Extra links

Extra links

Welcome to the Extra Links page!

This section of the website archives a wide variety of links which have not been incorporated into the home page. These include links which may be of interest to you as a musician but which are not specifically about bluegrass mandolin.

The most recent links are listed below in the Latest links section.

After a few months they are moved to the other archive pages: Latest links | Artists and recordings | Bluegrass links | Cases | Guitar and other instruments | Lyrics | Makers, dealers and pictures of instruments | Mandolin construction, parts and maintenance | Music: tunes, transcriptions and chords | Playing techniques | Software | Various links Page 1 | Various links Page 2

An alternative to browsing each of the archive sections is to search all pages on the site, using appropriate key words.
You can also open a search page to save on your desktop, e.g. as mandosearch . You can use this page to search the site direct from your desktop whenever you are on line, without having to go to the site first.

A lot of these links were originally contributed to the CoMando list, through the industry of list members including Ted Silverman , Linda Riha , Niles Hokkanen and Jim Coon . Thanks to all those who have taken the trouble to tell us where to go! And any other links that you think should be here, please let me know.

Comments on the links are minimal. So treat these pages as a sort of lucky dip and get clicking! New links are added from the top of the list on each archive page.

Click to email me about any broken links.

Latest links

Monroe's Revenge (latest lineup of the band I used to play with!) at YouTube
Some useful looking audio software including some free stuff at http://www.flexmusic.com
All sorts of ethnic instruments at Dulcimer Shofar http://www.dulcimershofar.com For some ancient traditional stringed instruments see http://www.dulcimershofar.com/home.php?cat=100
Ideas in tab for David Grisman style mandolin at http://dmwdev.com/index.php?page=Mandolin_Tab.html
Pay The Reckoning - a terrific Celtic music site by Aidan Crossey at http://www.paythereckoning.com/ Lots of mp3s by a variety of players at http://www.paythereckoning.com/thepage.htm plus a large file of Irish tunes in tablature at http://www.paythereckoning.com/bookone.htm Also interviews, reviews and more. This looks to be an essential site for Celtic music lovers!
The official Monroe Bothers Foundation website http://www.themonroebrothersfoundation.org/index.html
Great article on Mike Compton including background info on the tracks on the Stomp CD http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11753751/site/newsweek/
Many free mandolin video tracks by various players at YouTube
Rick Albertson has posters of vintage mandolins for sale http://www.cafepress.com/vsip
Beginning Irish Mandolin courtesy Mike Gregory at the Mel Bay Mandolin Sessions http://www.mandolinsessions.com/jun06/irish.html
Eastman mandolins available in UK from Bole Music http://www.guitarlink.co.uk/page4.html
Song lyrics by many artists at Marty Lloyd's site http://www.martylloyd.com/lyrics.html
Lots of expert help with learning to play bluegrass instruments - material includes tabs, audio and video files, some of them free http://www.bluegrasscollege.org
You can advertise mandolins for sale at http://www.musicinstrument.biz/guitar_mandolin.htm
Tour of the Gibson mandolin factory courtesy of Frank Ford and the Frets.com site http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Features/GibsonMills/gibsonmills01.html
Mandolin Radio plays "the best recorded mandolin music available" on the Internet using Live365 http://www.mandolinradio.com/Welcome.html
Old Time Music Radio on the web at http://www.oldtimemusicradio.com/
Gemwood is a South Indian company dealing in rosewood http://www.gemwood.com/
Discussion on mandolin picks at The Session http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/440
Help with amplifying a mandolin and lots of other mandolin discussion topics at the Mudcat Cafe http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21047
Some interesting traditional tunes, and useful links, at http://www.tunefull.org/index.htm
