How to Play the 5-String Banjo, Third Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Thirty-four years ago I started buying and using banjo instruction books. Today I have only one still in my possession, Pete Seeger's "How toPlay the 5-String Banjo."In addition to his many other gifts, Seegerhas mastered the difficult job of teaching a musical instrument on paper. His approach is to take the student step by step with clear explanations inthe text to making music as quickly as possible.Even readers withabsolutely no knowledge of musical notation will be able to grasp hisexplanations and his illustrations.His drawings of the fingerboard arenot the most sophisticated graphics in the business, but they don't have tobe.The book (which isn't very long) also teaches the student abouttraditional and home made music as it touches on many styles of banjoplaying.Seeger clearly uses banjo instruction as another means to spreadhis lifelong gospel of the integrity, value and sheer joy of music thatcomes out of living rooms rather than loudspeakers.Despite itspopularity, the three-finger bluegrass banjo style of playing gets onlycursory treatment in the text, but that is not a slight.There are plentyof slick and heavily tabbed (for "tablature") music booksfocusing on the so-called Scruggs-style.Seeger's book acknowledgesbluegrass, but gives the many other styles the due they receive nowhereelse.I was at first frustrated, but later pleased at his technique ofgiving the student the words and music for only the first verse of atraditional song, telling me that I can get the complete version elsewhere. He was saving valuable space for more songs and other styles, and forcingus to expand our horizons to the sources he cites in the text.Thus, doeshis banjo instruction book inject the reader into the world of traditionalmusic.My enthusiasm for the book is such that I've gone through 2 copies. I easily learned the frailing style.I have a grasp of Scruggs-style (andI tried Earl Scrugg's own book, too).But, I never got the hang of thedrop-thumb.I don't blame Pete or his book for that lapse.Along the wayI was introduced to songs, and the musical and social histories from whichthey sprang.Seeger's book was the best musical investment I ever madeafter I bought my first 5-string.Its purchase price is a pittancecompared to the decades of enjoyment it has allowed me to experience.
Bruce CollinsGreensboro, MD

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Product Description:
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.

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