JeffParker
Verified buyer
12/15/25
Don't have my mandolin yet
Bluegrass Mandolin
Interactive Video Masterclass on Bluegrass Mandolin
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About this course
Melody, rhythm, and fills are all a big part of the mandolin player's role in a bluegrass band, and we'll focus on all three of those skills in Andy Wood's Bluegrass Mandolin course.
" I spent most of my childhood playing mandolin, competing in bluegrass festivals, and touring the bluegrass circuit. These experiences helped me refine and sharpen my skills on the mandolin and then ultimately on guitar as well.
I've designed the course for mandolin players and for guitar players who want to learn how to play the mandolin. As a bonus for guitar players, I include lessons and playalongs that demonstrate how to accompany a mandolin player on guitar."
In the first section of the course, Andy will present essential mandolin fundamentals like alternate and cross-picking, rhythm and chopping approaches, and traditional elements of bluegrass performance like using double shuffles, playing tags, and Andy will also give you a few quick workouts to help get you up to speed.
Then in the second section, you'll play your way through 5 popular bluegrass standards that commonly encountered in bluegrass jams. For each of the 5 tunes, Andy will first show you how to play the melody parts and a few tasty mandolin variations. Then he'll cover chords and some rhythm variations for backing up other players. Andy will also show you the chords and rhythm approaches for playing along to these tunes on the guitar.
Andy will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You'll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you'll be able to use TrueFire's learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your mandolin, and let's play some bluegrass with Andy Wood!
" I spent most of my childhood playing mandolin, competing in bluegrass festivals, and touring the bluegrass circuit. These experiences helped me refine and sharpen my skills on the mandolin and then ultimately on guitar as well.
I've designed the course for mandolin players and for guitar players who want to learn how to play the mandolin. As a bonus for guitar players, I include lessons and playalongs that demonstrate how to accompany a mandolin player on guitar."
In the first section of the course, Andy will present essential mandolin fundamentals like alternate and cross-picking, rhythm and chopping approaches, and traditional elements of bluegrass performance like using double shuffles, playing tags, and Andy will also give you a few quick workouts to help get you up to speed.
Then in the second section, you'll play your way through 5 popular bluegrass standards that commonly encountered in bluegrass jams. For each of the 5 tunes, Andy will first show you how to play the melody parts and a few tasty mandolin variations. Then he'll cover chords and some rhythm variations for backing up other players. Andy will also show you the chords and rhythm approaches for playing along to these tunes on the guitar.
Andy will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You'll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you'll be able to use TrueFire's learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your mandolin, and let's play some bluegrass with Andy Wood!
What you'll learn
- Execute rhythm guitar accompaniment with proper chord changes
- Understand how to improvise cross-picking patterns naturally
- Adjust comping style based on tempo (traditional chop vs. melodic approach)
- Comp in a way that complements and flirts with the melody line
- Understand and apply the flat 7 chord in bluegrass context
Release date: 03/26/2020 • 2h 06m runtime
Sample lessons
Primer for Guitarists
Demonstration
Double Shuffle & Tagging
Demonstration
Salt Creek
Overview
Salt Creek
Performance
What's included
47 lessons • 18 charts • 15 Jam Tracks
Bluegrass Mandolin
Hi, I'm Andy Wood. Welcome to Bluegrass Mandolin.
I spent most of my childhood playing mandolin, competing in bluegrass festivals, and touring the bluegrass circuit. These experiences helped me refine and sharpen my skills on the mandolin and then ultimately on guitar as well.
Melody, rhythm, and fills are all a big part of the mandolin player's role in a bluegrass band and we'll focus on all three of those skills here in this course.
I've designed the course for mandolin players and for guitar players who want to learn how to play the mandolin. As a bonus for guitar players, I include lessons and playalongs that demonstrate how to accompany a mandolin player on guitar.
