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Your music related New Year's resolution
- Thread starter ahbradot
- Start date
If I wasn't already working on the ukelele, I would definitely have gone down the mandolin route at some point.
Should have finished that story…I'm going to spend a week deep diving into each. Maybe a couple of hours each night until I'm comfortable using them. That'll take up most of January! Hell of a lot better than going to the gym!
Nice! I did not find that thread. I'll bookmark it. Thanks!
My 26yo daughter came home for Christmas and stayed for three days. She's recently "discovered" New Grass Revival and asked if she could "have" my early Kentucky A. I was delighted that she wanted it, gladly relinquished and I hope she sticks with it.
Of course I needed a replacement, and settled on this new Eastman MD515 wideneck. I like it:
As for my "Music Related New Years' Resolution"... The Spirit of Christmas has inspired me to always be ready, anywhere and anytime, to JUMP IN to play along with my FAVORITE PART on Feliz Navidad...
...So I bought a trumpet.
I've considered getting a trumpet and getting back into playing it.
joining/starting a band and going to more shows.
i already try to go to as many as possible, but this year was a low for me compared to past years and a lot of bands that i really wanted to come to town only came here for warped, which i couldn't go to.
as for the joining/starting a band thing, that should be obvious. i'm SICK of being all talk and will force myself into the even the poopiest of local indie bands if i need to. i just wanna play music with other people, man
i already try to go to as many as possible, but this year was a low for me compared to past years and a lot of bands that i really wanted to come to town only came here for warped, which i couldn't go to.
as for the joining/starting a band thing, that should be obvious. i'm SICK of being all talk and will force myself into the even the poopiest of local indie bands if i need to. i just wanna play music with other people, man
Wow ! Wonderful guitars……or mandolins…….or ?
And I don't know what's going on but in my area, I see more and more musicians playing bluegrass music in parks under a tree, just for fun with friends. Kind of cool !
EdwardofHuncote
I Still Dream of Jeannie
- Aug 21, 2013
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- I privately own and operate a local musical instument repair shop.
I call this a definite win/win.
First of all, NGR has a deep catalog, and a couple eras. Sam Bush is still kickin' around, occasionally turns up with mando-master Sierra Hull, who is just a few years older than your daughter. (she's 30-some now, I forget... watched since she was a very little kid) John Cowan is still around and relevant too, as is Béla Fleck. I'm honestly not sure what Pat Flynn is doing anymore. There are earlier configurations of NGR too, with Courtney Johnson on banjo. Curtis Burch ran with that crowd too. Way ahead of their time. But if mandolin speaks to her, that's a good gateway to even better things.
I had an Eastman 514 and 515 for a while, both fine instruments. I sold them both when I got my first vintage Gibson, a 1919 A-model. Still got it. This past year, after a long exhaustive search, I finally got myself a fixer-upper 1912 F-2. Both have that wider neck profile.
To get my 2nd album completed and released. I hope to have it finished next month.
Sober up, lose weight, exercise. Play my bass once in a while.
Resolutions suck! I prefer to build or kick habits with any area of my life, including bass.
I want to get out of the habit of obsessing over the next bass(es) I buy. I did that way too much in 2025 and I did not buy a new bass without returning it. I no longer want to think about the "4 vs. 5 vs. 6 strings" debate, which tuning I would go with on a 5 string if I were to get one, whether or not I should get a fretless bass, and more.
I want to obsess less and play both more and better in 2026.
I want to get out of the habit of obsessing over the next bass(es) I buy. I did that way too much in 2025 and I did not buy a new bass without returning it. I no longer want to think about the "4 vs. 5 vs. 6 strings" debate, which tuning I would go with on a 5 string if I were to get one, whether or not I should get a fretless bass, and more.
I want to obsess less and play both more and better in 2026.
...And I don't know what's going on but in my area, I see more and more musicians playing bluegrass music in parks under a tree, just for fun with friends. Kind of cool !
According to my daughter what's "going on", at least among young folks is: (1) Billy Strings, and (2) backlash against AI is moving young folks toward a more organic and "undeniably human" music.
get more gigs! I quit bands for good (probably) two years ago, and played a handful of solo shows at coffee houses and festivals. Playing acoustic guitar and piano with a looper. I'm just bashful about self-promotion, don't go to bars or wineries much to hand out business cards. So pounding the pavement and calling up bookers is difficult for me.
That would explain why some of my musician friends want me to get a Takamine DB10 bass then :
I resolve to start recording various Christmas songs I've started playing every December and finally re-learn, get good at and even advance a bit by sometime in January, and then think about recording but by this time the regular routines of life have gotten going again and the Christmas spirit is rapidly fading and… and then I move on to other music, and the cycle restarts in 10 or 11 months. Mostly the guitar aspect of this ongoing little Christmas music project of mine is what I've worked, and then the vocals will be a real challenge as my voice is no longer what it once was... Adding bass and perhaps other instruments, as well as additional songs beyond a first few will probably be projects for future years.
Finally record a song that a friend of mine wrote the lyrics for and which I already did an arrangement for, but never recorded. Oh yeah, and another song I wrote for his moving away party/goodbye jam. I have the time now. Man…
Continue on my slow journey into learning to play jazz, again mostly on the guitar side of things. Then once I have the guitar down a bit better, bring in bass. I'd love to do the drumming too, but a knee issue says I'll probably have to bring in a collaborator for drums. Health issues preclude trumpet and some other instruments I've played in the past, too… Oh well, meeting and playing with other musicians can certainly be a cool thing. Don't have to do everything myself, even though that's kind of my inclination.
So, getting back into doing dome some recording (after years away from it) and continuing to slowly deepen my long time flirtation with jazz.
Oh yeah, and sell off at least one unplayed bass or guitar (preferably one of each!)
Finally record a song that a friend of mine wrote the lyrics for and which I already did an arrangement for, but never recorded. Oh yeah, and another song I wrote for his moving away party/goodbye jam. I have the time now. Man…
Continue on my slow journey into learning to play jazz, again mostly on the guitar side of things. Then once I have the guitar down a bit better, bring in bass. I'd love to do the drumming too, but a knee issue says I'll probably have to bring in a collaborator for drums. Health issues preclude trumpet and some other instruments I've played in the past, too… Oh well, meeting and playing with other musicians can certainly be a cool thing. Don't have to do everything myself, even though that's kind of my inclination.
So, getting back into doing dome some recording (after years away from it) and continuing to slowly deepen my long time flirtation with jazz.
Oh yeah, and sell off at least one unplayed bass or guitar (preferably one of each!)
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- Get a new bass: Ibanez EHB 1000S to achieve my short-scale mutation.
- Play and learn the more i can.
- Play and learn the more i can.
