Play some rhythmic, driving new grass chords on the mandolin for my new bluegrass fiddle tune, Covid Fever.

The work of Bill Monroe inspires the melody, but the accompaniment uses chord voicings I picked up from players like Sam Bush and Wayne Benson.
This style of using A5-, D5-, and E5-chords add...

In this video, Hayes shows you how to play the melody to the tune “Over the Waterfall.” This tune is played in bluegrass and old time circles, and is a great example of “modal mixture,” switching between D major and D mixolydian modes.   This is a basic "skeletal" version of the melody, so there is ...

In this video, I’m showing you how to play the jazz-blues in the key of D-major. We are using three-string chord shapes that work very well for this style of playing rhythm.

You will play the Freddie Green four-to-the-bar style and the Charleston rhythm. 

In Mandolin Secrets Academy you’ll find:

In this video, Hayes Griffin shows you how to play sixths using the G major scale. This exercise is designed to:

1) improve right hand accuracy by playing non-adjacent strings

2) improve left hand strength and dexterity by playing the familiar major scale in a fresh way

After this lesson, you wil...

Ever been confused by someone at a jam asking you to kick off a tune with 4 potatoes?

In this video, instructor Hayes Griffin shows you the only technique you’ll ever need to kick off a bluegrass or old time fiddle tune - potatoes! And just to be clear from the get-go, you can leave your root veget...

In this week’s episode, Magnus and Hayes are discussing:

• Magnus’ new Academy release Covid Fever. This tune is a new composition and his first bluegrass fiddletune, inspired by Bill Monroe. 
• If you could take a lesson with any player out there, who would it be and why?
• Do you use a metrono
...

In this video, I’m showing you how to play the jazz-blues Jethro’s Jungle in the key of D-major. This is a original of me, Magnus Zetterlund, and we are using some double stops and typical jazz and swing mandolin phrases.

In Mandolin Secrets Academy you’ll find:

• Sheet music/tabs
• Play-a-long tra
...

Here’s a live concert video from Swedish folk music ensembles Nordic and Folk’Avant. We are performing Minous Vals by me, Magnus Zetterlund. The concert was recorded at Palladium in Malmö, in November 2021.

In Mandolin Secrets Academy you’ll find:

• Sheet music/tabs
• Play-a-long track
• How-to-play
...

This video shows you how to do the Ghost Note Strum, a percussive technique that I use a lot for a more expressive mandolin style.

A ghost note has a rhythmic value but not a pitch. So, when you mute the strings with your fretting hand and strike them with the pick, that is a ghost note.

We are do...

In this video, Hayes Griffin shows you how to spice up the fiddle tune “Angeline the Baker” with some right hand arpeggiation, also known as “crosspicking.”

In Mandolin Secrets Academy you’ll find:

• Sheet music/tabs
• Play-a-long track
• How-to-play-instructions

 Click Here To Watch Video

In this week’s episode, Magnus and Hayes discuss:  

•   What is crosspicking? 

•   What are the most essential components of your practice space? 

•   Some favorite cleaning/maintenance products for your instrument.

•   We are listening to Hayes new sophisticated arrangement of Angeline The...

We want to embrace the opportunity with the start of a new year to set some good mandolin and guitar goals. In this video, I will share some tips for making your own SMARTER goals that will set you up for a successful 2022. 

Click the link to watch the video