Beyond Bluegrass Mandolin (book/CD)

Publisher: Berklee Press
Etudes and Ideas for the Modern Mandolinist
Author: John McGann
Author: Matt Glaser

Improvise with more expression and freedom in bluegrass and related styles. These ideas, exercises, and etudes will help you expand your palette of improvisational techniques and sounds. Develop your versatility over the fingerboard, and master harmonic and rhythmic ideas on the violin. The CD has demonstration and play-along tracks, performed by an all-star band.

You will learn to build solos using techniques such as:
• Uncovering a melody's most defining notes, and using it in a new context
• Reharmonizing chords and changing modes
• Breaking down, rearranging, and varying melodic and rhythmic cells
• Using position shifts, string crossings, and double stops
• Drawing from tetrachords, guide-tone lines, and other constructs