Join such famous acts as Mumford and Sons, the Avett Brothers, Alan Jackson, and Bela Fleck by adding bluegrass banjo to your repertoire Use online video and audio instruction to truly hone your technique and style Expand your abilities in other genres with techniques that cross over into other styles Get to know roll patterns and start picking, hammering-on, and pulling-off with aplomb For the aspiring bluegrass banjo player, Bluegrass Banjo For Dummies is the definitive resource to picking like a pro!
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Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: ISBN: Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Author 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.
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.
To learn more about Bill, visit www. I dedicate this book to you. I am indebted to Elderly Instruments of Lansing, Michigan for providing many of the photos. Misener for their time and energy. The rest of the photos in this book were taken by Anne Hamersky. Thank you, Dix, for your guitar and mandolin playing and for your engineering and mixing talents. A big salute also goes out to Dummies author Bob LeVitus a. I would like to take this opportunity to thank three individuals who have provided a lifetime of musical inspiration and have mentored me over many years of close friendship: Sonny Osborne, Ron Thomason, and Tony Trischka.
Your influence is found on every page of this book. The Basic Ingredients End-User License Agreement Crowe b. If so, get ready for a fantastic ride.
The banjo is usually associated with bluegrass, folk, and country music, but these days, musicians play just about any kind of music on the banjo — from jazz to classical to rock and everything in between. You can use the banjo to accompany songs around a campfire or to play a Bach partita; what you do with the instrument is up to you. The banjo is waiting to turn you into a musician. I even sneak in a few advanced concepts for those of you who really want to be challenged.
You can find clear, step-by-step explanations to each and every technique and discover shortcuts that are especially helpful to the adult student. Take a look at the table of contents and start at the chapter or section that best matches your ability and interests the most.
Instead, you find banjo tablature, the universal form of written music notation for just about all styles of banjo playing. Tablature is easier to master than regular musical notation and clearly shows you exactly what to do with both hands.
Finding a comfortable hand position — especially in the right hand — is crucially important in banjo playing. You can find plenty of pictures and detailed explanations showing you how to find the positions that work best for you throughout this book. Chord diagrams reinforce the photos by showing you exactly where your fingers need to go. Each musical example in the book is included on the CD that you find inside the back cover. If you have the sound of every note firmly in your head before you start to play, you can master each exercise, hot lick, and song much more quickly.
And on many tracks, you can play along with the guitar and mandolin accompaniment. Also called tab, tablature is a great way to represent what both hands do when you play a banjo tune. Tab shows you which strings to pick with the right hand and what to fret with the left hand more on tab, picking, and fretting in Chapters 2 and 3. I show you how to read it, how best to use it, and even when best to set it aside.
Believe it or not, even banjo players use the Internet. Note: When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. I also use italics for emphasis here and there as a banjo player, getting excited once in a while is just natural for me. The five banjo strings have number names 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st , and I also refer to left-hand fretted positions using numbers which can be from the first to the 22nd fret.
Sometimes, numbers also describe the quality or sound of a chord, such as in D7. I number the tablature examples, or tab, separately. However, if you like knowing some banjo trivia or want some nonessential tips and tools, by golly, read it all! I also assume that you want to get started quickly and not waste time with unnecessary and overly technical information. How This Book Is Organized Banjo For Dummies is organized so that you can get the information you want quickly without spending a lot of time digging for it.
The chapters are grouped into the following seven parts that focus on different aspects of the banjo. Introduction Part I: The Amazing Five-String Banjo This part includes information that every beginner needs to know to get started playing the banjo, including the different kinds of five-string banjos and the various parts of the instrument. You also discover the correct body posture, how to tune the instrument to itself and to an electronic tuner, and how to fret your first chords.
I also cover some of the basic elements of music, such as rhythm, meter, chord progressions, and banjo tablature. Although these techniques are the two most popular ways of playing banjo today, most other banjo books focus on either one way of playing or the other. I cover both approaches within these pages. I help you find a comfortable right-hand position and present the basic picking patterns used in bluegrass and clawhammer banjo playing.
You also figure out in this part how to select fingerpicks and shape them to fit your right hand for bluegrass playing. You can then make your playing sound more authentic by incorporating left-hand slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and chokes, and even discover how to find a melody on the banjo and play it by using either clawhammer or bluegrass techniques. I take you back to the lateth and earlyth centuries as you play two minstrel-style tunes and two classic-era pieces.
