There's a little book from Mel Bay that I wish I had whipped out of my mando case to show you. It's the Music Pocketbook, Mandolin version, with Chords/Notes/Tablature/Strums/Solos, and it incorporates the greatest number of open strings in the chords it presents.
Of course, this makes it anathema to the Bluegrass musicians that are probably thick on the ground in your neck of the woods. They prefer the chord shapes with all four courses fretted. Besides making a moveable shape that can move up and down the fretboard, it facilitates using the mando in place of a drum.
Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music, played the mandolin. When he wasn't doing solo runs of notes, he would "chop:" strum the closed chord, then lift the fingers to stop the sound. This gave a percussion effect that the rest of the limited bluegrass instrument spectrum couldn't do.
My copy of the book is old enough to be 95 cents. Here is the link to the current product:
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How I kept up with Tempest's Lief Sorbye at a Dublin Irish Festival jam
Date: 2007-03-14 03:29 am (UTC)Of course, this makes it anathema to the Bluegrass musicians that are probably thick on the ground in your neck of the woods. They prefer the chord shapes with all four courses fretted. Besides making a moveable shape that can move up and down the fretboard, it facilitates using the mando in place of a drum.
Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music, played the mandolin. When he wasn't doing solo runs of notes, he would "chop:" strum the closed chord, then lift the fingers to stop the sound. This gave a percussion effect that the rest of the limited bluegrass instrument spectrum couldn't do.
My copy of the book is old enough to be 95 cents. Here is the link to the current product:
http://www.melbay.com/product.asp?ProductID=93703&Heading=Mandolin%3A+Tunebooks&category=M22&catID=111&head1=&head2=Mandolin&sub=1&sub1=&mode=browse
I haven't had a chance to scope out the $5 Deluxe version(s), but the sample showed the same chordshapes as the one I have.