This is great news for the banjo-playing world! I've owned my copy of 'Masters' for many years and still occasionally refer to it. It's a superb resource for players at any level and we all owe Pete and Tony a huge vote of thanks for their labours.

Thats awesome news.Ive worn out two copies of it over the years. . Still waiting for volume II...( hint hint)

I still have an unopned box of books the second printing , some day Ill have to dig them out and sell them

quote:

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Originally posted by desert rose

I still have an unopned box of books the second printing , some day Ill have to dig them out and sell them

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Yeah, there are two worn copies at my local Mr. K's (a used book chain) selling for $75 each. 

A great service to the banjo community.

E-book certainly makes economic sense by avoiding the cost and risk of printing books for inventory.

Did you consider making a print version available through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing print-on-demand service? Copies are only printed to fill orders.

Thanks for this and for all you have done.   We all should think about giving back to the world as Pete has

i am working on my own version ... based on my (lack of) banjo experience...if anyone wishes to contribute let me know! ---'--::  

quote:

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Originally posted by Pete Wernick

It's a special pleasure to announce that the book Tony and I worked on for 3 years in the mid-80s, that's been out of print twice, will now be forever (I hope) available as a downloadable e-book on Amazon. A direct link is on DrBanjo.com/masters. To celebrate, for a few weeks it will cost the same as the book did in 1988. There's nothing like it, a true labor of love for banjo nerds like us, now at its most affordable ever, glad to say.

And for a little while, the largest chapter in the book -- my detailed description and analysis of Earl Scruggs's style and musicianship -- can be downloaded free. Glad to share the good news!

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Doc,

It is unbelievable how many contributions you have made to the banjo world and this book is such a big one. 

Thank you.

Ken

Here's the link!

Ken and all who've appreciated my contributions... a few words of why I do it all....

I've done it because I love bluegrass and the bluegrass community, and Earl Scruggs, who changed my life in a big way. I feel indescribably fortunate!.

And I've had chances enough to profit enough from some of the work to be able to maintain a full-time lifestyle as a Bluegrass Person. So... 15 years as unpaid IBMA president, and playing full-time in Hot Rize for low pay for our first several years, and no pay as band agent/publicist, and unpaid director of the Wernick Method for 15 years now (which has made $3 million for our teachers so far), being an unpaid bluegrass DJ (as most bluegrass DJs are) in 3 different cities .... and loading up DrBanjo.com with free instructional articles and videos, corresponding with lots of aspiring players.... etc. etc. it's all part of my feeling I'm paying back to bluegrass what it's done for me. I've loved being deep into bluegrass, all the way from my backyard in the Bronx in 1962 to getting inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame last September. Quite a ride in 65 years! Lucky me is all I have to say about that.

And no doubt it's heartwarming for my contributions to be recognized. Now 80 years old, I cherish it all. Thank you for your comment.

While I evolved into a two finger/openback/no picks player rather quickly, I started with three finger.

I bought Mr. Wernick's book early in my journey, and while I've moved away from three finger/bluegrass, I learned a lot from the book, and Pete's contributions have been indeed quite large, and as he notes above, much of it done for free, paying it forward, as a labor of love, or whatever term you care to use.

Thank you, Pete. You've been a blessing to our little niche in the universe.

If you don't have it yet, GET A COPY!
--A satisfied customer

Amazon tells me:

'This title is not currently available for purchase' 

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Originally posted by ClawJam

i am working on my own version ... based on my (lack of) banjo experience...if anyone wishes to contribute let me know! ---'--::  

Thats hilarious! You better interview ME!

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Thanks, Pete. I’ve owned the bound book for years, but still took advantage of your generous offer of a free e-copy of the Scruggs chapter. Now that this chapter is in my iCloud, I’ll never have to leave home without it.

quote:

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Originally posted by RB-1

Amazon tells me:

'This title is not currently available for purchase' 

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Can anyone tell me why I can't get it?

Bruno,
It looks like that's a false alarm. I'm sorry you're having that problem but I just tried a few ways of finding the book and they all worked normally. Maybe you somehow got to an old version of the book's page when it was unavailable. The layout of the page you posted also has an overlap of text that's not on the other pages..

You can get the link to the correct Amazon page by finding the book under Books on my DrBanjo.com website. Also, when I searched for the title on Amazon, it went to the right page, which gives a choice of the Kindle version for $30 or the "paperback" link which goes to a page where used hard copies are priced at $129.

I was not able to find a way to get to a page that looks like the one you posted. Please try again!

Thanks for your interest!
Pete

quote:

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Originally posted by Pete Wernick

Bruno,
It looks like that's a false alarm. I'm sorry you're having that problem but I just tried a few ways of finding the book and they all worked normally. Maybe you somehow got to an old version of the book's page when it was unavailable. The layout of the page you posted also has an overlap of text that's not on the other pages..

You can get the link to the correct Amazon page by finding the book under Books on my DrBanjo.com website. Also, when I searched for the title on Amazon, it went to the right page, which gives a choice of the Kindle version for $30 or the "paperback" link which goes to a page where used hard copies are priced at $129.

