The Mandolin Picker's Guide to Bluegrass Improvisation

Mel Bay Publications
Level : Beginning-Intermediate
With notes and TAB

A new book on improvisation is now available for bluegrass mandolin players. Based on the concept of learning by playing, this 200 page book covers a wide range of improvisation tools and how to implement them in your playing. A large number of examples are presented in both tablature and standard notation, so that a theoretical background is not required. The small amount of theory needed is simply presented and easily learned step by step.

A series of exercises designed to help the player develop improvisational skills are included in the book.

The major-themes in the book are:
 • The pentatonic sound
 • scale and major-chord based improvising with any Bluegrass-Tune
 • Double-stop improvisation
 • Minor chords and Keys
 • The blues sound
 • Melody oriented improvisation
 • How to use: Monroe Style, Cross picking, Hot licks, how to simplify a lick, and more.
 • MP3 CD accompanies book featuring all examples