You also get a more in-depth look at bluegrass style, exploring Scruggs, melodic, and singlestring techniques and licks. And you can find a handful of great tunes scattered throughout this part, just ready for the playing.
Not sure how to keep your banjo in tip-top shape? No worries. I also cover those accessories you really need as well as those extras that are just fun to have around the house. I take time to focus on banjo maintenance and string changing as well, so you can unearth the secrets of what you can do to keep your banjo sounding and looking great.
Finally, I help you find a good teacher, survive your first jam session, and expand your musical horizons through workshops, camps, and music festivals. In it, I present ten suggestions to make your practice time more fun and productive.
I also include a select list of ten important banjo players who are well worth the listen. In this part, you can find a handy chord digest. Introduction Expert advice and time-saving strategies that can make you a happier banjo player are the mission of the Tip icon. You can consider information attached with this icon to be fun but not essential to playing the banjo. You can skip over it without causing harm to any living thing whew!
Exercise caution with text marked by this icon in order to protect yourself, your banjo, or your musical reputation! Text next to this icon offers explanations on how to better utilize the examples on the CD as well as how to find the CD tracks for songs in each chapter. You can always read this book straight through, but the beauty of any For Dummies book is that you can direct your own course and dip into chapters as you need them.
I also show you correct body posture, how to tune the instrument, and how to play your first chords. The key is in the ignition, so put this thing in drive!
In this chapter, you spread out your banjo road map and start planning what I hope will be a wonderful, lifelong musical journey with the five-string banjo. I discuss what makes the five-string banjo different from other kinds of stringed instruments, and you can also take a look at the various kinds of banjos available today. I name the parts of the banjo and summarize the musical skills you can master in this book on the way to becoming a good player.
Getting into Banjo Something about the five-string banjo brings out strong feelings in people. Folks who like the banjo usually really like it. This section explores the answer to these questions. The banjo is usually associated with folk, country, and bluegrass music, but these days, you can also hear the instrument in jazz, rock, and even classical settings. Becoming a true believer Banjo players usually remember well the precise moment in time that they became hooked on the instrument.
Growing up in the s, I could also hear the banjo as a background instrument on hit songs from the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, and James Taylor. Hearing the banjo in these contexts made me believe that the banjo must be cool if those musicians used it on their recordings, despite what my friends thought about this disturbing turn in my musical tastes.
I already knew a little about playing the guitar, and I decided that I wanted to try and teach myself to play banjo. Getting to know others who felt the same way as I did about the banjo really helped to get me hooked. Musicians have continued to push the musical boundaries of the instrument, and these days, about the only folks who think the banjo is good for just one musical style are those television producers who still insist on having banjo music in the background of their pickup truck commercials.
My own youthful enthusiasm for the banjo evolved into a wonderful lifelong relationship that is still growing strong. I get a joyful feeling every time I play a tune on the banjo. Even if you never become as obsessed about the banjo as I am, I believe that the banjo can improve your life and make you a happier person if you give it the chance.
Identifying Different Kinds of Banjos Banjo For Dummies is your complete guide to musical adventure on the fivestring banjo. I focus on the five-string banjo because this instrument is by far the most popular type of banjo being played today and is the kind of banjo that is used to play bluegrass, folk, and country music. The five-string banjo is also currently carving new niches in jazz, rock, and classical music. However, in the first half of the 20th century, the most popular banjos were four-string tenor and plectrum banjos.
Five-string banjo: The subject of the book The short 5th string is what makes the five-string banjo different from other types of banjos and from just about every other instrument in the known universe.
This tuning peg holds the 5th string of the banjo see Figure The 5th string is not only shorter than the other four strings of the banjo, but this string is also the highest in sound or pitch.
The 5th string on a banjo lies within easy reach of the right-hand thumb, which you use to play this string in all kinds of banjo music. Having the highest-pitched string next to the string with the lowest pitch is unusual in comparison to how pitches are arranged on the strings of a guitar as you can see in Figure , but this is one of the things that makes the banjo sound so great!
Pitch: Low High 3 2 4 1 5 Five-string banjo Strings: 5 4 3 2 Pitch: Highest Lowest 1 High Tenor and plectrum banjos: Look for another book In the early decades of the 20th century, folks loved the quality of sound of the banjo so much that they attached different kinds of necks to the banjo body to create new instruments with different numbers of strings.
