Bluegrass instructional resources

We've written often about Berklee College Of Music in Boston and their recent embrace of the banjo and mandolin as principal instruments. Like most top music schools, Berklee requires all degree students to complete a minimum of two years of

Gibson has been posting free instructional videos on their web site of late. Most of them have reflected the larger size of their market that comes from the world of rock music, but two mandolin lessons were posted recently. They are

Our friend Laura Leder from Cool Mandolin Company emailed recently to ask us to remind students of bluegrass and old time music - both here in the US, and in the UK and Europe - about Sore Fingers Week

How many steel string acoustic guitars do you think are sold each year? I don't know either, but it must surely be in the millions. With a large bulk of them being sold - or given - to folks without much

Homespun Video has released two new instructional DVDs for mandolinists taught by Mike Marshall. The two releases each carry the title Mike Marshall's Mandolin Fundamentals for All Players, with DVD #1 subtitled Building Technique Through Exercises and Melodic Studies and DVD

James Montgomery discovered bluegrass music at age 9 in his native North Carolina. He was suffering from polio and spent a lot of time listening to the radio. Now, 68 years later, and retired in Austin, TX, Montgomery recently donated

Speaking of free tabs... Mando monster Alan Bibey has recently added a free tab section on his new web site, where he also plans to offer tips for mandolinists. The first two transcriptions posted are for mandolin tunes Alan has written and

Our friends at BluegrassCollege.org are ringing in the New Year with the launch of their free Bluegrass College Fakebook. The Fakebook currently consists of tabs (notation for the fiddle) for 10 bluegrass instrumentals. The tabs are available for all the bluegrass

Homespun Video is set to release a new instructional DVD this week featuring Peter Rowan and Tony Rice. Entitled Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Teach Songs, Guitar and Musicianship, the DVD runs 110 minutes with Rowan Rice teaching a half

The Transatlantic Bluegrass School, scheduled for May 7-11, 2008 in the Welsh town of Pembrokeshire, has announced the formation of a  scholarship program for young students, aged 16-25, based on financial need. The scholarship awards will cover the full tuition costs,