# General Mandolin Topics > General Mandolin Discussions >  Mandolin Instruction Website

## Baron Collins-Hill

Hi Everybody.

For the past 5 or so years I have been working on a website that provides free video mandolin lessons. Updating the site got pushed to the back of my list for a couple years, but I have been putting a lot of work in to in the the past couple months, adding more content and cleaning things up. As with any website, it is a constant work in progress, but I am happy with the way it is heading. 

I'd love to get some feedback on the site, from thing you think work, to things you think don't work, typos, ideas for new or missing lessons, etc. etc. I find I can dig myself into a hole on one aspect of the sight and lose sight of other areas that need work, and would greatly appreciate some other eyes and ears looking at things.

In any case, the website is www.mandolessons.com

Thank you very much,
Baron

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## OldSausage

In general the site loads slightly too slowly to be a good experience (I have a very fast connection, so I don't think it's me). The quantity of ads contributes to that, and also make it hard to navigate. I understand you want to maximize the revenue from this, but a lot of these ads just have the word "Download" and a button, which, who knows what it does, but it will undermine your credibility with anyone who clicks on the links thinking they can download the tab or something. There doesn't seem to be any tab to download for people who might prefer to learn that way. I also noticed there were some problems with your pick direction on your Angeline The Baker video. I haven't checked them all out. In general they are enjoyable and informative.

In general, because the main content of the site is YouTube videos, most users will I suspect figure out that just going to your YouTube channel is a faster, more convenient and effective way of viewing this content, and will skip straight to that option - that's what I would do.

I would recommend removing all the advertising at least until you've built up more of a following, more content that is unique to your website (and useful) and have a user base you can rely on. Maybe look instead at options for generating revenue via YouTube directly through advertising or offering subscriber-only videos.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the attempt, it's just that these aspects of the execution are making it rather unappealing at this point.

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## Baron Collins-Hill

Hi David,

Thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate them. 

Site speed is something I am currently struggling with. I don't think it is necessarily the ads that are slowing it down. My other websites, such as my very bare-bones personal site www.mandobaron.com has that same annoying lag. I am a fairly amateur web designer, so don't know much about how to troubleshoot that sort of problem. 

Ad placement is definitely something I want to work on. I wish I could get rid of them, but they help me pay for running the site, and until I find an income that allows me to not worry over the cost of hosting they are there to stay. I agree they get in the way, and am sorry to hear they are the slimy "download button" kind. They have always been fairly content specific for me. I am on a constant quest to make them less obtrusive, but again, my limited web design skills produce limited results. This will change over time.

In terms of pick direction, we may have a difference of opinion or style there. I've got a lesson up on it, but my general rule is play down up down up for straight eights, and always have downs on the "beats" and ups on the "ands". This might make for some funny up strokes in your view, but I think it provides a solid pattern for reels, and allows an easier transition to filling out melody skeletons with more notes. 

Again, thanks for the insightful thoughts. 
Baron

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## mtm

Thanks Baron ... I need all the help I can get !!!!

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## bo2121

I like the website and the lessons are very helpful to me as a newbie. I do go to the YouTube app to watch the videos and get the tab off the website. I don't mind the ads it's a free site. Thanks for all the help I'm currently working on red haired boy

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## derbex

I am not sure it's the ads slowing you site down, it looks more like your wordpress installation. I don't know how you have it hosted?

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## OldSausage

> Site speed is something I am currently struggling with. I don't think it is necessarily the ads that are slowing it down. My other websites, such as my very bare-bones personal site www.mandobaron.com has that same annoying lag. I am a fairly amateur web designer, so don't know much about how to troubleshoot that sort of problem.


I see what you mean, it seems like that's down to whoever is providing the hosting in that case. I guess it's WordPress? I have a web site hosted with Blogger (Google), it doesn't cost me anything, doesn't have any ads and is nice and speedy.




> In terms of pick direction, we may have a difference of opinion or style there. I've got a lesson up on it, but my general rule is play down up down up for straight eights, and always have downs on the "beats" and ups on the "ands". This might make for some funny up strokes in your view, but I think it provides a solid pattern for reels, and allows an easier transition to filling out melody skeletons with more notes.


I know, that's exactly what I do too. If you look carefully at your Angeline The Baker video, you'll see that, in the second 4 bars of the A part, you are sometimes using an upstroke on the down beat in a section where it is all quarter notes.

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## Baron Collins-Hill

> I know, that's exactly what I do too. If you look carefully at your Angeline The Baker video, you'll see that, in the second 4 bars of the A part, you are sometimes using an upstroke on the down beat in a section where it is all quarter notes.


I stand corrected! Thanks!  :Grin:

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## Jakerex

No speed issues with the site here.  It's just fine and i don't have the fastest internet. No tab for flop eared mule

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## f5joe

Nice website.  Lots to learn.  Thanks!

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## OldSausage

> No speed issues with the site here.  It's just fine and i don't have the fastest internet. No tab for flop eared mule


I agree, the speed seems dramatically improved today.

