banjoy - Posted - 02/29/2020:  15:26:48

The Banjo Book

~ ~ ~ ~

A No-Nonsense Beginner's Guide

to Learning 5-String Banjo

~ Free to BHO Members ~

This is the final thread of two I'm creating to give away free digital versions of my life work regarding teaching the 5-String Banjo.

I began picking banjo in 1978 after graduating high school. As many others have done, I acquired all the books at the time, the Scruggs book, all the publications by Pete Wernick, Tony Trishka, Bill Keith and a few other books I can't remember at this point. I feel I followed some well-established footsteps in my journey.

Because I had been a musician since age 10, I was able to quickly pick up the technical aspects of what was going on, but it occurred to me within a year that there was a gaping hole in my understanding of the fingerboard and how and why chords were where they were. It seemed to me there was something lacking in all those publications so I decided to address it myself and write my own booklet, which I gave away at the time to any who I happened to teach (I taught for a brief period in my late teens, off and on since then) and forgot about it, filed away for years.

Ten or so years ago I came across the file and decided to digitize the book, scanning all hand-written pages into a complied, 26-page bound booklet. I have included it below -- The Banjo Book -- as a free, immediate digital download.This booklet should be considered as a supplement to any other learning materials you already have or will acquire. It starts from the very beginning, so is perfect for a banjo beginner. This will walk you through the most basic concepts of the banjo itself, the basic rolls and licks, basic scale structure and chord construction theory and how it applies to the fingerboard, all tailored for a beginner.



While I took some basic lessons early on in my journey to learn rolls and basic tunes, I am mostly self-taught, and this booklet captures a lot of that basic knowledge and epiphany moments that were swirling around in my head 40+ years ago when I began picking.

So that was then, and this is now...

Flash forward to 2012, when for one reason or another I was inspired to again produce teaching materials, to share my approach to how I taught myself to find any chord on the banjo neck. It occurred to me that I was routinely playing chord shapes that I didn't see other players make at all (but I do see Fleck, Pikelny, and all those folks using these shapes all the time, so I must have been onto something) so I produced a 20-page printed book, which I sold for years and gave away free on my website.

I pulled the plug on my website earlier this year and decided today to just give all my work away for free to anyone who wants it. You can find my Fingerboard Studies for the 5-String Banjo here. That booklet is far more advanced so before you tackle that, you must have an understanding of basic scales and how chords are constructed from those scales. The Banjo Book below, provides you information you need to form this base understanding that will serve you well for the rest of your banjo journey.

Feel free to reach out to me directly or through BHO if you have any questions or need help clarifying any concepts I present in either booklet.

Anyway, enough blah blah blah from me. Here ya go.

Many Blessings, and please Enjoy

I had previously uploaded this to BHO in 2013 but yanked it a year later after some things bothered me about the way BHO and some of its members had a disturbingly cavalier attitude about original work. Those concerns are no longer a thing, so I'm sharing here again, this time, permanently, or at least until until the world explodes :)



All I ask is that this work not be further distributed or shared without attribution. I retain copyright to this material. Some BHO members, one in particular, is notorious for downloading and sharing other people's copyrighted work without credit (you know who you are) so please give credit where credit is due. Fair enough? Thanks.

Edited by - banjoy on 02/29/2020 17:36:16

The Banjo Book 1979 -- FREE BHO download

 

RevSpyder - Posted - 02/29/2020:  16:51:39

Awfully generous of you, Frank. Even though I'm mostly a two finger/clawhammer player, I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from this. Thanks so much for this!

banjoy - Posted - 02/29/2020:  17:43:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by RevSpyder

Awfully generous of you, Frank. Even though I'm mostly a two finger/clawhammer player, I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from this. Thanks so much for this!

---

Sure, absolutely. Scales are universal and independent of any instrument. Chords, however, are a different animal.

As long as your banjo is tuned to open G the concepts presented are unchanged (as well with my other booklet posted today). If you go to other tunings, the concepts are transferrable, but you must apply the interpretation yourself. As long as you are able to form full chord shapes in the tuning you're in, and as long as you know and can identify which note is the Root, which note is the 3rd, and which note is the 5th in any shape formation, you can then modify them as described.

So matter what tuning you're using as long as you know which notes are where under your left-hand fingers, you can easily figure out the rest on your own, which will give you your own epiphanies ... priceless ...

I hope this makes sense.

Edited by - banjoy on 02/29/2020 17:44:57

Ron Lacey - Posted - 03/01/2020:  06:05:53

Thank you Frank!

writedivine - Posted - 03/01/2020:  14:12:01

Thank you for sharing your talent!

tommymc - Posted - 03/01/2020:  14:17:28

Thank you

janolov - Posted - 03/02/2020:  08:49:25

I think the book is great, but I have one objection about you explanation of Melodic Banjo: "Very simply, melodic style means that every note played is a melody note....". I know that it is a common explanation, both in Bluegrass and Old-Time (which I prefer), but I think more about melodic banjo as another way to embellish the true melody notes:

• Most songs, fiddle tunes and other tunes can often be stripped of to 2 - 3 important notes per measure (and I count one measure a eight 1/8 notes). I think of it as the skeleton melody. Just playing the skeleton notes you still recognize the melody and you can whistle it.


• In typical Scruggs style those 2 - 3 important notes are incorporated intro different rolls and arpeggios often based on chords.


• In typical clawhammer those 2 - 3 important notes are incorporated in the "bum-pa-di-ty"pattern


• In melodic banjo those 2 - 3 notes are embellished by surrounding notes (often second and/or third over and below the important note). In clawhammer melodic style often hammering on, pull off and drop thumb are used to get the embellishing notes. In three-finger melodic style most player use different strings(I think some call it arpa style) and includes fretting on the fifth string. 

At least is my way to try to understand different styles.

banjoy - Posted - 03/02/2020:  08:59:29

janolov



Seriously? You're taking issue with a 19 year old's understanding from 40 years ago of melodic banjo?



As I stated 40 years ago, I prefaced the concept with "Simply Stated." This is meant to explain the idea to a beginner who has no knowledge of music or banjo at all.



So given a newbie who does not have a clue from Scruggs, Reno or Melodic, a more complicated description clarifies things for a beginner? A person who has no banjo experience? With due respect, your explanation seems complicated to me. I have an analytical mind (trust me: a curse more than a blessing) ... but dang.



For a far more advanced student, I would think an explanation is not necessary, and who would most likely agree with your extended description (which makes sense to me). This is intended for a beginner. Don't lose sight of that.



Thanks, though, for your feedback.

Edited by - banjoy on 03/02/2020 09:05:38