Banjo Tutor Books

Many musicians, including some that are technically quite advanced, never break away from the printed page to learn by simply listening and re-creating. The common name for this process is "playing by ear". With some basic guidelines, any musician with rudimentary skills can teach himself or herself to play by ear, adding a new dimension to their playing skills.

Today's foremost player of the Melodic Clawhammer Banjo presents a comprehensive guide to the instrument, the style, its heritage and culture, complete with a supporting CD.

Leads the banjo player step-by-step through working out songs for the five-string banjo from basic melodies in both Scruggs/bluegrass style and melodic/chromatic style. Each section contains exercises and examples for improvising. Furthermore, this book teaches how to arrange music based on concepts of combining rolls and licks. Janet Davis' books are praised because they teach so well! This is one of her finest. In tablature. Includes access to extended play audio and video downloads online.

A fully revised and enhanced edition of the world-famous Earl Scruggs method - the best selling Banjo tutor in the world! The Earl Scruggs method has proven to work time and again, and has helped thousands of beginners get to grips with the instrument over the years. This new edition boasts more songs, updated lessons and much more. Includes link to online audio..

This fantastic book is an absolute must for the Gibson banjo fanatic! Of the 130 or so Original Flathead Five-String Mastertones known to exist, 19 of the absolute best are featured here. The Scruggs, Reno, Jenkins, Crowe, Osborne, Huber and Mills banjos are shown in all of their glory, with details of their known histories and provenances, as well as never-before-seen photos, bills of sale, factory shipping ledgers, and other ephemera relating to these rare and highly desirable instruments. See below for more details.

The 5-String Banjo Fingering Chart includes tuning notes, chord shapes and a photo/diagram of the instrument.

Five-string banjo enthusiasts who play in the stroke, clawhammer or guitar styles will enjoy these 50 melodic, tab-only arrangements. The collection is unique in that it includes reels, polkas, jigs, hornpipes, minstrel songs, ballads, light classics, and a Christmas tune—nearly all in C tuning with the fourth string a step lower than the typical 5-string G tuning. Well-known classical and popular composers: Beethoven, Foster, and Vivaldi, plus collector/historian-authors: Converse, Emmett, Howe, Kerr, O’Neill, and Ryan—are all represented in this book.With the exception of two Twiss originals, the music was chosen from sources available circa 1840 – 1890. Some of these settings can be used as accompaniment to unison singing; all are designed to lie well on the 5-string fretboard for optimal playability. Using a custom-built fretted, nylon-string banjo, the author has provided online recordings of every tune for ease of learning.

Early American Banjo by Tim Twiss provides complete banjo tablature transcriptions of the instrumental solos that first appeared in standard notation in Buckley's Banjo Guide of 1868. This modern tablature edition of over 100 mid-19th century jigs, waltzes, polkas, hornpipes and reels provides insight to the transition between the African down-stroke technique, which preceded claw-hammer style and the newer, more refined plucking technique. James Buckley (1803 ' 1872), sometimes referred to as the 'Father of the Classical Banjo,  was one of the most prolific transcribers of early banjo music. His compositions and arrangements were performed on the minstrel stage, andhis scholarly discipline produced a lasting record of banjo music of his era. This repertoire collection includes easy tunes as well as more complex pieces suited for the concert stage. The player will delight in discovering how fresh and unusual some of this music sounds, even today 'all in modern banjo tab. While best experienced on a period reproduction, gut-string fretless banjo in a lower tuning, any 5-string banjo in C tuning (gCGBD) may be used to interpret this collection. Includes access to online audio.

Over 650 bluegrass, blues and jazz licks in Scruggs, single string and melodic style. Learn to use licks to create solos, play back up and expand your musical understanding and knowledge of the fingerboard.

The Absolute Beginners award-winning method has been designed to make learning the 5-string Banjo easier than ever before!

First Lessons on Banjo is an ultra-easy instruction manual for beginning five-string banjo played in the three finger style in G tuning. It can be used by those with no previous experience with the banjo or music of any sort. It is so basic it can be used even by small children.

The book features very detailed descriptions of even the most basic aspects such as wearing the picks properly, the correct picking motion, and noting the strings properly. These are aspects that are so basic most manuals skip over them. There are many detailed photos, several from the player's point of view, not from in front of the banjo.

This Book & CD pack 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.

This comprehensive book contains 139 solos for the 5-string banjo. Arranged by Neil Griffin, Mark Barnett, Karl Kurth, Carl Jackson, and Bob Forrest, this book is the perfect resource to expand you repertoire of solo pieces.

With its wealth of information on how technique can be tastefully applied, Back-Up Banjo is the definitive book on the subject of banjo accompaniment.

Pete Seeger. The basic manual for banjo players, with melody line, lyrics and banjo accompaniment and solos notated in standard form and tablature.

This handy book shows left-hand fingering photos, notation, and diagrams for all of the basic 5-string banjo chords in G tuning (GDGBD). The sections are arranged alphabetically, grouping all chords with the same root in a section.

This book presents an extremely comprehensive collection of 5-string and plectrum banjo chord forms for G and C tunings.

Finally! A chord book written for the young beginner (or even beginners of any age) showing a creative and simple way to learn and play banjo chords. Chords are taught beginning with the most essential to more advanced. Chords are presented with exercises that build upon each other and eventually lead the student to playing logical and common chord progressions. These progressions include I-iii-vi-ii-V-I and twelve bar blues in many different keys. Chords are shown in chord diagram form with photographs showing finger positions in relationship to the fretboard. Examples and exercises are presented in strum bar notation.

Ragtime music has a character all its own. While it lends itself ideally to a variety of settings and moods, it always maintains its unique joyful feeling. The banjo is an instrument ideally suited for ragtime. The bright crisp banjo sound truly adds a new dimension to the ragtime feeling.

A comprehensive 96-page, large print perfect-bound chord dictionary for today’s banjo player. Contains hundreds of chord forms ranging from major, minor and dominant 7th to the various extensions such as minor 7b5, minor/major 7, 7#5, etc.

This handy book shows all of the basic banjo chords in photo and diagram form. The front of the book contains a section of bluegrass G-tuning chords, and the remainder contains C-tuning.

If you want to learn traditional music on the 5-string, this book by Peter Flanagan is for you. There's no extraneous confusing detail and the straight forward approach using tablature means you're playing something recognisable within minutes. Soundtrack available.

C,G,D,A Tuning ...A very comprehensive collection of chord forms in every key for tenor banjo. The most thorough tenor banjo chord book available.

This book is a "hands-on" approach to music theory with lots of playing examples for the Banjo. Music theory does not have to be mysterious or difficult. In fact, taken a little bit at a time, it’s easy and fun! Each of the approximately 50 lessons in this book has a limited scope, but by the time you complete them, you will have a thorough understanding of the basics of music theory as applied to the Banjo.