A question came up on a Facebook page that I follow about exercise and such that beginners would benefit from. I offered a few suggestions, with some written exercises. I will also put them here, so that they can be more easily located in the future. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but just a few relatively easy exercises to learn to reinforce some fundamental skills DownUp Exercises Part 1 G Major Exercises Part 1 D Major Exercises Part 1 A Major Exercises Part 1

The double stops that form intervals of fourth, a major third, and a minor third form an important framework that informs how I see the mandolin fretboard and how to navigate between different positions and through chord changes. Sharon Gilchrist, I think, was the first person I heard call these the short, medium and long double stops and I like that way of describing them. Before hearing that I always called them by the intervals that they form, the perfect fourth, the major third, and the minor third.  The short double stop is the one that has a difference between the lower and higher strings of two frets (or one…