Why Jazzmando.com?

I started playing the mandolin in 1998. Though I had a pretty thorough background in music, including a trombone major, teaching undergraduate music theory, and several years of freelance studio and commercial music production, the fretboard of the mandolin presented an intriguing challenge.

Somewhat intimate with the guitar, I was lured like a siren to the symmetrical harmonic design--perfect fifths, chord shapes and modes that transposed seamlessly across strings and up and down the fingerboard. It was truly a theory junky's dream.

It was only a matter of acquainting myself with its nuances, the smaller neck, the necessity of tremolo for any kind of sustain, and the reliance of leaving bass note functions for other instruments, much like a jazz pianist must abandon left hand bass thumping and learn to play right hand functions with both hands.

What I want to do with the website is chronicle and share the idea germs that allowed me to advance in my abilities, and achieve somewhat remedial mastery of jazz.

Ted Eschliman
Site Author

• The beauty of jazz is the blur between intent and mistake. You're either on the right note, or one fret from resolving to the right one.
• Good tone is all about what goes on between the notes--that magical intersection of the release of one note and the attack of the second.
• Ultimately, the great artist starts the creative journey with its destination first and works backward, operating with calculated spontaneity along the way.
• "Great spirits are always met with violent resistance from mediocrities." (Albert Einstein)
• Life is too short to play a cheap mandolin.