This course has concluded. To view the current list of courses offered, visit the Winter Online Course page.
Register for the Summer Intensive 102 course.
See all other courses offered this summer.
The Bluegrass Mandolin 101 online lessons program continues this summer with three more four-week long intensive courses designed to help your overall mandolin playing technique. Each week, we’ll look at seven exercises intended to increase your knowledge of the fretboard and help your picking hand control as we look at seven different areas: picking exercises, fingering exercises, scale exercises, arpeggios, chord exercises, double stops, and licks. We’ll also learn a new tune each week and apply the ideas from several of the exercises to that week’s tune; by practicing these exercises in this context, students get some practical applications for the exercises as well as some ideas for variations on tunes.
The 102 level course begins August 8 and runs through September 3. Class sessions meet every Monday evening from 8 to 9 pm central time, and practice/review sessions meet every Saturday from 9-9:45 am central time.
Students are encouraged to attend the live sessions to be able to interact more directly with the instructor, but live attendance is not required. Students will be able to view the recordings of all of the sessions any time afterward as often as they want through the class website.
You can register for the 102 course here.
For more information about other courses offered this summer, click here.
The 102 level course is intended for players at a beginner/intermediate level. While this course is a continuation of the Bluegrass Mandolin Intensive 101 course which completed in late July, it is not necessary for students to have taken the 101 course to be able to take the 102 course. 102 is intended to reinforce many of the concepts taught in 101 while pushing the student’s technique further than the 101 level did.
Here is the curriculum:
WEEK 1 (August 12):
Picking exercise using three rhythms
Hammer-on and pull-off fingering exercise
Chord Inversions
Major scales in six keys with a new pattern
Arpeggio exercise: going from I-IV, I-V and I-bVII using chord tones
Double Stop Exercise: Bile Them Cabbage Down Exercise in Six Keys
Hammer-on and pull-off licks
Tune of the week: Cluck Old Hen
WEEK 2 (August 19):
Tremolo exercise
Closed position fingering exercise across the strings
Chord exercise: waltz time using open style chords
Closed position scales and patterns in G, D, and A
Arpeggio exercise: closed position major arpeggios in seven keys
Double Stop Exercise: open style double stops
Monroe-style tag lick in six keys
Tune of the week: Tennessee Waltz
WEEK 3 (August 26):
Three string picking exercise
Chromatic fingering exercise I
Chord exercise: throwing some melodic runs into chord progressions
Scale exercise: major scales starting on 1, 3 and 5 in six keys
Arpeggio exercise: major arpeggios (1353) around the circle of fifths
Double stop exercise: double stops around the circle of fifths
Cool C and F licks
Tune of the week: Alabama Jubilee
WEEK 4 (September 9):
Four string picking exercise
Chromatic fingering exercise II
Blues chord progression using shuffle rhythm
Major scales in Bb, Eb, Ab, C#, F#, B
Arpeggio exercise: arpeggiating chord changes on tunes
Double stop exercise: double stops with neighbor tones
Blues lick in six keys
Tune of the week: T for Texas
The course fee is $120.
Register for 102 here.
For an overview of all summer courses, click here.