Etude book or something like that

[Heady]

Hi.

I started playing last October and finished the beginner Hal Leonard book last month. I'm working out of a book of Bach pieces transcribed as mandolin duets (some violin/piano/lute... but now all mandolin duets).

My teacher assigns a mix of easy and difficult and I finish an easier piece in a week and a difficult one in 2 or 3 weeks.

I want to mix in something other than the actual compositions. When I was a viola player I had an etude book and a scale/arpeggio study every week.

Are there published standard student etude and scale/arpeggio/chord studies?

Any particular recommendations?

TIA.
-Heady

[dadsaster]

If you read standard notation, you can use a violin etude book without issue.

[Heady]

Thank you, Dadsaster.

I do read standard notation and for sight reading we use the "Beautiful Music for 2 String Instruments" series for violin, but I'm looking for something to build technique. My viola etudes were always targeting a specific skill, so I'm looking for something that would help my mandolin playing.

[dadsaster]

This might be helpful:

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/threads/73429-Violin-Etudes-Studies-for-mandolin-advancement

[Heady]

Thank you :)

[Bill McCall]

Cassia Harvey (Amazon) has a series of violin etudes of all types, fairly cheap. For the technical fingering studies, fingerbusters doesn't full describe some of them:disbelief:

[Heady]

Cassia Harvey (Amazon) has a series of violin etudes of all types, fairly cheap. For the technical fingering studies, fingerbusters doesn't full describe some of them:disbelief:

Nice - ok, thanks Dadsaster for convincing me that violin books are the way to go, and thanks Bill for pointing me to Cassia Harvey - I am not going to lie, I looked at the double stop and octave studies and that's actually what I need for viola (my intonation has gone down the crapper after a 10 year hiatus) so I'm picking them up too :)

[Louise NM]

You might look at Marilynn Mair's The Complete Mandolinist, available from Mel Bay. She has compiled scales and etudes in keys up to four flats and four sharps. Other sections deal with developing each hand and putting the two together. The etudes are drawn from both violin and mandolin pedagogy. Plenty of pieces, too, from Beethoven and Vivaldi to choro and fiddle tunes.

[gtani7]

This should keep you busy, I like Tim O'Brien's arpeggio warmup, some days that's all i play (for 7 minutes) http://www.mandozine.com/techniques/index.html

Mike Marshall's finger busters and his other books and Mando Exercises for Dummies by Julin, Chris Thile's DVD (and others, mostly on Homespun label), youtube channels like MandoLessons.

[mmuussiiccaall]

116 year old answer

http://brittlebooks.library.illinois.edu/brittlebooks_open/Books2011-10/stahwi0001mani64/stahwi0001mani64v00001/stahwi0001mani64v00001.pdf

[Mandobar]

Louise makes a great suggestion concerning the Mair Complete Mandolinist.

[Beanzy]

My preferred option is The Mandolin Companion by Stephens/Acquavella https://www.astute-music.com/store/p17/The_Mandolin_Companion_by_Stephens_%26_Acquavella. html

very well thought through distillation of exercises and technique

[Heady]

116 year old answer

http://brittlebooks.library.illinois.edu/brittlebooks_open/Books2011-10/stahwi0001mani64/stahwi0001mani64v00001/stahwi0001mani64v00001.pdf

$0.00 is my favorite price!

[Heady]

179398

Thanks all!

The "look inside" glimpses on Amazon got me interested in the Cassia Harvey and Marilyn Mair suggestions.

I had been away from music for about 10 years. I used to play viola but for some reason in Oct I decided to try mandolin. A few weeks ago I decided to also rejoin my old community orchestra, but I'm rusty, especially my intonation. So I grabbed the double stop book for viola instead of mandolin.

I was intrigued by the Complete Mandolinist but have imposter syndrome and thought it was above me, so tried the 100 exercises instead.

Prime is fast so everything arrived today.

I LOVE them. It's almost 2am here, I was having so much fun practicing I lost track of time.

Great help, guys, thanks :)

I'm so almost manic about them, I went ahead and ordered the Complete Mandolinist anyway, and a bowing exercise book too.

[Posterboy]

Mandomike has two workbooks available, one on scales and arpeggios and warm up exercises and a new one focusing purely on the picking hand
https://www.mandomike.com/shop