Book description
- A complete guide to the world of the five-string banjo written for
both beginners and more experienced players.
- Packed with over 120 how-to photos and 130 musical examples.
- 94 track CD included - hear and play along with every exercise and song.
- The only book to offer instruction in clawhammer, bluegrass,
melodic, single-string, minstrel and classic styles.
From Earl Scruggs' driving bluegrass picking to the genre-busting
jazz fusion of Béla Fleck and the multi-million selling movie
soundtrack O Brother Where Are Thou?, the five-string banjo
can be heard just about everywhere in American music these days.
Banjo For Dummies is the most complete guide to the five-string
banjo ever written. It covers everything you need to get into the
banjo: including how to choose, tune and care for your instrument,
developing a good playing posture, fretting your first chords and
getting comfortable with the left and right hand picking patterns used
for clawhammer and bluegrass playing techniques. You'll then add the
left hand, spicing up your playing with slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs,
and chokes for an authentic five-string banjo sound.
From there, you'll move on the play 19th century minstrel style,
early 20th century classic style as well as try your hand at more
advanced examples of bluegrass style. An in-depth chapter on bluegrass
music explores Scruggs licks and techniques as well as melodic and
single-string styles, with song examples. Also included is a banjo
buyer's guide, a section on music theory as applied to bluegrass and
old-time music, an accessories guide (advice on cases, picks, straps,
metronomes, computer aids and much more), information on how to find a
good teacher, banjo camp or festival, chord charts, bios of twelve
influential players, practice tips and much, much more!
Banjo For Dummies is accessible and fun to read and it's easy
to locate just what you're interested in playing. Included are 20
songs including several new compositions written by the author just
for this book, including Reno Rag (single-string style), “Winston's
Jig” (Irish three-finger), and “Everyday Breakdown” (Scruggs style).
All musical examples are played slowly on the accompanying CD, many
with guitar and mandolin accompaniment.
Bill Evans is one of the world's most celebrated banjo players and
teachers. He has taught thousands of people to play the five-string
banjo in private lessons and group workshops literally all over the
world. In addition to leading the Bill Evans String Summit, Bill has
performed with Dry Branch Fire Squad, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Tony
Trischka and many others and he hosts his own acclaimed banjo camp,
the NashCamp Fall Banjo Retreat in the Nashville area. As an American
music historian, he has taught at San Francisco State University, the
University Virginia and Duke University. He has written a popular
instructional column for Banjo Newsletter magazine for the last
fifteen years and hosts three popular instructional DVDs for AcuTab
Publications. To learn more about Bill, visit his homepage at www.
nativeandfine. com.
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not
included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download
after purchase.
Banjo player
Bill Evans
is not to be confused with the deceased jazz piano legend or the very
much living jazz saxophone player (or the Austin, Texas, real estate
agent).
This
Bill Evans is a banjo player, performer, teacher, workshop leader,
recording artist, composer, producer, record label owner, and American
music historian. For a banjo player, Bill has an unusual amount of
schooling. He earned his bachelor's degree in anthropology with a
specialization in folklore from the University of Virginia as a DuPont
Scholar and a master's degree in music with a specialization in
ethnomusicology from the University of California, Berkeley. After
completing coursework for the PhD at Berkeley with a specialization in
American music and the music of Japan, Bill taught courses in
ethnomusicology and American music history at San Francisco State
University, Duke University, and the University of Virginia and was the
Associate Director of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in
Owensboro, Kentucky. A recipient of a Brown Foreman-Al Smith Artist
Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, Bill has also served as a
consultant to the National Endowment for the Arts.
As a recording artist, Bill's CD
Native and Fine
(Rounder Records) earned an honorable mention for Acoustic Instrumental
Recording of the Year from NAIRD. His CD
Bill Evans Plays Banjo
(Native and Fine Records), featuring all original instrumental
compositions, was on many “best of” lists, including those of the
Chicago Tribune
and
County Sales.
Bill earned a nomination for “Recorded Event of the Year” from the
International Bluegrass Music Association for his work as producer on
Suzanne Thomas' CD
Dear Friend and Gentle Hearts
. As a performing artist, Bill has played with Dry Branch Fire Squad,
Tony Trischka, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Maria Muldaur, Jody Stecher,
Kathy Kallick and Laurie Lewis, among others. He tours nationally with
his solo show “The Banjo in America” in addition to leading his own
band, the Bill Evans String Summit.
Bill is a long-time contributor to
Banjo Newsletter
magazine and co-hosts an annual banjo camp, the Sonny Osborne NashCamp
Banjo Retreat, held each fall outside of Nashville, Tennessee. In
addition, Bill participates in workshops all over North America, hosts
several popular instructional DVDs for AcuTab Publications, and
maintains an active private teaching practice at his home in Albany,
California. His former students include Chris Pandolfi, Greg Liszt,
Jayme Stone, and Eric Yates. He is the co-author of
Parking Lot
Picker's Songbook: Banjo Edition
from Mel Bay Publications.