Capo museum courtesy Anders Sterner http://web.telia.com/~u86505074/capomuseum/
Wizz Jones' time tunnel has pics from 1950s to present day http://www.wizzjones.com/time_tunnel.html Home page of this influential British blues and bluegrass musician http://www.wizzjones.com/
Mandolin resources listed at Wunder Music Directory http://music.wundermusic.com/music/dir/6/11838/mandolin.html
Much interest for folk and acoustic music buffs at http://www.tradmusic.com/index.asp Lots of mandolin makers listed.
Many fiddle links courtesy Fiddle On Canada http://www.fiddle.on.ca/fiddle/hotlinks.htm Basic fiddle fingering chart for first position http://www.fiddle.on.ca/fiddle/fidlfing.htm
Article about bluegrass journalist Fred Bartenstein by Kurt Mosser http://academic.udayton.edu/KurtMosser/bgrass.html
FolkLib web index to bluegrass music http://www.folklib.net/bg_site_map.shtml FolkLib home page http://www.folklib.net/
Bill Monroe - very full list of record releases, vinyl, CD and video, all with track listings and release dates! http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/monroe_bill/albums.jhtml - click on Albums in the navigation column on the left. Loads of other interest at the CMT.com site, including record listings and biographies of many bluegrass artists - well worth digging into this site http://www.cmt.com/artists/
Rural Rhythm Records - lots of old favourites here http://www.ruralrhythm.com/
Crooked tunes listed at http://nwfolk.com/songlists/crooked.html Other interesting "song themes" at this site http://nwfolk.com/songlists/
FolkLib web index to bluegrass music http://www.folklib.net/bg_site_map.shtml FolkLib home page http://www.folklib.net/
Some great mandolin performances at Mandozine - streaming audio through a Flash plugin http://www.mandotunes.com/mandotunes/index.php
Bluegrass Music Profiles magazine website has news, online record reviews and interviews with artists http://www.bluegrassmusicprofiles.com/
Guitar Guide has a wealth of info and links for guitar players including tab and instruction materials http://www.guitar-guide.us/
In-depth analysis of holding the pick and right hand technique (for tenor banjo but applies absolutely to mandolin!) courtesy Mike Keyes - includes video links http://www.banjosessions.com/aug05/righthand.html
Mandolin basics from Roland White - includes some useful right hand guidance http://www.rolandwhite.com/mandolinbasics.htm Home page http://www.rolandwhite.com
Bluegrass Books Online offer Rick Williams' Jam Tunes, "your own private jam session, anytime you want it" http://www.bluegrassbooksonline.com/ Download some (excellent) MP3 examples of the material from http://www.bluegrassbooksonline.com/wst_page4.html
Blaine Sprouse's site offers much of interest, including downloadable (and affordable) fiddle tunes in MP3 and WAV formats Home page http://www.blainesprouse.com/
The Bluegrass Blog has lots of discussion and chat http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/ Useful FAQ for the site here http://thebluegrassblog.com/index.php/new-reader-faq/
Some excellent pics of musicians and bands at photographer Darwin Davidson's site http://www.darwindavidson.com/musicianslist.html
Mike Lane's bluegrass photos are well worth seeing at http://www.mlanephoto.com/bluegrass.php
Many mandolin makers listed and linked at the Acoustic Playground http://newgrass.freeservers.com/mando/mandomakerz.html
The Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange features album reviews of new releases by folk and acoustic artists, including some bluegrass http://www.acousticmusic.com/fame/famehome.htm Album reviews index at http://www.acousticmusic.com/fame/reviews.htm
Chris Walshaw's ABC pages now at http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/
Detailed discussion of pick grip at this guitar site http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/showthread.php?p=59968
Lots of bluegrass and musical interest at the Kentucky Banjo site http://www.kentuckybanjo.com/
Loads of guitar tabs and other guitar stuff at Mike Wright's Flatpick Guitar http://www.raccoonbend.com/flatpick/fp_main.html
Folk records for sale at Vinyl Revival http://www.vinylrevival.com/lists/folk.shtml
