Changing chords can be difficult at first but there’s a few tricks that you can learn to make it a lot easier. In this mandolin technique, we’ll focus on how to use Guide Fingers to speed chord changes to help your playing. If you have any questions on this topic, please post them in the […]
This weeks mandolin sheet music breakdown is going back to the classics with Rocky Top. A great tune easy enough for beginner mandolin players to get quickly and a jam favorite at many festivals. Here’s the sheet music for this week’s mandolin sheet music breakdown – Rocky Top sheet music. Listen As always, playing starts […]
Today’s mandolin technique focuses on Mandolin Strumming Patterns. We’ll cover a few main types of patterns that you can use in your playing. Have questions on this topic? Leave a comment below! I’ll use the Big G Chop in my examples. If you are not familiar with that chord, check out my Mandolin Chord Shape […]
This week’s Mandolin Sheet Music and Song Breakdown focuses on the standard I Saw the Light. For many new bluegrass and folk players, this will probably one of (if not the) first songs you’ll learn. It’s a pretty straight forward gospel tune with a basic melody – so nothing too complex at first. The idea […]
Today I’m diving back into my Mandolin Chord Shapes Series with a slight twist and focusing on the Enharmonic Chord. The goal of this lesson is to help you use chord shapes you likely already know to play more complex songs. I use these enharmonic chords a lot when playing jazz tunes. Check out some […]
Today I thought I’d cover another topic I get a lot of questions on – proper mandolin techniques focusing on the Picking Hand. One important note before we start. Proper mandolin technique is not a universal constant and more like a theory. When a technique works for many players, it becomes “proper technique” for whatever […]
In today’s Mandolin Chord Shapes series we’ll continue our look at the Diminished chords with Diminished 7th chords (I sometimes refer to as “fully diminished” which I don’t believe is “technically” correct – but it makes sense to me). You can find the full series here. Also, if you enjoy this post or have any […]
Today’s mandolin sheet music song breakdown covers the standard fiddle tune, Old Joe Clark. The simple melody and chord progression make this great tune for beginners and more advanced players alike. Today I’ll be focusing more on the basics of this song and providing a few different melody options. In a future post, I’ll provide […]
I’m going to be hosting a few Online Workshops in the near future (likely the first one will be on 8/27 or 8/28). These will be free workshops open to all, so feel free to invite anyone 😉 I’ll be recording the workshops and posting them online for a limited time for free to anyone […]
Rhythm Changes is (are?) a really popular chord progression referring to the I7 VI7 | ii7 V7 progression derived from George Gershwin’s song “I Got Rhythm”. This is a really popular progression in a variety of styles and has a lot of cool variations to explore. If you want to play jazz, this is a […]