Social isolation has deprived me of my usual weekend picking sessions with friends and the local Django Djam, but reduced outpatient load at the hospital has increased my daily opportunities for practicing mandolin.
Given a little bit more free time than usual, I revisited some of Don's SoundSlice courses and subscribed to Aaron's Peghead Nation Chord-Melody for Mandolin lesson set. I think that both are great lesson sets for anybody dipping their toe into swing/jazz chordal cadences and advanced harmonic concepts beyond three chords and the truth. Please note that I have NFI.
With Don's lessons -
https://www.soundslice.com/courses/ - you purchase a lesson set that you can revisit at anytime. Video, tab, adjust the speed, change keys, cut out a cadence or passage that you want to loop - lots of functions. He gets into a lot of concepts that can be applied to a huge variety of tunes - chord cadences, lines to play over the finger busters, concepts of chord melody arrangements, complete with his often humorous delivery and examples of jazz face needed to sound authentic. From the first time I heard Jethro and later Don, I wanted to incorporate that "something extra" into my playing and these have been a tremendous help in my fumble-fingered journey.
Aaron -
https://pegheadnation.com/string-sch...lody-mandolin/ - offers examples of chord-melody arrangements of specific tunes and introductions, illustrating principles & techniques that can be applied to other tunes. Peghead Nation is a subscription service, so there is a monthly (or yearly) fee. Tab & standard notation is available for each lesson. Each video can be slowed down (for slow pokes like me) and there are rhythm tracks for each of the tunes. Aaron's droll humor and bow ties enhance delivery of the lessons. I'm hoping that he will continue to put out new lessons, but have already learned a lot in the almost 6 weeks of social isolation.
I can't wait for the opportunity to put some of what I've learned into making music with my friends. I'm giving these two lesson sets a big thumbs up. I hope everybody else has some extra time to practice and that you are staying safe & practicing common sense in these uncommon times.
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