Jimmy Gaudreau and Orrin Star have formed a duo - listen to them in MP3 format at http://www.orrinstar.com/Pages/duoaudio.html Home page with nice pic at http://www.jimmyandorrin.com/
Murder On The Mandolin Express - read all about it at the Classical Mandolin Society of America http://www.classicalmandolinsociety.org/archives/0500.html The rest of the story can be found via the links at http://www.classicalmandolinsociety.org/archives/
Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center, Virginia, offers Standard Mandolin Building Workshop with Don Kawalek and Rhythm Mandolin Boot Camp with Niles Hokkanen October 23-26, 2005 Registration Deadline: October 7, 2005
Pics of building a Phoenix mandolin http://obyank.fotopic.net/c594002.html
Moon Beam mandolins at http://www.moonbeammandolins.com/ Lots of nice pics and ideas on mandolin making, also useful links page
Bluegrass Boutique sells "cool stuff by pickers for pickers"
Some classic bluegrass and country recordings by the masters
Useful bluegrass links at Kent Folk Music site http://www.kentfolkmusic.co.uk/kentfolkmusiclinks.htm and more courtesy Rick Townend http://www.ricktownend.co.uk/Links.htm
In memory of Vassar Clements, who died on 16th August 2005
Weber mandolin armrest http://www.soundtoearth.com/prod_armrest.htm Other Weber accessories http://www.soundtoearth.com/products.htm
Double neck mandolins at Mandolin Cafe http://www.mandolincafe.com/archives/builders/double.html And a double neck Vega Electric banjo (!) at http://www.banjoworld.de/High342.htm plus lots of pics of classic banjos at http://www.banjoworld.de/Stringindex.htm
Wide range of mandolins for sale at Music 123
For oldies like me, Top 10 Oldies of 1957 at About.com http://oldies.about.com/od/50srockers/tp/topten1957.htm
Lots of useful material and links at Wendy Anthony's site - a great resource http://www3.telus.net/On-LineMusicWorldofWendy/
Tab of Bill Cheatham courtesy Wendy Anthony at Mel Bay site http://melbay.com/mandolinsessions/aug05/wendy.html
Plenty of tunes, particularly Irish, and other resources, especially for tin whistle players, at the Sessioneer site http://www.sessioneer.org/
Dulcimer Players News site includes some useful music http://www.dpnews.com/
Further informative websites about the Hammered Dulcimer, including tuning info & some music samples & transcripts: Hammered Dulcimer Information, Everything Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer Page, Dulcimer Jam Clips from Festivals, James Jones Hammered Dulcimer Tuning Schemes, What's a Hammered Dulcimer?, What Is a Hammered Dulcimer, Anyway?
Pic of Rhonda Vincent with Dolly Parton http://rhondavincent.com/2005DollyinMissouri.jpg Rhonda's home page at http://rhondavincent.com/
New Frank Wakefield pics and lots more at Jim Moss's site http://www.mossware.com/FrankLesn.html Jim publishes lots of great interviews, available to subscribers to his Bluegrass Newsletter http://www.candlewater.com/BLUEGRASS_NEWSLETTER/May2005/
Basics of making your own recordings, including some useful links, at http://homerecording.about.com/od/basictechniques/
How to tell mandolins, citterns, mandolas, bouzoukis, etc apart http://ceolas.org/instruments/cittern.html
Lots of Bittorrent downloads, including bluegrass shows and a 1997 Gillian Welch appearance, at EzTorrent http://www.dimeadozen.org/
Some good pics and audio material at Butch Robbins' website plus video of Bill Monroe playing Kentucky Mandolin http://www.butchrobins.net/index.php?page=media Sound files can be downloaded from http://www.butchrobins.net/Media/
Useful lyrics for folk and popular music at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dexy/music/
Seldom Scene site has lots of historical info about the band, and includes a discography at http://www.seldomscene.com/Recordings.html Home page http://www.seldomscene.com/
Radio KZSU has a searchable database of recordings including many bluegrass songs
Lots of links for learner musicians courtesy Hamish Sutherland http://www.hamishsutherland.com/linksgeneral.htm
Popular jam session tunes listed at http://www.bristolbluegrass.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/about.asp
