I,ve been putzing around with the mandolin for about 20 years now, but have never learned to play it very well. About a dozen old fiddle tunes and a little backup are the extent of my abilities. The primary reason is that I have a hard time praticing with it. Every time I sit down to practice, the unaccompanied sound of the thing starts annoying me after about thirty minutes. I have a decent mandolin, a Flatiron, so that's not the problem. I think an unaccompanied Lloyd Loar F-5 would get on my nerves as well. I enjoy playing it on the rare occasion when I have a competent rhythm guitarist around to add some mids and bass, but that doesn't happen often enough. I suppose I could record my own rhythm tracks and play to them, but that seems a bit like wanking to me. I can practice 5-string banjo or hammered dulcimer for hours without accompaniment. It's just the mando that grates.

Not really sure why I'm posting this. I doubt there's anything anyone's going to say that will change my taste in tonality, but have at it anyway.

Cheers,

Bruce