2 comments about Roland White's Approach To Bluegrass Mandolin: For Beginning and Intermediate Players.

1. Awesome book that is used by my mandolin teacher. The CD's that come with the book are a really big help after you go home from your lesson!



2. I "graduated" from Bert Casey's Mandolin Primer to this practice set. I love the combo of the book lessons and the follow-along CDROM. I also really appreciate the different tempos to practice with. There is a slow and fast version on this CD. But I would appreciate an even slower practice version like you find on the Casey CDROM.
   
   the songs in the Roland book are more advanced and some I would key as advanced playing versus intermediate even...but I appreciate the challenge and the diversity of songs in this book. I play in jams and a lot of the songs I've wanted to learn are in this book.
   
   I give it high ratings and recommend it to intermediate players.

No comments about ALL STAR BLUEGRASS JAM-ALONG FOR MANDOLIN BK/CD (Jam Along Book & CD).

No comments about A Guide To Non-Jazz Improvisation - Mandolin Edition.

5 comments about Selections From O Brother, Where Art Thou: Mandolin.

1. Does this book have the tab for the instrumental version of "A Man of Constant Sorrow"?



2. True... it's only some of the songs, but it has the two main ones that I,and I'm sure, many were hoping it would. Namely, "Killing floor blues", and for the guy who asked below, the fingerstyle version of "Man of constant sorrow".
   It appears to be a little advanced for real beginners (everything is advanced for us) , but those who really want to learn these songs will have everything that they need to give it a go.



3. I notice that the guitar edition's reviews are placed under the mandolin and banjo tab editions as well, so I would just like to say that they are much like the guitar edition. All instrument formats feature exact transcriptions for the songs that feature that instrument (i.e. "man of constant sorrow" and "hard time killing floor blues" are transcribed note for note in the guitar version) often including arrangements of the melody for other songs that may not actually be heard on the soundtrack (i.e. there is no mandolin heard on "big rock candy mountain", but the mandolin book includes an arrangement that sounds nice anyway. Also, many times the mandolin or dobro parts are arranged for guitar in the guitar edition on songs like "you are my sunshine"). btw-For the reviewer who asked, yes Norman Blake's instrumental version of "man of constant sorrow" is transcribed in full in the guitar edition, but Blake plays it with a flatpick, not fingerstyle. It is very hard to tell the difference by ear, but amazon offers many bluegrass guitar instructional books that cover this method, known as "cross picking".



4. I was very happy with my purchasing experience. The item was in the condition indicated. Very good price, arrived in a timely fashion. I would definitely do business with this merchant again.



5. The book is great for having the lyrics, melody notation, and chords. However, for tablature for banjo, it rates a 'one' on SIX of the 12 songs in the book. Of the 12 songs in the book, three are in standard banjo G tuning, three in D tuning (retuning the banjo), which is do-able if you're not in a performance. But, SIX of the song tablatures are written in ridiculous tunings for a banjo that can't be accomplished easily or quickly or by using a capo. Oddly, though, THREE of these songs have guitar chords and music notation written in the key of 'C' and one in the key of 'G' which SHOULD have had the SAME key signature for the banjo tablature but were not. I don't understand what the author's reason was for doing this, but I think this book is a disservice to it's buyers. I bought the book because I wanted usable tablature for banjo...you'll get 6 USABLE songs in reasonable/common banjo tablature...the other SIX songs you'll have to retune your banjo all over the board. If that's you're thing, and you like replacing broken strings, go for it.

1 comments about Mel Bay A Mandolin Player's Guide to Jamming.

1. When some musicians attend a bluegrass festival, they never take in a stage show. Instead, they gravitate to the campground and parking lot to partake in the endless jam sessions with others. They are key to the learning process, and there is "parking lot picking" for all levels of musicianship. Prior to just jumping in, however, one must be grounded in the rules of jamming and how to act in a session. If you don't understand these basics, you could easily be ignored, labelled a "jam buster" or worse. No one wants that reputation hanging over their head. That's where Carl Yaffey's player's guides come in. To date, the multi-instrumentalist from Columbus, Ohio has produced them for guitar, banjo and mandolin.
   
   With this 23-page book/CD set, you'll be introduced to nine standard jam songs (Hot Corn, Cold Corn, Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms, Nine Pound Hammer, John Henry, Two Little Boys, Columbus Stockade Blues, Down the Road, Little Maggie, John Hardy). Of course, knowing these songs will barely scratch the surface of the bluegrass repertoire, but these will give you some minimal confidence as you search out others of your same abilities to pick with. On the accompanying CD, the tunes are played twice. First, the tune is played on the left channel with a verbal description on the right channel. Then, the song is played in stereo.
   
