Save $75 on Late Summer Courses through 8/9! Bluegrass Jamming, Mandolin Practice Techniques II and Morning Mandolin Meditations Begin 8/24-25

“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

The Bluegrass Mandolin 101 online lessons program continues this summer with two four-week long intensive courses designed to help you improve your technique, learn some tunes and help you have more fun playing the mandolin, plus a new program: Morning Mandolin Meditations.

Bluegrass Mandolin Jamming with Matt Flinner Curriculum Registration

Mandolin Practice Techniques II with Matt Flinner Curriculum Registration

Morning Mandolin Meditations with Matt Flinner Curriculum Registration

The Bluegrass Mandolin Jamming course (August 24-September 19) is intended to help students play standard fiddle tunes with other people while improving their general playing technique. Each week, students will receive four new tunes from the bluegrass and old-time traditions (from beginner to advanced level) along with ways of playing rhythm, approaches to creating variations on the tune, and some exercises to help with fundamental technique. The goal is to help students learn more tunes, learn practical approaches to playing those tunes, and get out and play with other people!

The course fee is $150. Register by 8/9 for just $75!

The Mandolin Practice Techniques II course (August 25-September 19) is intended to help the aspiring mandolin student practice more efficiently and improve their playing skills more quickly. Students will be given exercises in the following areas: picking exercises, arpeggios, scales, chord exercises, double stops, and a tune for the week. Students will receive the materials in PDF form (in tablature and standard notation), and Matt will then guide them through the exercises. Matt will then help students build daily practice sessions (as short as 15 minutes and as long as an hour—or longer if they want to!), giving them tips on how to improve and how to practice more effectively.

The course fee is $150. Register by 8/9 for just $75!

The Morning Mandolin Meditations (August 25-September 19) are intended to help students practice along with Matt in a daily routine that will include tunes, picking exercises, double stop exercises and a handful of other exercises as they come up. Time will be spent warming up with a couple of exercises, then we’ll play a tune with the metronome for an extended period of time, starting slow and gradually speeding up to performance tempo. Fundamentals of picking and general technique will be addressed as we go along to help students feel more confident and to be able to play along at faster tempos (as one would in a jam session). At the end, we’ll play a tune several times through at a moderate tempo to get into “the zone” for a little while. It’s a great way to start the day!

There is no registration fee for this course. Students can register and then show up as often as they like and donate as they choose.

The Bluegrass Mandolin Jamming course (August 24-September 19) takes place on Monday evenings at 9 pm eastern time. We’ll also have practice/review sessions on Saturdays at 10 am eastern time. Monday class sessions will take place August 24, 31, September 7 and 14, and Saturday follow-up practice sessions will take place August 29, September 5, 12 and 19. All live sessions are recorded and uploaded to a class website, where they are viewable generally by the following day (in the case of Saturday practice sessions, they’re often available to view later that day). The course fee is $150. Register by 8/9 for just $75! Register here.

The Mandolin Practice Techniques II course (August 25-September 19) meets on Tuesdays at 1 and 9 pm eastern time, with follow-up practice sessions Saturday mornings at 11 am eastern time. NOTE: Tuesday afternoon sessions take place at 1 pm eastern time—a more convenient time for our friends in the UK and Europe! 1 pm eastern time translates to 6 or 7 pm in the UK and most of Europe. Students are welcome to join in on either or both of the Tuesday sessions each week (they will be essentially identical to one another in content). Tuesday class sessions will take place August 24, September 1, 8 and 15, and Saturday follow-up practice sessions will take place August 29, September 5, 12 and 19. All live sessions are recorded and uploaded to a class website, where they are viewable generally by the following day (in the case of Saturday practice sessions, they’re often available to view later that day). The course fee is $150. Register by 8/9 for just $75! Register here.

The Morning Mandolin Meditations course (August 24-September 19) takes place Monday through Saturday mornings at 11 am eastern time, with a live “jam” on Sunday evenings at 7 pm eastern time. All live sessions are recorded and available for students to view afterwards via video streaming links. The course fee is by donation (suggested fee is $5-10 per session, or whatever you can/feel like donating). Register here.

ALL class materials (PDFs, practice mp3s, short practice videos and class session videos) are available for students to download (in the Bluegrass Jamming and Mandolin Practice Techniques II courses) or stream (in the Morning Mandolin Meditations) for future use.

