Alfred Publishing

Everything You Need to Know to Start Playing the 5-String Banjo Now!

Authors: Morty Manus and Ron Manus
Format: Book, CD & DVD
Instrumentation: Banjo

Learn to play banjo and open up a brand new world of musical knowledge with this exciting method from Alfred Music. Beginners of all ages can start their journey to a lifetime of musical enjoyment. Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Banjo teaches you to play 5-string banjo even if you've never held the instrument before.

The book starts with the fundamentals such as the history of the banjo, its components, how to hold and tune it, caring for your very own instrument, and how to read standard musical notation. You will then move right along to playing different chords, strums, and songs, lesson by lesson, all while continuing to increase your knowledge of reading banjo music. You will learn important banjo techniques such as the hammer-on, pull-off, and more. There are also fingering charts and a dictionary of chords in G and C tunings.

This best-selling book is now available with DVD and CD. The DVD includes video lessons and performances for everything in the book, and also includes the TNT 2 audio player that lets you adjust the tempo and pitch, and isolate parts. The CD includes audio performances of every exercise and song. It plays in your CD player or you can download the tracks to your PC. Upon completion of the book, you will be able to play your favourite songs on the banjo, read music, play more than a dozen different strums and perform with a musical group.

Be your own teacher, and let Alfred Music be your resource every step of the way.

Contents:

• Getting Started
• A Short History of the Banjo
• The Five-String Banjo
• The Hands
• Picks
• Tightening the Head
• Holding the Banjo
• Tuning Your Banjo
• Tuning to a Piano or Other Keyboard
• Tuning to a Pitch Pipe
• Tuning to a Tuning Fork
• Tuning by Ear
• Using an Electronic Tuner
• Caring for your Banjo
• Buying a Used Banjo
• Starting to Play Chords
• Playing the G Chord
• Playing the D7 Chord
• Getting Acquainted with Music
• Mini Music Lesson: Ties
• Down in the Valley
• Mini Music Lesson: Eighth Notes & Rests
• Go Tell Aunt Rhody
• Mini Music Lesson: Pickup Measure, Dotted Quarter Note
• Cockles and Mussels
• Clementine
• Strum No. 1
• Mini Music Lesson: D.C. al Fine
• Tom Dooley
• Strum No. 2
• Old Paint
• The C Major Chord
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• On Top of Old Smokey
• Oh! Susanna
• Strum No. 3
• Strum No. 4
• Worried Man Blues
• The G7 Chord
• Jesse James
• She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
• Red River Valley
• Strum No. 5
• Skip to My Lou
• Strum No. 5 (continued)
• Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane
• This Land Is Your Land
• Mini Music Lesson: The Arpeggio
• Strum No. 6
• The A7 Chord
• Aura Lea
• Strum No. 7
• The Cowboy's Dream
• Strum No. 8
• New River Train
• Strum No. 9
• Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)
• Melody Playing
• Goodnight Ladies
• My Home's Across the Smoky Mountains
• Lolly Too Dum
• Mini Music Lesson: Hammering-On
• Come and Go with Me
• Mini Music Lesson: Pulling-Off
• Cotton Eyed Joe
• Strum No. 8b
• The Old Gray Mare
• Bluegrass
• Bluegrass Roll No. 1
• Black Eyed Susie
• Bluegrass Roll No. 1a
• Old Joe Clark
• Bluegrass Roll No. 2
• Little Maggie
• Mini Music Lesson: C Tuning
• The Wabash Cannonball
• Home on the Range
• Strum No. 10
• Mini Music Lesson: Transposition
• The Capo
• What to Do About the 5th String
• Chords in G Tuning
• Chords in C Tuning
• Fingering Charts