Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hal Leonard
• DVD Release Date: June 1, 2002
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006G2TO
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,381 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Chris Thile, mandolin virtuoso for the hit band Nickel Creek, shares his own successful formula for developing right- and left-hand dexterity, improving speed and accuracy, and playing with heightened musicality. Includes numerous tunes and exercises that will make a big difference in your playing. As a bonus, you'll hear astonishing performances of Chris' original tunes "When Mandolins Dream" and "Raining at Sunset." Includes music and tab. 85 minutes....

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chris is amazing, October 1, 2003

By 

GB Guitars "gbroulet" (Colfax, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Techniques for Mandolin (DVD)

As another review mentioned, this is an intermediate to advanced DVD. But that's ok, as our skills develop so should our teaching materials.

After some basic information on how to hold the pick and how to keep the right wrist loose while picking Chris jumps right into a basic tune, "Red Haired Boy" which he uses to demonstrate several techniques throughout the DVD. He covers scale positions, arppegios, position shifting, right hand technique, and left hand technique. You'll learn several songs while you're working on these new techniques like "Red Haired Boy", "Ode to a Butterfly" (The opening song to Nickle Creek's first album) and others.

On the DVD version there's a nice index that shows exactly what he's working on in each of the 42 segments. However, you can only jump to the start of a section which may have 5 or 6 segments in it. But it's still pretty easy to navigate to the segment you want to study. Also, the smaller segments make it easy to "rewind" one segment to study the last 2 or 3 minutes again.

If you play mandolin this will probably become one of the "must haves" of study materials.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo! Excellent Teaching and Wonderful Performance, August 14, 2007

By 

Rachelle Ayala (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential Techniques for Mandolin (DVD)

Not only does Chris Thile go over techniques like pick theory, cross-picking, hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and shifting. But he also treats his viewers with performances of his original compositions. "When Mandolins Dream" for the introduction and "Raining at Sunset." Unfortunately the included booklet does not include these two tunes. However it does include "Red Haired Boy", "Hop the Fence" (a Chris Thile tune), "Swallowtail Jig" and "Ode to a Butterfly" (another Chris Thile tune).

Also included is a lengthy discussion and demonstration of 3 octave scales and arpeggios that he got from a violin book, complete with positions and shifting. Chris definitely doesn't stay in first position and moves gracefully all over the fingerboard. You are treated to his long elegant fingers gliding up, down and around.

Two things he does not go into are tremolo and chopping chords. I guess there are a lot of other dvds that cover this area.

I like the discussion of bad habits and why you should avoid them. He does a great job explaining left-hand positioning, finger placement and efficiency, as well as right hand relaxation and picking position.

Finally, it's just an overall nice instructional DVD, because even though he is teaching, he does not make it boring, and he definitely treats you to four original compositions (two included with notation and tab).

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, November 15, 2002

By 

R. Wiegers "bobbywigs" (Chattanooga, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential Techniques for Mandolin (DVD)

Firstly, I'm a huge Chris Thile fan, so just sitting back and watching this is a great experience.
Anyway, most would say that this is an intermediate video, as he takes you through some tough stuff early on. But he does start at the beginning ("this is how you hold the pick").
As far as I know this is the only mandolin video on DVD, so that's a big plus too.
A "must have" for anyone learning mandolin at any level.