OUCH!!!!!!

Now, keep in mind this does not look nearly as bad as it actually was, but it WAS. Essentially this is what happened:

I got a bit cocky about my mandolin and unicycle skills as I had done decently well a few days prior to this shoot, so I decided to invite some people on the patio to check it out. Things started off a bit sloppy, but then I caught my balance on the unicycle and started strumming the mandolin a bit, and then BAM. I fall backwards, with nothing to hold onto and take a whack to the FACE from my mandolin. Needless to say I can now honestly claim that my SWEAT and BLOOD has gone into this project.

Check out this video for the documentation:

mandolin + unicycle – day#20-attempt#25

A failed attempt?

mandolin + unicycle – day#20-attempt#9

The first attempt at strumming on the mandolin… did not go so well.

mandolin + unicycle -day#20-attempt#2

I tried to get them both together for the first time today! It proved to be quite a challenge to get used to having this thing around my neck while unicycling. The following video is one of the very first attempts at riding with it attached to me… just to get the feel of it.

Museum of Jurassic Technology

Today I made a visit to the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California, and it was great! Lots of nooks and crannies to explore with very odd exhibitions. Anyways, while I was there, I spotted this extremely old classic mandolin in one of the back rooms! Check it out!

the hat

I am going to see if this hat helps me play the mandolin better.

mandolin – day#5 – attempt#21

I basically have the whole song down now. It is now just a matter of speeding it all up!

mandolin – day#2 – attempt#12

Major progress on the “mandolin moan” I think I am almost set on the intro!

mandolin – attempt#3 – day#3

Guitar Center – success

The tech guy at Guitar Center made my mandolin all nice and fixed ow. Super cool strings and I even got a tuner. I went to the one in West Hollywood. The guy explained to me how to tune and string a mandolin. When I told him that I am just now starting to learn, but that it should be fairly easy due to my knowledge of the guitar, he kind of chuckled. When I asked what was funny, he responded with the following:

“The mandolin is one of the hardest instruments to learn how to play, especially if you currently play the guitar. Every string and chord is upside down/ backwards.”

GREAT