Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Discuss the Mandolin lesson: Old Joe Clark- Basic Melody

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/old-joe-clark-basic-melody-mandolin-beginner

Now that you’ve made it through Boot Camp, it’s time to learn our first song! Old Joe Clark is one of the most common fiddle tunes there ever was. I love it…though I may be a little partial to the name.

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Hi, I keep seeing “lessons” that refer to “having made it through the boot camp.” However, I don’t really know what the “boot camp” is. I’m paying member, I think it’s called “gold pick.” Do I have access to the boot camp? Where? TBH, it would help very much because the access I have seems to give me a huge volume of lessons (and I really like them and the teaching style) but I am a bit overwhelmed about where I should start and how I should progress through them. I am sure Im missing something glaringly obvious, but just wondering if there is some sort of progression on the website. Maybe that’s what is meant by the “boot camp.” Thanks in advance for any replies.

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Hey Troy, welcome to the forum!

Mandolin Boot Camp is part of the course framework we’re planning for the new site remodel. On the new site, everything will be laid out in a structured roadmap of courses designed to take you from beginning to end, just like you mentioned. “Boot Camp” is the first course in the roadmap.

The material within Boot Camp is already on the site though. It starts with the lessons contained in the Mandolin Basics course, and also contains some non-playing related starter lessons:

Be an Educated Mandolin Buyer
Essential Mandolin Accessories & More!
How to Change Mandolin Strings, String Study & More!
All About Tuners
How to Tune Your Mandolin
How to Read Mandolin Tab

FYI, the roadmap is essentially a more structured replacement for the checklists. Not sure if you’ve used these yet, but they are just checklists with a suggested order of lessons for you to work through. Here’s the Beginner Mandolin Checklist:

https://banjobenclark.com/university/beginner-mandolin-checklist

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This is super helpful. I assume there is also a checklist for intermediate and advanced, I guess I’ll just substitute those words into the same URL you provided to search for those checklists. I will very much appreciate the new organization when it becomes available, because it kindof feels like just reaching into a grab-bag right now.

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Yep! They are also located at the top of the Mandolin page (under “Learning Tracks”) for quick access. :slightly_smiling_face:

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