The music of J.S. Bach's works for keyboard and violin family instruments sound terrific and adapt easily to mandolin. The two-part inventions and movements from the cello suites 1 and 3 recently published by Debora Chen are supplied in tab and notation, and were selected "specifically because they lay well on the fretboard and require only as much sustain as a mandolin naturally has. Cello suite movements and Invention 15 are transposed to mando appropriate keys; the rest are mando friendly in their original keys."

MANDOLIN DUETS:
J.S. Bach Selected Two-Part Inventions, arranged and edited for two mandolins (in tab and standard notation). Includes inventions 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15.
Limited sale at String Thing Music until 1/1/09: $12.95 (reg. $16.95)

For mandolinists trying to break away from tab, the score is provided in notation only for reading practice and may be read by two mandolinists sharing a stand; the parts for mandolin I and mandolin II include standard notation, and tab/suggested fingerings for reference as needed, or for mandolinists who prefer reading tab. (Editing favors easiest-to-reach fingering.) Includes running bar numbers for easy rehearsal. The score and mandolin I are bound in one book (39 pages), mandolin II is included as a separate pull-out booklet (18 pages).

Don't have a convenient partner to play with? No problem; play-along MP3's for both mando 1 and mando 2, played slowly with metronome clicks, are available free at the String Thing Music website. Use them to help learn each voice, or to play the opposite one from the one you are playing yourself.

Purchase: String Thing Music

Read JazzMando Review: Standard Notation for the Tab-Addicted Mandolinist

Posted by Ted at December 13, 2008 6:05 AM