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## jim33

The site loads fast for me.  I have ad blocker, so no ads.

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## Bill Baldridge

OldSausage, I want to commend you for being so willing to help Baron.

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## JCook

The site loads alright for me. In the Useful Accessories part you might want to mention an armrest; a lot of players (me included) swear by them. Also maybe more info about chords, maybe some chord charts, stuff like that. Looks like a nice site overall, with a lot of good information on it. Keep developing it!

Jack

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## JeffD

On that Angeline the Baker video, is something burning on the stove or is there a fire or something??

Oh I see, it must be a humidifier.   :Laughing: 


Good sight. I am sure it will be of use to folks.

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## Baron Collins-Hill

Good thought, Jack. I will add a chord chart section to the list of things to do (though it is hard to beat the cafe's chord finder).

Also, I am a big fan of armrests as well, and will definitely add that to the site. Thanks for the thoughts and insight.

Baron

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## Baron Collins-Hill

Thanks, Jeff. It's been a fun project. And yeah... haha, that humidifier ended up adding some distractions to a couple videos.

Thanks for all the help everybody. It does seem faster today, and I am looking in to ways of speeding it up even more.

Baron

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## A 4

The site loaded quickly for me, and I've only looked at one lesson, but I liked it.  My only criticism so far would echo one already mentioned: the ads look a little dodgy, and they are not that clearly distinct from content (e.g. the ad for what I guess is a pdf reader right below the link to download the tab of Bill Cheatham).  Maybe they appear different to different people, though.  

That said, I like it, and I like your playing, which I've seen on YouTube for some time now.  You have videos for songs that I like for which there are few examples, and you play them well.  Two examples (both came to me via John Hartford) are the Reel d'Issoudun, which I can play, but I still need to figure out why yours sounds so much richer than mine:



Or Homer the Roamer, for which I cannot find any tab, and I plan to use your version to learn by ear, once I learn to learn by ear*.

So, thanks to you!

A4
*My learning by ear count is 1, the song Jericho Medley from the Cafe mp3 page.  At least that's the count for intentional tunes: Tennessee Waltz and oddly, Jingle Bell Rock come to my fingers unbidden.  I see, though, that you have lessons on learning by ear, so I'll check those out, too.

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## Jim Garber

I did not have a lot of time to look at the site, but I viewed one fiddle tune lesson for Julianne Johnson and the title on the video says "Learn Bill Cheatham" tho the tune you teach is indeed Julianne Johnson..

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## Baron Collins-Hill

Hi Jim, Great catch on the title mixup! You all are really helping me clean up my act, and I appreciate it!

A4 - Homer The Roamer is definitely an all time favorite of mine. I can't remember where I learned it from, but it shows up in two places I know of. One is a Hartford/Thile set at some festival, and the recording is not of great quality, but it is fun to hear Chris get thrown into such a slippery tune. The other version is from Memories of John, and if I remember correctly, they do at least part of it slowly at the beginning.

Thanks,
Baron

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## Dougtron 3030

What timing.  I'm new to the mandolin and I've actually been using your site for a little while now and I've found it quite useful.  Discovered it through the youtube videos initially.

Likes:
Love the video along with the tab.  My method has been to watch and pick along with the video and refer to the tab if I can't quite see what you are doing.  So far I've worked mainly on "You are my Sunshine" and "Whiskey before Breakfast"

Like the fact that at the end of the video you run through the song playing both only chords and the melody line, let's me practice playing along using both chords and melody.

Tabs are clearly written

Minor Quibbles:
I don't mind ads, but the one for Downloading software is a bit  confusing, as one could be looking for the tab and find themselves installing unwanted software.  Definitely could keep folks away from your site.  If you were able to get mandolin related ad support (perhaps the folks behind this site could steer you in the right direction) I doubt anyone would mind the ads.  Alternatively, clearer delineation between your content and ads would be helpful.

I noticed a minor difference between the tab for Whisky before Breakfast and the video.  Not a problem as both work fine for the song, but can throw us newbies off.

Not every video has a tab (I'm sure this is the "work in progress" aspect)

All in all, I've found it to be a great resource and have shared it with the others in the class I took through our local community college.
Thanks so much and I've even bought your cd as a way of showing appreciation.

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## Baron Collins-Hill

Thanks Doug,

I hope to get some better ad things going at some point. I'd love to do something slick like what happens here on the cafe, but I wonder whether I get the traffic to be appealing to potential advertisers. Maybe I'll send out a round of emails to mandolin related companies. I also have very little idea how that sort of arrangement works. 

Whiskey before breakfast is one of the earlier lessons I did, and folks have mentioned the tabs are different. I'll add that correction to my list and get a proper set of tabs up. 

I'm glad you've enjoyed the site, and thanks for sharing it around. Also thanks for the interest in the CD, it will go out in the mail this morning!

