Provides the intermediate clawhammer (5-string) banjo player with a fresh repertoire of 21 traditional and 5 original tunes as played by the author with the Boiled Buzzards Old Time String Band. The book briefly addresses clawhammer basics with a few pages of exercises and scales before presenting the tunes. The banjo tunings in this book are: double C tuning (gCGCD), modified double C tuning (eCGCD), G tuning (GDGBD), A tuning (aEAC#E), D tuning (aDADE), and Double-D tuning drop 5th (f#DADE). Written in banjo tablature only with suggested backup chords. Voted one of the top 10 clawhammer banjo players by "Banjo Newsletter" readers, Levenson advises the reader that the tablature in this book is to be used only as a guide and to "play the tune as you hear it, not slavishly as written." This approach allows the reader to play within his/her style and level of ability.

Southern Appalachian native Dan Levenson and Mel Bay Publications present Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch - A Guide for the Claw-less! This book teaches clawhammer banjo the way we play, not the way others say. It really begins as though you really have NO knowledge of how to play the five string banjo clawhammer style. Based on Dan's innovative Meet the Banjo program (where Dan brings 15 banjos and teaches players who may have never held a banjo), this book assumes no prior experience. Beginning at the beginning, Dan presents a brief history of the 5-string banjo then goes over the parts of the banjo, holding the banjo, right and left hand positions and his basic clawhammer strum. Even the strum is broken down into the steps of the finger and thumb. You are guided through the chords, the scale and then the individual notes of each of 12 jam session favorite tunes from scratch. Includes 2 reference CD's with all exercises, tunes (slow and up to speed), and a fiddle version of each tune.

An important anthology of Irish and Celtic solos for the 5-string banjo featuring a comprehensive, scholarly treatise on the history, techniques, and etiquette of playing the banjo in the Celtic tradition. Includes segments on tuning, pick preferences, and tablature reading followed by 101 jigs, slides, polkas, slip jigs, reels, hornpipes, strathspeys, O'Carolan tunes, plus a special section of North American Celtic tunes. A generous collection of photos of Irish folk musicians, street scenes, and archaeological sites further enhances this fabulous book. All of the solos included here are written in 5-string banjo tablature only with a few tunes set in unusual banjo tunings. the appendices provide a sizable glossary and a wealth of information regarding soloists and groups playing Celtic music, Irish festivals, music publications, on-line computer resources, cultural organizations, and more. If you are serious about playing Celtic music on the 5-string banjo, or if you don't play the banjo but simply want to expand your knowledge of the Celtic music tradition-you owe yourself this book. the first-ever CD collection of Irish and Celtic music for 5-string banjo provides 68 lovely melodies and demonstrates revolutionary techniques for playing highly ornamented tunes and rolling back-up. Recorded in stereo with virtuosos Gabriel Donohue (steel- and nylon-string guitar and piano) and Robbie Walsh (bodhran- frame drum played with a stick), the five-string banjo is out front and plays through each melody in real-life tempo with authentic Celtic chordal and rhythmic backing. the recording features the music of all Six Celtic Nations and includes jigs, reels, hornpipes, slides, polkas, marches, country dances, larides, andros, slipjigs, strathspeys, airs and O'Carolan tunes. 35 songs in the book are not on the CD.

(Banjo). A complete guide for beginning and advanced banjo players! From Ken Perlman, here is a brilliant teaching guide that is destined to become the handbook on how to play the banjo. The style is easy to learn, and covers the instruction itself, basic right and left-hand positions, simple chords, and fundamental clawhammer techniques; the brush, the 'bumm-titty' strum, pull-offs, and slides. For the advanced player, there is instruction on more complicated picking, double thumbing, quick slides, fretted pull-offs, harmonics, improvisation, and more. The book includes more than 40 fun-to-play banjo tunes.

This is a biography of Dan Levenson, an old-time banjo and fiddle player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Between 1987 and 1991, Dan worked for Goose Acres Folk Music Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where he dove deeply into old-time music. In the late 1980s, he formed the Boiled Buzzards; they recorded four albums between 1989 and 1994 and were a consistently active presence at old-time music festivals. He also played with Bob Frank during that time as one-half of the Hotfoot Duo. In 1995, he teamed up with Kim Murley and recorded New Frontier: Instrumentals from China and America. Levenson undertook his first cross-country trip as a solo performer in 1996. His traveling workshop "Meet the Banjo" ran with the sponsorship of Deering Banjos from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Dan recorded three projects in the first five years of the 2000s and began editing the quarterly "Old Time Way" section for Banjo Newsletter in 2005. He continues performing old-time music, teaching fiddle and banjo, writing instructional and repertoire books featuring banjo and fiddle tunes for Mel Bay, and making plans for more old-time music projects.

This book presents clawhammer banjo tablatures from the recording Dick Kimmel - Fishin' Creek Blues (Copper Creek Records). the tablatures have been transcribed by Dick Kimmel directly from his playing on the recording. the book is intended for someone with experience playing clawhammer banjo from tablatures and will be most useful when used in conjunction with the recording. the arrangements represent a spectrum of approaches to clawhammer banjo, from solo clawhammer banjo to clawhammer banjo within an old-time string band context and clawhammer banjo as it would be played within a more modern band setting where all instruments are featured for solos.