Beginner with some extra time

[medley]

Hello all, and Happy New Year!

I have some extra free time available to me in the next few weeks, and wanted to use it wisely to jump start my mandolin playing. I'm not a raw beginner. I am an intermediate banjo player, so I have some experience in timing, tablature, chord progressions, etc.

As far as the mandolin goes, I know some of the main chords, I can play some melodies that I picked out of Hal Leonard's Mandolin Method book. I have ordered a Mike Marshall DVD as well as a Steve Kauffman DVD, should be here simile next week.

My goal is to just be a soloist, playing gospel chord melodies as well as old folk songs. Live in a remote area, not many musicians or instructors around.

I am off work the next three weeks, and will easily have 2-3 hours a day during this time to work on the mandolin. I am just wondering what might be the best thing for me to focus on to best utilize this time?

[Zach Wilson]

http://www.mandolessons.com/lessons/fiddle-tunes/

Here's a good resource for learning fiddle tunes. Enjoy!

[medley]

Thank you for the link, great resource indeed

I guess what I am asking is what should a beginner do in the beginner stages? Just follow one of these dvd's over and over? Or spend a lot of time noodling over a couple of melodies trying to improve accuracy? Lots of time on scales?

I haven't seen these dvd's yet, maybe they will answer my question. I just don't want this extra time to escape me

[bigskygirl]

Check out the new book featured at the top of the forum, looks like alot of good fiddle tunes. Learning mandolin usually falls into 2 basic camps...learn lots of tunes...learn lots of theory. Even though you are intermediate banjo player you are a beginner on mandolin.

Since you already play banjo you know the music and what you want to do, find some tunes to learn. Check out Banjo Ben, Mandolessons and YouTube for tunes you can learn. It's not a bad idea to learn some fiddle tunes and scales, arpeggios, etc. all of that helps you to be a better musician.

I haven't seen the MM DVD but have some of the SK books and they are a good place to start. Check out the Alfred and Hal Leonard websites, you may even want to work though the Hal Leonard mandolin method books, I did for guitar many moons ago and they provide a solid foundation that you won't regret.

[pointpergame]

I got a lot of mileage out of the FFCP studies. You can find them quickly with a search. It gets the pinky going and is a direction I think any mandolinist should go eventually. The sooner the better.