jmerullo - Posted - 11/17/2009:  07:24:59

---

Hello. Noobie here, first post on the BHO.

I’ve been learning bluegrass banjo for about a year now but before starting I never really listened to any banjo music other than Bela. Since starting, on the advice of my teacher I’ve picked up The Essential Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin’s The Crow, Fiddle Tunes for Banjo (Trischka, Keith and Fleck), and Double Bluegrass Banjo Spectacular (Trischka).

All these CDs are great to listen to and give me something to strive for but since they’re light years beyond what I’m capable of playing they don’t really work well as learning aids.

I’m looking for CDs (preferably available as MP3s) that I can use to learn with. Something I can hear and say “I can learn to play that!” Ideally they will feature a single banjo (so as not to confuse me with multiple banjo tracks) played at a reasonable speed and be traditional tunes that might be commonly played at jams or available in tablature books. Bonus points for key of G with standard tuning that I could play along to without re-tuning.

Non-banjo tracks that are fun to play along to are also welcome.

Any good suggestions? Again, Bela is great and gives me a long term goal (ha!) but I don’t see myself learning his stuff any time soon.

Thanks!

Jim

MitchellB - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:08:32

---

It is difficult to learn note by note listening & playing along to a recording. However, that is the way I learned as I sure many others did. I had been learning to play by ear for nearly ten years before I ever knew about or saw banjo songs tabbed out. The way I approached learning from recordings were to first learn to pick out the simple melody of the song. Ignore all the fill notes and fancy licks at first and concentrate on the basic melody of the song. Learn how reproduce that on your banjo, then play along with the recording adding in the rolls, fill notes and fancy licks as you can. Many people slowed the recording down and retuned their banjo down. I have done that a few times as well, but I usually liked to keep it up to speed unless a particular passage was giving me trouble. I did not always learn the songs note for note this way, but it developed my ear, helped develop my own style of playing and the ability to play along with others. I think today with the arrival of so many videos of performances available to everyone, that being able to watch someone play and listen to them as well over and over can be a great learning tool.

Mitchell

Oalbrets - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:12:51

---

Try www.jacktuttle.com and see how you like it. He also has a book you can order and the songs are on his site. You can slow them down or speed them up. He was my teacher for about a year and I moved. He is a wonderful teacher. Try his site. Welcome to the BHO and enjoy it.

Poverty Ridge Bluegrass

---

Edited by - Oalbrets on 11/17/2009 08:13:58

The KIDD - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:38:35

---

Hey Jim
Read your blog and its GREAT!!! to hear that Lil Cabin clicked with ya..Its a GREAT teaching tune along with other vocal melodies that will have you understanding how melody operates with in the Keys chord structures allowing you to gain a MUCH quicker understanding of how they apply to the fretboard. IMO , vocal melodies develope the L and R hand muscle memory MUCH quicker than instrumentals and will train your ear to hear where to go to find the melody when you work up your next tune..You'll be improvising and playin backup to fit the song and not just applying a bunch of licks and patterns you know SO, stay on this course for sure!!!! Blueridge Mt Home is another EXCELLENT tune to learn ..Its chord config is the same through Vrs , chrs and brk making it a no brainer to follow. Yeah , once you gain an understanding of how melody weives its way through the chord/roll configs with intro , vamp,melody ,lick, tag, tag ending phrases in vocal tunes, instrumental melodys will be alot easier to make sense of and put together.
John


http://www.myspace.com/johnkuhnbluegrass

Axeman79 - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:51:25

---

Jim,

Welcome aboard. I had the same problem and here is what have have done. I get tabs here at BHO that are beginner/intermediate that I want to learn. I import the tab into Guitar Pro 5 and make any adjustments that I need. I can print out the tab or the score or both to card stock. This is very handy for practice and I can fold them up in my case.

Then, using guitar pro, I can play the tunes and export them as MP3s or WAVs. I have cut my own CDs with these files for practice. When I practice, I can listen to a part of the song and then try to play it. The neat thing about this is that I can exprt the files as MP3 at any speed I want. So I can take Cripple Creek and save it at 40 bpm and 80 bpm and put them on a CD that way.

I think this is what you are trying to do.

Axeman

If the minimum wasn't good enough...it wouldn't be the minimum.

BPDye - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:54:48

---

Jim:
I had a lot of luck with Ross Nickerson's play along CDs. They play at three different speeds and includes the tabs for reference as well. Check out his site at banjoteacher.com I believe. He has lots of good stuff.

