Mandolin Courses | Peghead Nation

Mandolin Courses

Whether you're just starting out or have been playing mandolin for years, Peghead Nation has courses to help you develop your eight-string prowess. From beginning to advanced mandolin lessons with some of the finest mandolinists in roots music, you can delve into bluegrass, old-time, Irish, and other styles, building your repertoire of tunes and filling out your toolbox of techniques as you go. See introduction videos of all of our mandolin courses below, and check out free sample lessons as well. Enjoy!

Available Mandolin Courses

Beginning Mandolin

with Sharon Gilchrist

Beginner

• 27 Lessons

• 16 Tunes

Get started off right on the mandolin, with basic techniques, scales and chords, and simple and popular bluegrass and old-time tunes to play. Includes downloadable Play-Along audio practice tracks for rhythm and melody on all tunes, advice on embellishing melodies and playing tremolo, and more.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Theory for Mandolin and Fiddle

with Chad Manning

Beginner / Intermediate

• 43 Lessons

• 6 Tunes

Learn the basics of music theory as it relates to four-string instruments tuned in fifths. Chad’s practical approach will deepen your knowledge of chords, scales, and arpeggios, and help you integrate them into your playing.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Bluegrass Mandolin Fingerboard Method

with Sharon Gilchrist

Intermediate

• 17 Lessons

• 16 Tunes

Learn to play solos to any bluegrass song in any key with Sharon's intermediate-level method for learning the fingerboard, based on arpeggios, chop-chord shapes, and double stops.

Course Details

Bluegrass Mandolin Jam Favorites

with Joe K. Walsh

Intermediate

• 44 Lessons

• 43 Tunes

Learn the essential instrumental tunes you’ll encounter at bluegrass jam sessions everywhere. Designed for intermediate level mandolinists, with tunes, techniques, and solos from mandolin greats.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Intermediate Bluegrass Mandolin

with Sharon Gilchrist

Intermediate / Advanced

• 72 Lessons

• 54 Tunes

Learn to play solos on classic bluegrass songs and instrumentals using bluegrass mandolin techniques like tremolo, double stops, two-string melodies, and more.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Irish Mandolin

with Marla Fibish

Intermediate / Advanced

• 75 Lessons

• 67 Tunes

Learn traditional Irish mandolin, with an emphasis on playing the dance music of Ireland with an authentic Irish feel and rhythm.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Monroe-Style Mandolin

with Mike Compton

Intermediate / Advanced

• 70 Lessons

• 66 Tunes

Learn traditional bluegrass-style mandolin as exemplified by the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, with original transcribed solos and tips on reproducing Monroe’s sound, rhythm, and feel.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Melodic Mandolin Tunes

with John Reischman

Intermediate / Advanced

• 56 Lessons

• 53 Tunes

Learn great traditional and original tunes in a variety of styles—old-time, bluegrass, Latin, jazz, and more—from a modern mandolin master.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

The Advancing Mandolinist

with Joe K. Walsh

Intermediate / Advanced

• 84 Lessons

• 81 Tunes

Explore all the modern mandolin techniques, from tremolo, chords and double stops, and soloing and improvisation tips, with plenty of bluegrass, old-time and swing tunes to keep you moving forward.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Chord Melody Mandolin

with Aaron Weinstein

Advanced

• 29 Lessons

• 23 Tunes

Learn how to combine chords and melody to play jazz standards in the style pioneered by jazz mandolinist Jethro Burns and guitarists like Joe Pass and Bucky Pizzarelli.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Octave Mandolin

with Joe K. Walsh

Intermediate / Advanced

• 6 Lessons

• 4 Tunes

Learn to transfer what you know on the mandolin to its bigger cousin and how to exploit the octave mandolin’s potential for more complex, guitar-oriented accompaniment styles. For intermediate mandolin, fiddle, or guitar players with a basic knowledge of their instrument.

Course Details

Sample Lesson

Live Workshop

Melodic Embellishment

with Sharon Gilchrist

Intermediate

In this workshop, Sharon will use common bluegrass and old-time tunes like “Old Joe Clark,” “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” “June Apple,” “Angeline the Baker,” and more to demonstrate her method for teaching students how to embellish and vary melodies as a way to begin to improvise.

Live Workshop Details

Live Workshop

Improvising for Mandolin and Fiddle

with Joe K. Walsh

Intermediate / Advanced

Learn to improvise on fiddle tunes, create new melodies over chord changes, practice the arpeggios and scales you need to play jazz tunes, and more. Joe lays out his approach to improvising and practicing improvising, with exercises and solos that illustrate his unique, widely acclaimed, freewheeling style.

Live Workshop Details

Mandolin Performances

Featured Videos

Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh: “Sports”

Watch a video of an original song from “Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth,” with mandolin from Peghead Nation instructor Joe K. Walsh, and illustration by our banjo instructor Danny Barnes.