Overall Comments

This collection of OT banjo tabs is a reissue ( in the "Mel Bay Archive Editions" collection) of a book originally published in 1994 and is really two books in one - one by each author. In Slater's section (part 1) the 55 tunes are grouped by type (Irish, Appalachian, Waltzes, Modal, etc.) and are at the advanced beginner/intermediate level. Except for the five waltzes in a dedicated section, all the tunes are in duple rhythm.
The 110 songs in Schmitz's section are in no particular order. From her intro: "This collection includes jigs, reels, polkas, hornpipes, strathspreys, waltzes and songs from Ireland, Scotland, the Shetland Islands, Cape Breton, New England and Southern Appalachia." The majority of the tunes are in a triple rhythm of some sort. This alone moves these songs out of the beginner category - at least for me.
I had trouble deciphering the tunings of the songs in the second part of the book. Only two letters are given for each. I figured out some combos, but not all. The combo (G,A) plays in open G tuning and (D,A) plays in double C. But what do (A,A), (Em,A) and (F,A) mean? It would help to have a CD included, but there is none.
There are many beautiful songs here and I've enjoyed playing through them - those I could figure out the tuning for.- and I highly recommend the book.

Overall Rating

8