This vid makes me realise that my not really liking the mandolin before was more to do with the high pitch than the instrument's sound itself. This big boi sound beautiful.
I love the sound of an octave mandolin. Tone is closer to a guitar than a mandolin, but also more lute than guitar. Beautiful as an accompaniment instrument, or solo. Thanks for sharing!
It is cool, Sounds a lot like a mountain Dulcimer if you don't look. This could be a real great thing for the mandolin player that sings solo and would like to add chords without being an octave above their voice.
@@gregadams6055 Thanks for the recommendation. I love her singing voice too. Blacksmith is one of my favorite Steeleye Span songs, and her version does it justice.
Hiya there. I've owned an octave mando or 2, and bouzouki, and it felt 'almost' right. So I had to do some engineering. Basically, I bought the cheapest possible mandolin (I do love the smaller mando body), cut (and chiseled) the neck off, and screwed/nailed/glued on the neck from a baritone ukulele (Tanglewood TWT20, a lovely instrument in its own right, and it has a truss rod)). This gives me a musical instrument that has a mandolin body, 20 inch scale length, takes 4 metal strings, and I tune it like a octave mandolin (GDAE). Still not sure what to call it. Baritone Mandolin? Its a marvelous hybrid.
I was looking into an octave since my regular mandolin absolutely doesn't sound nice when playing slow pieces. Now I know why... thanks for showing this. I'll definitely go and get one :)
The octave mandolin is a mandolin that is tuned one octave below the standard mandolin (gdae) , whereas a mandocello is a mandola tuned one octave below standard mandola (cgda).
Thanks for this great demo! IMHO: The problem I have with the normal "mandolin" is that it's awfully small, and lacks "sustain", and seems to always be played "too fast". I really like these larger variants!!
I just got an irish bouzouki and tuned it gdae so it doesnt confuse my violin and mandolin learning. Safe to say i can follow along this sort of thing along and basically get the same results
I'm hoping to be able to get good enough at mandolin that I can eventually also place OM as well. Sadly for me, I'm left-handed, which means that, if I want to avoid shelling out for an extremely expensive purpose-made left-handed mandolin, I have to buy a round one and reverse the strings. The OM situation is even more extreme: it doesn't seem like anyone makes left-handed OMs, and even the rounded ones seem to be designed specifically for right-handers (the way the fretboard tapers towards the sound hole).
Octave mandolin can also referred as tenor mandolin like Irish tenor banjo which is a tenor member of banjo family, whereas normal mandolin like in bluegrass, is an alto ones.
This is awesome! :) Thank you for sharing this. Hope you can also do a tutorial on how to play Sarah Jarosz' Build Me Up From Bones, which she plays on an octave mandolin. She introduced me to this instrument and I've been dying to learn more about how to play with this. Thank you for your lessons, I felt so happy when I came across your channel!
A friend recommended to buy a mandola but to string it and tune it as a mandolin. Apparently if you find the fretboard to small this trick will allow more room for bigger fingers. My question is if the top of the mandola will handle the extra pressure of a high e string? Great sound love your work.
Super. I enjoyed this but I assumed you would explain the differences between the octave mando and the mandocello (apart from the tuning, of course!) And of course I guess there's tge Irish bouzouki (if that's how you spell it!) I've always liked the idea of having a mandocello but I'd guess they're fairly expensive. Anyway, thanks for that mate; it's always a treat to hear you play.
great video and a beautiful instrument, do you think you could do something similar for that pretty tenor guitar you played on this channel? They're fascinating instruments and criminally under-recognised. Thanks for all the lessons and information, keep playing!
Hey, id really appreciate it if you did some octave mandolin lessons, i hav an octave mandolin and just cant find anywhere to learn how to play it, i really love medieval style music if you could do some of that style.
@@sammon2481 what can we do ? Lol have you managed to learn anything on yours yet ? This is my first instrument and I’m really excited to learn but the videos are only of musicians playing them , beautifully but we can we go ? I pray to the octave mandolin Gods we find a way !
@@artiefischel2579 Irish tenor banjos can be tuned CGDA or GDAE. CGDA is considered Standard Tuning for tenor banjos, while GDAE is called Irish tenor tuning.
I have that same mandolin... but it doesn't have a strap button at the heel of the neck like yours does. Is it okay to drill a strap button into the heel?
I just today bought the exact Eastman you are playing here! Looking forward to making it a part of my songs! What are the little black things you have between the strings between the tailpiece and the bridge?
I play guitar but just borrowed friend's mandolin. I like the 5th tuning a lot it is a bit tight for my fingers so I thought octave mandolin might be a better choice - how do you Eastman ? Which model is it?
Ok, I'm an absolute noob with music. What should I learn be fore learning how to play this instrument? I know nothing about cords, notes, octaves and the like!!
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@@pdeere436 I do believe it is the Eastman, judging by the matt finished body and tuner head shape. Don't know what scale length is, tho. So a few years back I decided to build myself an electric octave. I inlayed a 15 piece puzzle of abalone in the shape of a "blue rose", hence the name I called it -- the Blue Rose, with a burst paint job in blue. It has a 21" scale. It plays well, once I found the proper string gauges. I wish I had more time to fool with it, tho. Played by guitarists/ mando folks thru a decent amp, with all the settings, it sounds amazing. In the case the whole package weighs about 25 pounds. ( I made a custom case as shown by the Canadian gent Tomy H, in BC, I think.). Cheers, good people. Bob in Montana.
