Learn How to Play the Two Finger "A" Chord on the Mandolin

We are back to working on AcousticMusicTV.com and are coming out with a line of 2 Finger Mandolin Chord video. These are our favorite mandolin chords to play, easy to learn and easy to move around the fret board with. Along with the videos is a new 2 finger chord chart that you can download.

Learn how to play a two finger A chord on the Mandolin. Learn to use the 1 string, the E string and place your ring finger on the 5th fret, or the A note. Place your middle finger on the 4th fret on the 2nd string or the A string, this note is C#. Play those two strings and you will have a two finger A chord on the Mandolin Two finger mandolin chords are easy to play and allow you to move around the fret board a lot easier Download a free Two Finger Chord Chart for the Mandolin, includes the major, minor and seventh chords. http://acousticmusictv.com/html/Mandolin%20Pages/2FingerAChordMandolin.html

Mandolin Major Chords and 2 Finger Mandolin Chords

Full and 2 Finger Mandolin Chords from our Chord Sample Pages

Continuing with pages from our sample pdfs this page which comes from the first in the series includes our 2 Finger Mandolin Chords chart and the full Major Chord chart. This page just has the major chords but is a great quick reference to get you started. To get the full series of sample pages from our music book sign-up over on the right

Key Left Hand Charts from Left Hand Chords

Below are several key pages for guitar, mandolin and ukulele from our new book Left Hand Chords for Guitar, Mandolin, Ukulele and Banjo

Seven Basic Left Hand Guitar Chords, Major, Minor, and Seventh Chords, A, B, C, D, E, F and G

Seven Basic Left Hand 2 Finger Mandolin Chords, Major, Minor, and Seventh Chords, A, B, C, D, E, F and G

Seven Basic Left Hand Ukulele Chords, Major, Minor, and Seventh Chords, A, B, C, D, E, F and G

Question on Chord Fingering Boxes, A or B?

Hi all, ok we are working on the layout of the chord pages and a question came up on the design of the Chord Fingering Boxes. I originally thought that I would highlight the root notes of a chord in red. The root note of the A chord is A, the other notes are C# and E. The illustration above shows the chord fingering box for the Mandolin A chord. Some like the root notes highlighted in red and others didn't. I would love you to select your favorite, A or B. The numbers indicate which finger.

Please select your choice in the poll over on the top right corner, A or B, thank you

Photo A and Both Are Winners for the View Poll

Thank you everyone who voted on the photo poll to help us figure out which view we should show for our upcoming chord book project. I took a picture of an A mandolin chord from the top and from the front. Posted them here on this blog and on Facebook and the top view won by a big margin. Coming in second was the option of showing both views the top and from the front.
Total of 53 votes
35 people for photo A from the top, 66%
6 people for photo B from the front, 11%
17 people for both photos, 32%

These images will be shown along with chord fingering illustrations in a new expanded chord book I am working on. We also had some great comments on the poll and especially on can we adapt this project for left handed players. I will keep you posted on the project progress.

Our Best Selling Design, 3 Guitars with no Text

We have a lot of different designs on CafePress based on our Notebook Music Charts, from guitars to mandolins, ukes and banjos, to our chord charts. Over the last 3 months our Three Guitars without Text design has been our best selling. Thank you everyone.

You can see all the items with this design at CafePress, including shirts, mugs, clocks, kids and pets, bags, notebooks and tiles. Visit the page Three Guitars with no Text.

The Mandola an Earlier Cousin of the Mandolin

Nice post on the Mandola at Mandolin Moment.com

The mandola somehow predates the mandolin. Mandora was a renaissance lute with similarities to the mandola. What we know as the mandolin evolved from the mandora during the baroque period. Mandolin means little mandola. Read More at mandolinmoments.com

Sweet Georgia Brown on Guitar and Mandolin

Curtis Jones (guitar) and Jeff Midkiff (mandolin) playing an acoustic version of Sweet Georgia Brown, a highly recognized song used by the Harlem Globetrotters

You Know the Guitar Can You Play the Mandolin, yes!

