The Luthier's Handbook: A Guide to Building Great Tone in Acoustic Stringed Instruments Review

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(More customer reviews)It's unfortunate the author didn't choose a better title.You'd probably expect THE Luthiers Handbook to be a how-to, but it's nothing like that.Actually it reads more like a college-level textbook. Engineering/techies will probably love it, as will anyone seriously interested in the how & why of fine instrument architecture. There's a lot in here about the tonal properties of various woods, bracings, etc.Even if you never figure out the author's 'tuning' method (or don't have your own home physics lab) you still might find yourself tapping on soundboards and thinking about such things. For the beginning luthier sticking to the tried and true, it's not essential reading however.

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Product Description:
An essential item for the instrument builder, The Luthier's Handbook explores the secrets and science behind making good-sounding acoustic stringed instruments. Renowned author Roger H. Siminoff brings to the table more than four decades of luthiery experience and shares the time-tested philosophies, tips and technology of the craft. As the ideal complement to other books on building instruments, this text describes the structural and acoustical attributes of air chambers; what to listen for when tap-tuning; selecting a good piece of wood; placement of the braces and tone bars and how to tune them; how to select the right strings; what to consider in bridge design concepts; and much more. Includes a free String Gauge Calculator for determining the right set of strings.

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Bluegrass Mandolin Basics (Ultimate Beginner Series, Book & CD) Review

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(More customer reviews)Overall, this book is solid. It gives a good overview of basic techniques and gives some good tunes to play along with. I've learned basic mandolin from other books, but this one gave me a better understanding of rhythm and bluegrass-related (hammer-on/off, slide, chops, etc.) techniques in a better presented manner. As a downside, I wish that it had more tunes to learn and listen to or that there was an 'intermediate' book that follows this up, but this book is certainly worth the price. Also, everything is in both tablature and standard notation, so it's easy to learn off of both.

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Product Description:
By Dennis Caplinger. Bluegrass Mandolin Basics covers all the fundamentals and will have you playing classic bluegrass favorites in no time. Includes CD. Covers the following contents and includes multiple pages of examples for each one:
Flatpick Technique,Playing Backup,Chord Basics And Rhythm Chop,Over 90 complete music examples and songs,16 Complete Arrangements

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Sam Bush Teaches Mandolin Repertoire and Technique (Listen & Learn) Review

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(More customer reviews)Wow, Sam Bush is a super-star!This stuff is hard, but well worth playing!There's a diversity of things in it, from traditional style bluegrass mandolin to fiddle tunes and even this crazy russian ragtimesong!It's worth it just to have to the CD for listening pleasure.

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Product Description:
One of the most versatile and powerful musicians playing today teaches 8 great repertoire tunes that will help mandolin players develop their style and technique. This lesson covers traditional bluegrass tunes as well as jazz-flavored "new-grass" originals: Cotton Patch Rag ¥ Tom & Jerry ¥ Leather Britches ¥ Lime Rock ¥ Banjalin ¥ Diadem ¥ Norman and Nancy ¥ and Russian Rag.
INCLUDES 40-PAGE MUSIC & TAB BOOK ¥ LEVEL 4

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Contructing a Bluegrass Mandolin: Mandolin Reference Review

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(More customer reviews)Roger Siminoff has done an excellent job of providing drawings far beyond what one might expect but they are much appreciated.I read both his first version and his new one and even the older Mandolin book held up after all these years.His newest one includes description of tap tuning as a bonus.

Dave Burley

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Product Description:
This beautifully detailed manual gives clear, step-by-step directions from raw materials to a magnificently finished mandolin through the use of simply-stated texts, photos and templates. Written by one of America's foremost authorities on acoustic instruments. 56 pages, spiral bound, including 19 full-sized blueprints covering each phase of construction. Also features a glossary of terms which enable the reader to more easily follow the instructions.