These hybrid instruments were tuned and played differently from the five-string banjo. Although these banjos have the same tone and general appearance as the five-string banjo, tenor and plectrum banjos use other tunings and playing techniques and are viewed as different instruments by banjo fans.
The fivestring banjo is by far the most popular kind of banjo played today and its music is almost certainly what attracted you to the instrument. However, confusing the appearance of a five-string banjo with the four-string tenor or plectrum type of banjo is easy.
You see, the bodies of these instruments are the same, but the necks reveal the difference see Figure You need a five-string banjo to play fivestring banjo music.
Instrument makers took guitar and mandolin necks and attached them to banjo bodies, creating new kinds of instruments that had the sound of a five-string or tenor banjo but were played by using guitar and mandolin techniques. Banjos with mandolin necks have eight strings and are called mandolin banjos or mandobanjos. These instruments are generally smaller than most five-string banjos.
Banjos with guitar necks have six strings and are called guitar banjos. These instruments can be a bit larger than most five-string banjos. You may hear these types of banjos used occasionally in early jazz or blues or by a jug band.
You could call it the Frankenstein of musical instruments, but I like to think of it more like the Bionic Woman. All banjos share the common characteristic of Chapter 1: First Steps: Banjo Basics having a replaceable membrane made of plastic or animal skin called the head that is stretched tightly across the body of the banjo called the pot to form the top of the resonating body of the instrument see Figure Five-string banjos come in three basic different styles: open-back, resonator, and electric banjos.
Musicians select the kind of banjo they play based on their musical style and their personal tastes. Chapter 9 explains the differences between these kinds of banjos, along with tips for making an informed purchase. In the following sections, you get to know the banjo from head to toe.
You also discover how the instrument captures the energy of a plucked string and turns it into that unmistakably great sound that banjo players love. You can refer to Figure to see exactly where these parts are located on the banjo. The neck is the long piece of wood that supports the strings and tuners. Necks are usually made of maple, mahogany, or walnut. Fretting is what you do when you move a left-hand finger into position behind a fret to change the pitch of a string.
In the world of fretting, you use the term up the neck to refer to moving the left hand towards the pot and down the neck when you talk about moving the left hand towards the nut and peghead. The pegs for strings 1 through 4 are attached to the peghead, while the tuning peg for the 5th string is found at the top of the neck near the fifth fret. Strings 1 through 4 pass through the grooves in the nut on their way to the shafts of the tuning pegs.
The 5th string has its own nut, located near the fifth fret. The truss rod is an adjustable metal rod that runs down most of the length of the banjo neck in a channel underneath the fingerboard. This rod helps to keep the neck stable and controls the amount of curve in the neck to keep the strings from buzzing when fretting.
Most banjos have adjustable truss rods, which can be accessed at the peghead by removing the truss rod cover a procedure best left to the pros. The head is largely responsible for the unique sound of your new favorite instrument.
A well-made rim is essential to a good-sounding banjo. Tone rings come in a variety of shapes and sizes. See Chapter 9 for more on tone rings. They are movable, but are held fast to the banjo head with the tension of the strings. Many tailpieces are adjustable in various ways that can subtly affect overall banjo tone.
For more on tailpieces, see Chapter The primary function of the coordinating rods is to keep the neck securely attached to the pot. However, they can also be used to make slight adjustments to the height of the strings off of the fingerboard called string action. Some banjos have only one coordinating rod. The resonator projects the sound out and away from the instrument.
Picking up string vibrations When you strike a banjo string with a right-hand finger or thumb, the string starts to move back and forth.
These vibrations move through the bridge a piece of wood positioned on the banjo head to the banjo head, which amplifies that sound. Banjo players frequently refer to right-hand playing as picking the banjo. You can read more about authentic right-hand banjo picking techniques in Chapter 4. The pitch of any string its sound as measured by how high or low it is is determined by how much tension or tightness is in each string and how long or short it is.
The tighter or shorter the string, the higher its pitch. A twist of a tuning peg in one direction or the other raises or lowers the pitch of a string. The direction is different for each string. For more on tuning, check out Chapter 2. When you fret a string, you place a left-hand finger behind one of the 22 frets found on the fingerboard of the neck.
An open string is one that is unfretted in the left hand. A fretted string sounds higher in pitch compared to an open string or to that same string fretted on a lower fret a lower fret is one that is farther away from the banjo body. For more on fretting with the left hand, see Chapter 2.