Thanks,
Baron

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## Mark Wilson

> I don't mind ads, but the one for Downloading software is a bit  confusing, as one could be looking for the tab and find themselves installing unwanted software.  Definitely could keep folks away from your site.


Yeah that got me too!  "Download PDF" button located right under a lesson usually means tab.  Had I just stumbled on this site and got the 'loading new software' results while trying to d/l tab I would have probably left.  

I followed along with a couple of Baron's lessons that I already know and found varitations that I liked.  :Smile:  I'll definitely check back for a new tune sometime.  Thx.  Well done

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## Franc Homier Lieu

I have been using the site off and on since this thread led me to it, and a lot in the last couple of days. Good, easy to follow videos, nice versions of the tunes, good variety of stuff, and good PDFs of the notation and tab. However, there are two buttons at the bottom of the page. One says 'get rid of ads'. The other says 'advertise on mandolessons'. Well, I am reluctant to support the site with a monthly contribution while you are still collecting money from the kind of advertisers whose ads are so annoying that people will pay not to have to see them. And the idea of paying every month once you have reached the goal of 500 bucks a month from supporters so that everyone else can have all the content with no ads for free? Not very appealing. I am already paying artistworks.com and a few years ago I plunked down my money for a lifetime membership on banjobenclark.com.  (Best 75 bucks I ever spent.) Anyway, I like the site, don't like the financial strategy.

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## BJ O'Day

I have followed some of your beginner lessons and I like the site very much.

BJ

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## roysboy

Looking really good . You certainly cover a lot of ground ....hats off to you for taking the time to put this together in one place .
3 thumbs up !

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## PaulBills

The Music Theory page is _very_ handy.  I'd been wondering what all this 'circle of fifths' was about.  Now all I need to know is what does 'FFcP' mean  :Smile:

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## pheffernan

Four Finger Closed Position

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## PaulBills

Ahh cool, does that mean all four fingers in use, like a chop chord?

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## pheffernan

Reference: http://jazzmando.com/ffcp.shtml

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PaulBills

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## PaulBills

Sorted  :Smile:  saved to bookmarks  :Smile:

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## MaggieMae

I just found your lessons, and have been working on Whiskey Before Breakfast.  I think there may still be some discrepancy between the tabs and the video, but will double check, as i have been away from my instrument for a week or so.

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## MaggieMae

Hi, I wanted to add that I have been practicing a few other songs from your lessons, and am so thrilled with both the content and your teaching style.  Thank you!!

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## Baron Collins-Hill

Hi Everyone,

I just discovered that this thread has been rekindled. Thanks for all the input. 

*Franc Homier Lieu*, I appreciate your input on the advertising. I see that the Patreon button right next to the Advertise on MandoLessons button seems like a clash of interests. They are both strategies to steer clear of the annoying ads that show up on the site. My hope with the "Advertise on MandoLessons" button was to get some Mandolin related content, rather than the ads automatically served up by Google Adsense, but while there have been a few nibbles, it never panned out. My joining Patreon was my next idea to get rid of advertisements, and it has been working much better. Due to the conflict of interests you pointed out, I have deleted the "Advertise on MandoLessons" button, and thank you for pointing it out.

*MaggieMae*, I will look in to the Whiskey Before Breakfast lessons, and I suspect you are right. Whiskey Before Breakfast was one of my early lessons, before I really got my system together, and I can imagine there being some discrepancies between the tune and the tab. I will update it as soon as I have the time. Thanks for pointing it out!

In general I'm really looking forward to having some time in October to create a more defined long term plan for the site. Part of my motivation behind MandoLessons is that I myself learned to play the instrument by combing through sources on the internet, especially the Cafe. To this day when I want to find a recording of a fiddle tune I don't know one of my first stops is YouTube. Open access to information hold huge value to me, and I want to add back to the pool of knowledge (MandoLessons has been a lot more fun than adding to Wikipedia).

Building the website has helped my web design skills, communication skills, confidence in front of a camera, professional skills, long term planning, and a host of other things that I couldn't have imagined when I first bought the domain name and hastily posted some videos as a high school student. Now that interest in the site is picking up and as of about a year ago I am no longer losing money on the venture, I've got some catching up to do quality-wise. I'm still bumbling along as an amateur web designer, and spend a lot of time doing things the wrong way. This fall I plan to sit down with someone who knows what they are doing and can help me clean up a lot of aspects of the site (design, implementation, site speed, communication, transparency, copyright, technology, quality control, SEO, etc.) to make the site so much better than it already is. I'm still using web design pricipals I learned in high school, and the internet moves so much faster than that!

What started as a crazy scheme has turned into somewhat of a life-project, and I couldn't be happier. Sorry for the long post, it turned in to me sorting through some of my own thoughts in a public forum. If anyone has questions or comments, I'd love to hear them. The forum responses and emails I have received over the years has shaped the site far more than I could have done on my own, and as a one man show I value thoughts from outside of my own brain _very_ highly!

Thanks!
Baron

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