Noted mandolin teacher and transcriber, John McGann, has a new instructional DVD. Sound Fundamentals: Tone, Touch and Technique for Mandolin uses a number of crucial bluegrass mandolin techniques to help players find a wide range of pleasing tones, all the while stressing efficiency and comfort.

McGann has an impressive resume, with a long list of performing, recording, arranging and transcribing credits. He has also recently been named an Associate Professor in the Strings Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

As described on John’s web site:

Includes: getting comfortable: tone guards, straps, etc.; choosing the right pick; anchoring; open string exercises; downstrokes vs. alternate picking; crosspicking and tremolo: importance of the loose wrist: left hand fingering; the “duck web” and parallel thumb; synchronizing both hands & unlocking the fingerboard; speed, more plus bonus footage.

Sound Fundamentals does not come with a printed booklet, but the DVD has a printable PDF file with both tablature and standard notation transcriptions for much of the material shown on screen. You simply need to pop the DVD into your computer and find the PDF file before selecting the print command.

More details and online ordering can be found on John’s web site. The DVD is distributed to retailers through Mel Bay Publications.

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.