A ton of helpful tips on playing bluegrass courtesy Peter Wernick http://www.drbanjo.com/instructional/instruct04-jam.html
Lots of useful 5-string banjo info and links at http://www.trussel.com/f_banj.htm
Travelin� Light - article about Tim O'Brien's recent activities http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=10295
Useful links page of the Fretted Instruments NYC site http://www.frettedinstrumentsnyc.com/links.html Site includes guitar and banjo music in TablEdit http://www.frettedinstrumentsnyc.com/musicchoice.html
Special salmon-colored Tortis picks at http://duscholar.home.mchsi.com/DUTORT/pickx.htm And a complete range of Tortis picks at http://www.redbeartrading.com/picks.html Recommendations of these picks at http://www.redbeartrading.com/index.html
Phil Good-Elliott's mandolin practice log http://homepage.mac.com/philg2/practice/practice.html
Mandolins for sale at Music Supplier.com Home page http://www.musicsupplier.com/
Instruments for sale and instruction at the Pickin' Parlor, Park Rapids, Minnesota http://playbluegrassmusic.com/
Literary references to the mandolin courtesy John Bird
Some "unusual and noteworthy vintage American instruments of the mandolin family", including an informative page on the 1917 Gibson F4 http://bellsouthpwp.net/r/d/rdevelli/ip3mand.htm
Chords for all sorts of songs at http://www.chordie.com/
Very useful learning material on the Mel Bay Mandolin Session pages http://melbay.com/mandolinsessions/index.html
Bluegrass guitar (and mandolin) tablature links at Guitar Tab Research Easy. Home page http://guitartab.researcheasy.com
Custom tablatures for bluegrass mandolin and guitar offered by Alois Kleewein http://customtabs.no-ip.org/
Musical Instruments HQ is "a categorized resource directory for everything about musical instruments" - lots of links on this site http://www.musicalinstrumentshq.com
A to Z Guitar has lots of resources, including links to guitar tab sites e.g. country guitar at http://www.atozguitar.com/countryguitar/ Home page http://www.atozguitar.com/
Mike Vanden's F5 Mandolin Workshop Tour - lots of mando construction pics http://www.vanden.co.uk/f5tour/f5portal.htm And for archtop guitar the Martin Taylor Artistry Guitar construction page http://www.vanden.co.uk/artistrytour/artistryportal.htm Vanden home page http://www.vanden.co.uk/index.htm
Lots of UK bluegrass events listed at the Acoustically Live and Inclusive Music (Aclaim site) http://www.bluegrassfestivals.net/main1.htm
BillMonroe.com Country Music Directory - not really a Bill Monroe site but a bluegrass and country music directory with lots of links http://www.billmonroe.com/
Daniel Barenboim's site - nothing about the mandolin but some remarkable insights into music from the classical maestro. Check his Journal pages. http://www.daniel-barenboim.com/
Tributes to Charlie Waller http://www.charliewaller.net/id54.htm. And Charlie Waller article courtsey Caroline Wright http://www.wrightforyou.com/charliewaller.html
Country Gentlemen site, with words of many classic CG songs
Caroline Wright's bluegrass links http://www.wrightforyou.com/bluegrass.html And her article on being a bluegrass girl http://www.wrightforyou.com/bluegras.html
Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942 by Tony Russell now available - massive and authoritative discography of Old Time Music http://www.oup.com/us/brochure/0195139895/?view=usa
Country music artist biographies at CMT http://www.cmt.com/artists/browse/a.jhtml
Rockin' Country Style, "a discography of country rock 'n' roll and related records 1951-1964" courtesy Terry Gordon http://els51.law.emory.edu/rcs/index.htm
Bluegrass Now website, well worth exploring! http://www.bluegrassnow.com/issues/102004/index.php
Useful Word document explaining what you can do with Cool Edit 96 http://cms.brookes.ac.uk/modules/other/23_CooEdit.doc You can (still) download Cool Edit 96 at http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/cool_edit_96.shtml
Sailcats have some nice old Gibson mando family instruments plus guitars http://home.twcny.rr.com/ffpizza5/index.html More Sailcats info at http://home.twcny.rr.com/ffpizza5/SailCats.htm
