Re: Mandolin instruction
I've never taken mandolin lessons, but I'd think they'd be worth the time and money if you have both to spare. Additionally, I have two recommendations for you, a book and some software.
Book: Have you run across the "Mandolin Picker's Guide to Improvisation"? An interesting book that starts from the beginning with the idea that you will be creating your own music across chord changes. You start with one-octave pentatonic scales for A, D, and E, then move to those scales across all four courses of strings, then slowly add "spice" notes, double stops, cross picking, etc, and other keys. Lots of time spent slowly learning to improvise. Interesting approach that requires lots of work but outcome might be closer to what you're looking for.
Software: I've been lucky enough to find a small casual band to play with each week and it has been great as I get back to the mandolin. (I had stopped playing for a few years, but during five months of Chemo this past year I decided I needed to put music back in my life. I was shocked that I basically had to start at the beginning with the mandolin, from the simple open G, C, and D chords!) If I didn't have the band, I would be making more use of iRealPro (or something similar). No melodies, but decent bluegrass-ish accompaniments and you can control chords, repetitions, key, and speed. Hundreds of bluegrass songs already available, but you can easily enter your own charts. Good way to practice those songs and work on both the melodies as well as on improvisations.
Last edited by Doug Brock; Jan-25-2019 at 1:51pm.
Doug Brock
2018 Kimble 2 point (#259), Eastman MD315, Eastman MDA315, some guitars, banjos, and fiddles
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