Best beginner banjo lesson that gets the player singing and enjoying music immediately and instantly.
You will be playing banjo and singing literally hundreds of your favorite songs on day 1.
Geared towards the beginner and those that feel very frustrated learning to play and have fun.
Don't quit learning banjo yet. I made this video after remembering how I shelved my banjo out of frustration for years. There were tomato plants growing on it before I picked it up again.
It's your criticism and the sarcasm that's over the top. A lot of us realize how many banjo players quit from frustration trying to learn something note for note with tableture. That's because we lived it. This lesson cannot get any simpler, and it is EXACTLY what beginners need. The fun must come before the frustration. Teach a man to fish yada yadda. New players can cruise through dozens, hundreds or thousands of songs easier and quicker than they can learn Groundspeed the way Earl Played it. Crawling before you can walk is a must.
I once parked my banjo for 10 years because it was no fun and all frustration. A simple concept like this would have prevented that.
While your lesson was a good one, I doubt seriously that anyone could play over a thousand songs with one little lessons. No criticism meant, just my thoughts that very few would be that talented if they have no musical background at all, this lesson would help them get started but not play any song. That is a little over the top.
And I doubt that Fred meant to criticize or be sarcastic, he just stated his opinion.
It's your criticism and the sarcasm that's over the top. A lot of us realize how many banjo players quit from frustration trying to learn something note for note with tableture. That's because we lived it. This lesson cannot get any simpler, and it is EXACTLY what beginners need. The fun must come before the frustration. Teach a man to fish yada yadda. New players can cruise through dozens, hundreds or thousands of songs easier and quicker than they can learn Groundspeed the way Earl Played it. Crawling before you can walk is a must.
I once parked my banjo for 10 years because it was no fun and all frustration. A simple concept like this would have prevented that.
Many years ago I was taken in with such hype. I signed up and handed over a pile of $$$ I learn nothing and the so called teacher shut down his website.
If you are as good as you claim you have nothing to fear from my criticism.
To any banjo student out there seeking lessons check out the link below before you make a commitment to any teacher.
I knew the banjo ben post was coming. lol If your not a paid influencer you should be!
Not a paid influencer just honored to be one of Ben's Gold Pick Students. There is not much advice I can give to new students except for my experience of studying with many of the top banjo teachers these past 12 years or more. Banjo Ben exceeds all my expectations as a teacher and that leads me to want to point new students in his direction. My way of saying thank you Ben
I think Ricky is pretty proud of his video as well and might be a bit put off by a redirect in his teaching video thread. Sour grapes.
His video is spot on. Learn to play one closed chord on a stringed instrument and you can play any chord up or down the neck....which is all you need to strum and sing any song.
While your lesson was a good one, I doubt seriously that anyone could play over a thousand songs with one little lessons. No criticism meant, just my thoughts that very few would be that talented if they have no musical background at all, this lesson would help them get started but not play any song. That is a little over the top.
And I doubt that Fred meant to criticize or be sarcastic, he just stated his opinion.
More than a thousand. Easily. You would have to watch it to understand the simplicity of it. Teach a man to fish. How many songs are written with just major chords? That is the number in question. There is no exaggeration here. Provided a person knows a thousand melodies by Rote, this will teach a brand new banjo player to play them easily on the 5 string banjo.
Ricky's lesson was okay ['cept for the backward ball cap ], though personally I don't much like the "strum," at least when I play it, but I'm wondering why it's necessary to "find" the first few melody notes.
Many tell us to "find the melody" but pretty much nobody gives us the process for doing so, though a couple of years back somebody tried to clue me in, but t'was beyond me.
Fred does BBC see your incessant promotion as a plus? [Fwiw, I've tried BBC and found it not to my liking .... different strokes for different folks, I suppose.]
“ Many tell us to "find the melody" but pretty much nobody gives us the process for doing so, though a couple of years back somebody tried to clue me in, but t'was beyond me.”
Owen, can you hum the melody to , say, Twinkle Little Star or Happy Birthday ? If so, can you hum the first note and find it on the banjo? Start that way to “find the melody” .
Owen I wouldnt worry about finding the melody notes unless you really want to know...
