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.

The octave mandolin is valued for its rich tone and wide range of potential use in a variety of musical settings. This book contains 27 easy to intermediate pieces from the Baroque era that have been carefully chosen and arranged to benefit from the longer scale and deeper voice of the big mandolin. The music is presented in both standard notation and tablature, making it easily playable on the mandocello, mandola or standard mandolin. Thirteen composers are represented, including six pieces by J. S. Bach, four by G. F. Handel and three by G. P. Telemann.

A workshop guide to building Irish bouzoukis and citterns. In the past forty years bouzoukis, citterns and octave mandolins have become an essential part of acoustic music. The Bouzouki Book is the first, and only, book to guides the reader through the steps to build one of these fascinating stringed musical instruments. The book includes nearly 200 colour and B&W illustrations as well as plans for all major components.

(Instructional). The Hal Leonard Irish Bouzouki Method is designed for anyone just learning to play the Irish bouzouki. This comprehensive and easy-to-use beginner's guide focuses on teaching the basics of the instrument as well as accompaniment techniques for a variety of Irish song forms.

(Mandolin). 20 favorite Beatles tunes in chord melody arrangements for mandolin including: All You Need Is Love * Blackbird * Can't Buy Me Love * Eight Days a Week * Here Comes the Sun * Hey Jude * In My Life * Let It Be * Michelle * Strawberry Fields Forever * Twist and Shout * We Can Work It Out * Yesterday * and more.

The balalaika is most often associated with Russian folklore. In this comprehensive method book, concert and recording artist Bibs Ekkel shares his extensive knowledge of the balalaika as taught in Russia today. This 160-page book is divided into four sections: an extensive Foreword, the Tutor, A Brief History of the Balalaika, and a Repertoire Section. Unlike many Mel Bay books, the Complete Balalaika Book does not begin with the rudiments of music notation. Rather, the 20-page Foreword offer insights on the tunings of all the instruments in the balalaika family, hand positions, string sources and height adjustment, and chord shapes. the author even describes how to make a bass balalaika pick from shoe leather. the Tutor or instruction segment is written for the 'prima balalaika' which is correctly played with the fingers only rather than with a pick. the Tutor jumps right in with exercises and tunes in quarter, eighth, and sixteenth-note values with occasional dotted notes and syncopation. Perhaps half of the music in this section is shown in both standard notation and tablature. A glossary of musical signs and Russian musical terns is included. A Brief History of the Balalaika is well written and nicely illustrated. Very few Mel Bay books contain such a comprehensive historical overview of the subject instrument. the Repertoire Section offers a valuable resource of Eastern European folk tunes. All but two selections in this section are written in both notation and tab with suggested guitar chords, the exceptions being an arrangement for balalaika and piano, and a balalaika orchestra score. More than simple melody chord leadsheets, these are the author's own arrangements of tunes for solo balalaika and balalaika orchestra. A companion CD with selections performed by the author completes this highly effective instructional package.

This book explores Celtic styles for the mandolin. It is a great addition for musicians looking to begin learning Celtic music or expand their repertoire. Traditional Irish and Scottish music as well as contemporary Celtic compositionsare presented. The book includes standard notation and tablature, with play-along tracks in the accompanying audio download online