I was not able to find a way to get to a page that looks like the one you posted. Please try again!

Thanks for your interest!
Pete

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Hello Pete,

Thank you for reaching out to me.

Sofar, following the link above, I got the results I showed.

Today I managed to find the book on my direct, Dutch log in.

All seemed -as you can see- fine:

Clicking on the 'buy now' leads to this page:

Tomorrow I'll try again, hoping to dig a bit deeper. I'll let you know what happens.

By the way, you must be meeting with thousands of people each year. Still... we met (only) once and it was a pleasant meeting.

First comparing banjos (since a recent heel reset, my RB-1 finally got it's true voice back). Then I drove you to the airport and on the way we did some Amsterdam sight seeing. 

Everyone who can read or can have a person read it to them needs to get at least one copy of this. This is really great generosity to have created this and to have struggled to keep it available. We have so many people in this banjo world doing stuff because they want to help and inspire us. Lets all emulate them and give like that

quote:

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Originally posted by RB-1

quote:

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Originally posted by Pete Wernick

Bruno,
It looks like that's a false alarm. I'm sorry you're having that problem but I just tried a few ways of finding the book and they all worked normally. Maybe you somehow got to an old version of the book's page when it was unavailable. The layout of the page you posted also has an overlap of text that's not on the other pages..

You can get the link to the correct Amazon page by finding the book under Books on my DrBanjo.com website. Also, when I searched for the title on Amazon, it went to the right page, which gives a choice of the Kindle version for $30 or the "paperback" link which goes to a page where used hard copies are priced at $129.

I was not able to find a way to get to a page that looks like the one you posted. Please try again!

Thanks for your interest!
Pete

---

Hello Pete,

Thank you for reaching out to me.

Sofar, following the link above, I got the results I showed.

Today I managed to find the book on my direct, Dutch log in.

All seemed -as you can see- fine:

Clicking on the 'buy now' leads to this page:

Tomorrow I'll try again, hoping to dig a bit deeper. I'll let you know what happens.

By the way, you must be meeting with thousands of people each year. Still... we met (only) once and it was a pleasant meeting.

First comparing banjos (since a recent heel reset, my RB-1 finally got it's true voice back). Then I drove you to the airport and on the way we did some Amsterdam sight seeing. 

---

I had no problems finding and buying it on Amazon.DE - might that work for you (as we're both in the EU)?

Stanleytone said he's stlll waiting for Volume 2

That would be great, no doubt. That's been a suggestion over the years. It's a big undertaking as I learned. And so many good players these days it would be a challenge to decide whom to include. But if anyone wants to step up, I'd encourage it.

When Banjo Newsletter folded, it occurred to me that a collection of the interviews they published for about 40 years (I'm guessing at least 400 - !!) would make something like what you're thinking of. I suggested that at the time to Donald Nitchie but I think he was ready to take some well-deserved time off. Maybe he can be convinced to create a Volume 2 of Masters -- like "the second 40 years of 3-finger banjo" (and including 4-finger picker Greg Liszt!).

It's been kind of a thrill making the book available for all the pickers who missed it the first times around, especially for people outside the U.S. and the younger banjo players now and in the future. So far it's been ordered from 4 different countries. I like how it honors the guys who launched "bluegrass banjo" and its next generation: the founding fathers. And now we've had the second 40 years, with quite an amazing group of disciples of the originals, and explorers of new territory.

Unlike the days of the writing of the book, these days the easy availability of all recorded music lets us hear any of this music at no cost and little effort. Pretty great!

quote:

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Originally posted by RomanS

I had no problems finding and buying it on Amazon.DE - might that work for you (as we're both in the EU)?

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Das glaubst Du wohl nicht, oder?  (You won't believe this, would you?)

Tatsächlich genau das hat Abhilfe gebracht. (Exactly this proved succesful.)

Amazon.at  hat  bei dich auch nicht fuktioniert? (Austrian Amazon didn't work either?)

So here we are ( in the end ), opening the book in the Kindle app.:

Thanks again to Pete for making this possible!

quote:

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Originally posted by RB-1

quote:

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Originally posted by RomanS

I had no problems finding and buying it on Amazon.DE - might that work for you (as we're both in the EU)?

---

Das glaubst Du wohl nicht, oder?  (You won't believe this, would you?)

Tatsächlich genau das hat Abhilfe gebracht. (Exactly this proved succesful.)

Amazon.at  hat  bei dich auch nicht fuktioniert? (Austrian Amazon didn't work either?)

 

So here we are ( in the end ), opening the book in the Kindle app.:

Thanks again to Pete for making this possible!

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There is no actual "Amazon.at" - if you type that into your browser, you're automatically redirected to Amazon.de; too small of a market, and similar language...

quote:

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Originally posted by RomanS

 

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There is no actual "Amazon.at" - if you type that into your browser, you're automatically redirected to Amazon.de; too small of a market, and similar language...

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As soon as I log in at amazon.com , I'm redirected to amazon.nl and from there I got stuck.

I'm really surprised about the differences between .nl and .de, but anyway, thanks for suggesting this option!