Also, a great learning tool that I use everyday is available at D.K. Marshall's site. He has compiled a list of over 200 backup midis to play along with. Also, on his site is free downlad of a midi player that plays all those midis. The midi player allows you to play at any speed and any key. I have been using it for about 1 1/2 years now and it is great. Again, you can access this info. on Mr. Marshall's site. And, its all free. Here is his site address: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.k.ma...ll/index.htm


Good luck.

Barry

---

Edited by - BPDye on 11/17/2009 09:01:07

Bluegrassatheart - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:58:53

---

Hay Noobie if you can find the CD of Earl Scruggs Dueling Banjos it is a great listing tool to use. The music is not real fast and most all the songs are easy to pick with and learn. It was the first album I bought for Bluegrass music and the main one that got me so interested in playing the banjo. I still listen to this album to this day. It is an older album now avail. on CD, recorded back in the mid to late 70's.
Good Luck and Keep on Picking

psychobillybanjopicker - Posted - 11/17/2009:  09:03:51

---

Well I'll tell you what worked 4me. I went out and bought every Flatt & Scruggs album I could find and learned from them. earl has a way of playing that is easy to follow.

The majority of his songs are simple melodies that a novice can follow. ie... Cripple Creek, Hot Corn Cold Corn, Petty Coat Junction, Martha White and so on.

Get as many Flatt & Scruggs CDs, Albums, 8 Tracks, or Cassettes as you can and listen. It worked 4me, should work 4u.

mbirdmusic@aol.com - Posted - 11/17/2009:  09:15:10

---

Foggy Mountain Banjo! Also, all the Flatt and Scruggs stuff. Practice backup first to get familiar with the tune. Hope this helps, G

Glenn

BC Bill - Posted - 11/17/2009:  09:37:46

---

Jim,

It sounds like you are attracted to Tony Trischka and Bela Fleck's work. That is a good place to aim at, and, it is possible to begin, even at your level, to work towards a 'new grass' approach to playing.

For the price of one of those books, you can study with Tony for a month at his on-line banjo school. It is not just canned lessons, it includes 1 on 1 work with Tony. Tony is a devote of Earl Scruggs, so the 'beginner' lessons are loaded with traditional banjo skills, but at the same time, Tony includes lessons with an eye to a more modern approach to playing. The cost is about $20 a month. Try to find a local teacher at that price.

The school has been enthusiastically reviewed here and in Banjo Newsletter. I suggest that you browse it and see if it is what you are looking for.

http://www.tonytrischkaschoolofbanjo.com/

Bill

email me at lakesidestudio@shaw.ca

erstokke - Posted - 11/17/2009:  09:46:57

---

I recommend "All Star Bluegrass Jam Along" by Tony Trishka. You can hear excellent playing at a slower speed and the banjo is really up front. You can also use them as jam-along tracks. Banjo is in one channel, so you can pan it out if you want to play all the banjo parts banjo yourself. Excellent tabs as well. Tab book+CD. I also recommend his "10 easy solos..."


My banjo is pre-war. Pre the next war
Jan Erik from Norway

Texasbanjo - Posted - 11/17/2009:  10:51:25

---

I suggest you get you a good beginner book and start from page 1. If you want to learn by tab, check out these 2:

1. Jack Hatfield's Beginning Buegrass Banjo Book #1 with CD (and I think he's got a DVD now, not sure). www.hatfieldmusic.com
2. Janet Davis' You can Teach Yourself Banjo with CD. www.banjostore.com

And, ifyou want to learn to play by ear, check out Murphy Henry's DVDs I can't remember the URL but someone here will no doubt post it.

Let's Pick!
Texas Banjo

John Allison - Posted - 11/17/2009:  11:01:20

---

First of all Welcome to the Hangout!

Secondly, I would like to suggest Pete Wernick's Jam DVDs. A lot of fun, and a good number of bluegrass songs to add to your bag of tricks. He has three DVDs on jamming from total beginner to intermediate level. They are: "Bluegrass Slow Jam"; "Bluegrass Jamming"; and "intermediate Bluegrass Jamming". Between the three of these, you have at your grasp 56 songs. Each DVD comes with its own chord/lyric book. They are available from Pete himself (www.drbanjo.com) or Homespun Tapes (www.homespun.com).

Froggie
"Courage is Fear that has said its prayers.

Erbus - Posted - 11/17/2009:  13:21:00

---

Hi Jim
There are also a bunch of backup (basically bass and rythym) midi files on line of bluegrass tunes. You can change the key and tempo. I play along with them a lot.

