I stop short of claiming this is the best open back banjo in the world, and so I don't give it 10. But, if you're in the market for an open back, and you stumble on one of the Gretsch Dixie Deluxe instruments, give it a serious play.  It is a first class instrument, and it will serve you well for a lifetime, and then your grandchildren, too. 

The specs are readily available on the internet.

OK, so Fred Sokolow doesn't give more than a bare outline of the basics of Frailing or Picking or strumming chords, but I have a handful of books that detail these for me. Fred gives us a succinct presentation of "those patterns" the pros know and use.

Fred Sokolow wrote a beginner's Bluegrass banjo book -- The Complete Bluegrass Banjo Method -- among his 120 DVDs and books.  Check out his website:http://www.sokolowmusic.com/bio.

The book has three main strengths: (1) 5-String Banjo Roadmaps bolts together tab and traditional notation, and I like this because musicians from other musical worlds can access their preferred repertoire from the banjo, having worked through this book. Too many other banjo tutors don't bridge from their niche world to the larger music environment.

(2) 5-String Banjo Roadmaps moves beyond the first position scales and chords and captures the moveable chord forms, scales, (including blues scales) and the association of primary triads (I-IV-V) to cover keys (all chords and progressions in every key can be covered between positions III and VII) and apply this knowledge to old-time and bluegrass genres. The moveable forms are enriched with a full development of all the chords (sevenths, minors, augmented, half diminished, diminished and sus: if you know your extensions and alterations, and the concepts of polychords and chord plurality, then all your jazz harmony is under your fingers right now ). The "keys" insight is developed along the fretboard of the banjo, and around the cycle of fifths. This is a multi-dimensional roadmap.

(3) Sokolow shines a light on improvising and melodic approaches to the banjo, with patterns of scale fragments applied to soloing.

Now, if you don't know much about chord formation, scales and how to use them, the cycle of fifths, interlocking chord forms, the relationships between chords and scales, then you might need a wise friend or a good book.  But, if you are an experienced musician come lately to banjo, 5-String Banjo Roadmaps cuts to the chase.  I love it. (Everything is tabbed out, for people with other skills and knowledge.)

Armed with this book, make up your own exercises to consolidate your introduction to concepts through this book.  Armed with this book, head for the woodshed with your down-home chord progressions, your jazz charts, your reels and hornpipes, your airs and Bach. Oh, and take your weapon of choice, and your metronome. Don't let the knowledge in this book stay in the book. Fred Sokolow drops the map in your lap, but you must do the driving. And I'm happy with that: to make the cut, you must do the thinking and the work, (with a map at hand, of course).

The book doesn't contain a vast set of songs, just enough to illustrate and teach the point at hand, and even these need to be developed into performance pieces. So, you'll still need your fake books. (Or your vast library of aural experience.)

My one wish is that much more had been said about melodic playing.  This whole book is terse, succinct, a summary with stepping-off points and brief introductions (Fred is not trying to hold your hand through the basics of banjo, in this book). I guess that is the trade-off between ensuring your readers know, understand, can play and use the essential patterns, and leaping beyond the two main genres of banjo playing to explore in the big world.

Not for beginners, but an essential second book, of greatest benefit to people with a good knowledge of music, of great benefit to people working to get all the puzzle assembled. Workshop your own way across the plains, over the ridges, with 5-String Banjo Roadmaps.

Not all tab systems for banjo are as thoughtful and useful as the one in this book.

What sets Ken's book apart from several others I use is the approach he has taken to teaching the basics, and using tab and chord diagrams to convey melody plus frailing. That is, the tunes you play are preserved in the work of learning the basic techniques. The chord names (and grids he introduces) show the fingering, he has a notation system for the rhythm, and the student plays the melody as well as the technical work Ken is teaching at the time. 

In other books, the student is told to sing the melody, while frailing. Certainly, this has its place, but I find it much more "forward looking" to be able to play the melody as I learn the techniques and play the strums and other techniques.

The book has a lot of developmental work, and I find this work interesting, not just filler, or exercises.

Ken covers other tunings, using the capo, drop thumbing and double thumbing, and a whole bucket of technical skills, particularly for the fretting hand. By the end of the book the student has a viable repertoire of songs to play, and has enjoyed a good trip into the woods that is clawhammer banjo.

Ken provides a curious combination of steadily more demanding (developmental) work, and musically rewarding exercises: the learner feels like progress is steady, real and fun.

I gave this book 8, but if Ken would update the book to introduce traditional notation, I would give the book 10.