Peter Gelling - Banjo Lessons for Beginners: Teach Yourself How to Play Banjo

Progressive Banjo Method provides an easy and enjoyable introduction to the world of Banjo playing. No previous knowledge of music or banjo playing is necessary. Both melody and chord playing are covered along with picking sequences, music reading, theory and great arrangements of well known songs.

Through the course of the book, you will learn how to play chords in both open position and movable shapes, vamps and finger rolls, and all the essential techniques for both rhythm and melody playing. You will also learn how to use thumb and finger picks as well as how to create your own arrangements. All examples sound great and are fun to play. By the end of the book you will be well on your way to being an excellent banjo player.

To develop good timing habits right from the start, it is recommended that you use a metronome or drummachine with all the examples in the book until you can play them easily from memory.

The best and fastest way to learn is to use this book in conjunction with:

• Buying sheet music of your favorite recording artists and learning to play their songs. By learning songs, you will begin to build a repertoire and always have something to play in jam sessions.
• Practicing and playing with other musicians as often as possible.
• Learning by listening to your favorite recordings. Start building a collection of albums of players you admire or wish to emulate. Try playing along with one of them for a short time each day. Most of the great banjo players have learned a lot of their music this way.

In the early stages it is helpful to have the guidance of an experienced teacher. This will also help you keep to a schedule and obtain weekly goals.

Approach to Practice

From the beginning you should set yourself a goal. Many people learn the banjo because of a desire to play like their favorite artist (e.g., Bela Fleck), or to play a certain style of music (e.g., Bluegrass, Folk etc.). Motivations such as these will help you to persevere through the more difficult sections of work. As you develop it will be important to adjust and update your goals.

It is important to have a correct approach to practice. You will benefit more from several short practices (e.g., 15-30 minutes per day) than one or two long sessions per week. This is especially so in the early stages, because of the basic nature of the material being studied. In a practice session you should divide your time evenly between the study of new material and the revision of past work. It is a common mistake for semi-advanced students to practice only the pieces they can already play well. Although this is more enjoyable, it is not a very satisfactory method of practice. You should also try to correct mistakes and experiment with new ideas.

Parts of the Banjo

This is a typical five string banjo. There are also four string banjos but these are less common. It is recommended that you learn to name all the parts from memory.

Electronic Tuner

The easiest and most accurate way to tune your banjo is by using an electronic tuner. This allows you to tune each string individually to the tuner, by indicating whether the notes are sharp (too high) or flat (too low).

There are several types of electronic tuners but most are relatively inexpensive and simple to operate. Tuning using other methods is difficult for beginners and it takes many months to master, so we recommend you purchase an electronic tuner, particularly if you do not have a teacher or a friend who can tune it for you. Also if your banjo is way out of tune you can always take it to your local music store so they can tune it for you. Once a banjo has been tuned correctly it should only need minor adjustments before each practice session.