A Micro/Macro Mandolin Lesson

A simple classic bluegrass lick wrapped up in a big picture lesson.

High-Strung Song No. 1

I wrote this to kind of high light the intrinsic beauty of the tuning. Mostly played on the top four strings in 6/8 time. The pattern is a very simple up and down sweep of 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd and 3rd, but often sounds more complex. Notice the frequency of unisons ringing out against each other, something that would be difficult to accomplish on any instrument. Tight piano-like clusters abound as well.

I used my Larivee Parlor guitar with the high set of an Elixir 12-string set (use the remaining strings for a normally tuned guitar) and a Wegen Pick. 

©2013 by Tom Strahle, BMI

Take Your Pick #2

In this video, the second of two, I talk about higher quality and unusual picks. 

Wegen Picks

Take Your Pick #1

There's a corny bumper sticker joke that goes - Every guy has his gal, but a guitarist has his pick. This is part one of a two part video series on the importance of the pick you choose. In this video I talk about "signal path" and six different gauges of Dunlop picks which are...

Dunlop Nylon 1.0mm
Dunlop Nylon .88mm
Dunlop Nylon .73mm
Dunlop Nylon .60mm
Dunlop Nylon .46mm
Dunlop Nylon .38mm

Intro to Django/Gypsy Jazz

Some of the chords used...
Am6 - 5x45xx
Dm6 - 10x910xx
E7 - x767xx
E7/B - 7x67xx
C6 - 8x79xx

Check out the Wikipedia page on Django Reinhardt.

Some recordings...
Essential Django Reinhardt