Teaches basic technique for playing the banjo including how to read music and playing bluegrass classics.

Cultivated in East Kentucky and North Carolina for over 100 years, the two finger picking style has almost been forgotten. Few "old timer" players have mastered this style but fortunately some committed players like Art Rosenbaum and Mike Seeger have preserved this heritage and kept the style present.And now in three installments, Sebastian Schroeder will introduce you to this interesting style.In this second 2-finger book the focus will be on Thumb Lead Style. Here the melody tones are plucked by the thumb, while the first and fifth string is played by thumb or index finger as drone strings.The tones of the lower strings of the banjo are easier when played in the Thumb Lead Style. So this add a nice contrast when accompanying singing or other instruments. Therefore this is also a good style for ballads.This book includes 48 pages for banjo beginners and advanced players, 48 downloadable audio examples and tablature for all exercises and songs.Songlist:Boil Them Cabbage DownFly Around My Pretty Little MissDrunken SailorWorried Man BluesWill The Circle Be UnbrokenShady GrovePretty PollySpotted PonyJack O ́Diamonds (Drunken Hicups)Darling CoreyReuben ́s Train

An Instruction Method for playing the old-time five-string mountain banjo based on the styles of traditional banjo-pickers.

(Banjo). All it takes is the thumb and index finger! This book allows you to explore this traditional, often easier way of playing the banjo: the original two-finger style. It covers thumb lead, up-picking, frailing/clawhammer (stroke style), and drop-thumb variation techniques and is presented in various tunings with easy to read tablature plus accompanying chord symbols and diagrams with audio tracks online for download or streaming. Includes over 50 songs in the bluegrass, old-time, country, folk and gospel styles. Audio is accessed online using the unique code inside the book and can be streamed or downloaded. The audio files include PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.

Beginning banjo lessons have never been more fun! Written for the absolute beginner, this FUN book is guaranteed to help you learn to play bluegrass banjo (How many books come with a personal guarantee by the author?). · Teaches the plain, naked melody to 23 easy bluegrass favorites without the rolls already incorporated into the tune. · Wayne shows simple ways to embellish each melody using easy rolls. · With Wayne’s unique method, you’ll learn to think for yourself! · Learn how to play a song in different ways, rather than memorizing ONE way. · Includes a link to download 99 instructional audio tracks off our website! You WILL learn to play: Bile ‘Em Cabbage Down, Blue Ridge Mountain Blues, Columbus Stockade Blues, Down the Road, Groundhog, Little Maggie, Long Journey Home, Lynchburg Town, Man of Constant Sorrow, My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains, Nine Pound Hammer, Palms of Victory, Pass Me Not, Poor Ellen Smith, Pretty Polly, Put My Little Shoes Away, Red River Valley, Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms, Shall We Gather at the River, Wabash Cannonball, When I Lay My Burden Down, When the Saints Go Marching In.

A complete survey of traditional banjo styles complete with tunings, playing tips, and the author's deft drawings. Progresses from easy tunes for the beginner to more difficult pieces. The styles include up-picking or Pete Seeger's basic strum; two-finger picking; three-finger picking; and what had variously been called frailing, clawhammer, knocking, rapping, overhand, fram-style, flayin' hand, andother Appalachian names, here called down-picking. Audio download available online

This is the basic manual for banjo players at any level. Covers all the fundamentals of strumming, hammering-on, and pulling-off. Includes folk and traditional songs all with melody line, lyrics, and banjo accompaniment, and solos in standard notation and tablature.