Great Mandolin Websites

Good mandolin focused websites are few and far between. The word wide web is cluttered with guitar player websites. What about the mandolin players? Mandolins are used primarily in bluegrass and swing music in the US. And are played by millions around the world. Here are a few great mandolin sites on the web. Each one of them offers a little something different that can help the new mandolin player and offer some tips for the seasoned pro as well.

Mandolin Caf�©
www.mandolincafe.com

Mandolin caf�© is probably the best resource on the web for mandolin players. The site has an extensive selection of lessons. There are three lessons on learning how to play swing, as well as a lesson on bluegrass. The site has chords, and tips on any and everything a mandolin player might encounter while tackling a new piece of music. In addition to the lessons mandolin caf�© has a pretty popular message board as well as links to tons of places online where you can purchase a mandolin or have one custom built for you. This is a good website to use as a first stop on the web for anything mandolin related. The site does a good job of linking to other noteworthy mandolin websites, so you can use it as a launching pad to other information on the web..

Chord Find.
http://chordfind.com/4-string/

This is an excellent site for string players of all shapes and sizes. The site specializes in four string instruments and allows you to select your instrument, and then have the site calculate the fingering for a particular note on your instrument. In addition to mandolin the site has chord fingerings for Banjo, Ukulele, Bass, Pipa, and Bouzouki. They also have a reverse chord find function where you can put in a particular fingering you may have been doing and find out what note it actually is.

Nigel Gatherer’s Mandolin Page
http://www.nigelgatherer.com/mando/tut1.html

This is actually an individual persons homepage. Nigel Gatherer really likes Scottish Mandolins. His site has several tutorials for the beginning mandolin player that can be pretty helpful as well as some sheet music from Ireland, Scotland and the US. He has a basic history page where you can learn about the history of the Scottish mandolin, a page to learn how to tune your mandolin, and then several tutorials to help you learn how to play it. If you’re a really enthusiastic mandolin player he has a page full of links to other mandolin related sites, as well as a link to his blog and a mandolin discussion page. This is a very well maintained personal webpage and can be great for the beginning or advanced mandolin player.