Mandolin Lessons
The Musician’s Studio’s Mandolin lessons are available at all levels and styles for all ages from eight to eighty. I’ll teach you about the care and function of the mandolin’s parts including the peg head and its tuning machines, the body, neck, fingerboard, strings, frets, tailpiece, and nut. You’ll learn about the many structural and sonic differences of the various models of the mandolin such as F styles, A styles and O styles along with the historical changes that these small sized but big-hearted instruments have undergone.
Beginner level instruction will start out with the essential beginning skills you’ll need to get started playing the mandolin such as the proper playing position for correct technique so as not to create any bad habits. You’ll learn the importance of how and where to hold the various styles of mandolin picks for a different result in volume and tone along with the what, where and how to correctly attach and wear the different styles of mandolin straps for your individual comfort requirement.
Strumming basic chord shapes will be a big part of the beginner’s main focus and open position chords will be learned through popular songs in various genres of music such as Celtic/Irish, Italian, Classical, Rock, and Blues styles. As you progress to a higher level, single note playing will be introduced and we’ll explain the fundamentals of reading tablature aka “tab” & standard music notation in order to teach you basic melodies.
Emphasis will shift toward single note exercises for individual finger coordination and the various picking techniques required to play more complicated melodies found in faster styles of music such as Kentucky Bluegrass.