John McGann is one of acoustic string music’s more prolific instrumentalists and educators. He is the 1985 national mandolin champion, and has performed and recorded with a who’s who of bluegrass, newgrass, celtic and folk artists. He operates his own custom transcription service, and has five books published by Mel Bay. John is a popular instructor at both guitar and mandolin camps, and is an Associate Professor in Strings at the Berklee College of Music where he teaches mandolin.

His newest contribution is John McGann’s Rhythm Mandolin, an instructional DVD designed to introduce mandolinists to a number of ways to accompany others, from the familiar bluegrass chop to Celtic and swing styles. The more aggressive right hand approach used in progressive bluegrass is covered, as are old time and Texas “sock rhythm” styles.

John uses the familiar fiddle tune Forked Deer to present these many examples and stylistic variations.

The DVD does not include a printed booklet, but has a PDF book on the DVD itself. Simply insert the DVD into your computer and you can view and/or print the booklet which features transcriptions (tab and standard) and chord charts for the examples on the video.

Orders can be placed on John’s web site, where you can also find his Rhythm Tune Up DVD (guitar and mandolin), and his several Mel Bay books.