Mandolin Exercises for Dummies (Paperback)

Introduction 1

Part I: Getting Ready to Practice 5

Chapter 1: Getting the Basics Sorted: Mandolin Fundamentals 7

Chapter 2: Limbering up to Get into the Groove 15

Part II: Learning Scales 25

Chapter 3: Mastering Major Scales 27

Chapter 4: Discovering Three Types of Minor Scales 37

Chapter 5: Bringing Color to Your Playing with Pentatonic and Chromatic Scales 63

Chapter 6: Connecting Scale Patterns to Extend Your Range 83

Part III: Exploring Arpeggios 93

Chapter 7: Taking Notes One at a Time: Major Arpeggios 95

Chapter 8: Seeking Darkness: Minor Arpeggios 105

Chapter 9: Adding a Fourth Note to Create Seventh Arpeggios with Major Triads 115

Chapter 10: Summoning up Seventh Arpeggios of the Minor Variety 135

Chapter 11: Creating Drama with Diminished and Augmented Arpeggios 157

Part IV: Chords 165

Chapter 12: Tying Everything Together: Diatonic Harmony 167

Chapter 13: Seeing that Less Is More with Three-String Closed Chords 177

Chapter 14: Personalizing Your Playing: Improvisation 199

Part V: The Part of Tens 207

Chapter 15: Ten Top Tunes to Put Your Skills to Good Use 209

Chapter 16: Ten Tempting Tips on Tempo to Increase Your Playing Speed 221

Appendix: Using the Audio Tracks 227

Index 233