joemed - Posted - 04/06/2021:  17:48:15

Looking forward to getting to know y’all...

Have a couple things I’d like to bounce around, will probably start new threads for those

joemed - Posted - 04/06/2021:  19:48:23

Not too far from you Scott. I am in Truesdale, MO which is about 45 min west of St, Louis

TSSN - Posted - 04/06/2021:  20:31:26

Welcome! I'm just west of both of you.

joemed - Posted - 04/06/2021:  20:48:28

Ahh, Boone County, know it well. I used to drive through there regularly.

Little more about me....

Played mandolin very little about 5-6 years ago. Bought a cheap one from mandohut or mandolinhut or whatever that .com was called. Got me a couple beginner books, and my mandolin playing slowly faded away, and continued with the banjo. I LOVED the mandolin. It was just boring, and I couldn’t get anywhere with it.

Well, Covid bordom had me give it another try. So, I got me a Donner (Amazon cheapie) and a couple beginner books.

One thing that I discovered... not all beginner books are alike. I won’t say anything about the ones that I disliked, or didn’t really help me. But I will plug one that really helped me out. Mandolin Primer book, dvd, and cd’s by Bert Casey. This really has me going this time. And just a few months in, I am playing halfway respectably. This, along with mandolessons, has got me going in a great direction. Super excited.

So now, I am waiting for my Eastman 314 oval to show up. I ordered it the first week of January though a local shop, still awaiting delivery. Starting to drive me crazy.

Actually hurts a little playing this Donner, but I can’t stop....

joemed - Posted - 04/07/2021:  05:02:26

Oh, I forgot about Band in the Box. I would be interested in hearing how you utilize it...
Are you able to use it on a smartphone I hope? No computer..

I have been playing with metronomes and jam cds a lot.
And yes, Barons site is awesome!

joemed - Posted - 04/07/2021:  05:14:50

Thanks Scott, I’ll look into possibly getting it on my phone later. Or maybe there is something similar if not.

But, right now, this 3rd shifter is going to bed

Yooper - Posted - 04/07/2021:  06:15:42

I think that you will find you Eastman to be a big step up from the cheapie. Having an instrument that plays nice and sounds nice will provide all that much more incentive to play.

Mandodennis - Posted - 04/07/2021:  08:47:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by joemed

Oh, I forgot about Band in the Box. I would be interested in hearing how you utilize it...

Are you able to use it on a smartphone I hope? No computer..

---

Band in a Box is a computer based program (Mac or Windows).  It's a big application now that the instruments are sample based, something they call Real Band.  It now gets delivered as a software download or on USB Flash drives or USB external hard drives.  I have used BiaB for 25+ years myself. It sounds great and is more complex than I could have imagined it would become when Ibought my first copy back in the mid 90's.

A simple explanation of what BiaB does is that it allows you to create songs played by a full band by just entering the chords to the song into a grid.  Then you can play it back, change the key, add/delete instruments, change styles, etc. with minimal input.  It does much, much more than that but you'd be better off watching videos on the PGMusic website than reading my explanation.  

PGMusic, the BiaB company, did support smart phones for a while.  I am an Android user.  They offered an app called "BB Android" for Android phones or tablets.  It is no longer available for download, not sure why.  I think there was a similar app for Apple users.  You still had to own a computer based license for Band in a Box to use it.  But it allowed you to play your BiaB created songs on the phone.  But, alas, it seems to be a thing of the past.

There should be other apps for smartphones that do the minimum of what BiaB offers.  I am just not aware of what they might be. I'm not particularly smart-phone centric. BandLab comes to mind but that may be more complicated than you might want at this point.

Enjoy your journey with the mandolin!

Edited by - Mandodennis on 04/07/2021 08:51:06

joemed - Posted - 04/08/2021:  00:03:01

Thanks Dennis, appreciate it.

Right Yooper! Once I get that Eastman, I don’t know if I will ever be able to stop playing!

I have about 15-20 hours a week in every week since early Decemberand that is with this beginner Mandolin that hurts to play.

I spent 5 mins with an Eastman 315, and that is the only mandolin that I have ever even touched that cost more than $100. So yes, me and this Eastman 314 are going to get along wonderfully

DavidMapes - Posted - 11/08/2021:  01:21:24

Nice to meet you Joamed.Im new too. I wanna play on guitar and looking somebody who can teach me