Everything feels so new and unfamiliar. Banjo players tend to be perfectionists, so be careful not to let your desire to play things correctly overwhelm your love for playing and remember that everyone learns from their mistakes — even banjo players. Having fun with the banjo is more important than playing everything perfectly.
Just play and check out Chapter 13 for more great practice suggestions. Playing with others also significantly speeds up your progress. In the following sections, I present just a few of the skills you should strive to master as a banjo player and as you make your way through Banjo For Dummies. Making wise purchase choices These days, new players can find good starter banjos that are affordable and easy to play.
The crucial first step in your purchase is finding an acoustic specialty store that really knows banjos and actually likes banjo players. And as you shop, keep in mind that your choice of instrument should be based mostly upon the kind of music you want to play and, of course, how much money you have to spend. I cover everything you need to know about what to look for in banjos and playing accessories and how to find them in Chapters 9 and Chapter 1: First Steps: Banjo Basics Tuning and holding your banjo Keeping your instrument in tune is something that you practice each time you play — and an absolutely essential skill when playing music with others.
Tuning your banjo can be frustrating at first, but with careful listening to compare one pitch with another and some trial and error, you can have this skill mastered in no time.
You have a lot of individual options in this regard. Just remember to not raise the neck too high and try using a strap. If you follow these two suggestions, you can be well on your way to finding your personal comfort zone. In Chapter 2, you can get comfortable holding the banjo, fitting the strap, and getting in tune with an electronic tuner or another instrument.
Fretting chords with the left hand A chord is three or more notes sounded together. Chords support a melody and are the building blocks for accompanying other musicians. The best way to begin your playing adventures is to become familiar with well-used chords such as G, C, and D7.
A comfortable left-hand position makes forming these chords much more fun. In Chapters 2 and 3, you can dig deeper into finding a comfortable left-hand position and get used to fretting chords up and down the banjo neck.
Playing authentic rightand left-hand patterns Coordinating right-hand picking techniques with the left-hand work of making chords and creating new notes is a full-time job for banjo players! Mastering exercises that isolate what each hand does by itself lays the foundation for making great banjo music with both hands together. In Chapters 4, 5, and 8, you take a look at these techniques, because you can use them in clawhammer and bluegrass banjo, create melodies, and accompany others with these patterns.
Melody notes can usually be organized as a group of notes, called a scale. In Chapters 6, 7, and 8, you can play beginner and intermediate versions of tunes in clawhammer, bluegrass, minstrel, and classic styles. Making music with others in jam sessions Banjo players love to make music with other musicians — guitarists, fiddlers, mandolin and dobro players, and bassists.
Active listening and playing in good rhythm play a big role in your efforts to make other musicians sound their best. In Chapters 3 and 12, I discuss the unique techniques and skills you need to accompany other pickers and singers on familiar bluegrass and old-time tunes in informal jam sessions.
I also cover some of the unspoken ground rules of jam etiquette to make your transition into group playing go smoothly. Meeting other banjo lovers You may be amazed at how many opportunities you have to share your enthusiasm for the banjo with other like-minded players.
From finding a teacher to attending a workshop, camp, or festival, you can have more fun with the instrument and become a better player faster by connecting with others who share your enthusiasm for the banjo. In Chapter 12, I talk about the world of banjo that lies beyond your doorstep. Chapter 1: First Steps: Banjo Basics Camps and workshops are often designed for all levels of students.
If you already play, you can recharge your banjo-picking batteries at a regional camp or workshop where you can hang out with the banjo stars, make many new friends, and come away with new playing ideas that will keep your hands busy for months to come. Keeping your banjo sounding great Banjos are much more adjustable than other stringed instruments such as the guitar or bass. Keeping fresh strings on your instrument is the most important thing you can do to keep your banjo running right.
After a few weeks or months of playing, your strings will inevitably become harder to tune — or they may even break. You may also want to check out all the movable parts on your banjo every couple of months.
For example, keeping the head tight keeps your banjo sounding bright and loud, and checking to see that the bridge is in just the right place on the banjo head keeps your fretted notes in tune.
I cover everything you need to know about these topics, as well as determining when you need to seek out professional advice, in Chapter As you sit down and open the case, that wonderful new banjo smell fills the room. Go ahead and savor this moment!
Pat yourself on the back for taking the plunge and making the commitment to become a banjo player. But now what? This chapter answers that question for you. I show you several different ways to keep the banjo in tune and how to work on a good left-hand position for fretting chords. Talking Banjo Talk As with any culture, you must be familiar with the language before you can get to know the people.