Jack Tuttle offers free mando learning material at http://www.jacktuttle.com/mandohelp.html Jack teaches mandolin and other instruments in the South San Francisco Bay Area - see home page http://www.jacktuttle.com/ for some of useful bluegrass learning links
Some interesting mandolin designs at High Desert Mandolins (also High Desert Guitars!) http://www.highdesertmandolins.com/
Flatt and Scruggs lyrics at Lyrics On Demand http://www.lyricsondemand.com/f/flattandscruggslyrics/ Some other useful pages on this huge site, e.g. Dolly Parton http://www.lyricsondemand.com/d/dollypartonlyrics/ Home page http://www.lyricsondemand.com/
Articles at JamBase, including CD and concert reviews (with pics) http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp Show review archive at http://www.jambase.com/headsup/archive.asp
Mandolins for sale at the Music Motel Home page of this "ultimate resource for unique and hard-to-find products for the Americana Music afficionado" http://www.themusicmotel.com
Introduction to the Monroe Brothers at http://www.charlottemag.com/buzz/story.cfm?ID=215
Esential bluegrass tunes (including tabs)at MandoZine http://www.mandozine.com/music/essential/bluegrass.php Other genres (including old time) also listed http://www.mandozine.com/music/essential/
Very full interview with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at the New Yorker - get it while you can at http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040920fa_fact3
Articles on playing by ear - written for guitarists but just as relevant to mandolin players http://www.maximummusician.com/playguitarbyearintro.htm
Free on-line ear training at Good Ear http://www.good-ear.com/
Lots of links for musicians' injuries http://eeshop.unl.edu/music.html
Regaining your chops after a layoff - article at Strings Magazine Home page http://www.stringsmagazine.com/index.html
Slanting the pick (at the Guitar Principles site but also applies to the mandolin) http://www.guitarprinciples.com/Guitar_Technique/Slant.htm
Lots of bluegrass CDs (many by regional bands) listed at CD Baby - including reviews and MP3s http://www.cdbaby.com/style/25 Many other styles - "the largest seller of independent CDs on the web" Home page at http://www.cdbaby.com/home Try typing in a search for "mandolin"...
Dr Mellow's mandolin learning blog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/drmellow_mando/
Review of Chris Thile's new album, Deceiver, at http://www.thatscountry.com/artman/publish/article_1908.shtml
Profiles of country music artists (including Canadian) at http://www.thecountrystage.com/
Tortis flatpicks ("the world's favorite pick") at http://www.redbeartrading.com/
John Sullivan mandolins (played by Adam Steffy, Greg Clarke and Tom Rozum) http://quicksitebuilder.cnet.com/heavyhorse/mandolin.html
Digital Ear can analyze a live or recorded solo performance and convert it into a standard MIDI file http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/Digital_Ear/
MP3s by Oregon's Greg Clarke at http://www.gregclarkemusic.com/sounds.html Greg's home page http://www.gregclarkemusic.com/index.html
Eric Clapton's guitars included a 1929 Gibson L-5 (the model played by Maybelle Carter) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5295941/
Lots of charts, bands and free MP3s of many musical genres at http://www.soundclick.com/ Includes a bluegrass chart
Courses at Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center include Niles Hokkanen's mando tuition, and mandolin and octave mandolin building with Don Kawalek http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/northern/ And Niles interviewed at http://www.mandozine.com/resources/CGOW/niles.php
The Heart of England Bluegrass Club site has lots of good pics and bios of (mostly) UK bands/performers - see links at http://www.btinternet.com/~hoebv/giglist.htm
Bluegrass links page at Fields of Bluegrass radio proramme site http://www.fieldsofbluegrass.com/BGlinks.html Radio program home page http://www.fieldsofbluegrass.com/index.html
Mandolin Society of Central Indiana http://mypeoplepc.com/members/techmans/MandolIndy/
Bluegrass DVDs "Your #1 Source for Bluegrass DVDs" http://www.bluegrassdvd.com/ They have a mandolin instruction page

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