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Banjo For Dummies
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$24.99
$13.57*
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| Part No: | 0470127627 |
| Manufacturer: | For Dummies |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 4.5 / 5.0 |
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- ISBN13: 9780470127629
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
- A complete guide to the world of the five-string banjo written for both beginners and more experienced players.
- Packed with over 120 how-to photos and 130 musical examples.
- 94 track CD included - hear and play along with every exercise and song.
- The only book to offer instruction in clawhammer, bluegrass, melodic, single-string, minstrel and classic styles.
From Earl Scruggs’ driving bluegrass picking to the genre-busting jazz fusion of Béla Fleck and the multi-million selling movie soundtrack O Brother Where Are Thou?, the five-string banjo can be heard just about everywhere in American music these days.
Banjo For Dummies is the most complete guide to the five-string banjo ever written. It covers everything you need to get into the banjo: including how to choose, tune and care for your instrument, developing a good playing posture, fretting your first chords and getting comfortable with the left and right hand picking patterns used for clawhammer and bluegrass playing techniques. You’ll then add the left hand, spicing up your playing with slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and chokes for an authentic five-string banjo sound.
From there, you’ll move on the play 19th century minstrel style, early 20th century classic style as well as try your hand at more advanced examples of bluegrass style. An in-depth chapter on bluegrass music explores Scruggs licks and techniques as well as melodic and single-string styles, with song examples. Also included is a banjo buyer’s guide, a section on music theory as applied to bluegrass and old-time music, an accessories guide (advice on cases, picks, straps, metronomes, computer aids and much more), information on how to find a good teacher, banjo camp or festival, chord charts, bios of twelve influential players, practice tips and much, much more!
Banjo For Dummies is accessible and fun to read and it’s easy to locate just what you’re interested in playing. Included are 20 songs including several new compositions written by the author just for this book, including Reno Rag (single-string style), “Winston’s Jig” (Irish three-finger), and “Everyday Breakdown” (Scruggs style). All musical examples are played slowly on the accompanying CD, many with guitar and mandolin accompaniment.
Bill Evans is one of the world’s most celebrated banjo players and teachers. He has taught thousands of people to play the five-string banjo in private lessons and group workshops literally all over the world. In addition to leading the Bill Evans String Summit, Bill has performed with Dry Branch Fire Squad, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Tony Trischka and many others and he hosts his own acclaimed banjo camp, the NashCamp Fall Banjo Retreat in the Nashville area. As an American music historian, he has taught at San Francisco State University, the University Virginia and Duke University. He has written a popular instructional column for Banjo Newsletter magazine for the last fifteen years and hosts three popular instructional DVDs for AcuTab Publications. To learn more about Bill, visit his homepage at www.nativeandfine.com.
| Highly recommended | 2010-07-02 | 5 / 5 |
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"Banjo for Dummies" by Bill Evans is full of information about all things Banjo. What makes this book so unique is that it teaches the basics of BOTH clawhammer and Bluegrass styles, and gives examples of other techniques such as minstrel. This lets new pickers get a taste for the different styles before they decide which they like best. (Most instructional books are dedicated to only clawhammer or Scruggs Bluegrass)
The CD that comes with it is the perfect learning tool, since a person needs an audio reference to really be sure they're getting the exercises and songs the correct way. And it's great for playing along with tunes after you learn them.
Another cool thing is that the book starts you off on two particular songs, "Red River Valley" and "Boil Them Cabbage Down", first on easy strums, then with basic clawhammer and bluegrass methods, and later shows advanced arrangements of these two classics with hammer-ons and slides. It was fun to play the easy version the day I got the book and progress to the hard versions.
Aside from a very nice collection of tabbed songs, Mr. Evans gives detailed instructions for such things as choosing and changing strings, basic care of the instrument, and an interesting history of the Banjo.
I highly recommend this book for first time banjo players, for pickers who want to experiment with new styles, or for the know-it-all who wants to learn even more. :)
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| Good starter for beginners | 2010-02-09 | 3 / 5 |
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| Having just received a banjo as a gift, I was eager to find as much help as I could. I started out with youtube and then decided I needed to have a couple of books. Banjo for Dummies is an interesting book with lots of great history, helpful tips, random facts, a CD and some tabs (music tabulatures allowing a person to sight read music without reading notes). However, having played guitar for years (although still an amateur), while I found the book very entertaining to read, I did not find it was going to advance my playing much more than what I received off of youtube. Guitar players already know many techniques such as hammer ons, pull offs, slides, etc. as well as how to read tabs. Nonethless, I do not regret my purchase as I have enjoyed the book very much and continue to find little gems here and there. If I was a complete neophyte to string instruments then I would have given it another star. |
| decent , but better stuff out there | 2009-11-16 | 2 / 5 |
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| This is a decent book for beginners or intermediates. I found I learned more though from the Murphy Henry Dvd's and Ross Nickerson's Banjo Encyclopedia. I didn't like the "for Dummies" format. It was a little to bland for me. If I was a beginner, I'd get the other two ones I recommened. |
| Banjo for extreme dummies. | 2009-09-28 | 3 / 5 |
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| Lots about the banjo but not a lot of tunes to learn. Really basic stuff for players but probably good stuff for someone about to buy a first banjo or consider taking up the banjo. I would have liked to see more tabs, particularly old time styles. |
| Banjo for Dummies | 2009-09-04 | 4 / 5 |
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| The book is very good, but as a rank beginner I have to go over it a few times to get everything. |
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