Learn to play mandolin and open up a brand new world of musical knowledge with this exciting method from Alfred. Beginners of all ages can start their journey to a lifetime of musical enjoyment. Beginning with the fundamentals, you will learn about the history of the mandolin, its components, picks, how to tune it, and getting acquainted with standard musical notation. You will then move right along to playing different notes, scales, and songs, lesson by lesson, all while continuing to increase your ever-growing knowledge of reading and understanding standard musical notation. You will learn important mandolin techniques such as tremolo, cross picking, and more. Upon completion of the book, you will be able to play your favorite songs on the mandolin, know how to read music, and play with a musical group in many different styles, including folk, blues, country, and even pop.
The book features the following resources for reference during and after your lessons:
* Mandolin accompaniments
* Mandolin chord dictionary
* Mandolin fingering chart
Be your own teacher, and let Alfred be your resource every step of the way.

One of "Rolling Stone"'s 20 Best Music Books of 2013

When memoirist and head writer for "The A.V. Club" Nathan Rabin first set out to write about obsessed music fans, he had no idea the journey would take him to the deepest recesses of both the pop culture universe and his own mind. For two very curious years, Rabin, who Mindy Kaling called "smart and funny" in "The New Yorker," hit the road with two of music's most well-established fanbases: Phish's hippie fans and Insane Clown Posse's notorious "Juggalos." Musically or style-wise, these two groups could not be more different from each other, and Rabin, admittedly, was a cynic about both bands. But once he gets deep below the surface, past the caricatures and into the essence of their collective cultures, he discovers that both groups have tapped into the human need for community. Rabin also grapples with his own mental well-being--he discovers that he is bipolar--and his journey is both a prism for cultural analysis and a deeply personal exploration, equal parts humor and heart.