Reddit reviews Complete Jethro Burns Mandolin Book

The thing that strikes me about MM when listening to his instructional videos on YouTube is that when talking music (not posture, not technique, but notes) he talks like an improviser... which can be hard to follow if you don't already know lots of scales and chord progressions. "So in this lick you can throw in a C here, which gives it a little bluesy sound." "Well why the hell does it DO that, Mike?" So I've been a little reluctant to sign up for his courses. Awesome player, but communication-wise, might be better to learn from someone who has had to articulate all of this stuff for themselves because it didn't come naturally.

For theory: You may want a book. You could go for a straight-up music theory book, but for something geared towards mandolin, I think that the book by Horne and Fugate did an okay job on theory. Mike Marshall also publishes an "Improvisational Concepts" book for mandolin (look at Elderly.com for it, I think). It is a little sparse, but if you are willing to work with the exercises and design some of your own it can work. Pretty bluegrass specific, but I think this book is outstanding, lots of depth, slowly ratchets up your improv level.

For technique: Watch videos and mimic. Video yourself practicing (it helps!)

Learning random songs: There is a lot to be said for learning random songs as a tool for learning theory...as long as you are consciously connecting it to the theory, rather than just playing tab. I like the Jethro Burns mandolin book for this reason. It looks mostly like a big collection of songs...but Jethro is the absolute freaking master of licks, turnarounds, and finishes. If you spend some time figuring out how his licks work with the chord progressions and melody you will not be sorry.

[His awesome mando book] (http://www.amazon.com/Bays-Complete-Jethro-Burns-Mandolin/dp/0786665378/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1345217761&sr=8-5&keywords=Jethro+burns)