Mandolin Song Breakdown: Gold Rush
Gold Rush by Bill Monroe and Bryon Berline is a classic jam tune worth exploring. The post provides insight into its basic melody, harmony options, and chord voicing. Notably, it’s structured in an AA BB form, making it engaging for both beginners and advanced players. Listening to original references is emphasized as crucial for learning.
Mandolin Techniques: Harmonized Scale
After a few mandolin song / tune breakdowns, I thought it was time to get back to some mandolin techniques. Today’s mandolin technique breakdown is more of theory review on the harmonized scale. If you’ve heard someone explain the chords of a song / tune by saying “it’s a 1 4 5 in A” or […]
Mandolin Workshop: Playing to the Chords
Pop quiz hot shot – you’re at a friendly bluegrass jam and the leader just called a song you don’t know and only said “it’s in G” before they started playing. You’re at the end of the jam circle. Do you take the easy out and get a drink, or take the opportunity to get […]
Mandolin Technique: Picking Hand
As part of my Mandolin Technique series, this week we’ll be diving into picking hand exercises. You’ll need a metronome for all of these, so make sure you have one available. I’ve been using the Matrix MR-500 for about 20 years – nothing fancy, but works and is small. If you don’t have a physical […]
Mandolin Technique: Pentatonic Scales
Today’s mandolin technique focuses on the versatile Pentatonic Scales. These 5 note scales are used often in the melodies of many fiddle tunes and can be incredibly helpful for soloing. What is a Pentatonic Scale? A pentatonic scale is simply a scale with 5 notes. While there are a few types of pentatonic scales, the […]
Mandolin Workshop: Double Stops Overview
Thanks for attending my Double Stops Workshop. If you like this content, please post a comment below and let me know. In this workshop, I’ll review: You can find the sheet music parts of the lesson materials here. And some graphics here. In addition, I recommending using a physical (non-digital) metronome when practicing. Here’s the […]
Mandolin Technique: Guide Fingers
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 […]
Mandolin technique study: Mandolin Strumming Patterns
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 […]