Books, CD, DVD Instruction by John McGann- mandolin, octave mandolin, guitar, steel guitar, tablature, standard notation

Playing with good time is fundamental to making good music, yet this critical aspect of musicianship is often ignored. This 50 min. DVD program can help all musicians on any instrument improve your feel for rhythm by practicing with a metronome. Even players who have been playing a long time can benefit from the material here.

John is a world-class class performer and composer on guitar, mandolin, and pedal steel. He plays standard guitar and mandolin in the DVD but the concepts are applicable to every instrument. John is a former National Mandolin Champion and a studio musician/recording artist who has performed and recorded with many of the leading lights of contemporary Celtic and Acoustic music.

The DVD covers ...
• Metronome Basics
• Playing on beats 1&3 vs 2&4
• 8th notes: straight vs swing 8ths
• Shuffle (12/8 time)
• 3/4 time: waltz & jazz waltz
• Celtic music: jig rhythm
• Funk: 16th note rhythms
• Practicing rhythm to melody transitions
• Playing on, ahead of, or behind the beat
• Subdividing the beat
• Metronome practice tips

Why do some musicians have incredible feel and flow? Yes, to some it's a natural gift but the rest of us need to work at it and this DVD shows the roadmap to that destination. We worked very hard on this program and are very proud of the result!

“...John McGann presents a set of sensible and easy-to-execute exercises
that will sharpen your rhythmic skills, regardless of your stylistic leanings.
... Unlike many pros that appear uncomfortable when thrust in front of a
camera and asked to explain their techniques, McGann comes across as
relaxed and lucid. He has the uncommon ability to distill tricky concepts
into easy-to-digest principles, and his playing on flat-top and Maccaferri style
guitars—as well as a perky F-style mandolin—is dynamic, toneful, and
swinging”. - Andy Ellis, Guitar Player Magazine

NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH HOMESPUN TAPES.

JOAQUIN MURPHEY CLASSIC WESTERN SWING STEEL GUITAR SOLOS!

John McGann's Developing Melodic Variations on Fiddle Tunes:

Guitar Edition SHIPPED IN USA $25

Guitar Edition SHIPPED TO CANADA $30

Guitar Edition SHIPPED OVERSEAS $35

Mandolin Edition Shipped to USA $25

Mandolin edition SHIPPED TO CANADA $30

Mandolin Edition SHIPPED OVERSEAS $35

This book presents standard fiddle tunes in basic form, then shows you how, on a phrase-by-phrase basis, the tunes can become vehicles for your own improvisations. It is designed to open the door to creating spontaneous variations, or improvisations, based on the melodic structure unique to each tune. Each tune in the book is presented first in its basic form, then with four variations. The variations are printed directly beneath the melody with the corresponding measures aligned, so that you can easily compare them to the original melody and to each other. The accompanying CD features the lead guitar (or mandolin) and rhythm guitar on separate channels, so you can turn off the lead and play along with the rhythm, or vice versa. 112 pages. PDF SAMPLE PAGES

Each book contains:

Foreword
Basics of Theory - applied to Mandolin or Guitar, depending on edition
Basics of Melodic Structure
Articulation and Dynamics
About the Music

11 Transcriptions fully notated in standard notation and tablature, melody played on guitar or mandolin, at a medium speed, with guitar accompaniment.

Flop Eared Mule
Old Joe Clark
Soldier's Joy
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Billy in the Lowground
Forked Deer
Blackberry Blossom
Salty Dog
Arkansas Traveler
Ragtime Annie
Fisher's Hornpipe
Fast Old Joe Clark
Fast Soldier's Joy
Glossary
Afterword
About the Author

Steven Stone's review from Vintage Guitar May 2004:

Learn How to Really Improvise

For years when I was playing blues and rock and roll guitar in bar bands I thought I knew how to improvise. I never played the same lead twice, but as I’ve learned by playing bluegrass, playing a bunch of standard licks over the changes is NOT the same as true improvisation. Playing the melody and then playing variations off the melody is much harder, and that is just what a pair of new books by John McGann teaches you how to do.

Published by Mel Bay, Developing Melodic Variations on Fiddle Tunes includes a compact disc demonstrating each variation. John McGann first plays the basic melody and then shows five variations. The text includes musical notation as well as tablature so anyone, regardless of the musical literacy, can see exactly what John is doing with each variation. The best part of John’s method is that it encourages you to create your own variations. Once you understand how McGann adds ornamentation to the original melody it opens up a whole world of possibilities.

Mel Bay offers two different versions of Developing Melodic Variations on Fiddle Tunes, one for guitar and one for mandolin. I heartily recommend them both. You can find them at any store that carries Mel Bay, or <snip> here at this page!

