The Sound
Bill Monroe Style Mandolin Improvisation Course
Photo By John Malinowski If you travel to a foreign country, you can buy a travel guide, a map and a phrase book and head out on your own, or you can find someone who knows the language, geography, history, and customs and ask them for help. The second option is usually the easiest, most…
Mike Smith
A Music Seldom Heard Written By Dale McCurry with Bambi Grinder “Make it about the music,” Mike Smith implores. “Don’t make it about me. It’s about the music.” Mike said this in preparation for a story I was to write about him a decade or so ago. I remember he followed me to the parking…
Matt Flinner & His Real-Time Online Mandolin Instruction Classes
Photo by Eleanor Wilkie Matt Flinner was touring nationally in a bluegrass band as a pre-teen. Around 1980, Ted Shupe of Ogden, Utah formed a band of 10-year-olds around his fiddle-playing son, Ryan (now with Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband) and they called themselves the Pee Wee Pickers. The band’s talent earned them spots…
Homespun Heroes
For Over 50 Years, Great Homespun Artists Have Taught Us How to Play Music For many bluegrass musicians who have tried to improve their skills over the last 50 years or so, whether it is professional artists or campground pickers, the Homespun Music Instruction Company has played a part in their journey. There is most…
Banjo Ben Clark
Video Instruction for the 21st Century If you are a banjo, mandolin, or guitar player and spend any amount of time on YouTube, you will know about Banjo Ben Clark. Ben was one of the first instructors to start teaching video lessons via YouTube and he has grown those humble beginnings into a bluegrass instruction…
For Luthier Lawrence Smart, X Marks His Spot
Photo by Bud Osborne Maybe it’s something in the Pacific Northwest’s air or water, or perhaps it’s being surrounded by the grand mountain forests of Idaho and the Pacific Coast that inspires brilliant luthiery. But whatever it is, that majestic region has spawned some of the world’s finest woodsmiths, including mandolin masters Michael Heiden, Fletcher…