The course fees for the Bluegrass Jamming and Mandolin Practice Techniques courses are $150. Register by 8/9 for just $75! Just register at the link(s) for the course(s) you want to take, and we’ll email you an invoice via PayPal for the course fee(s) ($75 per course). There is no registration fee for the Morning Mandolin Meditations course; participants show up as often as they like and donate as they choose.

All students access to the live sessions as well as all materials (PDFs, mp3s, practice videos and class session videos), which they can download for future use.

Here’s a little more info about the Bluegrass Mandolin 101 online experience that I hope will give you a good idea of how the program works.

BLUEGRASS MANDOLIN 101

Matt Flinner started the Bluegrass Mandolin 101 program in the fall of 2013. Along the way, the program has helped hundreds of students improve their mandolin playing in a wide variety of styles. The program offers a unique approach to online mandolin lessons that gives students the best of both live lessons as well as recorded mandolin instructional videos, audio recordings and written materials. The courses focus on helping mandolin students get to the next level in their playing and broaden their understanding of a variety of American musical traditions.

A UNIQUE APPROACH: LIVE INSTRUCTION AND INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

Part of what makes the Bluegrass Mandolin 101 program unique is the fact that students follow a step-by-step program of live lessons over a four or eight week course. The courses follow a carefully planned curriculum in the given style or area of technique, and the live lessons get a little more challenging each week as the course progresses. Classes meet twice per week: on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening, depending on the course, and on Saturday morning/afternoon, when students can join a follow-up practice session to review that week’s material. Students can view the live lessons via their computer, iPad or smart phone. Students are encouraged to ask questions during the class sessions via a chat window and/or their external or built-in microphone (this microphone is muted unless the student requests to use it). And students do not need a webcam.

All live sessions are also recorded so that students can review them any time if they are unable to make it to the live sessions; this also gives students the added convenience of going through the material as many times as they want to. Students are given access to a private class website where they can find these recorded sessions and they can also view and download all PDFs of the materials and several practice mp3s of that week’s song(s) recorded at various tempos. Students will also be given download links for all class videos so that they can view them offline at their convenience on into the future. In essence, all materials from the course are for the students to keep.

One aspect of the live class schedule that makes the program so effective is that students are generally more encouraged to practice in order to keep up with the schedule. Students are given a list of suggested priorities each week, depending on their ability level and amount of practice time, and all material is then reviewed in the Saturday practice session so that students get another chance to run through it with the instructor. Just by showing up, students will run through the material twice each week—for many of us, that’s already an improvement!

HOW INTERACTIVE ARE THE COURSES?

All live sessions are interactive; students can ask questions and/or demonstrate tunes or exercises via live microphone or telephone, 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. Another form of interaction comes via mp3 recordings; students can record mp3s on their own time 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. Students can post their mp3s on the class site (and likely get encouraging feedback from other students in addition to the instructor) or email them privately to the instructor.

HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO PRACTICE?

That is completely up to the student. While, say, 30 minutes per day might be a good recommendation for practice time, students can make whatever they choose of this course based on their own schedule and aspirations. Practicing week to week (again, say 30 minutes per day) will help students keep up with the week’s lessons and concepts, but the instructor knows that people have busy lives! This is why all instructional material is archived and available for download so that students can learn on their own time after the course has finished as well as during the eight weeks of classes. However, one advantage to the four-week scheduled course is that by practicing at least somewhat regularly, students are more able to be prepared for the following week’s lessons and therefore take full advantage of the live and recorded mix of lesson material.

Students can decide whether to practice along with the class session or with the shorter individual videos (or both), 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 (or intermediate to advanced, depending on the course), 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) based on their ability level and how much practice time they have. Any material they were unable to get to during the week and want to revisit later will be available in the archived videos and PDFs. The instructor will also give students a recommended list of priorities each week to help students take the best advantage of their practice time.

THE CLASS WEBPAGE

This is the virtual gathering place for the courses, where students can view the instructional videos, view and/or download all written materials, listen to mp3s of Matt playing the tunes, get listening recommendations, ask questions, submit their own mp3s for feedback and generate forum discussions. It’s a great place to drop by any time and explore, learn and discuss.

REGISTRATION FEE

Fees for the 4-week summer courses are $150 each.

Here are a few quotes from some past students about their experiences in the Bluegrass Mandolin 101 program:

“I’ve participated in many online learning programs, but so far, your format is the best I’ve ever seen. I am so pleased I happened upon your courses.”—Gina M.

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

“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 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.

“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.

“I’m really enjoying the course. The first time I’ve actually practiced an instrument in my 60 years!”—Skip H.

To visit the registration pages, click one of these links: