Mandolin Exercises For Dummies

by Don Julin

"Learn to: "Build your skills playing scalesPlay arpeggios with confidenceMaster chord forms and progressions

Practise makes perfect with this hands-on resource for mandolin players of all skill levels

For mandolin players, practise makes perfect! Use this hands-on resource to get the most out of your practise sessions. Get hundreds of exercises in various keys and positions, use drills to help practise time, build your technique like a pro, practise scales and full-length pieces, and much more. Take your mandolin playing to the next level today!Get ready -- pick up an overview of the fundamentals, use exercises to limber up, and much moreExplore arpeggios -- dive into the major and minor arpeggios with triad patterns, then move on to major 7th and minor 7th patternsAll about chords -- practise major and minor inversions, and get groovy with major 7th chord inversionsGet on the scales -- start up with the major scales, then move on to mastering the minor scales with practise exercisesTips and tricks -- get tips to help you practise better, including using a metronome, playing with recordings, and more

Open the book and find: A full review of the basics and reading musicWarm-ups specific to mandolin playersMajor and minor scale patternsPractise exercises for chords and scalesTips and exercises for connecting scale patternsTricks for chord progressions, along with practise notesTen tunes to practise everything at once

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2012

Reviews

[Altivo Overo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite possibly more than the beginning instrumentalist needs to know, this book is also a useful reference covering peripheral issues. Examples would be the chapter on selecting and buying an instrument, new or used; and the section on adjustments and repairs, including changing strings and resolving problems. A basic introduction to reading common music notation is included, as well as photos and instruction on holding and fingering the instrument.

Overall, this book is well worth having if you own and play a mandolin. However, despite the inclusion of progressive musical exercises and a selection of set pieces, I would say there are better instructional texts for beginners. A couple of examples for Celtic musicians would be Irish Mandolin Playing: A Complete Guide and A Complete Guide to Learning the Irish Mandolin.

[Xenophon · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the classic "For Dummies" formula works for you, I highly recommend this guide to mandolin structure, playing, maintenance, and so forth.

Don Julin gets the job done.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm using it to learn mandolin. Either I'm completely musically inept or one of the earliest audio tracks didn't match the figure it corresponded to in the book. A lot of information and I'm sure I didn't get most of it in the first read. Now I'm slowly going back and doing the exercises and sticking with them until I feel I'm ready to move on. We'll see how I do.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a step by step introduction to learning the mandolin. I had planned to teach myself by YouTube videos but when they moved too fast this book was the perfect remedy.

[Johann]

I was REALLY into playing the mandolin for a while. Then I got tired of the sound of it, saw a video of Andres Segovia playing classical guitar, and moved on.

[Natashya KitchenPuppies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, I just wish this one had come with the cd instead of having to download from the computer. I don't tend to play in front of my computer.
But if you were going to have a bunch of beginner books - it would be worth throwing this in too.

[Shaun Deane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantasmic, practical, thorough - terrific resource