How to Improvise Bluegrass Mandolin Solos [Audio CD]

Brad Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 1998

Marty Stewart's lead guitarist "Brad Davis" teaches Hot Licks Brad Davis teaches..... 28 Very Hot Licks that fit G, C, or D chords Then he uses three tunes as examples to link together different combinations of the licks so that they will fit each tune. He uses three different combinations of the licks for each tune to give you lots of experience. Note: This is not an exact science, but it is a wonderfully helpful way to start jamming, improvising, & inventing your own solos.Songs used: Blue Ridge Cabin Home,Why Don't You Tell Me So, Roll On Buddy *Brad Davis is a featured monthly columnist for "Flatpicking Guitar Magazine"

Editorial Reviews

Review

" Improvising Bluegrass Mandolin is great! Therefore I’m ordering the Improvising Bluegrass Guitar for my buddy." -- B. McFarland-Ashville, OH

"I think the Improvising Bluegrass Mandolin is terrific!" -- N. Killen-Macon, GA

About the Author

Brad Davis has many years of experience as an acclaimed bluegrass and country music guitarist. With several albums to his credit, Brad's most widely heard guitar work is on Marty Stuart's gold record "This Ones Gonna Hurt You." Brad debuted his patented "Brad Bender," the string bender for acoustic guitars, and the unique style it offers, on countless national television shows with the Sweethearts of the Rodeo. In addition to currently touring with Marty Stuart, Brad also spent several years on the road with the Forester Sisters. Songwriting, record production, and the production of instructional material for the guitar are also wedged into his tight schedule.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Musician's Workshop (January 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158496040X
• ISBN-13: 978-1584960409
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,696,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review - Improvising Bluegrass Mandolin Solos, April 24, 2002

By 

Stevan Rogers (Portland, OR.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Improvise Bluegrass Mandolin Solos (Audio CD)

As a player for more than 20 years, I often find method books that are not much more than a collection of tunes. You learn them note for note, and then that's how you play them. Not the case with this one...this method takes several phrases and brings them together to create really decent sounding solos. You can then mix and match the phrases to create your own solos. One of the things I liked best about it, was that the first time I played through the phrases, I picked up a couple of licks that I could immediately incorporate into my own playing. Any time I get a book that actually adds to the grab bag of "licks" that I have, instead of adding more tunes, I consider it a good book. I was convinced this was a good one about ten minutes after receiving it.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a ripoff, July 26, 2005

By 

Adam (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Improvise Bluegrass Mandolin Solos (Audio CD)

This book is about 10 pages of licks you could probably find off the internet and is an extreme ripoff for $17. It teaches you absolutely nothing about improvising mandolin solos and the title is entirely misleeding. Using premade licks is not improvisation. Don't bother buying this book but instead check out websites such as [...]. This book should only be worth about $5 seeing as it is not even printed up with a binding but rather a plastic comb.

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Info, Little "How to", February 28, 2011

By 

HayAnne (Spring, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Improvise Bluegrass Mandolin Solos (Audio CD)

This book contains some good information (scales, arpeggios, double stops, chop chords, chord progressions) and several sample licks. What it does not do, however, is actually tell the player "How to" apply all of this information. As an advanced beginner at the mandolin, this was not helpful at all. There is no real instruction on improvising, but perhaps instructing on how to improvise is a paradox.