What Should I Practice? Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced musician, mastering any musical instrument is a marathon that requires years of dedication, discipline, and good planning. A well-organized practice routine, as outlined in this article, is not...
Accelerate Your Musical Journey: 25 Expert Tips for Rapid Instrument Learning You likely don’t need to be reminded that only consistent practice will help you achieve your goals. Ultimately, it does come down to the time spent on the instrument. No matter how...
Learn Four Classic Blues Mandolin Songs Finding blues music for the mandolin is a challenge at the best of times, so in this lesson, we will learn four popular blues classics. Very few blues songs are written specifically for mandolin, so we borrow a few from the...
Here is a wonderful photo essay on how to build a mandola instrument from scratch. Yair Stern is a talented Canadian luthier who builds mandolas, among other instruments, including mandolins, octave mandolins and guitars. Mr. Stern has agreed to share photos taken...
Introduction to the Mandola The mandola is not exactly an instrument you hear of every day. Sometimes hard to find and even harder to find any music to play. My spell checker doesn’t even know the word! When I type in mandola, I get the correction...
Two Mandolin Arrangements Just In Time For the Holidays Hello, here are a few mandolin arrangements just in time for the holiday season. I have a few tunes worked out in the chordal melody style which is when you combine the chords and melody together. See the free...
Top 10 Tips for Better Music Rhythm If I could sum up the most requested question after 30 years of teaching music, it would be “I need help with strumming and rhythm.” While some students get rhythm right away, most need many hours of practice to develop...
In today’s blues mandolin lesson, we will create a 4-riff blues solo over a 12 bar blues progression in the key of G by using a few of the G scales below. We will repeat and transpose the riffs to match the chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression. If you are...
Grab your mandolin, and let’s jam some blues! Though blues may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you picture the mandolin, be sure with a slide here and a hammer on there, you can be as expressive on this 4-string axe as any! Here’s a few...
Improvising a music solo is intimidating when you first start out and also if you are a seasoned player. There is so much to consider when you make a solo. The theoretical part of knowing which scales to use to the emotional intent must be taken into account. It can...
As complex as music theory may seem, always keep in mind, “theory is a means to an end” and not an end in itself. In other words, theory can only take you so far. Eventually, to play music, try to lock into the song’s particular feeling and play from...
Toronto-based trumpeter and composer Brad Eaton draws inspiration from all corners of today’s diverse musical landscape. As the son of two professional trumpet players, Brad was deeply immersed in music and the arts. Brad is a graduate of the University of Toronto...
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