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David Grisman Teaches Mandolin (Guitar) Review

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(More customer reviews)Imagine that you're in a small lesson room at your local music store.You're tuning up your mandolin waiting for your teacher to come in.The door opens and your teacher for today's lesson is David Grisman!That's the feeling I get when listening to and working with these CD's.It truely feels like you're sitting down one on one with the master and he's showing you his stuff.
Sure, it's David teaching you his own tunes, but there's more to it than that.He's also teaching you the reasons why he does what he does. He teaches harmoney leads on songs like "Dawg's Bull" but he also teaches why those harmony leads work and how to write your own.
One of my favorite sections is for the song "Minor Swing" where he discusses chord substitutions.This is just good basic jazz music theory presented in a meaningful way and applied to an actual song rather than just presented as a theory.
That brings up another point.The printed music is just the basics of the songs.When David talks about chord substitutions and so on you'll need to get out your notebook and write down what he's saying on the CD because many times it's not written in the book.But that's another reason why this feels like a private lesson.You'll have to listen, take notes, and practice to get the most out of this series, just like a real lesson.
So get out your instrument, tuner, metronome, notebook, and CD player.You're about to have about 6+ hours of intense mandolin lessons.I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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Product Description:
David Grisman helps mandolinists develop their playing in new and exciting directions! In this six-CD series, he covers all aspects and facets of "Dawg Music" - his own innovative fusion of musical forms that has inspired a whole new genre of acoustic music. Grisman teaches amazing tunes, powerful techniques and important pointers on all aspects of the mandolin, including detailed instruction on soloing, modal chord changes, position shifts, harmonic arpeggios and scales, transposing and much more. Includes detailed breakdowns of twenty of DavidÕs most popular instrumentals. Each CD in this series is an invaluable resource for any level of student, from beginners to the most advanced players. SIX CDs ¥ INCLUDES MUSIC TAB ¥ LEVEL 3

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Mandolin Chord Book Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is exactly what the beginning mandolinist needs - a quick reference to every chord formation on mandolin with several different options for each chord.This book is also useful for the experiencedplayer, if only just as a quick reference.Good investment.

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The most useful chord book yet developed for the mandolin player is always handy with clear readable chord diagrams grouped by key for easy, speedy reference.

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Mandolin Pickers Fakebook Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this and returned it.I can't read mandolin tab.If you're like me and need standard notation for your mandolin music, buy the fiddler's fakebook.Same songs, similar introductory material, and it's in standard notation.That's where I'm going now, to order the fiddle book.But if you read tab, this book will suit you fine.

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Product Description:
Contains over 250 jigs, reels, rags, hornpipes, and breakdowns from all the major traditional instrumental styles. Special introductory materials on regional styles, interpretation, and ornamentation. Includes an extensive discography.

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The Mandolin of Bill Monroe, Vol. 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)Watching Bill Monroe up close in a one on one conversation with John Hartford is a pleasure and a lesson that will not be forgotten.It is not a typical instruction film, to be sure.But, the lessons learned here are most certain to be more lasting.

John Hartford does a great job of staying out of the way and allowing Bill Monroe to show his technique without interruption or opinion.You can see John just wanting to push further and get a more descriptive lesson, but he is also wise enough to understand that Bill Monroe is a great talent, but not a teacher.Let him play and see what you can learn is the best approach.It's interesting to see John ask Bill to "play that section a little slower" and Bill graciously plays the section over - at the pace he just played it. Funny, but very telling.

There are some very poignant monents as well.When Mr. Monroe talks about going back home to an empty house while discussing one of his compositions will bring tears to your eyes.And, when he addresses "Last Days on Earth" one cannot help but be moved by the sincerity and emotion in his playing and his demeanor.It touches your soul.

Personally, I learned much more from this Volume One than I did from Sam Bush's more instructional Volume 2 of the same title.While Sam's is more nuts and bolts, just watching Bill was much more earthy and sticking than Volume 2.It may be best to get both, but if you have to choose, I would highly recommend Volume One as, by far, the best.

Thank you Bill for leaving this for us.Lessons I will never forget.

