Beginners will learn to pick the melody to become familiar with the tune in its most basic form. Intermediate players will develop facility with a series of great licks and runs that can be used in these or other tunes. More experienced pickers move on to advanced techniques, including full-blown solos for each tune. Each tune gets a final run-through, complete with hot endings. Mandolinists and fiddlers, the violin is tuned to the same pitches as a mandolin, can master these 20 must-play tunes from the standard bluegrass repertoire:

• Arkansas Traveler
• Big Sandy River
• Bill Cheatham
• Billy in the Low Ground
• Blackberry Blossom
• Under the Double Eagle
• Flop-Eared Mule
• Fisher's Hornpipe
• Forked Deer
• Gold Rush
• Old Joe Clark
• Salt Creek
• Soldier's Joy
• St. Anne's Reel
• Nothin' to It
• Ragtime Annie
• Red-Haired Boy
• Sweet Georgia Brown
• Turkey in the Straw
• Whiskey Before Breakfast