If you find the melody notes then you start a process that ends with knowing what chord to play and when to play it. So just use song lyrics that already have the chords you should play identified. Why worry about the process?
quote:Learn to play one closed chord on a stringed instrument and you can play any chord up or down the neck....which is all you need to strum and sing any song. Originally posted by NotABanjoYoda
I think Ricky is pretty proud of his video as well and might be a bit put off by a redirect in his teaching video thread. Sour grapes.
His video is spot on. Learn to play one closed chord on a stringed instrument and you can play any chord up or down the neck....which is all you need to strum and sing any song.
Good job Ricky!
Thanks! I learned by tab only back in 1980 and I was so stuck and frustrated with the banjo I quit. I was so entrenched in learning the banjo, incorporating the Scruggs style playing into music was nearly impossible. Later on in life I was more exposed to Peter Wernick, who explains this phenomenon better than I do. Banjo players quitting early on is common. Learning by tab only early on for some of us is a lot like trying to run before you can crawl. It would have been a lot more fun. (and fruitful) If I could have played a limitless amount of songs on day one while I practiced the finer art of Scruggs style in private. Some people did not experience this and it is hard for them to understand, but if they would just take the time to ask 100 banjo quitters why they quit, this would be the number 1 reason. Thanks again for seeing the logic and simplicity of it all.
Ricky's lesson was okay ['cept for the backward ball cap ], though personally I don't much like the "strum," at least when I play it, but I'm wondering why it's necessary to "find" the first few melody notes.
Many tell us to "find the melody" but pretty much nobody gives us the process for doing so, though a couple of years back somebody tried to clue me in, but t'was beyond me.
Fred does BBC see your incessant promotion as a plus? [Fwiw, I've tried BBC and found it not to my liking .... different strokes for different folks, I suppose.]
Owen you made me laugh about the ball cap. That was my biggest dilemma before I started the camera. I had to wear a cap, cuz my hair is what I call "in between lengths". Growing out the #2 buzz cut. If you ever knew someone with what the barber told me is "Straw Bone Hair", well that's me. Just imagine scarecrow getting electrocuted. My second biggest dilemma was to wear it frontwards or backwards, so yea it was funny.. One of my other videos I was wearing my raggy hat frontwards and part of the hat curled around and poked me in the eye so I just cant get the hat thing right. Yet.
When someone says "find the melody" they are referring to song that you already know. If you never heard the song before, you can only find the melody with musical notation. Pm me and Ill find a way to explain that. Ive had something in mind for making a video about that very thing, cuz one of my kids can't wrap their mind around it either. My understanding of musical theory is rudimentary and basic at best, so I may be able to put it in common language for you just the way you need to hear it.
quote:If you are as good as you claim you have nothing to fear from my criticism.
If you are as good as you claim you have nothing to fear from my criticism.
To any banjo student out there seeking lessons check out the link below before you make a commitment to any teacher.
As good as I claim? Dude, I am not a good player. I never claimed to be any good, nor will I ever. In addition to being a sucky player, I am modest. I don't think there WAS any criticism from you. You had an opinion, and challenged a claim of mine and you lost that challenge. Thousands of songs Fred. Thousands.
Chuck: "... can you hum the melody to , say, Twinkle Little Star or Happy Birthday ? If so, can you hum the first note and find it on the banjo? Start that way to “find the melody”.
I can hum/whistle/sing both okay (?), and can even get them started in a haff-azzed mannner, but to reliably find the corresponding note on the banjo? ... not by any stretch. With TTLS I hit a brick wall after "Twinkle, twinkle ___?___ , " and with HBTY it's after "Happy birthday to you, ___?__ ." [And it's not for lack of trying!! .... I don't sit and struggle 'til I'm ready to say **** it to the whole banjo thing, but it's been trial-and-error off-and-on for more than a few years, and it just ain't happening.]
Ricky, thanks for your generous offer. I'll PM you tomorrow
Owen, if yer so inclined,, I don’t mean lolling around on the couch,,, you could improve yer musical ear by trying some of the YouTube tutorials on ear training. Since you’ve been able to get the first few notes of those tunes , you’re probably not far off the mark.
I guess I'm on a roll .... I think I can also do the first 6 notes of Jingle Bells .... note 7? AaRRaRGGhHH!!!
