Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself to Play Mandolin

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found "Teach Yourself to Play Mandolin" by Dan Fox to be a wonderful beginner's guide to the mandolin. It gradually introduces new concepts and techniques as it goes along, and it constantly reinforces previous ideas. The examples are very well done, and the music selections are very enjoyable. I had several other mandolin instruction books, but this one was clearly the best, and it was the one that I stuck with. I have since introduced two other people to the mandolin, and this is the book that I had them use. They have both since progressed nicely, and both have given very high praise to this book.

Having played electric and acoustic guitars for more than 30 years, I was surprised at how different it was to learn the mandolin. Dan Fox's little book got me up and running in about a week. The author introduces the mandolin in a step-by-step manner that is quite easy to follow. The exercises grow more difficult as the book progresses, however, the instruction remains concise and clearly communicated. The book ends with a handy Chord Dictionary illustrating the proper frettings and a Mandolin Fingering Chart. All in all, this book is a great tool for those learning the mandolin. It can even be recommended to young readers looking for musical instruction.

This is an excellent book for learning mandolin except it does not come with a CD. At first I was discouraged but then used another mandolin book that included a CD and then went back to learn from this one, which worked out great. Great excercises for learning the fret board.

I purchased this book on ratings and found it to be very in depth. This is a good book if you have a good background in music, but if you do not it may be over your head. I use this book very little as I have found much better in depth books available.
Bill
N.C.

This is a good general introduction to the mandolin, suitable for those with no background in string instruments.

A previous reviewer stated that the book included standard notation and tablature. That is incorrect. There is no tablature for the musical selections in this book.

OK for the money with varied info but short on the mechanics of playing. Uses the "low' thumb position. Really could use a dvd. On the other hand, has varied scores of different types of music and gives info not found in other starter learning material that I have seen.

It's been 20 years since I read sheet music; this book has a terrific introduction to reading music and some fun practice songs to play. I highly recommend it.

This is a terrific book for the beginner! It takes you through all the basics as well as introducing you to some more advanced techniques...The "hammer on", "slide", double stops and pull-offs to name a few. Music is found in the traditional form as well as tablature (for those of us who dont read music!) There's also a list and diagrams of all the chords you'll probably never need! Go ahead, try it, you wont be disappointed.

If you've got any training or experience with a stringed instrument you might think about passing on this book. I thought I might find some information that was specific to mandolin (tips, techniques, etc.) but it's really just a very basic instructional guide.

Awesome little starter book. Gets you playing basic tunes within a couple days. I wanted to enjoy playing the mandolin, not make it another task such as learning scales before you can play anything. It goes in one string at a time. I learned about one string a day, and by day three I was playing the basics "Merrily we Roll Along", "Jingle Bells", "Jimmy Crack Corn" and others. I have played the sax years ago and it seem to be a lot of work. I wanted something to "pick" while watching commercals on TV! I would have gone 5 stars if the book came with a CD. Many people told me this is the book to start with, and they were right BUY IT!!!