Method Book Recommendations

[McGruff]

I've read a bunch of different threads, and looked at beginning books in my local music store's extremely limited supply, but I'm looking for very specific recommendations, if such a thing exists.

I am a beginning mandolin player with limited guitar skills and little to no theory knowledge. I am not interested in bluegrass, and that seems to be the direction most method books approach from. At the outset, picking tunes is not incredibly important, although I have found them nice for finger dexterity and strength.

I am a pastor at a small church with an incredibly gifted worship team. They are rock and blues players predominantly, and they are very open to others. I'd like to find something that will help me play chords, rhythms, etc. as quickly as possibly, and lead into picking solos and improvising down the line. I, myself, am more drawn to rock, americana and folk . . . picked up the Mandolin because of REM and the Hooters.

Basically, something that will get me to being able to accompany with a team as quickly as possible without looking like a complete idiot.

I'm only asking because I don't have access to being able to actually "see" many of the available books.

[Jimdalf]

One of the best books that I have found is the Complete Jethro Burns Mandolin Book; it is great for chords, sadly the Amazon preview characteristically underrepresents the main bulk of the book. It isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it should give you the tools!

[John McCoy]

You might take a look at the Mandolin Cafe On Demand offerings. (You'll need to download and extract a .zip file and then execute the program to see the catalog.)

Although heavy on bluegrass, they do cover several levels in a variety of genres, including hymns and blues, as well as chords.

I can't help you decide whether anything there will provide what you want, but I'm thinking there must be somebody here who's familiar with the entire catalog of mandolin lessons and might be able point you toward the right lesson(s).

(NFI)

== John ==

[MandoSquirrel]

The Cafe Home page has a link to "lessons" that you may find useful, as well as Mandozine. Beyond that, I'd recommend one of the basic mando intro books , such as Rich DelGrosso's Hal Leonard book, or the basic Mel Bay, or , better yet, Marilyn Mair's "The Complete Mandolinist", then Ted Eschliman's Getting Into Jazz Mandolin and/or Janet Davis' "The Ultimate Mandolin Songbook". The Jethro is excellent,also.

[Steve L]

MandoSquirrel has some good suggestions, to which I would add Simon Mayor's Mandolin Tutor with the CD, and his Mastering the Mandolin w/ CD.

[Capt. E]

I really like "Fretboard Roadmaps / Mandolin" It gave me wonderful understanding of all the chord patterns etc. I do like the Jethro Burns book as well. He was not a pure bluegrass player and did a lot of things that crossed over into other genre's. It is not a beginners book though.

[Joris]

As a constant beginner (I always start for a few months and then end up not playing for the next few months), I have tried lot's of beginners book. The most general book (covering all genres) I found to be Greg Horne's "Beginning mandolin". It also includes quite a lot of strlling simple songs (including basic 12bar blues). This does have a lot of theory explained in there. I don't know if that's something you like or not. The best non genre-specific starter book (more celtic/classical than bluegrass) for tunes I found Simon Mayor's "The mandolin tutor". This one is a bit easier than Greg Horne's but focusses on melody playing.

Joris

[JeffD]

I can't over-recommend Marilynn Mair's The Complete Mandolinist. It is focused on playing mandolin, not on any particular genre, and as such supports one regardless of musical direction. Going doewn Mair's Method book, you get closer to being able to play any genre, and if you remain focused on bluegrass it will absolutely not have been a waste of time.

[Joris]

I am thinking to order this book, once I get a bit better at reading music (currently learning that a bit with "The Irish Mandolin", my first book without tab ...) - I am however a bit intimidated by the look of Marilynn Mair's book (no tab & lot's of scales etc. ).

I am also a bit curious how this would help the starter of the topic who asks for "I'd like to find something that will help me play chords, rhythms, etc. as quickly as possibly, and lead into picking solos and improvising down the line ... Basically, something that will get me to being able to accompany with a team as quickly as possible without looking like a complete idiot." This seems (looking at amazon "look inside") a book without chord diagrams, standard chords schemes for blues etc. It looks rather difficult for a beginner who can't read music (I am presuming this based on " little to no theory knowledge."). Any specific reasons why this is the book to get ?

Thanks, Joris

[MandoSquirrel]

Marilynn Mair's The Complete Mandolinist will teach one to read as one learns to play. One will learn scales, which are the basis of chord and melody playing, play chords as well as melodies from various styles of music, and become ready to advance into other areas, such as improvising accompaniments, solos, etc., from other book/study materials that focus on these areas, such as the Getting Into Jazz Mandolin & Janet Davis books, Jethro's books, Tottle's Bluegrass Mandolin, and any other one chooses to explore.

[JeffD]

I am also a bit curious how this would help the starter of the topic who asks for "I'd like to find something that will help me play chords, rhythms, etc. as quickly as possibly, and lead into picking solos and improvising down the line ... Basically, something that will get me to being able to accompany with a team as quickly as possible without looking like a complete idiot." This seems (looking at amazon "look inside") a book without chord diagrams, standard chords schemes for blues etc. It looks rather difficult for a beginner who can't read music (I am presuming this based on " little to no theory knowledge."). Any specific reasons why this is the book to get ?

My bad.

If what you are looking for is to be able to accompany the team, download a chord chart for mandolin, and practice a bunch of them. The folks you want to play with will know what chords to work on. Seriously, for your specific goal, you don't need a method book. Just a chord chart, some practice, and some rehursal time.