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Product Description:
On this instructional and entertaining session, the "father of bluegrass" discusses and demonstrates the instrumental techniques which have changed the course of American music.
Bill Monroe plays twenty-seven great tunes (some recorded here for the first time), including favorites such as "Rawhide," "Wheel Hoss," "Tennessee Blues," "Dusty Miller," "Roanoke," "Pike Country Breakdown," "Blue Grass Stomp,"Get Up John," "Katie Hill" and "Rocky Road Blues."
The camera's eye reveals, up close and in detail, Bill's incredible facility and inventiveness on the mandolin. He plays and sings both solo and backed up by the Blue Grass Boys.
In an intimate conversation with fellow musician John Hartford, Bill discusses a wide variety of topics: His musical development, ideas about performing and song writing, memories of childhood, early touring days, his years on the Grand Ole Opry and much more.
As a special bonus, we have added previously unseen footage of a performance for President Jimmy Carter at the White House in 1980, including rare duets between Bill Monroe and Doc Watson.

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Intermediate Mandolin (Book & Cd) Review

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(More customer reviews)Great produt for learning mandolin. Seperated in such a way that notation readers can skip that portion of the book without missing any important technique instructions on learning mandolin. technique instuction very clear and detailed.
Above is the review I wrote for the beginning book. This book just carries on in the same manner. Excellant instructional book.

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Product Description:
Great for mandolinists who have learned the basics and are ready to take the next step. Important techniques are introduced like hammer-ons and pull-offs, different styles of tremolo, slides, cross-picking and rolls. Also included are in-depth discussions of how to learn tunes, introductions to new time signatures, and a more in-depth look at important musical styles.

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Bluegrass Mandolin Review

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(More customer reviews)Tottle starts with some musical fundamentals -- general points like reading TAB and musical notation, time signatures, rhythm, etc., as well as mandolin-specific issues like tuning.If you have another instrument under your belt, this makes quick reading and then Tottle immediately starts you on learning simple pieces.Since I already play the guitar, for instance, I opened this book and almost immediately learned my first rag.
After you have half a dozen dance numbers under your belt, Tottle breaks out a small chord dictionary and introduces the idea of the structured bluegrass song, with instrumental breaks in between verses.Starting with "The Banks of the Ohio", he then demonstrates how to construct a mandolin break around a song's melody.As he adds numbers, Tottle increases in complexity, and it pretty quickly adds up to an impressive repertoire.
Tottle's writing is clear and straightforward.All music is presented in standard notation and in tablature.Occasional charming photographs of mandolin greats add a nice touch.
The book I have does not have the CD, but the CD can only add to what is a great instructional book.

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Product Description:
The first and only instruction book on bluegrass mandolin. Fully illustrated with detailed instructions from the basics to fancy fingerwork, backed up by a collection of bluegrass music by Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Frank Wakefield, and John Duffy.

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Mandolin Chords Plus: Chords, Scales, Tuning, Hot Licks, Songs Sheet Music (Fretted) Review

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(More customer reviews)This 'pamphlet' (cover page + 7 A4 pages) provides a jog note review for chords.
For Improver to Intermediate Mandolin chord players, has
. - Chords (4 pages- with 156 chords)
. - Chord 'Licks' (1.5 pages -with 17 chords)
. - Tunes (1 page - 2 tunes) and some bits on tuning and a very good and 'compact' notation for chords.
A bit too parsimonious for my liking but may be useful as jog notes for a chord player. Note NO CD is included.
Watch out for Amazon back room logistic 'geniuses' who will build a megalithic cardboard structure ensuring that this pamphlet will not fit in any letterbox (that is 'mailbox' for those of you who don't speak English properly!) resulting in an expedition to the nearest collection point.

For further references on chords and progressions:-
101 Red Hot Bluegrass Mandolin Licks & Solos with CDISBN-10: 0786659025; Fretboard Roadmaps Mandolin: The Essential Patterns That All the Pros Know and UseISBN-10: 0634001426
How to Play Mandolin by Morton Manus ISBN-10: 0739008706 ;
For training your ear to hear chord progressions - `Harmonic Ear Training' with Roberta Radley of Berklee [Hal Leonard] 0876390270 ASIN: B00029RRHS
`One Note Complete' by Bruce Arnold 1890944475
The bible for your music career (a 5* reference) `Hearing and Writing Music' by Ron Gorow [Garow] 0962949671

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Product Description:
A helpful booklet with chords, scales, and tuning information essential to all mandolin players. Also includes 'hot licks' and two tunes.

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