Fundamentals of Bluegrass Mandolin

• Getting in tune
• "Gold Rush", lead and rhythm
• Getting comfortable with the mandolin
• Posture with respect to right and left hands
• Left hand position- stretch and angle
• Playing in front of a mirror
• Left hand position- more stretching, slides and such
• Left hand- bend that finger
• Where to put the thumb
• Finger exercises you can do away from the mandolin
• Finger exercises on the mandolin
• More mechanics of mandolin playing
• "Angelina Baker"- the "strummy style"
• Pick types
• Picking mechanics
• Working on the subconscious
• Pick twisting
• Working on a loose right hand and controlling volume
• "Strumming" on the back of the mando to control right hand angle
• Controlling the chop
• Playing "air" mandolin to develop the right hand
• "Punching" chords to develop chop control
• Practicing- load, clear, load, clear….

End of really basic stuff- stop and practice for a few months

Timer starts

• 2:01 down/up strokes for picking
• 2:04 working with the metronome
• 2:08 right hand timing- punching the beat
• 2:11 scales and noodling
• 2:20 turning noodling into breaks
• 2:21 developing left hand feel
• 2:23 more scales and practicing them
• 2:27 playing rhythm
• 2:28 but first…learning the notes of the fingerboard…
• 2:31 how to build chords…
• 2:33 …including 2-finger chords for a clean chop
• 2:34 elements of a clean chop
• 2:36 finding good chop chords and making moving bass lines
• 2:42 making 7^th chords and such
• 2:45 minimizing chord movement
• 2:48 using chords for solos (Rawhide)
• 2:50 another strummy tune: Angelina the Baker
• 2:52 mixing strums with picking: Bill Cheatham
• 2:54 using the tremolo: Midnight on the Water
• 2:57 turning a picking tune into tremolo: Whiskey Before Breakfast