Mandolin Blues 1 - Introduction to the Course

Welcome to Mandolin Blues 1.

This is a short course, comprising of just three lessons. In each lesson we will be looking at a rhythm, a scale and a melody, each of which can be practiced over the backing track which accompanies the lesson in question. We shall also be talking about improvisation, a vital part of blues music in particular, with tips and exercises throughout to get you playing.

This course is mainly aimed at those students that have been playing mandolin for a little while, maybe having become comfortable with the strumming of basic chords and are looking for something a bit different to try. That being said, the majority of the exercises in this course are not out of reach for a beginner. The main hurdle is simply being able to hold down two pairs of strings with one finger, if you can do that then you are good to go.

How to use this course

Take each lesson as one task. Start with the rhythm, but don’t worry about getting this perfect before moving on to the scale, improvisation or melody. Presuming you are able to do a 40min practice at least 4 times a week then each lesson should represent between 2 and 4 weeks of playing, depending on what level you are at to start with. Your practice schedule each week should look something like this:

5 min Warm Up: Finger Gym

5 min Technical Exercise: Play That Weeks Scale

10 min Piece 1: Practice The Rhythm

10 min Piece 2: Practice the Melody

10 min Improvisation: Play the Scale over the backing track and try out the improvisation exercises.

If you do this 4 times a week you should hopefully see some steady progress in your playing. But, don’t expect perfection, it doesn’t exist. What you are aiming for is to be able to keep up with the backing track about 80% of the time before moving on to the next lesson. The things you will learn in this course are the start of years of ongoing progression, put simply, the more you play, the better you will become.

Other tips

• Don’t leave your instrument in its case all the time, leave it out where you can pick it up as you walk past, even if to just strum a few chords or pick a simple tune. All playing is good for you.
• Instead of procrastinating away from your music practice by doing the washing, procrastinate away from the washing by picking the mandolin up.
• Don’t let this course be your only playing whilst you are going through it, play other stuff in between. This will a) stop you getting bored and b) stop you obsessing over every little note.
• Remember, this is supposed to be fun.