David Harvey is an international Winfield mandolin champion, master luthier, production manager and R& D at Gibson. This is his Mel Bay Artist Interview. He also teaches a Mel Bay Pro Lick.
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by Matt Raum
“Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without Liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society”
-Thomas Jefferson
Wow! Sounds like he really liked this tune and if it’s good enough for Thomas Jefferson, it’s good enough for me.  Nothing too tricky here; just a good old fiddle tune and the more people that know it, the more happiness that can be enjoyed by society.
If you find these video lessons helpful, be sure to check …

 – Michael B. Gregory
We return to the set of polkas mentioned in our February 2010 issue. There we presented the first polka of this set played by four of the master tutors of Scoiligse. Here we’ll learn the second tune of this wonderful set, called Padraig O’Keeffe’s, as announced by Jimmy Morrisson in his introduction.  The melody is quite straightforward but after you’ve mastered the tune, listen carefully to the banjo in this video, as played by Maeve Buckley. She executes several elementary ornaments that add greatly to the sound.  …

by Wendy Anthony
The Tune:
Spring Creek Gal is a crooked fiddle tune, in the Key of D, played in many old-time jams.

Listen to the MIDI: 120 | 160 bpm
Printable Sheet Music: pdf

Techniques:

Overview of Tune: As most fiddle tunes have a standard 8 measures, repeated twice for each part, this tune is considered crooked because Part A has only 6 measures, repeated twice, while Part B has only 4 measures, repeated twice (or 8 measures, no repeats).
Chords:
Part A: || : D /// | D /// | D /// | G /// …

By Ted Eschliman
About The Lizard Brain
The premise of last month’s Jazz Mandology was simple. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the rules and construction principles of music theory, and we forget to JUST LISTEN. An architect can look at a structure and get lost in the math and physics in the design, and miss the notion that the building is just simply–beautiful. Musicians, same thing. It’s this “Lizard Brain” appeal, the subconsciously primal satisfaction of a great mandolin chord combination we wanted to explore, and last time we uncovered …

by Joe Mendel
Jonathan Mann spent many years earning his living playing music in the southeast mostly around central FL. He moved to Nashville as country songwriter in ‘95, wrote songs for a couple of years and when songwriting deal ended he worked about ten years repairing instruments at a Sam Ash store. He began building instruments on the side and soon was busy enough that he kept cutting back at Sam Ash until he didn’t have a job there anymore. He started building traditional acoustics first, then made a few …

By Joe Carr
 
  I’ve been working on a book of Monroe style mandolin for Mel Bay and in the process, I wrote several “in the style of” arrangements of tunes I didn’t have recordings of Monroe playing. This caused me to start thinking about Monroe’s approach to complex tunes like “Blackberry Blossom” and how the solos might sound if he had ever recorded them.  I borrowed 2 techniques Monroe used extensively (and I talk about in the book) note repetition and efficient solo design.
  To keep an uninterrupted flow of …

Chord progressions for the mandolin that just plain sound good.
By Ted Eschliman
PDF
The Lizard Brain
Biologists will describe the physiology of the brain, using long, multiple-syllable words illustrating cortexes and regions of where processes occur, varying in degrees of motor and analytical complexity. You have the more complicated areas of thought and decision-making, and others more basic in life function, like keeping your heart going and breathing. There’s a section that handles the most primitive of survival needs, informally called the “Lizard Brain.” Those who study anthropology view it as the archaic …