Terry

"Banjo, one of my favorite things to pick"

Rich Weill - Posted - 11/17/2009:  13:40:21

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MitchellB

The way I approached learning from recordings were to first learn to pick out the simple melody of the song. Ignore all the fill notes and fancy licks at first and concentrate on the basic melody of the song. Learn how reproduce that on your banjo, then play along with the recording adding in the rolls, fill notes and fancy licks as you can.

---

I think eliminating the flash at first is a very good suggestion. If you try to copy the ornamentation before you can play the core of the song (rhythm, melody, harmony), you're putting the cart before the horse. However, I was taught a somewhat different approach than Mitchell suggests. Instead of starting with the melody, I was taught to start with just rolls over the chord progression -- before incorporating any melody notes. This has two advantages. First, rolls gives you a solid rhythmic foundation. Practicing rolls to a steady beat -- tapping your foot will do -- is the best way to develop good timing. Maintaining those rolls over the chord progression maintains that good timing. From there you can add (actually, substitute) melody notes into the roll, rather than add the roll to the melody. It's just another approach to the same problem.

The second advantage is that rolling over the chord progression without the melody also gives you a backup arrangement. Two for the price of one.

lazlo191 - Posted - 11/17/2009:  14:05:20

---

Hard to beat J D on any of the Bluegrass Album Band recordings. Lots of great work and great time.

The KIDD - Posted - 11/17/2009:  14:23:46

---

Yeah Les, Ill seconded the BGAB all 6 volumes. Ive had them on cassette for yrs and forget I have them since everything is so available for download today.. LOTS of listenin..Let JD get that backup in your SOUL where you can feel it comin..You'll be out a fest and KNOW a lick is on its way. (like quoting a movie while its on showin off for your GF)

http://www.myspace.com/johnkuhnbluegrass

leroylereaux - Posted - 11/17/2009:  14:55:27

---

Holy *BEEP* a lot of seriously useful information here gentleman. Thank you very much.

Richard Dress - Posted - 11/17/2009:  15:01:28

---

RIch gives good advice as usual.

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 11/17/2009:  15:46:25

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by BC Bill

Jim,

It sounds like you are attracted to Tony Trischka and Bela Fleck's work. That is a good place to aim at, and, it is possible to begin, even at your level, to work towards a 'new grass' approach to playing.

For the price of one of those books, you can study with Tony for a month at his on-line banjo school. It is not just canned lessons, it includes 1 on 1 work with Tony. Tony is a devote of Earl Scruggs, so the 'beginner' lessons are loaded with traditional banjo skills, but at the same time, Tony includes lessons with an eye to a more modern approach to playing. The cost is about $20 a month. Try to find a local teacher at that price.

The school has been enthusiastically reviewed here and in Banjo Newsletter. I suggest that you browse it and see if it is what you are looking for.

http://www.tonytrischkaschoolofbanjo.com/

Bill

email me at lakesidestudio@shaw.ca

---

Thanks, I have been wanting to check out the TT site - finally did. It is slick!! Maybe I need some lessons...btw, it is 20 per mo, but in 3 mo chunks (recurring until cancelled) kinda like those FREE credit reports...

seanray - Posted - 11/18/2009:  06:43:07

---

If you buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...K2N2VENVJE32
And this:
http://www.amazon.com/Earl-Scruggs-...54585&sr=8-1
You'll have plenty of study material for the rest of your life.

Most of the songs included here in their entirety will be daunting to a novice but if you spend time listening to the album and following along with the book you will train your ear and start recognizing common patterns and licks. This will help demystify what may be currently overwhelming you and speed up your learning process considerably.

You can also find free videos to some of these songs, played at reasonable speeds, on my site (a bit of shameless self promotion).

http://www.seanray.com

Banjocoltrane - Posted - 11/18/2009:  17:32:27

---

After aquiring some basic banjo vocabulary, I learned by playing along with Jim and Jesse recordings.

jmerullo - Posted - 11/19/2009:  06:19:17

---

Wow, lotta good stuff here, thanks everyone!

I’m not so much concerned with learning songs by ear as I am with hearing songs that lil’ ol’ me has the potential to be able to play in the near future. Whether it be through tablature or osmosis, doesn’t matter. Those Peter Wernick DVDs look pretty good too, maybe I’ll check them out.

Ya’ll certainly are a helpful bunch!

SandyR - Posted - 11/19/2009:  22:40:06

---

Even if your preference is progressive banjo, I agree that "Foggy Mountain Banjo" is a cornerstone in your library...kind of a "can't do without" piece. It'll keep opening up new vistas.

Brevabloke - Posted - 11/21/2009:  02:51:20

---

Tom Adams Album - Right Hand man? is a great one for learning from as the banjo is so clean and crisp.