Plus, you may find Banjo For Dummies a little clearer if you know some of the basic terms I use throughout this book. You also use the left-hand fingers to create new notes on the banjo by using slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and chokes slide on over to Chapter 5 to discover more about these special techniques. In Banjo For Dummies, you first use the right-hand thumb to strum across all the banjo strings, but soon enough you utilize techniques where the right-hand thumb and the index and middle fingers each play a different role in producing authentic right-hand banjo styles you can find these techniques in Chapter 4.
Most banjos have 22 frets with each fret assigned a number. Fretting changes the sound or pitch of a note. In tablature, an open string is indicated with the number 0. But banjo players are so methodical that they assign numbers to each string so they can talk about them easier. Remembering the order of strings as expressed through these numbers is crucial to understanding banjo tablature and in interpreting a chord diagram, which is a representation of how a chord is fretted.
The 5th string is the short string on your banjo. From the 5th string, the strings are then numbered 4, 3, 2, 1 across the banjo. The 1st string is the farthest away from you as you look down on the instrument or the bottom string if someone is looking at you. The strings are then in a different orientation to your picking hand and executing the right hand patterns that you can encounter later in this book is physically impossible.
The bottom line is that you need both hands to play banjo well. To get the most enjoyment out of your practice time and to be ready for anything when playing with others, you should be comfortable both sitting and standing while playing the banjo.
In either case, being as relaxed as possible is a good idea. So how are you supposed to play in these positions with ease? You may need to first become comfortable with your left- and right-hand positions on the banjo, which I discuss later in this chapter and in Chapter 4. After you have a good grasp on your hand positions, feel free to come back to this section and devote a bit of time again to finding a comfortable posture sitting and standing with the banjo.
Even if you have a more lightweight, open-back banjo, the distribution of weight on your banjo may very well be uneven, with much of the mass at the peghead concentrated where the four tuning pegs are located. Take a moment and sit in a chair with your banjo in a playing position, with the pot of the banjo resting on your legs and the neck extending to your left at about a degree angle.
If you remove your left hand as a support, does the neck move downward? If so, start using a strap even when sitting. You need the left hand free to fret chords, not supporting the weight of the banjo neck.
Most banjo straps have hooks, ties, or screws at both ends that you use to attach the strap to the banjo pot. A guitar strap more often has just holes punched into the leather or plastic at either end and nothing else — providing no way to easily attach it to the banjo. For more info on picking out the right strap for you, see Chapter Getting used to holding the banjo and working with the strap is a bit like breaking in a brand new pair of shoes — it takes a bit of time, but soon enough everything fits like a glove.
The following sections provide all you need to know to fit the strap on the banjo and the banjo on you. Attaching the strap Some inexpensive banjos have hooks on the banjo body that are designed to hold a strap. You want to instead attach each end of the strap to one of the brackets that encircle the banjo head. Many players attach the strap to brackets located underneath the neck and the tailpiece of the banjo, as shown in Figure This position seems to provide a good deal of support and control, but you want to experiment by using different strap lengths and brackets to see what feels right to you.
Figure For a comfortable fit, try attaching the strap below the neck and the tailpiece. You should have plenty of room within the case to wrap the strap around the banjo pot see Figure Fitting the strap Although some players wear the strap across the right shoulder like the renowned bluegrass player Kenny Ingram in the bottom photo of Figure , most players adjust the length of the strap so that it wraps over the left shoulder, around the back, and underneath the right arm like banjo legend J.
Crowe in the top photo of Figure As you fit the strap to the banjo, you need to properly adjust its length. The length of your strap determines the vertical placement of the banjo in relation to your body. You need to use the same strap length for both sitting and standing, so experiment to find a strap fit that works well for both situations. Crowe a and Kenny Ingram b illustrate two different ways to wear a strap. You may have to take the strap off the banjo each time to adjust its length until you find what feels just right.
You can then move on to playing music with a more comfortable lefthand position. Some players discipline themselves to use the position dots on the top side of the banjo neck to keep track of where they are on the banjo neck, but most players prefer to actually see the banjo fingerboard.
Another aspect of finding a comfortable playing posture is to experiment with different neck angles the banjo neck that is, not your neck!
New players are often so concerned with seeing the fingerboard that they raise the neck to bring it closer to their eyes. Too much of this can lead to some technique problems in both the left and right hands.
