“After buying six mandolins and umpteen books…I am convinced your course is best $100 I have invested in my mandolin journey to date. Finally, I’m getting the discpline I need with your exercises to learn scales, arpeggios, double stops, fingering techniques, learn the fretboard (the essential tools I need)…and most importantly to learn how those things fit into playing tunes.”—Rick D., Bluegrass Mandolin 101 student
“I have to say that making everything available online is a great convenience for me. Being able to stop and return to a more challenging exercise or a newer phrase is a great for learning. I also really appreciate your availability to answer questions offline. This is a great course, and I feel as though I’m improving daily because of it.”—Joe C., Bluegrass Mandolin 101 student
Register for Swing Mandolin Jamming
See other courses offered this summer.
This course is intended to help the aspiring mandolinist build up repertoire and find ways of creating new solos over commonly played swing and jazz standards; it’s also designed in the hope that it will encourage students to get out and jam with other players!
The course is a continuation of the Swing Jamming course which takes place from July 6-29. However, it is not necessary for students to have taken the Swing Jamming I course to participate in the Swing Jamming II course.
Each week, we’ll look at four swing/jazz standard tunes with a particular concept in mind—the blues, ii/V/Is etc. Students will be given lead sheets (in standard notation and tablature) for each song, as well as a few exercises to help them learn more about the fretboard and start incorporating new ideas into their solos. Concepts and tunes will be taught during the class session, and all tunes will be revisited during Saturday practice sessions in a “jam session” format, where each song is played several times though, and students have the opportunity to try out some of the week’s concepts on the tunes (with guidance from Matt).
Sessions 1 and 2 will take place Thursday, August 17 and Thursday, August 24 at 9 pm eastern time. Sessions 3 and 4 will take place Wednesday, August 30 and Wednesday, September 6 at 9 pm eastern time. There will also be 45-minute review sessions every Saturday morning at 12:15 pm eastern time.
The course fee is $125.
WEEK 1 (August 17)
Back to the Blues
Blues Patterns
Moving 7th Chords Around
Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues Are
All Blues
Blues By Five
St. James Infirmary
WEEK 2 (August 24)
Minor Keys
Choosing Minor Scales
Minor Chord Inversions
Blue Skies
I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)
Summertime
My Funny Valentine
My Favorite Things
WEEK 3 (August 30)
Modulation
Further adventures in ii-V-Is
Finding Common Tones Between Chords
Polka Dots and Moonbeams
Blue Moon
Sweet Lorraine
Love for Sale
This Can’t Be Love
WEEK 4 (September 7)
More Complex Progressions
I-VI-II-V-I Progressions
Some Chord and Scale Substitutions
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
Back Home Again in Indiana
Just You, Just Me
Lester Leaps In
The course fee is $125.
See the Bluegrass Jamming II Curriculum
See the Scale and Arpeggio Intensive II Curriculum