Mandolin Lessons in Squirrel Hill North. Amazing Teachers.

Popular Mandolin, Bluegrass, Old-Timey, Rock, Blues, chords, scales, licks

I began learning mandolin several years ago and am proficient with chords and tunes. Classical or bluegrass style. I can teach sight reading music notation as well.

I teach beginner and intermediate mandolin, focussing on the basics of stringed instrument skills. We will spend some time reading basic melodies, learning the fretboard, and learning strumming styles and techniques. I have played mandolin for years and for several professional musicals.

I teach Mandolin using the Suzuki method and then branch out into into bluegrass mandolin playing. The mandolin is tuned like a violin double strings. So the left hand fingering is the same as the violin and the picking is similar to the guitar. If you play the violin then the main thing you need to learn is the right hand picking. If you play the guitar then you will need to learn the left hand fingering. Mandolin is a fun instrument to learn and to play.

music.

My Teaching Philosophy

Left Hand-
Scales and arpeggios our the bedrock of music. They are the foundation of everything harmonically and melodically. We will begin with learning our major, minor and pentatonic scales and corresponding arpeggios. Once we have an understanding of those we will delve into our modes and more “exotic” scales.

Right Hand-
The right hand is our time machine. It gives us the ability to play in time and with groove and feel. We will work on rhythmic studies string crossings and practicing with a metronome. Remembering music is harmony, Melody and rhythm working as one.
For those who are new to playing music the hardest thing for some to master is rhythm/time keeping. It is the black and white right or wrong of the music world. Often times our want to progress quickly is hampered by skipping over the basic building blocks of rhythm and time keeping.
The first critical step is the concept of subdivision. Subdivision it the mind ...