These courses have concluded. To view the current list of courses offered, visit the Winter Online Course page.
Welcome to the Bluegrass Mandolin 101 online lessons program! Established in the fall of 2013 by Grammy-nominated mandolinist Matt Flinner, the Bluegrass Mandolin 101 program has become one of the premier mandolin learning methods in the world, whether online or offline. This program presents a variety of online mandolin courses from bluegrass to old-time to swing and jazz to rock and roll and more. Hundreds of students have improved their playing and broadened their horizons through this unique mix of live lessons and recorded materials.
For this fall, we’re offering three courses: Newgrass Mandolin, Celtic Mandolin and Mandolin for Beginners.
Mandolin for Beginners. September 26-December 10. This course is intended for beginning level players, and is designed to give the beginning mandolin student a solid foundation in basic mandolin technique, and help students start playing actual songs and tunes from the start. Chords, picking exercises, fingering exercises, rhythm exercises as well as tunes and songs will be taught each week in a progressive curriculum to help students establish good habits and enable them to advance more quickly in their mandolin playing. Live class sessions take place on Monday evenings, and practice/review follow-up sessions take place on Saturday mornings. The curriculum for the course can be viewed here. Register for Mandolin for Beginners here.
Newgrass Mandolin with Matt Flinner. September 27-December 10. This is intended for students at an intermediate to advanced level who want to broaden their musical horizons into modern “newgrass.” Students will learn to incorporate some ideas from rock & roll, blues and jazz as well as fiddle tunes to get a broader spectrum of sounds into their playing. Styles of Sam Bush and David Grisman will be discussed, along with some other modern players. Live class sessions take place on Tuesday evenings, and practice/review sessions take place on Saturday mornings. The curriculum for this course can be viewed here. Register here.
Celtic Mandolin with Matt Flinner. September 28-December 10. This course is recommended for players at an advanced beginner to intermediate level, and is intended to familiarize students with traditional Irish music on the mandolin. The course will explore techniques for playing lead and rhythm in traditional Irish fiddle tunes. Rhythm playing and picking technique on reels and jigs will be explored, as well as picking technique for triplets and various ways of playing ornamentations. Live class sessions take place on Wednesday evenings (except for a couple on Monday evenings), and practice/review sessions take place on Saturday mornings/afternoons (depending on your time zone). The curriculum can be viewed here. Register here.
Course fees are $200 for Newgrass Mandolin or Celtic Mandolin with Matt Flinner and $175 for Mandolin for Beginners.
Mandolin for Beginners Curriculum Register for Mandolin for Beginners
Newgrass Mandolin with Matt Flinner Curriculum Register for Newgrass Mandolin
Celtic Mandolin with Matt Flinner Curriculum Register for Celtic Mandolin
Questions? Email Matt at [email protected]
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Hi Matt,
If I sign up for the newgrass course, do I have to be available every Tuesday night and Saturday morning ?
Thanks,
Dan.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for getting in touch. You do not have to be present for all (or any) of the live class sessions. They will all be recorded, and those recorded videos will be uploaded to the class website by the following day, so you can view them any time at your own convenience. All videos are also downloadable, so you’ll be able to keep them and view them after the course has concluded.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks Dan!
Best,
Matt Flinner