I have the Hal Leonard "Mandolin Chord Finder." I have to modify most of the chords in it, to make them easier to play. Another drawback of that book is that it only has 3 chord examples for each type of chord. I've looked at reviews of the Mel Bay "Deluxe Encyclopedia of Mandolin Chords" and it doesn't sound like what I need, either. I'm a pretty good mandolin player, have a band and host an Old Time Jam. I just bought an octave mandolin, and am learning my way around that fun, fun, fun instrument! On my small mandolin I play mostly fiddle tunes, and know lots of them but on the octave mandolin, I treat it like a guitar. My hands are small, so I need easy chords -- 1, 2, and 3 finger chords. I take a lessons sometimes with a world-class mandolin player, who is also a very good teacher for me. In the lessons, I show him what I need and want, and he answers my questions, making suggestions and giving me new chords, runs, and arrangements to songs I already like. When I want an arrangement, he says, "Do you want easy or hard?" (So far, I say "Easy!") He's splendid! He shows me some amazing, easy chords. Does anybody know of a really good source of chords -- either in a book or online -- that would have a whole lot of easy chords? And by the way, as an experienced music teacher myself, I highly recommend this approach to lessons. That way, you get exactly what you want, if a teacher is willing to work with you as a "partner." In Education lingo, this is called "student-centered lessons."
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