Beginners' book for trained (non-mandolin) musician

[intermediary]

My wife asked for a mandolin for her birthday, and I've obliged. I'd like to get her some learning material to accompany it.

I've searched the forum archives for recommendations on beginners' lesson books. Most of them (from what I've gleaned from the posts, and from reviews and previews on Amazon, spend a lot of time on teaching key signatures, time signatures, keys, chord theory etc. My wife is a classical pianist (hobby, not profession), sings in a classical chorus, majored in music in college, and has played (just a bit of) guitar in the past. So she's not a beginner at all, in many senses, but she will be a beginner on the mandolin.

In addition, I suspect she's a bit genre-agnostic at the moment -- she loves bluegrass, but she knows classical. So I'd bet she'd like to learn a bit of both.

Given all that, anyone have book suggestions?

paul

[awc4kds]

Paul, I think that your wife might like Marilyn Mair's book The Complete Mandolinist. It is more of an exercise book that is more focused toward classical music. If you search the name of the book within this Mandolin Cafe site, you will find many opinions of it that might be helpful. Also, Mair recently released another book entitled 100 Techniques and Exercises for Mandolinists. It is available through the MelBay website. Good luck!

[Beanzy]

In addition to the Mair book you could try her on Gertrude Trõster "Technique on Eight Strings" book one then if that's ok for her there's a second too

[UsuallyPickin]

Your wife may b interested by some of the DVD lessons with Caterina Lichtenberg. https://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Cl.../dp/B007P9HXCW

[Mandoplumb]

She needs to get around other mandolin players. With her knowledge she doesn't need to learn music she needs to learn the mechanics and the genre. She'll pick it up fast if she can find that. About any book will be 50% or more stuff she knows.

[Ron McMillan]

She might want to take a look at Garage Band Theory by Duke Sharp.

Despite billing itself as the book made for people with zero understanding of the rudiments of music, it covers many of the major theoretical elements that most people learning by ear never come to terms with. As your wife already understands the rudiments, she can use it to get to grips with what it teaches about playing the instrument with the freedom that someone fluent in the rudiments ought to be able to do. It's a huge resource constructed in such a way that a reader can dip in and out of sections of choice, rather than trudging through the whole thing, covering things of no relevance or interest.

[LadysSolo]

Your wife could be me (except I don't love bluegrass.) To the above I would add Exploring Classical Mandolin by August Watters, Mandolin (complete edition) by Greg Horne and Wayne Fugate, and The Mandolin Tutor by Simon Mayor. I have played classical piano for 52 years, sung in various choirs since high school, and as a flower child, we all played guitar. I was also a music major in college, and just took up mandolin about 3 years ago. She is in for a good time! Good luck to her in her journeys in mandolin!!!

[Bren]

I guess she will only need one book for technique, supplemented by YouTube videos and the like.

As for non-bluegrass melodies that will get her interested, here are my picks from each category ("genre/category" itself is hard enough to define):

Celtic: Ho-ro-gheallaidh (Session tunes for Scottish fiddlers) Vol 1- this also contains Irish , American, Canadian & Shetland tunes and is the cream of the very extensive crop of Irish and Scottish tune books in my opinion. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Fi.../dp/1871931479 (now combined with Vol 2 in one book)

Brazilian Choro - : O Melhor do Choror Brasilierho Vol 2 (I have 4 volumes but vol 2 is my pick if you have to choose one). Much of Choro music is made for and by mandolinists and your wife would find it very intriguing once she has some technique. https://www.amazon.com/Melhor-Choro-.../dp/8574070041

American: Mel Bay Famous Fiddlin' Tunes (QwikGuide) - an inexpensive small paperback that dips a toe in most American "folk" styles for all levels of player. https://www.amazon.com/Mel-Famous-Fi.../dp/0786649275


Allan Alexander books: Many to choose from but for the classical converter I'd suggest "Airs of the Scottish Renaissance for Mandolin" . Allan's books of simple melodies are beautifully and clearly laid out, a pleasure to look at and play from.
http://www.guitarandlute.com/ancient_scottish.html

Italian: Carlo Aonzo's "Northern Italian and Ticino Region Folk Songs for Mandolin" is a fantastic resource for when she is a bit more advanced - and the CD stands on its own merits for listening. https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Ital...dp_ob_title_bk

I have far too many music books, something of a hobby to pick them up on my travels, but the ones above are my favourites.
For myself, I started on the then-inexpensive "Kerr's Merry melodies for Violin vol 1" , painstakingly matching notes to sounds from half-remembered music lessons as a child, but this is out of print now.

[intermediary]

wow -- what a great bunch of suggestions! thanks, everyone!

lots of research to do. i suspect i'll just close my eyes and pick one or two myself ;-), and then give my wife a link to this thread as followup. great stuff.

i'm sure many/most of these are available online, but just in case someone here might know: are there shops in the boston area that would carry a selection of books like the ones suggested? (i'm guessing not, given the overal decline in bookstores in general.)

paul

[Seter]

My local Guitar Center here in Houston surprisingly has a good selection of mandolin books, you can check online for your local store's inventory. Used books online are the best value, though they can be scarce for some titles. I like being able to examine the physical book though to see if I like the font size etc.