Guide to Octave Mandolin and Bouzouki

I have been playing Octave Mandolin and Irish Bouzouki for a little over a week now and just received this book, which I find to be exceptionally good. I was more interested in the Irish tunes than the others. However I was really impressed by the musicality of all the arrangements included in this book/audio files. Not only does the author transcribe the lead melodic lines but also the backing for each tune. The quality of the audio files is also very good. I was able to download them and burn them to CD. Having knowledge of how to read music and tablature will be invaluable to optimal use of this resource. I have considerable experience in playing the guitar, which really helps getting these tunes off the page and under the fingers.

Pages 1 - 18: short descriptions of the instrument, left and right hand techniques, fingering issues, tuning, ornamentation, etc. Rather routine but, of course, the Octave is not exactly an every-day instrument. The text is triple spaced, (double triple spaced between paragraphs), with generous margins all around. Lots of white space.Pages 19 - 160: Very nice presentation of sheet music for 20 songs. Short, maybe half a page tops, commentary on each song. 3 lines of music per page. Up to 7 pages per song. Includes treble clef, tablature, chords, suggested fingering.Pages are 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

I use a PC and have an Android phone ... the font is tiny, nearly unreadable, and for some reason none of the normal options of increasing font size don't work. I do not recommend getting this product from Amazon.

This book is really too advanced for me as a new player.

Mostly just Irish tabulators. I thought it would deal more with fundamentals of the instrument.

A great challenge for a recent convert to the irish bouzouki. Thank you John McGann!

John McGann was a great player and teacher. I bought this book years ago, and put it away, when my, much beloved, first Octave Mandolin was stolen. At that time I was also interested in accompanying Irish music in open tunings. Because of those things this book was put away and only rediscovered recently when I began to play my new OM and found that now I liked the flexibility and logic of playing in standard GDAE tuning. I happened to rediscover this book and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities of the instrument. The chapter “Breaking Away From Block Chords” alone was worth the price of the book for me. The instrument isn't well documented, and people who are used to playing more common instruments can easily get frustrated by the lack of good learning methods. I found this book helped me to teach myself.

This book is great, but is definitely for more advanced players. If you are a beginner, like me, know that it's more of a showcase of what is possible with the instrument and how it could be played in melody and backup situations beyond just plain chords. I encourage all players to get this and play through, but the level of playing demonstrated is quite high. There's a small explanation section, and then most of the book is sheet music for songs with tabs.

This is not the best of ths pick, but it is probably the most useful - if you have a grounding and music - to remember the Bouzouzi, an insutrument you have picked but most likely not so before choosing to play it.Under Blodreighner, figures in the book - i don't know if they are real or not.Without a single tuning standard between 4 books, obbiously making this a quinetessentially Irirish instrument (what use is a map without a place to be?) - the book arrived as descibebed.I'm sure the organised criminal events come later.At least, they are certainly more difficult to sort out so that Mr [headvein] from the Cripps knows his namesake in the Bloods.Just NEVER try to set a sign-up session, in a detention centre, where the strings are short enought to allow a "group" sessions but blood-soaked enough for it to be not the session you had organised.Why the hell you thought bouzouki lessons would keep violent offenders occupied during the lockdown was a fook's errand, Mr Joker.But I'm glad that you asked for them anyway.I simply wish that I still had the use of my limbs and could see out of both my eyes.

The book says cd included but there isn’t.. you have to download an audio file. Instructions as to how to do this are not provided.However inside front page at the bottom there is an audio file logo underneath which is a web address with download code. Enter this into your browser address bar ( doesn’t.work with Microsoft edge) and press return. This takes you to the publishers download area where you click on the download button and all audio files will be downloaded to a zip file. Save to your preferred location and open.Would be useful if the book contained clear instructions for this or a label. Otherwise good book with some nice tunes of varying genres.

Book looks good, but I need the accompanying audio download or CD. Can anyone help me and either send me a copy or tell me where I find the key?? Otherwise I am going to have to return the book.

La version kindle est mauvaise : quasiment illisible, caractères trop petits. Je déconseille vivement cette version. Ce serait à refaire, j'achèterais la version papier.