My advice is to angle the neck such that the peghead is no higher than eye level. You also want to find a chair around the house that allows you to comfortably sit upright, provides you with some back support if you need it , and allows your arms to move freely no recliners allowed unfortunately. Around the house, I like to use an adjustable office chair with the side arms removed. Figure shows three different ways of holding the banjo while sitting.
Erin English left and yours truly right prefer straps on our heavier resonator banjos. Figure From left to right, Erin, Jody, and Bill show three different ways to enjoy playing banjo while sitting.
Many players position the banjo squarely on their right knee and may not need a strap to support the banjo at all while sitting. When standing with a strap, you want to position the banjo in a similar way at the right side of your body. Try adjusting the strap length so that you have little to no change in the position of the banjo for both your sitting and standing positions.
Note also the relationship of your hands to the instrument as you both sit and stand. Keep your arms relaxed and your elbows bent while standing and remember not to raise the peghead above eye level. Your left hand should easily be able to fret at any point along the banjo fingerboard, and your right hand should have easy access for striking the strings.
Figure shows three different ways of standing while playing banjo. Erin on the left holds the banjo a little lower and off to the side of her body. Jody in the middle angles the banjo neck a little higher and holds the banjo a bit more off to the side while yours truly on the right holds the banjo higher on the body and more out in front.
All are fine ways to take a stand for better playing. The left hand accomplishes this task by pressing the tips of the fingers against the fingerboard just behind a fret, as needed, to shorten the length of a string and make its pitch higher. This technique is called fretting. Rest your left hand on your leg and totally release all body tension from your hand and arm, just as if you were asleep see Figure a.
Your hand should assume a relaxed shape in which all the fingers are slightly bent in towards your palm. Keeping the wrist relaxed but straight, place the left-hand thumb on the upper part of the back of the banjo neck, opposite the space between the first and second frets see Figure b.
Remember not to support the weight of the neck with the left hand and try to keep your hand and fingers relaxed, as in Step 1. Relax your shoulder, arm, and elbow, bringing your elbow down and in towards your body and causing your left-hand fingers to position themselves more directly over the banjo fingerboard. Move your left-hand middle finger just behind the second fret of the 3rd string and push down on the string, fretting it with the tip of your finger see Figure c.
Try to maintain a vertical position with the fretting finger so that the adjacent strings are able to ring freely. Try playing the 3rd string with the thumb of your right hand. Mandolin For Dummies breaks down the fundamentals of this instrument and provides the resources you need to practice and improve your ability over time. Packed with individualized instruction on key mandolin-friendly musical styles, including Irish and Celtic, "old time" American music, blues, bluegrass, swing, and jazz Files available via download provide audio tracks from the book and exercises so you can play along and build your skills -- almost 2 hours of music!
Clear and useful photos and diagrams ensure you fret, strum, and pick with precision Includes a mandolin buying guide to help ensure you make the right purchases Tips on restringing mandolins and other DIY care and maintenance topics If you're an aspiring mandolin player, don't fret! Mandolin For Dummies has you covered. Dieser Band, der aus einer am Queen Mary College der University of London im April abgehaltenen Tagung hervorgegangen ist, vereinigt exemplarische Studien dieser literar-philosophischen, aber auch musik- und kulturkritischen Arbeit am Mozart-Mythos und seiner versuchten Entzauberung.
Already during his lifetime but even more so during Romanticism and up to the present day writers and philosophers have been inspired by Mozart's life and work. Don Giovanni has repeatedly served as the central starting point for such poetic and intellectual engagement but also the composer's personality which epitomizes the notion of the genius-artist. The contributors discuss the Mozart myth with regard to its literary, philosophical and cultural implications as well as its attempted disenchantment.
Play Today! All you have to do is follow along with the tips, lessons and music provided as you listen to the CD or watch the DVD. The book features over 90 great songs with professional quality CD tracks. The DVD features on-screen banjo tablature so you can play all the music examples. A lighthearted This was fun to read. It is clear, concise, factual, useful, and understandable.
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You'll learn classic bluegrass guitar techniques in the context of classic bluegrass standards. All books and videos in the Ultimate Beginner Bluegrass Basics Series are fully correlated to work together, allowing you to use these for putting together your own bluegrass band. The guide is packed with helpful insider tips, from how to navigate the city's subway system to where the hot new restaurants are and which ones are worth the trip. No matter what your tastes, Washington D.
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