Mandolin Workshops

Scott Napier

Iconic Bluegrass Gospel Mandolin Kickoff

how to play them

Tricks of the Pick

Down strokes, up strokes, pick rotation, tremolo

All the different ways to use your pick while playing the mandolin, and best ways to excurse them.

Schedule

Instructors

Andra Faye

Three Chords & the Truth

Singing and playing with the mandolin, all rootsy styles

Blues Mandolin

Blue notes and getting your blues on!

Online Registration

click below for a pdf of the Workshop Schedule

Registration Form PDF

Memphis Beck Gentry

Women in Music: a personal history

Memphis Beck Gentry was the voice of the Fall City Ramblers, and fronted other bands during her career. Featured in a chapter of Pretty Good for a Girl , she will share experiences from her career and those of other women that she has worked with over the years.

Types of Music to Play on the Mandolin

Beck has played music all her life and covered a wide variety of genres as a performing musician from blues to swing to classical. Join her to discuss the variety of genres that the mandolin can be used for.

Don Julin

Five Notes That Will Change Your Life

What do the melodies of Amazing Grace, Angelina Baker, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Nine Pound Hammer, The Old Home Place (verse), Poor Wayfaring Stranger, and Long Journey Home all have in common? All of these melodies are made up of the same five notes. We call this specific group of pitches a Pentatonic Scale. Once you learn a few accessible positions to play these pentatonic scales on your mandolin (or whatever instrument you play), you can unlock the melodies to many of your favorite tunes. See how five notes can change your world.

Getting The Most From Your Metronome and Practice Apps

This workshop focuses on how to use your metronome to improve your sense of time and space, allowing you to play faster, smoother, and more musical in any style. This hands-on workshop covers essential timing concepts and will get you listening for the beat, dividing beats, counting rests, and feeling two and four-bar phrases like you never have before. You will learn about a practice app that can make practice more fun and a metronome practice technique that will change your playing forever!

Scott Risner

Improvising Using Double Stops

Quick introduction to the Nashville number system;
One fret, two fret, three fret, repeat (double stop interval);
No fret, one fret, two fret, repeat;
Double stop scales. Moving around the 1 and 5 interval;
Patterns to play and licks within those patterns.

Tone Up! Get the Best Tone from your Mandolin

How to change your strings;
Proper set up (Is your mandolin set up properly for optimum payability and tone?);
Seating the bridge and bridge angle
Bridge intonation (start with the A string first - Sharp back, Flat forward)
String action - roughly between 1.5 & 1.3 mm
Truss rod adjustment - upbow (tighten - each end is higher than the middle) or back bow (loosen - middle is higher) You want somewhere between straight and a back bow.
Eliminate a buzz (sympathetic buzz or fret buzz - high fret)
Pick choice (I will bring an assortment of picks to show and hear);
Pick grip (I will show pics of different professional player’s grips and discuss pros and cons);
Pick angle and position on the strings (tonal differences of pick angle and where you play. Is there a sweet spot?);
Pick attack & pattern - play both strings and up and down picking. Use the string below and above as your stop points initially for creating muscle memory.