Mel Bay Publications has a number of new books that will be of interest to students of bluegrass music. All are written by noted bluegrass instructors (Janet Davis, Joe Carr and Steve Kaufman), and are available for download purchase as ebooks.
From Janet Davis comes School of Banjo: Bluegrass Melodic Style, a book and 2 CD set designed to take a novice in this more scalar, fiddle tune-like style from the rudiments through to more complex songs and arrangements.
All songs, exercises and examples are shown in both tab and standard notation. The book runs 92 pages, and a number of samples can be viewed on the Mel Bay web site
Joe Carr is the author of School of Mandolin: Bluegrass Classics, a tunebook featuring his simplified arrangements of 29 common bluegrass instrumentals for mandolin. These include Cumberland Gap, Blackberry Blossom, Gold Rush, Leather Britches, Red Haired Boy, Sally Goodin and more.
Like the banjo book, each piece is displayed in standard notation and tablature.
There are also a pair of new titles in Mel Bay’s My First series of introductory texts for new players. My First Fiddle Picking Songs is taught by Connie Ottway and Steve Kaufman, and My First Banjo Picking Songs is from Kaufman. The fiddle book is presented in standard notation and the banjo book in tab. Both are offered exclusively as ebooks with audio downloads included.
And don’t forget Mel Bay’s artist video interview series, where you can find discussions with such noted pickers as Mike Auldridge, Cia Cherryholmes, Stuart Duncan, Cody Kilby and many others.
