Music instruction publisher Mel Bay recently re-released one of their mainstay titles, Mel Bay’s Complete Mandolin Method.

Originally released in book form only, the updated product is now available with an accompanying DVD. The product teaches the basics of mandolin technique, note-reading, music theory, and a large number of tunes ranging from classical pieces such as Chopin’s Prelude, Op.28 No.20, to traditional tunes favored by bluegrass and old-time players such as Carry Me Back To Old Virginny, Grandfathers Clock, Shenandoah, and everything in between.

The tunes are presented in a variety of keys. Standard notation is the only presentation of the music in the book, no tab.

Complete Mandolin Method is available for $12 as book only, or $20 for the book and DVD.

Just as we head into the frantic holiday shopping season, Mel Bay Publications has a new book/CD set designed as a companion purchase for parents who will put a new banjo under the tree for their young children.

Easiest Banjo Tunes for Children was written by Larry McCabe, who has several other Mel Bay instructional products for banjo to his credit. This slim volume was created to offer simple, fun and easy to play versions of familiar banjo tunes, arranged with smaller hands in mind.

The book will be available from retailers who carry acoustic and bluegrass instructional materials, as well as online resellers.

Here’s a new Mel Bay release that is sure to become an important reference for banjo pickers. Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook - Banjo Edition includes well over 200 popular songs, complete with chords, lyrics and the basic melody presented in both standard notation and banjo tablature.

The book was written by Dix Bruce and Bill Evans, who also recorded a version of every song from the book for the two companion CDs. Bruce has more than 20 books available from Mel Bay, and is an accomplished guitarist and mandolinist and music writer. Evans is a noted banjo player and teacher, with three instructional DVDs from AcuTab.

The songs in the book include bluegrass, old time, country and gospel favorites drawn from the recorded work of Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers. Jimmy Martin, Doc Watson and many others. You’ll find jam standards like Rocky Top, Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms, Nine Pound Hammer and Little Maggie plus Bill Evans’ banjo arrangement for Train 45 (with examples of possible variations), as well as Cripple Creek and Sally Goodin.

The book’s introduction covers important jam basics like using the capo, finding the best key for your voice, and how to transpose the chords shown for each song into a more suitable key for both men’s and women’s voices.

Bill shared a few thoughts about this new release.

“My hope is that this will be a real resource for the acoustic musician who is looking to expand their repertoire or catch up on some old favorites that they may have missed the first time around. You can listen to the CD track and then go to the sheet music to learn the chord progression and lyrics. The relatively simple banjo tab melody offers a way for you to begin to work out your own arrangement of the tune – rather than trying to learn and memorize someone else’s version.”

This 304 page book (with 2 audio CDs) is available wherever bluegrass instructional materials are sold, or directly from Bill Evans’ web site where you can also find a sample tab and audio.

The Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook will be available soon in a mandolin edition as well.

Bob Taylor, the man behind the immensely popular Taylor Guitars, is the subject of a new documentary-style DVD distributed by Mel Bay Publications.

It’s part of their new Instrumental Innovators series, which profiles instrument makers who have had a major impact on the industry. Dave Smith, Stuart Spector and Paul Reed Smith are also included in the series to date.

The Bob Taylor DVD features a lengthy interview with Taylor, and a factory tour with his commentary, along with an overview of the history of Taylor Guitars. He also discusses his newest venture, R. Taylor Guitars, a separate company that builds handmade, luthier-quality guitars in limited production.

Bob Taylor, Instrumental Innovator should be available wherever Mel Bay products are sold, or directly from their web site.

Mel Bay has released Classic Bluegrass Solos for Mandolin, a collection of 22 transcriptions by Todd Collins. The thrust of this collection is the mandolin playing of Bill Monroe.

The book contains a mix of kickoffs, turnarounds and solos from some popular Monroe recordings. Bluegrass Stomp, I’m Working On A Building, Rawhide and Uncle Pen are transcribed in this 48 page book.

You can find the complete song list and some sample pages on the Mel Bay site.

Mel Bay has a new book of mandolin transcriptions from virtuoso player Mike Marshall. Entitled The Mike Marshall Collection, the book contains 11 of Mike’s pieces, transcribed from his recordings.

Each tune is shown in both tab and standard notation, including Emu’s Blues and Zakir from Brand New Can, and Big Man From Syracuse, Hot Nickels and Shoot The Moon from At Home and On The Range.

The book will be available wherever bluegrass and acoustic music instructional materials are sold, and a complete list of tunes and a number of sample pages can be found on Mel Bay’s site.

This months edition of Mel Bay’s Guitar Sessions Webzine features an artist profile of Brad Davis. It’s a very thorough interview that covers a lot of Brad’s background in the music and with the guitar specifically, as is evident from this quote.

The sound of the acoustic guitar captured my ear and inspired me to learn how to play it. Interestingly, when I was eight years old a family friend bought a 1956 Martin D-18 that once belonged to Norman Blake; the friend then sold it to my parents. They gave it to me for my eighth birthday and I still have that guitar.

If you have an interest in Brad’s guitar playing you should click on over and give it a read.

Mel Bay has just released to DVD Joe Carr’s Super Mandolin Picking Techniques. This was previously only available on VHS. The 30 minute program teaches mandolin players how to develop a strong well-coordinated right-hand technique that will lead to super fast, strong and accurate picking.

Included are play-along exercises for alternating, combination and consecutive down picking. Joe also covers Monroe style picking and two styles of Crosspicking.

The price is only $14.95 and a PDF file for the free instructional booklet that accompanies this DVD is available for download at www.melbay.com/DVDBooklets.