Bluegrass Mandolin 101 Online Lessons: An Introduction

This page was published in December of 2013. To view the current list of courses offered, visit the Winter Online Course page.

Hi folks,

The first Bluegrass Mandolin 101 course took place this past October and November, and was a lot of fun and very productive—we learned a lot! The next course begins January 7th and runs through March 1st. In this course we’ll be focusing on general technique and working toward improvisation. More details on the curriculum page.

Here’s a video that gives you an idea of what the course provides and what you’ll need to participate:

Bluegrass Mandolin 101 is set to become a quarterly course focusing on helping mandolin students get to the next level in their playing and broaden their understanding of the bluegrass, old-time and fiddle tune traditions. This unique approach to online mandolin lessons gives students the best of both worlds: access to live lessons as well as recorded instructional videos.

Part of what makes Bluegrass Mandolin 101 unique is the fact that students follow a step-by-step program over an eight-week course, and tend to be more motivated to practice in order to be more prepared for the next live class session. They have unlimited access to the instructional videos, as in many other online programs, but are following a regular schedule which encourages them to actually practice the material regularly during the eight week period.

The live lessons take place every Tuesday night from 8-9 pm Central time. Students also have access to video recordings of all of these sessions as well (generally by the following morning). In addition, shorter practice videos of the material are immediately available for viewing along with PDFs of the materials in standard notation and tablature. There are also live practice sessions every Saturday morning from 10-10:45 am Central time in which students get a chance to review the previous session’s material and learn more about how to create a practice routine. These sessions are also recorded and available for view by later that afternoon.

All live sessions are interactive; students can ask questions and/or demonstrate tunes or exercises via live microphone or telephone (more info about this in the video), or via a chat window (most students opt for this approach). The instructor is able to immediately respond and demonstrate the answers for the whole class. Students can also record mp3s of themselves playing the material (or anything else they want to send in) and send it to the instructor for feedback, which is also recorded in mp3 form and sent back to the student. During the week, students can decide whether to practice along with the class session or with the shorter individual videos, depending on what they want to focus on for that week. Material is given each week that is targeted toward various ability levels; a song is given which is playable for beginning to intermediate players, and various concepts relating to that song are also given to educate and challenge players at beginning, intermediate and even advanced levels. The student essentially decides how much they want to take on for the week (and the course); any material they want to revisit later will be available in the archived videos.

Here are a few quotes from past students about their experience in Bluegrass Mandolin 101:

“I’ve practiced more in two weeks than I have in months! Really enjoying how it’s going.”—Donna O.

“The level was perfect. Mentally I understand many things that have opened up the fingerboard a lot; now I need some quality time to get it under my hands. I found things challenging without feeling out of reach.”—Stan M.

“It was nice there were various assignments which pushed my ability. Never felt I had “mastered” ALL the homework so never got bored. Always something to work on or do next.”—Joe S.

To view the curriculum for the upcoming course, click here. To register, click here.

Happy holidays, and I hope to see you January 7th!

All the best,
Matt