Caterina Lichtenberg - Classical Mandolin: The Art of the Tremolo DVD

The sound of the tremolo has defined the mandolin through the ages. Whether playing old Italian folk songs, Romantic era classical pieces or folk and bluegrass standards, executing the tremolo with expressiveness, depth and complexity is the hallmark of a truly accomplished mandolinist.

There's a seemingly endless variety of compelling sounds you can get from the tremolo: single, double and triple string work; pizzicato (pulling off); staccato and legato; and "duo style," an astonishing technique that makes the mandolin sound like two instruments at once. Caterina Lichtenberg teaches them all on this truly inspiring, in-depth lesson.

Playing her bowl-back (Mike Marshall demonstrates on his flat-back Gibson), Caterina helps you accomplish the pick technique you'll need to get speed, tone, precision and feeling out of the tremolo. Mike joins her to show the differences between her classical style and American bluegrass sounds. In a musical conversation between two master players, they perform a gorgeous duet on the famous Italian song, Return to Sorrento.

You'll come away from this lesson playing beautiful arrangements of Amazing Grace and My Old Kentucky Home; a famous sonata by Schubert; the theme from The Godfather; and a number of etudes and pieces by the great Italian mandolin master, Raffaele Calace.