|
The closest you'll ever get to a private lesson with Jethro. |
 
The celebrated comedian and mandolin virtuoso Kenneth "Jethro" Burns passed away in 1989, but mandolinists can still learn from him through his recordings and instructional materials. Jim Nikora took private lessons from Jethro in the 1970s and faithfully taped the lessons, thus preserving a lot of valuable learning material. Mike Stangeland took the time to digitize several hours of these recordings, and I am happy to provide them here as free downloads.
Jim recorded Jethro playing 120 or so of his
arrangements and exercises at a moderate to slow pace which make them much
easier to transcribe. You can hear every note clearly, Jim's recordings are
excellent. This material is priceless. |
|
A few frequently asked questions. |
Do you have transcriptions of this material? No, I don't. Jethro taught by ear. If anyone wants to transcribe any of these arrangements or exercises, I'll be happy to post them here for the mandolin community to enjoy. If you don't own it already, I strongly suggest buying the Mel Bay Complete Jethro Burns book and CD (see below). It contains some of the same tunes and exercises featured on these recordings.
I can't download the files. Will you send me CDs? Sorry, because of the volume of requests and other demands on my time, I cannot fulfill requests for CDs. Maybe you can get a friend to download them for you or else make a request on the CoMando mandolin mailing list or Mandomusictrader on Yahoo! Groups.
I have a problem, question or just want to say Hi. Email me at rob@robcoleman.com. |
|
Buy Jethro merchandise and help support this website. |
Complete Jethro Burns Mandolin by Jethro Burns and Ken Eidson. For Mandolin. solos. Complete. Bluegrass & Country. Level: Multiple Levels. Book/CD Set. Size 8.75x11.75. 240 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (94875BCD)
See more info...
Other mandolin books and videos
|
Jethro Burns CDs
Back to Back (Jethro & Tiny Moore - Just reissued)
The Puritan Sessions
Bye Bye Blues
Swing Low, Sweet Mandolin
America's Song Butchers: The Weird World Of Homer & Jethro
The Best of Homer & Jethro
S'Wonderful: 4 Giants of Swing (Eldon Shamblin, Curley Chalker, Joe Venuti, Jethro Burns)
Jethro Burns (Japan import of Jethro's Flying Fish LP)
All things MANDOLIN at amazon.com
Books
Music
Musical Instruments
|
 
Jethro Burns downloads at the iTunes Music Store
Swing Low, Sweet Mandolin
Bye Bye Blues
Back to Back (Jethro & Tiny Moore - Just reissued)
|
|
Jewel Case Inserts |
|
Courtesy of Rick Jones, you can now download printable jewel case inserts in PDF format (274KB). Requires Free Adobe Acrobat Reader. |