The Mandolin Chord Book: Compact Reference Library

I’ve been a guitar player for some years now, and on a whim I purchased a mandolin as a means of augmenting my versatility. I only needed to learn the chord positions on this instrument as accompaniment for songs I already knew on the guitar, for the time being, as I am also a vocalist and was not concerned with playing any melodies or scales. None the less, every other chord is, of course, also included. This small volume is primarily a reference book with chord diagrams consisting of chord name, fretboard location, and finger position dots illustrated for each chord. Included in the introduction are the note names of each of the strings when played in their respective "open positions”, plus tuning information and adequate enough procedural instruction that even novices should be able to put to use in teaching themselves the accompaniment to well known favorites. I strongly recommend purchasing a song-book of familiar tunes with mandolin chord diagrams included, however, as an aid in pursuing such an endeavor.

The book is organized by key, offering the most common closed chords used in each key. If you just want to find a specific chord, you have to thumb through to find a key that the chord is used in. Also, the chords for each key are spread across three pages, so you can't simply lay the book flat open to the key you are working in and see all the options. Instead, you have to flip back and forth. Organizing it by key might have had some advantages if all the chords had been placed on just two facing pages, so they all might be seen with the boom laid open in front of you. Furthermore, the book offers mostly four finger closed chord options. For beginners, it probably would make more sense to present some of the simpler open chords alongside the closed ones, offering them a good place to start, while also showing them where they might go as their dexterity improves.

I ordered it for my aunt, she got a Mandolin for Christmas. This book shows every chord the mandolin has and shows the position for your fingers. I highly recommend for beginners like my aunt. The CD's training on guitars and mandolins are very fast and only show the the fingers on the strings for the chords, it is hard to figure it out. This book enables you to learn the finger positions for each chord and there are many, so I recommend each day you try and learn two or three a day and practice to commit them to memory. I have an extended music background and I had a difficult time with the CD. So I did some research and found this book. I hope this helps others.

I was disappointed in the organization of the book. For instance, in the key of D (and Bm), it lists fingerings for vairiants of D (7, sus, etc) and E and G and A and Bm spread over three pages. I would rather have the basic four (1, 4, 5, 6m) up front followed by the variants and 2-major. On the plus side, it shows multiple ways of fingering some of the more common chords. Also, this is much better viewed on a tablet or real Kindle than a smart phone but that's not the book's problem.

This book is set up so that all the chords for a given key are grouped. Of course that means that many chords are repeated for various keys. This format makes it easy to work on a song in a particular key and find the required chords without flipping through the entire book. I'm still working on getting my fingers to cooperate on several chords but have learned to play several tunes on my mandolin. If you are starting out with your mandolin this should be helpful.

I am not used to thinking in terms of 'what chords fit into what key'. If you are not either then you may not like this book. However, after using it for a while, I see the handiness in how it is arranged...as long as you know what key you are playing in!But on the other hand, a quick scan lets you find any chord you want, it just won't be in alphabetical order.

great to have while learning the chords. book is layed out based on keys not based on chordsso you have to find the page with the correct key to find the chord ur looking for. not a huge deal,but had to flip through several pages to find a key structure that include a C chord for instancewhen youd think itd be right at your fingertips.

I like this booklet because it gives you different positions for different chords. You can use it along side a songbook and learn the new chords that make a song easier to play. You can also teach yourself by using these booklets. When you learn chords you can play songs.

This is my preferred size-format for a chord book, but I'd prefer the chords grouped better. It claims to be in Key format, but seems to be display all the "A-chords and their derivatives". They do not seem to be as well organised as I have seen elsewhere; hence key of A would include the chord sequences typical of something written in that key. If the shops had been opened and I'd been able to view this I doubt I'd have gone for this one. It wasn't expensive and will do for now, but I suspect I'll be replacing it with a shop-bought alternative as soon as the local music shop opens.

An amazing book. It being arranged in keys is what makes it so good!! Another reviewer said that it has lots of other chords that don't belong in the key but that's not true. The author has included chords in the harmonized major/minor scales plus chord substitutions that relate to the key. The beauty of this is if you are writing your own music you can experiment with a number chords for one key. A much better way of learning as you are playing the chords in context to the key. Most other books are a section on each chord. I've been playing for 24 years and have 5 other chord books and they don't come close to this one!!

Very good, concise and clear. Good guide and worth having. Now that I have discovered I actually have the book I will use regularly...

EXCELLENT CHORD BOOK FOR ANY LEVEL OF PLAYER. i PARTICULARLY LIKE THE FACT THAT IT DEALS WITH CHORDS IN EACH KEY.

very well laid out book, easy to understand even for the complete beginner. Quick delivery, would definitely recommend this book