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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • I’ve played and given up the mandolin several times over tge past several years. Longest continuous before now was maybe three months. What I’ve learned through my own learning process is:

    1. Practice in time. Even if it’s slow.
    2. Playing with backing tracks helps a ton
    3. Posture is key. On my current streak of playing I was able to go from playing the melody of kids songs to the rhythm of some grateful dead songs (at 80 bpm instead of 140 bpm) after spending time watching videos of how to hold and sit. I then had to relearn all my fingerings but it didn’t take nearly as long this time.
    4. Sucking is just part of learning anything new. I guess one either enjoys the act of improving independent of the current result or one doesn’t.

    Post script: The reason I quit when I do is because I become frustrated with plateaus. I now believe a lot of these plateaus came from bad mechanics. My pinky could not reach the 7th fret no matter how much I practiced. I could not switch chords without destroying my rhythm or muting extra strings etc.




  • His show had an episode with a mom trying to drink like her college daughter. The mom starts going out most nights, eating like shit and feeling bad during the day. The part that has stayed with me for almost 20 years is how the mom was definitely having a good time towards the middle of the month. When I first saw it I was a little younger than the daughter and now I am a little younger than the mom was at filming. When I question if I should start drinking more again, I think of that lady and say “Maybe.”