Search:

I think the key to playing a chord in which you omit one voice is to always include the 3rd and 7th (guide tones)--these are the essential bones of the chord skeleton. In your example you added a...

That's right - A new box set of early recordings by Jerry Garcia includes a live version of "Deep Elem Blues." which features hs instrumental wizardry on the mandolin. :mandosmiley: This song later...

You know its a cool forum when you get a comment from a player with the talent and stature of Don Julin. Thank you sir.

and http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?10057-Don-R-Miller-mandolin

Don Miller has a few music stores in my area called Don's Music City. These are the same Asian made instruments that bear the names mentioned a few posts back. He has his name put on them in China or...

Also labeled under Ibanez and other names. Those Bella Voce style fretboard inlays make me think there's a Saga connection, though those inlays could have been made by a third part pearl supplier and...

It looks exactly like the Washburn 2-points, just in a sunburst rather than the "distressed" brown look.
--Tom

That mandolin sure has all the hallmarks of an Asian import. The fingerboard shape and inlay, rosette, and sunburst look similar to many that came out of Asia a decade or more ago (I can't date it...

Yep, some other gems:

Flickin' My Pick
Jethro's Tune
Butterfingers
Exercise a la Ellington
Londonderry Air
For He's A Jolly Good Fellow

What's great about these works is the inclusion of...

For easy, 1st position two or three finger chords, you can play:
F - 5301
Bb - 3011
C - 0230
C7 - 0210

Yep

Death grip = bad. Relax, shake your RH out (like you're flinging water off of it). Relax.

The best looseness tricks I've gotten have been from a hotshot violin instructor. (As with mandolin, looseness in the right hand is vital to getting a good violin sound.) The first one is to practice...

Armrests are fine, they keep your forearm off the top. A Tone Gard does the same for keeping your body off the back. But I doubt either have much effect on RH tension.

The loose grip on the pick...

Good video Jake, very helpfull for someone who wants to learn this tune. If you are into bluegrass you should definitely learn Soldiers Joy. A fun one to play for sure.

1. I don't drink coffee.
2. I didn't think I sent anyone to the woodshed.
3. How will anybody learn anything if they aren't told?
4. I've made most of the mistakes that anyone can make in my...

Another interesting graph:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=mandolin%2C%20guitar%2C%20iphone&cmpt=q

Rb_6Y2W_5CcTransylvanian spruce and quilted maple Old Wave 2 point, one of many I made since stealing, er, tracing the shape of Steve Batts 1991 stealth nugget onto a grocery sack at midnight by the...

Some pics of my just finished GBOM.115104115105115106
Took me almost 6 mos. First time spraying lacquer, much thanks to John Hamlett for his advice on that aspect. Carved spruce top,carved maple...

A wise man once told me "What you practice is what you'll play."
Scales are useful to practice , but never straight
up and down the scale for me. Scalar patterns are more like music and you
can...

Here is a transcription for 5 string mandolin of Wes Montgomery's solo form the record The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. Click on the music to download the PDF.

114441


...

A flattened 7th, so you'd spell it C Eb G Bb. This is a good exercise for some genres, but I think aiming for 7ths in bluegrass is going to sound fussy and too 'jazzy', so I'd practice aiming for...

Very nice, thought-out explanation, Jake. Thanks. Just checked out your site,too. Some nice, helpful info! Good work.

Dear Drum58,
You needn't worry about overplaying scales in your improv because you spend a bit of time learning, and learning them is definitely the thing to do.The fact that you pose the...

Congratulations on your recital! There's some ambitious music there.

One thing I've found helpful is to differentiate between practicing repertoire with all its inflections and interpretive...

And what exactly does "show off" mean. To play something that is not just a stream of eighth notes (a lot of them repeated)? I think you too eager to dictate the intents of others, and infer a lot of...