Mandolin

Great news, we've got some more mandolin lessons up in the Additional Tunes & More area: "Big Man From Syracuse", and "Soldier's Joy". As a bonus, we also have Mike performing these tunes with Caterina Lichtenberg from their recent performance at the Freight & Salvage. These are also both new VE categories, so you can submit your own versions of these tunes directly through the lesson pages now for Mike's feedback. To get to the new stuff, there's a link the lessons on the left and a link to the performances on the right if you click on the images below.

Great news, we've got some more mandolin lessons up in the Additional Tunes & More area: "Big Man From Syracuse", and "Soldier's Joy". As a bonus, we also have Mike performing these tunes with Caterina Lichtenberg from their recent performance at the Freight & Salvage. These are also both new VE categories, so you can submit your own versions of these tunes directly through the lesson pages now for Mike's feedback. To get to the new stuff, there's a link the lessons on the left and a link to the performances on the right if you click on the images below.

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Seasons Greetings! We got a couple new mandolin lessons up in the Additional Tunes & More area.   

The first one is a Chanukah song called "Oifen Pripitchik" - which translates to "By the Fireplace". The next lesson is the famous Django Reinhardt tune "Minor Swing"… there has been a lot of discussion on here about this one so Mike's recorded a 4-part lesson that goes over some great ideas and variations for the chords, melody, and ways to think about improvising leads over the song.

UPDATE: We just added another one: Silent Night, a new three part lesson that breaks down the holiday classic by chords, melody and variations.

Seasons Greetings! We got a couple new mandolin lessons up in the Additional Tunes & More area.   

The first one is a Chanukah song called "Oifen Pripitchik" - which translates to "By the Fireplace". The next lesson is the famous Django Reinhardt tune "Minor Swing"… there has been a lot of discussion on here about this one so Mike's recorded a 4-part lesson that goes over some great ideas and variations for the chords, melody, and ways to think about improvising leads over the song.

UPDATE: We just added another one: Silent Night, a new three part lesson that breaks down the holiday classic by chords, melody and variations.

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Presented in association with Holocaust Education Week and the Yellow Rose Project, Mike Marshall will be leading the Ger Mandolin Orchestra on November 7 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Also playing in the orchestra with Mike will be an all-star cast of mandolinists that include: Chris Acquavella, Tom Cohen, Tim Connell, Brian Oberlin, Dana Rath, Adam Roskiewicz, Eric Stein, Jeff Warschauer, Don Stiernberg, and Radim Zenkl.

Watch the video below for a look into the group's culturally rich history and footage from their 2011 Concert in Góra Kalwaria. Click on the picture for more information about the show.

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"It's never perfect, but we do the best we can." - Mike Marshall 

Mandolin tuning is so incredibly important, and something you'll definitely want to master before you even think about playing with anyone else. If your mandolin is not in tune, it doesn't matter how good you are - it's just not going to sound good. If you're new to learning mandolin, tuning a mandolin is not exactly an intuitive process… As Mike mentions, there's a saying that goes: if you've been playing mandolin for 30 years, you spend 15 of those years mandolin tuning and the other 15 years playing out of tune.

The truth is, it takes a lot to tune a mandolin and get it right, but the good news is that there's many who have come before you. So pay attention to this tutorial all about mandolin tuning from Mike Marshall and learn how to tune a mandolin from a master. Read More

We got some new videos up from the 2013 Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz, CA. For anyone not in the know, for the past ten years now Mike Marshall and David Grisman have been putting on a real mother of mandolin events, hands down THE mandolin event to end all mandolin events, at the beautiful University of California campus in Santa Cruz, California. If you're serious about all things mandolin this is something you must definitely look into - find out more at http://www.mandolinsymposium.com/.

But even if you can't make it, fear not, for we have footage. Aside from all the great Mandolin Symposium 2011 stuff already up (be sure to get on it if you haven't already), we have a brand new batch of videos from the most recent Symposium that took place in June featuring Mike playing with Don Stiernberg, Adam Steffey and the Dawg himself. Click on the picture to jump to the new section or just find it all in Music+. 

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AW: What's your name?

Mrs. Beach: Mrs. Anni Beach -- Everyone calls me Mrs. Beach.

AW: How old are you?

Mrs. Beach: Soon to be 70! I can't believe it, but I love it.

AW: Where are you from?

Mrs. Beach: Vancouver, Washington was my growing-up home. But I've lived in the Southwest since 1969-17 years on the Navajo Reservation.

AW: How many years have you been playing mandolin?

Mrs. Beach: I've been struggling with this great instrument [mandolin] for 20 years.

AW: What's your name?

Mrs. Beach: Mrs. Anni Beach -- Everyone calls me Mrs. Beach.

AW: How old are you?

Mrs. Beach: Soon to be 70! I can't believe it, but I love it.

AW: Where are you from?

Mrs. Beach: Vancouver, Washington was my growing-up home. But I've lived in the Southwest since 1969-17 years on the Navajo Reservation.

AW: How many years have you been playing mandolin?

Mrs. Beach: I've been struggling with this great instrument [mandolin] for 20 years.

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Mandolin Master Mike Marshall (aka MMMM) calls them finger busters in his online mandolin lessons (learn more at www.mikemarshallmandolin.com). They're valuable mandolin exercises that build up speed and strength so that when you are playing, you’ve done the work to keep your playing in the pocket and your head in the song, rather than struggling to keep up.

"When it comes to tremolos, as a mandolin player, you need to have a variety of speeds, styles and range."  -Mike Marshall

Ah, the tremolo... those rapid, repeated striking of the strings which imitate the effect of a violin bow.  Such a nice sound when done correctly.  Tremolos are among the many ways to expand your mandolin technique and can add a lot of depth and emotion to your playing.  In this video from Mike Marshall's mandolin lessons, we explore the entire mandolin using tremolos. 

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