I will check some of those videos later, but it brings to mind how I learned (?) "perfect pitch" [not the banjo/dumpster joke] a few years back. I was just nicely into my banjo journey [cough, hack, cough]; I was taking in-person lessons while we test drove the snowbird lifestyle, so I was moderately gung-ho. I came across [YouTube?] "You Too Can Learn Perfect Pitch." [Of course I can... I ain't no dummy!! ]
The program was set up so that when a score of 18/20 was attained I'd advance to the next level. I diligently applied myself pretty much daily for stretches of 3 months and twice at 1 month. My scores at the start ... between 11 and 14 with no noticeable pattern. My scores at the end... between 11 and 14 with not noticeable pattern. Woo Hoo!! [Insert fist pump here.]
I guess I'm on a roll .... I think I can also do the first 6 notes of Jingle Bells .... note 7? AaRRaRGGhHH!!!
I will check some of those videos later, but it brings to mind how I learned (?) "perfect pitch" [not the banjo/dumpster joke] a few years back. I was just nicely into my banjo journey [cough, hack, cough]; I was taking in-person lessons while we test drove the snowbird lifestyle, so I was moderately gung-ho. I came across [YouTube?] "You Too Can Learn Perfect Pitch." [Of course I can... I ain't no dummy!! ]
The program was set up so that when a score of 18/20 was attained I'd advance to the next level. I diligently applied myself pretty much daily for stretches of 3 months and twice at 1 month. My scores at the start ... between 11 and 14 with no noticeable pattern. My scores at the end... between 11 and 14 with not noticeable pattern. Woo Hoo!! [Insert fist pump here.]
I remember trying to learn to hear what note was being picked and I was completely unable to tell one note from another. Gave it up as a lost cause. Now I may not know what note I'm playing at a given time, but it sounds right, so who cares if it's a G or a Q (and I know there's no Q).
I can barely sing in whatever register (?) it is when I do try to sing. I'm not equating register (?) with key, but some time back I warbled a bit for one of the better musicians I encounter and he said that the key of "G" was more-or-less a fit for my voice. So henceforth it's been
" (title of the song) in the key of "G" of course .... are there any others?"
This thread got me thinking. I did learn over a decade ago that my guitar students stick with it if they learn some popular songs on day 1 to go impress their friends.
So i like teaching songs like Tom Pettys "Free Fallin" that has a simple 3 chord progression. This beat the hell out of music theory 101...results wise.
But maybe i will try one chord form at 3 frets to make day 1 even simpler.
I take the OP’s point that if you start out playing music and not just random exercises,rolls and scales ,you are more likely to stick with it. And since 90% of songs have three chords he is technically correct there. …and thank goodness that G chord was explained!
Good lesson to get a novice or newbie on the road to having fun with music and with the banjo. It could be noted that the guitar (as well as other stringed instruments) can be tuned to open G (and other chords) as well, allowing the instrument to be played in the same fashion with one finger barre chords.
I am an accomplished musician and have given a few guitar lessons over the years. Most students are interested in learning how to play a song around the campfire and are not necessarily aspiring to be the next musical prodigy and you've helped them get a foot in the door to do just that, and possibly spiking interest to do more.
As far as the cap goes........your head, your cap, not my business!
It's your criticism and the sarcasm that's over the top. A lot of us realize how many banjo players quit from frustration trying to learn something note for note with tableture. That's because we lived it. This lesson cannot get any simpler, and it is EXACTLY what beginners need. The fun must come before the frustration. Teach a man to fish yada yadda. New players can cruise through dozens, hundreds or thousands of songs easier and quicker than they can learn Groundspeed the way Earl Played it. Crawling before you can walk is a must.
I once parked my banjo for 10 years because it was no fun and all frustration. A simple concept like this would have prevented that.
I agree.
How can he criticize you without even sampling your product???
Please ignore that unfair and unwarranted post . I'm willing to give your lessons a try.
I think Ricky is pretty proud of his video as well and might be a bit put off by a redirect in his teaching video thread. Sour grapes.
His video is spot on. Learn to play one closed chord on a stringed instrument and you can play any chord up or down the neck....which is all you need to strum and sing any song.
Good job Ricky!
You are so right!
Ricky is trying to get his foot in the door and promote his lessons!
For others to hijack his thread and redirect people to another website is a despicable behavior and just plaid rude!
quote:This beat the hell out of music theory 101...results wise. Originally posted by NotABanjoYoda
I obviously agree.
