Mandolin Double Stops Intensive Curriculum (June 12-July 13)

“Thanks for the terrific class! I had my mandolin lurking in the corner for 9 months before I took this class. I played with it now and then but felt out of my depth, having only played piano in the past. A few weeks into your class, I couldn’t put down my mandolin, practicing far more than my kids want me to. In addition to the wonderful tunes we learned in class, I started to pick out other melodies like Christmas carols, simple gifts, harry potter, star wars; anything I hear I want to find it on the mandolin.”—Randy R.

“Your classes are the best and most successful learning approach for me, Thank you.”—-Eric B.

See the Bluegrass Jamming Curriculum (June 10-July 13)

See the Scale and Arpeggio Intensive Curriculum (June 11-July 13)

This course is intended to help students with fundamentals while learning the fretboard. Double stops in various keys will be looked at, along with picking exercises (which will sometimes incorporate those double stops) to help improve efficiency and speed. And we’ll focus quite a bit on improving our tone and getting the most sound out of our instruments that we can. Each week, we’ll also learn a tune (sometimes bluegrass or folk, sometimes Beatles, sometimes Bob Dylan) and look at various ways of using double stops either as part of the melody or as a way of varying the melody.

The course is intended for players of all levels who want to go deeper into the fundamentals of playing the mandolin, especially tone, picking ability and, of course, double stops.

Here is the curriculum:

WEEK 1 (June 12)

Picking Exercise I

Double Stop Exercise in G

Double Stop Exercise in A

Moving Smoothly Between Double Stops

Chord Forms in G and A

You Ain’t Going Nowhere

WEEK 2 (June 19)

Picking Exercise II

Moving Between Double Stops on a Chord Progression

Double Stop Exercise in C