Description

A new book on improvisation is now available for bluegrass mandolin players. Based on the concept of learning by playing, this 200 page book covers a wide range of improvisation tools and how to implement them in your playing. A large number of examples are presented in both tablature and standard notation, so that a theoretical background is not required. The small amount of theory needed is simply presented and easily learned step by step.A series of exercises designed to help the player develop improvisational skills are included in the book. As an instruction tool, the book can easily be combined with the instructor’s individual philosophy or by a student wishing to studyalone. The subject matter is varied in difficulty and can be used by both the beginner and more advanced player as an instructional guide and reference book. The major-themes in the book are: The pentatonic sound, scale and major-chord based improvising with any Bluegrass-Tune, Double-stop improvisation, Minor chords and Keys, The blues sound, Melody oriented improvisation, How to use: Monroe Style, Cross picking, Hot licks, how to simplify a lick, and more. Includes access to online audio that features all examples.

Contents

1. About the Author/Credits
2. Introduction
3. Chapter 1 Theory
4. The major scale
5. Intervals
6. Chapter 2 Chord Tones
7. Chapter 3 For the Beginner
8. The double-stop shuffle
9. Chapter 4 The Pentatonic Sound
10. The major pentatonic scale
11. Chapter 5 Let’s Play Bluegrass
12. Chapter 6 Slow Improvising
13. Chapter 7 Stationary Improvising
14. Chapter 8 Let’s Improvise
15. Troubleshooting
16. Easy playing
17. Chapter 9 The Spices
18. The minor 3rd
19. The minor 7th
20. The perfect 4th
21. The major 7th
22. Connection lines
23. Chapter 10 Mixing the Ideas
24. Chapter 11 One-Bar Licks
25. Chapter 13 The G Chord
26. Chapter 12 Last Line Licks
27. Chapter 14 The C Chord
28. Chapter 15 The F Chord
29. Chapter 16 Other Major Chords
30. The Bf chord
31. The B chord
32. Transposing up the neck
33. Chapter 17 Double-stops
34. The structures
35. Chapter 18 Playing Around with Double-stops
36. The movements
37. The picked slide
38. Ghost notes
39. Chapter 19 Other Double-Stops Ideas
40. Connecting the structures
41. Other double-stops shapes
42. Chord numbers
43. Harmonizing the major-scale
44. Major-scale movements
45. Chord related movements
46. The minor 7th sound
47. Chapter 20 Minor Chords
48. The dorian scale
49. The minor scale
50. The minor (no 6th) scale
51. The phrygian scale
52. The ( IV m ) chord
53. Chapter 21 Minor Keys
54. Horizontal playing
55. Symmetrical sequences
56. Adjustable playing
57. Vertical playing
58. The V chord in a minor key
59. The harmonic minor scale
60. The harmonic minor (no 6th) scale
61. Chapter 22 The Blues Sound
62. The blues scale
63. Mountain minor
64. The extended blues scale
65. Chapter 23 Monroe Style
66. Anticipating the tonic
67. The f 7 as leading tone
68. Down strokes
69. Chapter 24 Cross Picking
70. The two-string cross picking technique
71. The three-string cross picking technique
72. Chapter 25 The Melody
73. Chapter 26 Other Spices
74. The mixolydian scale
75. Neighbor tones
76. Chromatic
77. The minor-pentatonic scale
78. The relative minor
79. Chord substitutions
80. Chapter 27 Hot Licks
81. Triplets
82. Large movements
83. Rhythmic displacement
84. Chapter 28 How to Simplify a Lick
85. Skipping tones
86. Staying on chord tones
87. Limited improvisation
88. Lick replacement
89. Conclusion
90. Appendix