

We can never settle, it’s a journey toward something. I try to make it a journey toward something I want, not something the industry wants, but I am just a product of my time. Any thought of being different is simply part of that illusionary dream that has been created to make me buy such things that makes me feel special: that alternatively designed guitar strap, that plectrum/pick with Bugs Bunny on it, and that brand and type of strings that I, individually, have found is best for me.

Yet, it is my dream, my illusion. No matter who made it.