Is the 5 string banjo the only instrument that we can migrate that one fingered bar chord all over the fretboard? Cuz it really cannot get any easier to make chords and sing songs than that. A person only needs the ability to tap their foot to the beat and move their booger picker up and down the neck to have a great time.
Hi Mark, I appreciate the interest and will continue to post links to more rumble tutorials as I create them. We can pm each other and I can try to help you.
quote:Most students are interested in learning how to play a song around the campfire and are not necessarily aspiring to be the next musical prodigy and you've helped them get a foot in the door to do just that, and possibly spiking interest to do more. Originally posted by Pick-A-Lick
Good lesson to get a novice or newbie on the road to having fun with music and with the banjo. It could be noted that the guitar (as well as other stringed instruments) can be tuned to open G (and other chords) as well, allowing the instrument to be played in the same fashion with one finger barre chords.
I am an accomplished musician and have given a few guitar lessons over the years. Most students are interested in learning how to play a song around the campfire and are not necessarily aspiring to be the next musical prodigy and you've helped them get a foot in the door to do just that, and possibly spiking interest to do more.
As far as the cap goes........your head, your cap, not my business!
Thanks for posting.
P-A-L
Thanks for the positive feedback. You completely understand the people I made this video for. ..... and re-tuning a guitar or other instrument for the simplicity of playing one fingered bar chords is something I never thought of before. That is really a great idea.
DADGAD Guitar tuning simplifies power chords and soloing for metal guitarists (irish like it too) in a semi barred fashion and is a very popular tuning. It also happens to conform to your beginner lesson requirements of open tuning. Open version of a D chord. Now you can go play guitar as you do banjo.
I don't know, but when I started playing, a simple approach like this would have been nice to have. I like many others, got Earl's book and dove in head first. At times (many times) I wanted to take my $100.00 banjo and wrap it around a telephone pole due to the frustration of not being able to play anything at all.
DADGAD Guitar tuning simplifies power chords and soloing for metal guitarists (irish like it too) in a semi barred fashion and is a very popular tuning. It also happens to conform to your beginner lesson requirements of open tuning. Open version of a D chord. Now you can go play guitar as you do banjo.
Not a personal criticism, but DADGAD tuning on guitar is not an open D chord. You'd have to lower the 3rd string from G to F#. (just in case a new player gets confused)
DADGAD is a Dsus4 open chord. I called it a "version" of the D chord to avoid this type of confusion. Point is, it can be played open as a chord and barring anywhere is still a chord.
If you want a strict D chord, tuning to F# is correct.
"We're not supposed to tell civilians this, but banjo playing is easier than it looks.
The people on TV play it the HARD way, to impress the audience.
But when you're sitting around the campfire, with friends and family, they DON'T CARE if you can play like Steve Martin, Roy Clark, Earl Scruggs.
They care "Do you know three chords???"
Because if you know three chords, you can play hundreds of songs."
And then I show them the open G, barred C, and barred D.
And play a little bit of five or six really old and popular songs, with a very simple strum the 4,3,72, Pick the first, thumb the 5th, pick the first again.
So, looks like Rick's method is similar to what I would advise.
Most students are interested in learning how to play a song around the campfire and are not necessarily aspiring to be the next musical prodigy and you've helped them get a foot in the door to do just that, and possibly spiking interest to do more.
Well, there's a tremendously big range of ability between playing around the campfire and being the next prodigy. Many people take up 5-string banjo hoping to be able to pick some tunes in three-finger style and have them sound like solo banjo music.
Let me make clear I totally agree with Ricky's approach to getting someone started playing music -- and even the Scruggs and Wernick books are among those that start learners with strumming chords instead of picking rolls. Since 5-string bluegrass banjo (the subject of this forum section) is very chord-based, it makes a lot of sense to start with chords rather than rolls. Chords have the student making music right away. And by learning chords the student is learning the foundation of this style of music.
That said, I hope we can all agree that while it is of course possible to play (or accompany or strum along to) thousands of three-chord songs with the simple single finger barre shape up and down the neck, that's not the goal most people have in mind when they take up 5-string banjo. If what they want to do is strum songs around the campfire, then 5-string banjo is probably the wrong instrument. They should be playing 4-string or 6-string banjo, or banjo-uke, or actual uke. If their goal is to play tunes on the banjo or play songs that come out sounding like finger-picked banjo music, can we agree that actual three-finger picking is where they should be headed? Or maybe hitting 2-finger along the way.