John McGann's latest instruction book for mandolin uses eleven common fiddle tunes to demonstrate how individual melodic phrasings can by varied to give them new character and personality. The tunes explored include Flop Eared Mule, Old Joe Clark, Soldier's Joy, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Billy in the Lowground, Forked Deer, Blackberry Blossom, Salty Dog, Arkansas Traveler, Ragtime Annie and Fisher's Hornpipe. Like McGann's earlier guitar edition, this instructional material provides useful information for all levels of player. The leanest version of each tune shows, in both standard notation and tablature, the essential notes. Intermediate players will benefit from versions two and three which incorporate such embellishments as chord tones, rhythmic displacement, and scale notes. The most advanced versions of each tune also progressively include more arpeggio notes, syncopation, slides, slurs, and triplets that will definitely provide inspiration to even the most proficient musicians. John McGann, a Berklee School of Music graduate and National Mandolin Champion in 1985, is a good teacher for the job! His approach is straight-forward and clear, and some very basic introductory narrative about music theory and melodic structure is also helpful.

Each of the variations on a fiddle tune are printed, measure by measure, directly beneath the original skeletal melody line. The benefit is that you can easily compare them to each other. The downside is that playing along with the CD will require you to turn as many as four pages during the course of the one-minute tune. As you play through all five versions of a tune (in about a five minute time span), you'll feel like you've just read a book after flipping 20 pages of music or tab. I don't really see a way around this if McGann's goal was to visually portray, measure by measure, how each variation was built from the original melody. I found myself highlighting certain passages that really took my fancy, and I'll practice these ideas diligently to incorporate them into my own melodic improvisation. The CD features mandolin and rhythm guitar on separate channels, and a neutral balance on my stereo yielded way too much guitar in the mix. My preference was to adjust the balance far to the left to emphasize primarily mandolin while learning the tunes' altered forms. Then, it was fun to play along with only the guitar's rhythm track to explore McGann's ideas on my own. As McGann's ideas are used as a springboard for inspiration, the book leads players into developing their own variations.

This book and CD present an insightful approach to developing your own style of mandolin playing. The best players don't get too far from the melody, and McGann clearly shows us how to do some cool and impressive things while still preserving the foundation of the tune itself. After mastering his variations, you'll be able to pick, choose and blend your favorite licks and techniques from all of them. McGann once said, "What makes music 'Music' is emotion, light and shade, nuances in rhythm, dynamics, all the magic stuff that comes in through your ears." His fiddle tune variations are a great source for developing your technical musicianship as a mandolinist. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

ANOTHER REVIEW

Twenty tunes in styles from Irish to American, in a variety of tunings, melody and accompaniment, presented in standard notation and tablature, with a stereo CD (left channel melody, right channel accompaniment). Left and right hand techniques and chord voicings are thoroughly discussed. For the first time, the Celtic style "woven texture" accompaniment unique to the instrument is fully notated. Unique to the book are melodic Irish ornamentation, blues, jazz, American fiddle tunes with variations and improvisations (all fully notated), and a chapter "Breaking Away From Block Chords" extending knowledge of the fingerboard. Mostly GDAE but includes GDAD, AEAE and discussion of modal tunings. The material can be applied to any tuning.

Hear a sample mp3 from the CD- "Men of Ulster" hornpipe

A Guide to Octave Mandolin & Bouzouki - Contents

1. GETTING STARTED

2. LEFT HAND TECHNIQUES
3. RIGHT HAND TECHNIQUES
4. ORNAMENTATION
5. BREAKING AWAY FROM BLOCK CHORDS
6. AFTERWORD

20 Transcriptions fully notated in standard notation and tablature, both rhythm and melody parts on octave mandolin; each tune played at least twice through the form:
IRISH
Reels
Hickey's
Woman of the House
Cooley's
Peter Street
The Copper Plate
Hornpipes
Men of Ulster
The Western
Galway Bay
Rights of Man
Jigs
Bit of Ginger
Gold Ring
Doherty's Favorite
Slip Jig
Kid on the Mountain
AMERICAN
Bluegrass/Fiddle Tunes
Arkansas Traveller
Texas:
Ace of Spades
Blues
Free Floating Blues
T Train Blues
Jazz
Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? (All the Things You Are)
Swede Gorgeous (Sweet Georgia Brown)
Venezuelan Waltz
La Partida

Octave Mando book/CD

$25 postpaid in USA direct from the author.

Octave Mando book/CD $30 to Canada

Octave Mando Book $35 overseas

2. Marie Annes/Bear Island/Log Cabin/Old Man, Old Woman/Woman of the House/Eugene (Trad.)