How to Play the 5-String Banjo, Third Edition
by Pete Seeger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Pete SeegerBrand: Music Sales America
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1969-06
ISBN: 0825600243
Number of pages: 72
Publisher: Oak Publications
Product features:
- Published by Music Sales America 72 Pages
- Third Edition by Pete Seeger
- Author: Pete Seeger
Book Reviews of How to Play the 5-String Banjo, Third Edition
Book Review: For the Compleat Banjoist
Summary: 5 Stars
Pete Seeger's "How to Play the 5-string Banjo" is easily one of the most informative and readable books about the 5-string banjo ever written. For years, it was the only such book available, and countless of today's best-known banjo players got their start studying its pages and listening to the accompanying LP (available on CD from Smithsonian/Folkways; a new DVD version is also available from Homespun Tapes).
From an historical standpoint, this book contains the first usage of the terms "pulling-off" and "hammering-on," which Pete coined to describe these now commonplace left-hand playing techniques. Pete is also responsible for reviving the use of tablature, a simplified way of diagraming music that had not been used for centuries.
It is important to note that this book was written before bluegrass became the most popular style of banjo playing. So while "Scruggs style" is ably discussed within its pages (with the help of Mike Seeger), many other playing styles are explained and demonstrated. These "other styles" were the ones used by Bob Gibson, Erik Darling, Peggy Seeger, Hedy West and all the banjo greats of the so-called "Folk Era" (including, of course, Pete himself). So if you're a fan of banjo music from that period, this book is a must.
For me, the key thing about Pete Seeger's banjo playing (and teaching) is his belief that the 5-string banjo is not a narrowly defined "bluegrass" or "folk" or "old-timey" instrument--but rather, that it is a musical instrument whose usefulness is limited only by the player's imagination. Thus in this book we find TABs of mountain tunes like "Darling Corey" and "East Virginia" side by side with "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and Seeger's beautiful accompaniment for the "Burgundian Carol."
The current edition is identical to the classic "Third Edition, Revised" from 1962, with some notes from Pete added to the inside covers. Regarding these notes, one reviewer said: "He indicates that if he had time for a major revision, he would start with G tuning and three-finger picking, where are more in vogue nowadays." The part about Pete wanting to start with G tuning (rather than C tuning) is accurate. But the picking style Pete says he'd now prefer to start with is not three-finger picking; it is a type of two-finger picking (index finger and thumb) he learned from Bascom Lamar Lunsford. And my guess is that he now would like to start with G tuning not because it is "more in vogue these days" but simply because it is easier to learn to play in the key of G using G tuning than it is in the key of C using C tuning. (For one thing, a G chord in G tuning requires no left-hand fretting at all.) Likewise, while the "Lunsford Lick" has the same "bump-dit-ty" rhythm as the "basic strum" and frailing, it is easier for the beginner to master. And Seeger's aim has always been to get people playing (and singing) as quickly as possible.
Is this the best book to start with? Probably not, especially if your interest in the 5-string banjo is restricted strictly to bluegrass. But if you're open to exploring many different banjo-playing styles and applying them to many different kinds of music, there is no better place to begin.
Summary of How to Play the 5-String Banjo, Third Edition
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.Business Books
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