I'm sure Ricky's beginner lessons will eventually get into the other shapes of banjo chords, which can make even a strummer a more well-rounded player. He already mentioned needing to cover minor chords in a future lesson.
If making real music by strumming chords keeps someone interested and motivated while they tackle the harder work of learning Scruggs style, then Ricky's approach can accomplish that. But if playing to accompany singing is someone's goal, then either a different instrument or different style of 5-string banjo (maybe clawhammer or Pete Seeger bump-ditty) are better choices. And I believe both of those can have you making music sooner than 3-finger.
I've sampled some of Rickie's lessons and I can tell you he's the real deal! I really appreciate that he brings his entire musical background into the lessons! Definitely a unique perspective.
Clear, concise and lots of examples to demonstrate what he's talking about!
Furthermore, he allows you to ask questions about anything you don't comprehend. Finally, he will be adding more and more lessons in the future.
I can attach multiple euphemisms to this post, starting with "you can lead a horse to water, but, you cannot make it drink." A bird can fly because it thinks it can. If you do NOT think you can, having already admitted defeat, you are most assuredly doomed to fail. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. ABCDEFG,1234567. How much simpler does it have to get? Is there anyone having never heard do re me fa so la ti do? Must I continue? Alas, TMI.
We are often told we must learn to walk before we can run. But first, we must first learn to crawl. And just how does an infant learn to crawl? Lacking knowledge of a single word, the baby learns to get from point A to point B, all by itself! Furthermore, even before learning the alphabet & numbers, a child has learned to speak its first language reasonably well. On the whole, the knowledge consumed by a child, prior to formal teaching, is nothing short of incredible! And it all goes down hill from there. Why is that?
Jd, from "ABCDEFG,1234567. How much simpler does it have to get? Is there anyone having never heard do re me fa so la ti do? Must I continue?" is it accurate to deduce that teaching people whose talents/abilities might test the boundaries of "average" is a particular strength of yours? Keep up the good work.
Chuck, so far I've only watched a couple or three "Ear (Interval) Training" videos. Apparently I can do less than I thought I could re. initial notes in elementary songs. Ah well, tomorrow's another day.
We are often told we must learn to walk before we can run. But first, we must first learn to crawl. And just how does an infant learn to crawl? Lacking knowledge of a single word, the baby learns to get from point A to point B, all by itself! Furthermore, even before learning the alphabet & numbers, a child has learned to speak its first language reasonably well. On the whole, the knowledge consumed by a child, prior to formal teaching, is nothing short of incredible! And it all goes down hill from there. Why is that?
I've been told that, by age 2, a baby has made ALL the sounds of EVERY language on Earth.
Every hum, click, squeak, honk and burble.
And those sounds which get a good reaction from those AROUND the infant, are thereby reinforced, and become that child's language.
Remember back in the 1970's, when a Japanese pop song, "SUKIAKI", was on the radio?
It takes time, Owen,,, we didn’t learn how to say kaka right off the bat at 6 months old…
for extra practice/torture try hum the notes making up your G chord,,, pick the 3rd string and hum it,, then the 2nd, then the 1st string. Try it with a C chord ,, hold the chord down, pick the 2nd string, then hum it, then 1st string, then 5th string. You'll get better at it with practice.
(my apologies, Ricky, for hijacking your thread for a minute)
The way I see this thread is how to encourage beginners. The likely beginners on this forum are adults, not children. The first steps for adults are indeed some sort of gratification quickly. My first tune was cripple creek and rewiring my 58 year old brain took some doing. That tune is now my warm up in G and is second nature.
Teaching is skill like any other and not all can do it. Not all approaches fit everybody and it takes a good fit to get where you want to go. I am at the point now where my teacher and I hang out and when I am stuck he often asks how I would teach that bit. Surprising how that helps me unlock the problem.
So, if on your first day you can get a tune out and unlock many others then you have found your ideal teacher.
], though personally I don't much like the "strum," at least when I play it, but I'm wondering why it's necessary to "find" the first few melody notes. 
