Mel Bay Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch: A Guide for the Claw-less Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good beginning tutorial for clawhammer style banjo and does assume the reader has no prior musical experience, just as the author states. However, like Pete Seeger's hallowed tome "How to Play the 5 String Banjo", Dan Levenson starts the student off in a tuning that will present him with challenges down the road. Seeger even states in the most current edition of "How to Play..." that if he had the time to revise his book one of the first things he would change would be to start off the student in "G" tuning. While this might seem like a minor detail it's just as agravating as the occassional book employing non standard tablature.
My recommendation for anyone (new or experienced) who wants to learn the instrument in this style would be to get Ken Perlman's "Clawhammer Style Banjo" AND the available DVD's that follow the text. While some reviewers have faulted this book as being a little too advanced for them, the videos do a wonderful job of presenting the technical material in a manner that provides easy access to the more comprhensive material. Levenson's book has videos available as well but his teaching methods, while undoubtedly effective, are somewhat unique. That isn't a put down as "Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch" is a good book, just not one you can grow with as easily as Perlman's.
Most students will wind up with a number of books anyway and it's often beneficial to have the same information presented in different ways. For some, "Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch" will undoubtedly be just the ticket to unlocking the frailing banjo's potential. For me, it was Perlman's book and videos.

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Southern Appalachian native Dan Levenson and Mel BayPublications present Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch - A Guide for theClaw-less! This book teaches clawhammer banjo the way we play, not theway others say. It really begins as though you really have NOknowledge of how to play the five string banjo clawhammer style. Basedon Dan's innovative Meet the Banjo™ program (where Dan brings 15banjos and teaches players who may have never held a banjo), this bookassumes no prior experience. Beginning at the beginning, Dan presentsa brief history of the 5-string banjo then goes over the parts of thebanjo, holding the banjo, right and left hand positions and his basicclawhammer strum. Even the strum is broken down into the steps of thefinger and thumb. You are guided through the chords, the scale andthen the individual notes of each of 12 jam session favorite tunesfrom scratch. Includes 2 reference CD's with all exercises, tunes(slow and up to speed), and a fiddle version of each tune.

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Banjo For Dummies Review

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(More customer reviews)A little personal background: I've been playing the 5-string banjo since 1979. Started with Scruggs-style Bluegrass, dabbled with Melodics, discovered the joy of Clawhammer (and antique banjos) and then found my `calling' in Classic style (1870-1920). Lately I've been playing a lot of the very earliest ("Minstrel") style. Yes, I also play some Tenor...
I bought this book because I'm an inveterate banjo-tutor collector; part of this is because I just love all things banjo and part is that I've always wanted to find the "perfect" banjo tutor.
I've been reading thru it for a week now, playing some of the examples, etc. (esp. the Minstrel and Classic stuff, as that's what I've been playing mostly of late). I'm very impressed!
I guess I can't really say what I expected of this book. I've had a couple of the computer related ones over the years and, quite frankly, they didn't help me out much. A lot of that was pure 'lack of interest' in the subject matter (boss sez, you gotta learn Mickysoft XXXX but we're not going to really use it...). Of course, there's the negative cachet of "For Dummies"...even though I qualify when it comes to the computer.
Still, I expect great things from great banjoists and the track record is a tough one to live up to. Tony T. has all those great banjo books out there, Sonny O. builds awesome banjos, Bill K. makes them tuner things, Alan M. teaches college for gawd sakes. What will poor Bill E. come up with?
I can tell you in quite succinct terms: he's come up with a great book. The really scary part is that he's come up with a great book that deals with 5-string playing across the board...Minstrel, Classic, Clawhammer, Scruggs, Melodic, Single-string...its all there, clearly and cleanly discussed, excellent examples and well thought out progressions from simple to complex...and there's a CD included that is jam-packed with slowly and clearly played examples.
To cap that, he covers choosing a banjo (and then upgrading later on), setting it up, buying strings, bridges, tuners. travelling with a banjo, etc, etc,...all up to date, web links included. How cool is that?
No, it ain't the alpha/omega of banjo books and it doesn't cover everything you ever wanted to know about XXX style. However, it provides an awesome introduction into the world of the 5-string banjo.
Quirks: interestingly, he has chosen to interlace the clawhammer and three-finger basic instruction. It was disconcerting at first for me to be playing thru the CH tab for "Red River Valley" and then look at the next page where it starts again...to find out it is bluegrass tab (after I'd tried to CH it). Well, that's really my fault for not READING along and just grabbing tab out of the book. Once I had figured that out, I found it really interesting to play the two versions back to back. Makes you think about how the styles are laid around the same framework.
Another quirk (for the OFs like myself) is that the tab is quite small. This is not to say that I couldn't read it with my glasses on...just that I'm getting to where I appreciate large print more and more...
Outstanding things (the whole book qualifies, but these are just things that jumped out at me): page 88. What a great picture of how to bend your fingerpicks! The chapter on networking is worth the price of admission all by itself. The 'gear guide' is awesome...and who ever thought of teaching somebody how to use an electronic tuner? It is one of the first questions that I get from beginners...
Great work Bill! I think this one will be a huge success. I know I will be using it as a teaching aide for years to come.

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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.

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