In the first short section of the course, we'll tackle essential mandolin fundamentals like alternate and cross-picking, rhythm and chopping approaches, and traditional elements of bluegrass performance like using double shuffles, playing tags - I'll even give you a few quick workouts to help get you up to speed.
Then in the second section, we'll play our way through 5 popular bluegrass standards that you'll encounter in pretty much any bluegrass jam you play.
For each of the 5 tunes, I'll first show you how to play the melody parts and a few tasty mandolin variations. Then we'll cover chords and some rhythm variations for backing up other players. I'll also show you the chords and rhythm approaches for playing along to these tunes on the guitar.
Everything is transcribed and you'll be able to sync the tab and notation to the video using TrueFire's learning tools. You'll get all of variations of the jam tracks to play along with and can loop or slow down the videos so you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your mandolin and let's go!
I spent most of my childhood playing mandolin, competing in bluegrass festivals, and touring the bluegrass circuit. These experiences helped me refine and sharpen my skills on the mandolin and then ultimately on guitar as well.
Melody, rhythm, and fills are all a big part of the mandolin player's role in a bluegrass band and we'll focus on all three of those skills here in this course.
I've designed the course for mandolin players and for guitar players who want to learn how to play the mandolin. As a bonus for guitar players, I include lessons and playalongs that demonstrate how to accompany a mandolin player on guitar.
In the first short section of the course, we'll tackle essential mandolin fundamentals like alternate and cross-picking, rhythm and chopping approaches, and traditional elements of bluegrass performance like using double shuffles, playing tags - I'll even give you a few quick workouts to help get you up to speed.
Then in the second section, we'll play our way through 5 popular bluegrass standards that you'll encounter in pretty much any bluegrass jam you play.
For each of the 5 tunes, I'll first show you how to play the melody parts and a few tasty mandolin variations. Then we'll cover chords and some rhythm variations for backing up other players. I'll also show you the chords and rhythm approaches for playing along to these tunes on the guitar.
Everything is transcribed and you'll be able to sync the tab and notation to the video using TrueFire's learning tools. You'll get all of variations of the jam tracks to play along with and can loop or slow down the videos so you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your mandolin and let's go!
SECTION 1: Fundamentals
In Section 1, we'll have an overview to mandolin playing in general. We're going to talk about left and right hand positioning, picking, etc. So, tune in and let's check it out!
Primer for Guitarists
So, you're a guitarist who wants to get into the mandolin. Here's some things that might give you some issues when you're getting started. Things like getting the mandolin tuned and ready to go, thinking about the positions on the instrument differently, etc. might be challenging at first. The mandolin is very much it's own thing!
Picking Essentials
Here we address the basic picking essentials. Once we get this together, we'll be ready to move on to learning some basic rhythm parts to pick along with in the next video.
Rhythm Basics
Let's start out with looking at the basics of mandolin rhythm.
Double Shuffle & Tagging
Now that we have some picking and rhythm ideas together, let's look at the typical song intro and tagging within fiddle tune/bluegrass structure.
SECTION 2: Bluegrass Standards
In this course, we're going to talk about five different bluegrass tunes. These are tunes my granddad taught me when I was a kid - things I grew up playing. We'll play the melodies as well as give you the chords for some rhythm strategies for mandolin and guitar. Let's get started!
+ 40 more lessons
Reviews
21 results
Rwattanaparuda1020
Verified buyer
10/22/25
Great lessons. Right to the point
Bonnieemerick
Verified buyer
09/02/25
Great Mandolin Instruction
Thanks for adding a selection for mandolin! This video was easy to follow and provided some helpful information.
KevinBarnes
Verified buyer
07/06/25
Kev’s Thoughts.
Very good Bit advanced for me but has some great insights into real bluegrass playing.
Gazz00
Verified buyer
02/14/25
Great course
As a beginner mandolin player coming from guitar, I found the lessons well structured and easy easy to understand. There are plenty of exercises to assist and the ability to slow and replay lessons from multiple angles is a great help.
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