The Marilynn Mair is an amazing book, that will get you to playing the mandolin. It really is the foundational book, which will give you the fundamental skills upon which any given type of musical genre will depend.

I tutor kids in high school math. I ask them do they want to pass the class, or do they want to learn some math. Different approaches for different goals. No skin off my nose either way.

[Joris]

Maybe the best approach is to combine a method book that also teaches to read music with an "easy" one more geared towards playing chords and from tab? I must say, if you never learned to read music and have no teacher, learning to read and play together is quite slow and it's hard to remain motivated then. Anyway, given Marilynn Mair's The Complete Mandolinist is cheap at amazon, I ordered it and will give it a try ...

A tip for the original poster: at amazon you can often see a few pages; at google books (http://books.google.com/) even more. For example
http://books.google.be/books?id=EkXQ...ndolin&f=false

[McGruff]

I've looked a Mair's book and Horne's "online." I am leaning towards Horne, although Mair's is intriguing. I really have two goals, but one precedes the other. I want to accompany a band as quickly as possible, while also learning long term to play the instrument well.

I though about simple chords charts, but I also want to make sure I've got proper form with both hands and am learning mandolin rhythms. I'm a poor guitar player, so right now I'm playing guitar rhythms, but I'd like to compliment and not mimic our existing guitarist (who is so much better than me!)

Lessons will be coming this summer. That will help.

[August Watters]

Of the suggestions mentioned above, and considering your goals, I'd suggest perhaps the beginning Rich Del Grosso method book. It uses mostly old-time traditional music to illustrate ideas, but I think you'll find it useful in finding ways to play chords that complement the guitar player's chords in the music you're doing. It will also teach you to read music quickly and easily, which will help you with communicating with the other musicians.

The other one I'd recommend is the Mel Bay Mandolin Method, which will show you how the fingerboard is laid out, and how to read music. I like to use this book with beginners who aren't interested in bluegrass.

Either Marilynn's book or the Jethro book might be a good step after that. And the chord charts mentioned above will help jump start your playing too -- just look for ones that tell you how to connect one chord to the most likely next chord in the key you're in -- rather than the charts that give you a million possibilities to work through. Good luck!

[John Flynn]

I am working through the Mair book with my instructor. It is a great book, but he says it takes on average three years for a beginner, guided by an instructor, to work through it cover-to-cover. I've been playing for nearly 20 years, with guitar 20 years before that and I find the Mair book challenging. I would not recommend it as a "quick start" for a beginner.

My approach would be to 1) Find some two-finger chord charts online and start memorizing chords and praticing chord changes. Concentrate on the chords that are in music you will play at church. 2) Concentrate on getting the instrument in tune and keeping it there. That's not as easy as it is with guitar. 3) Concentrate on good right hand technique in terms of rhythm and tone. There seem to be some videos on YouTube that may help you. But don't worry about "chop" chords yet.

If you get those three simple (but not necessarily easy) things down, you will get the quickest start I can imagine. FYI, I took up the mandolin two decades ago because my church music group had four six-string guitarists and that was getting really redundant. I bought a cheap mandolin, worked through the first few chapters of the Tottle book and played one tune at church within a week of first picking up the instrument. But I had 20 years of guitar work behind me and knew a fair bit of theory. Within a year, I was playing mandolin exclusively at church, including some melodies and fills, and was leaving the the guitar at home.

[JeffD]

It is a great book, but he says it takes on average three years for a beginner, guided by an instructor, to work through it cover-to-cover.

I came up with this same estimate, in discussion with a friend contemplating giving mandolin lessons. I mentioned using Mair as the text in the same way one might use Suzuki. And I said that to do it right it should take about 3 years, but that after three years, the student will play as if he had 4 years experience.

I've been playing for nearly 20 years, with guitar 20 years before that and I find the Mair book challenging.

I agree, but would also add that I have never benefited from instructional material, of any kind, that wasn't challenging.

[John Flynn]

Jeff: Completely agree, and I'm sure the OP would eventually benefit from the Mair book. I continue to use it in my studies because of the challenge it presents. It just doesn't seem to solve the OP's immediate problem.

[Ed Goist]

Do any of you folks who own/use Marilynn Mair's The Complete Mandolinist play octave mandolin, and if so, would you recommend this book to someone whose primary instrument is a longer scale GDAE tuned instrument (such as octave mandolin or GDAE tenor guitar)?

[John Flynn]

Ed, I play octave, as well as tenor banjo. Just MHO:
> I think the theory would all apply and the exercises would still be useful
> Fingerings might not apply 100%
> If you are going to do classical playing, the octaves in our mandolin orchestra tend to play off of alto clef along with the mandolas, so the sheet music may not apply
> There may be better books for those instruments. You are probably aware there is a McGann book and an O'Brien book that are well thought of for octave playing.
> If you are interested in melody playing, especially with Irish music I will also say I got a lot out of Irish tenor banjo books that applied 1-to-1 to octave mandolin, especially Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor. It is really step-by-step basics stuff. I see he has a Book II out now that I understand is way more challenging.

[JonZ]

Basically, something that will get me to being able to accompany with a team as quickly as possible without looking like a complete idiot.

There are a lot of free learning materials online. More than enough to get you started. Try searching "Mandolin Lessons Online".