Mandolin Picker’s Guide to Bluegrass Improvisation

Ten years ago, on February 17th 2010, The Mandolin Picker’s Guide to Bluegrass improvisation by Jesper Rübner-Petersen was released for the first time. The Book was published by Mel Bay publications and even though it wasn’t a USA made product, the impact on European Bluegrass was enormously. The feedback was overwhelming and the book was  discused and highly recommended on the Mandolin Café forum too. To date, “The Mandolin Picker’s Guide to Bluegrass Improvisation” had sold more then 6,000 copies and must be considered as one of European Bluegrass’s success stories.

The Book:
The Mandolin Picker’s Guide to Bluegrass improvisation is a book on how to learn to improvisation Bluegrass mandolin. Based on the concept of learning by playing, this 200 page book covers a wide range of improvisation tools and how to implement them in your playing. A large number of examples are presented in both tablature and standard notation, so that a theoretical background is not required. The small amount of theory needed is simply presented and easily learned step by step. A series of exercises designed to help the player develop improvisational skills are included in the book. As an instruction tool, the book can easily be combined with the instructor’s individual philosophy or by a student wishing to study alone. The subject matter is varied in difficulty and can be used by both the beginner and more advanced player as an instructional guide and reference book. 

The major-themes in the book are: The pentatonic sound, scale and major-chord based improvising with any Bluegrass Tune, Double-stop improvisation, Minor chords and Keys, The blues sound, Melody oriented improvisation, How to use: Monroe Style, Cross picking, Hot licks, how to simplify a lick, and more. Includes access to online audio that features all
examples.

The Author:
Jesper Rübner-Petersen was born in Aarhus, Denmark, where he grew up with bluegrass and acoustic music from his banjo-playing father. At the age of 12 Jesper began playing the guitar and very soon was playing in old time and bluegrass bands that performed all over Europe. Later on, Jesper enrolled in the jazz program at the “American Institute of Music” in Vienna (Austria), which he completed in March 1993. After years of intensive guitar playing, Jesper bought himself a mandolin so that he could try out a second instrument–a purchase that changed his life.

In July 2000 Jesper moved to Southern Germany, where he also started a professional career as a guitar and mandolin teacher. At the same time, he started teaching at Beppe Gambetta’s Summer Workshop, the International Workshop Musique Acoustique in Belgium, the mandolin workshop at the New Acoustic Gallery, Barcelona Bluegrass Camp and other workshops in Germany, Denmark and the UK. Jesper is devoted to developing his own style and sound while playing everything from traditional and modern bluegrass to swing and jazz.

Jesper becam a partner of EBMA. You can reach out for more information about Jespers Mandolin Workshops in our partner section and/or the event calender, or on www.jrpmandolin.com.