Customer Reviews

The Complete Bluegrass Banjo Player: Omnibus Edition

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the first book I got to learn banjo in 1994. Since then I went through on and off phases and have purchased numerous books, videos, dvd's and cd's but it definitely gave me a solid foundation to build upon. There are better more complete courses out there these days especially on dvd and the like but as a beginner book, this one works very well. I disagree with the other reviewer about how the banjo sounds on the CD. When I purchased the book back then, it came with one of those floppy vinyl records often found in magazines and I would presume the CD contents are the same. I thought the banjo sounded very banjo-ish indeed, albeit an archtop, it had a lot of tonal depth and character and was played so tastefully. That having been said, the CD contents are a bit sparse with only a small part of the course being actually included on it so I struggled with a lot of the material simply because I didn't hear what it was supposed to sound like, having never even heard the original tunes in many cases. Also the author uses generic tunes where he actually slightly changes the chords and subsequently alters the names slightly, obviously for copyright reasons. As a learning tool this doesn't really matter. The few exercises and tunes on the CD are presented very well and played very clearly. In terms of basic technique and authentic bluegrass picking at beginner level it is a good book and that's where the 4 stars go.

Book is very well organized, however, the included CD sounds like a beginner guitar, not a bluegrass banjo. I purchased the book as a "novice" banjo player. The Cd is not helpful.