   Don't let jam sessions be intimidating. You need to be familiar with the typical chords and keys for jamming. You need to understand the importance of your right hand technique, no matter what instrument you've chosen to take up. Yaffey's guide discusses the role that each instrument plays for providing bluegrass rhythm. This is one more resource available from Mel Bay Publications that will allow beginning musicians to discover, participate in, and celebrate bluegrass music. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

No comments about Mandolin Hymns.

1 comments about Mandolin Chords Plus: Chords, Scales, Tuning, Hot Licks, Songs Sheet Music.

1. This 'pamphlet' (cover page + 7 A4 pages) provides a jog note review for chords.
   For Improver to Intermediate Mandolin chord players, has
   . - Chords (4 pages - with 156 chords)
   . - Chord 'Licks' (1.5 pages -with 17 chords)
   . - Tunes (1 page - 2 tunes) and some bits on tuning and a very good and 'compact' notation for chords.
   A bit too parsimonious for my liking but may be useful as jog notes for a chord player. Note NO CD is included.
   Watch out for Amazon back room logistic 'geniuses' who will build a megalithic cardboard structure ensuring that this pamphlet will not fit in any letterbox (that is 'mailbox' for those of you who don't speak English properly!) resulting in an expedition to the nearest collection point.
   
   For further references on chords and progressions:-
   101 Red Hot Bluegrass Mandolin Licks & Solos with CD ISBN-10: 0786659025; Fretboard Roadmaps Mandolin: The Essential Patterns That All the Pros Know and Use ISBN-10: 0634001426
   How to Play Mandolin by Morton Manus ISBN-10: 0739008706 ;
   For training your ear to hear chord progressions - `Harmonic Ear Training' with Roberta Radley of Berklee [Hal Leonard] 0876390270 ASIN: B00029RRHS
   `One Note Complete' by Bruce Arnold 1890944475
   The bible for your music career (a 5* reference) `Hearing and Writing Music' by Ron Gorow [Garow] 0962949671

No comments about Mel Bay's Mandolin Chords, Pocketbook Deluxe Series.

1 comments about Mel Bay Developing Melodic Variations on Fiddle Tunes, Mandolin Edition.

1. John McGann's latest instruction book for mandolin uses eleven common fiddle tunes to demonstrate how individual melodic phrasings can by varied to give them new character and personality. The tunes explored include Flop Eared Mule, Old Joe Clark, Soldier's Joy, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Billy in the Lowground, Forked Deer, Blackberry Blossom, Salty Dog, Arkansas Traveler, Ragtime Annie and Fisher's Hornpipe. Like McGann's earlier guitar edition, this instructional material provides useful information for all levels of player. The leanest version of each tune shows, in both standard notation and tablature, the essential notes. Intermediate players will benefit from versions two and three which incorporate such embellishments as chord tones, rhythmic displacement, and scale notes. The most advanced versions of each tune also progressively include more arpeggio notes, syncopation, slides, slurs, and triplets that will definitely provide inspiration to even the most proficient musicians. John McGann, a Berklee School of Music graduate and National Mandolin Champion in 1985, is a good teacher for the job! His approach is straight-forward and clear, and some very basic introductory narrative about music theory and melodic structure is also helpful.

   Each of the variations on a fiddle tune are printed, measure by measure, directly beneath the original skeletal melody line. The benefit is that you can easily compare them to each other. The downside is that playing along with the CD will require you to turn as many as four pages during the course of the one-minute tune. As you play through all five versions of a tune (in about a five minute time span), you'll feel like you've just read a book after flipping 20 pages of music or tab. I don't really see a way around this if McGann's goal was to visually portray, measure by measure, how each variation was built from the original melody. I found myself highlighting certain passages that really took my fancy, and I'll practice these ideas diligently to incorporate them into my own melodic improvisation. The CD features mandolin and rhythm guitar on separate channels, and a neutral balance on my stereo yielded way too much guitar in the mix. My preference was to adjust the balance far to the left to emphasize primarily mandolin while learning the tunes' altered forms. Then, it was fun to play along with only the guitar's rhythm track to explore McGann's ideas on my own. As McGann's ideas are used as a springboard for inspiration, the book leads players into developing their own variations.

   This book and CD present an insightful approach to developing your own style of mandolin playing. The best players don't get too far from the melody, and McGann clearly shows us how to do some cool and impressive things while still preserving the foundation of the tune itself. After mastering his variations, you'll be able to pick, choose and blend your favorite licks and techniques from all of them. McGann once said, "What makes music 'Music' is emotion, light and shade, nuances in rhythm, dynamics, all the magic stuff that comes in through your ears." His fiddle tune variations are a great source for developing your technical musicianship as a mandolinist. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

No comments about Mel Bay's Mandolin Wall Chart.