Customer Reviews

Mel Bay J. S. Bach for Mandolin

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
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Surprisingly disappointing considering the usual high standard of Mel Bay publications.
Of the 26 pieces included only 13 are to be heard on the cd. There are few of the more well-known or popular pieces from the Bach canon.The tracks on the cd do not follow the page numbers in the book - for instance the first item in the book is track 12 on the cd.
It would have been helpful if the pieces had been arranged from easiest to more difficult. There is nothing written to guide players who may be new to the music of Bach and certain effects such as trills can be heard but not really understood from the tab as there is no guide to the notation. This book could do with a complete revision.

I have rather enjoyed this book. While it does not present the material in a graded fashion, this is not required. All is self explanatory. As for the tracks not avaialable on the included CD they are easily accessed practically anywhere. This is a very strong study in it's choice of pieces. The work is up to you.

The highlight of the entire book is the wonderful transcription of Ciaccaona. The author claims this piece is from "Sonata no. 4 in D minor"
This can be misleading. This is from Partita No. 2 in D Minor for solo violin. Most Bach Heads will know this.

I am much pleased to see the entire Suite III from the Cello Suites on board. It is readily available by great celloists for your listening pleasure here on Amazon.

Anyone truly interested in Bach for mandolin should look for Schmuel Elbaz here on Amazon. He is an Israeli mandolinist with a CD of Sonatas and Partitas for solo Violin played on mandolin. Also look for Robert Bancalari's "Mandolin Classics" book. Very cool.

"J. S. Bach for Mandolin" is not a book for beginners, but meant for those who wish to expand they're horizons.

If you are just looking for something specific to the mandolin to play other than Bluegrass this book will provide it.
On the plus side the book and notes are easy to read and it provides tab as well as notation for all songs. The songs seem to progress in difficulty as you go through the book, so the songs at the end are more difficult than the ones at the front.
On the Down Side there is no indication why the author chose these particular songs out of Bach's entire repertoire to include in the book. Don't be surprised if you don't recognize any of the pieces in the book. Personally I would have preferred the book be spiral bound so it stays open when I am attempting to play directly from the book.
Finally I really have to wonder why they chose to put the tracks on the CD in a different order than they are found in the book. The track name are all in CDDB so when you put it in iTunes you get the names of the songs, but it's still confusing.
In summary this is a perfectly serviceable book for a novice to intermediate mandolin player to play through to help break out of the Bluegrass box, but the over all package is not particularly spectacular.

I really enjoy playing Bach pieces on the mandolin, and this volume includes quite a few. The presentation is however very poor, typesetting seems completely automated and ugly, the pages are not inviting at all. Furthermore, the tablature has no indication of rhythm. Not only does the tablature numbers lack stems, they are also equally spaced, meaning that quarter notes and 32nd notes have the same distance in each bar, which makes playing more difficult. The same goes for the regular notation which has the same issue with spacing.

I agree with the other reviewers that sorting the pieces by gradually increasing difficulty would be helpful, except for the cello suite which should of course be presented in its intended order.

However, the book is still a useful resource for anyone interested in playing these old masterpieces on the mandolin.

I like the arrangements. Definitely for intermediate to advanced players. Understanding baroque music and stylistic ornaments is a plus. You will get more out of this book if you can read notation. Haven't listened to the CD so I have no opinion on it.

Nice collection of Bach tunes. These tunes bring a lot of satisfaction to the ear and fingers as they are pure genius. Bach sounds absolutely wonderful when played on the mandolin. Some of these tunes also sound great on an octave mandolin. I find myself playing some of these pieces over and over - they are extremely addictive. The tunes just flow. Bach's work is pure beauty.

The book has a nice spiral binding so it lays flat against music stand - can't emphasize just how nice this is! The level of musicianship required is intermediate to advanced. I find it difficult to play some of these tunes up to tempo as the notes are jumping all over the fret board - hard to keep my eyes on the music when I'm moving from the 3rd fret to the 10th . Additionally, many of the tunes are riddled with accidentals - keep on your toes. I noticed a couple mistakes in the tab as compared to the music notation (wrong numbers and missing numbers) but only a couple. Many tunes require a page turn or 2 - this is impossible to do without stopping. You will either have to memorize the tune or copy a page so you can see everything. The CD is helpful. Not the best quality recording, but adequate. Robert Bancalari is obviously a very talented musician and mandolinist. Personally I don't think it's necessary to play all the tunes as fast as he does (on the CD). Only 13 of the 26 pieces are recorded on the CD.

Overall: this is a great collection. Arranged and recorded by a very talented musician. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn some Bach.

Thank God they did the accompanying CD right: it has nothing on it save the melodies you're trying to learn. No guitar accompaniment, no harpsichord coloring, etc And he is playing exactly what's on the page, nothing more, nothing less.