Nice post from UkuleleVideo.com on how to take your guitar knowledge and transfere it to the mandolin

Guitarist looking to learn the Mandolin. What are the main differences?
Mandolin is a very cool instrument but it is different than the guitar. It is tuned “backwards” to the guitar. The top 4 strings on a guitar are (high to low) E1, B2, G3, D4, but on a mandolin the strings are (high to low) E, A, D, G, and it is one octave higher than guitar. This is the same tuning as a violin so it is possible to use violin music arrangements on the mandolin.  (read more)

Saga Appalachian Mandolin, with Gig Bag

When I look at my blog stats and see what people comment about the biggest area, other than all the amazing comments on the Clay Aiken's holiday CD, is on Mandolins. People love our Mandolin chord charts and download them all the time. So for this post I have put up a nice starter mandolin kit, a decent, mid price A-style body shape mandolin, all Maple construction, Rosewood fingerboard, adjustable strap, two picks, gig bag and tuner, plus an instructional dvd. A great place to start. The dvd is from Homespun instructional tapes and dvd, a long time respected place for lessons. I have many of their dvds.

The only change I might make is to add a electronic tuner, a little easier than the pitch pipe, check out our post on the IMT 500 tuner from September, something like works well. There were also some nice reviews on this instrument, like this one "Seems like a good beginner mandolin. I had to put better strings on it first thing, but other than that i've been very happy with it." The other reviews also mentioned about the strings, so I would pick up a set, they are all under $10. I like the Martin Mandolin strings or the D'Addario strings, Amazon carries the D'Addario.

To learn more check out the link below to Amazon

Chris Thile, the Mandolin and Mandolin Concerto

Chris Thile the amazing mandolin player brought his Mandolin Concerto to Birmingham, Alabama and played with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Last week he was with the Oregon Symphony to play. As they say the "mandolin wizard Chris Thile" is always pushing the boundries and taking his instrument and music to new emotional range.

To read more on Chris Thile and his efforts, check out Nonesuch.com

Mike Marshall's Mandolin Fundamentals on DVD

One of today's great mandolin players, Mike Marshall, has a new two DVD set for beginners to experienced mandolin players. In his DVD set he takes you through proper techniques, problem solving and exercise regimen. He begins with the basics, holding the instrument, correct posture, how to eliminate tension by having the proper hand and pick positions. Using Mike's Fingerbuster exercises you can build your physical abilities while getting command of the mandolin fingerboard. With exercises on scales, chord shapes and arpeggios you will learn to visualize the mandolin fretboard and improve your overall playing ability.
Published by Homespun, Directed by Happy Traum

To learn more details click on the link below.
Mike Marshall's Mandolin Fundamentals For All Players #1-Building Technique Through Exercises and Melodic Studies

Chords and Keys work for All Music

Hi all. Thanks to everyone who has been downloading our free guitar and mandolin chord charts and our basic key charts. We have been getting a great response from them. We have more coming, just crazy busy with all kinds of projects. Including editing and getting ready for a couple of new Acoustic Music TV shows.

We were asked a good question recently from a new mandolin player. "Do our basic key charts also apply for mandolin." The answer is yes, the basic keys apply to all instruments. The chord shapes will be different for each instrument, guitar, mandolin, piano, etc. but the keys and their components are the same.

So lets say you are playing in the key of E, and E is the 1 chord, then the 4 and 5 chords will be A and B across all instruments, including all their variations.

Thanks for the question, keep them coming, I love to hear everyone's responses.

Amazon has lots of cool books on learning mandolin, check out this one, Teach yourself to Play Mandolin, (amazon affiliate link)

Download Free Mandolin Chord Chart

Above is our new Acoustic Music TV pdf Mandolin Chord Chart. A nice simple to read chord chart with the 7 major mandolin chords illustrated. Shows the basic Major, Minor and the 7th fingerings for each chord. Perfect for the beginning Mandolin student. Take it with you everywhere. Also check out the guitar chord charts and sheet music templates. Just sign up on the upper right.

You can see samples of all our Chord Charts at www.AcousticMusicTV.com

Pick up a copy today of Essential Chords for Guitar, Mandolin, Ukulele and Banjo at Amazon.com

Learning Cross Picking on the Mandolin

Anthony Hannigan is the 1999 National Mandolin Champion shows us how to cross pick on the mandolin www.musicmoose.org

To learn more about Mandolin, check out all the cool books at Amazon.com
 A DVD to help you along with learning the Mandolin (amazon affiliate link)