The Ultimate Plectrum Banjo Player's Guide, Volume 2 [Spiral-bound]

David Frey (Author), Susanne Sangiacomo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...[A] complete instructional format that is guaranteed to improve your playing, no matter what your current playing level." -- Buddy Wachter, Personal Testimonial

"I will use them with my plectrum banjo students, and strongly urge them to obtain their copies. Many thanks!" -- Author/Teacher Jim Riley's personal testimonial

"The Ultimate Plectrum Banjo Player's Guide will guide the novice and the advanced student... in a direct path to excellence." -- Larry Kennedy, Personal Testimonial

About the Author

DAVID FREY was born at a very young age. He began to study the banjo with Leanoard Moors in March, 1969. Dave performed with the Marin Banjo Band from 1970 until 1974 and with the Oakland Banjo Band also in 1974. In 1975, he founded the Southtown Strummers with Bill Houston also on banjo, Greg Stevens on piano, Phil Anderson on banjo and string bass, and Jim Brennan on tuba. Dave still leads this group. Dave joined the Jazz Salvation Company in 1983, performing on a regular basis at Jazz Festivals and Clubs, with members: Tom Barnebey - cornet, Bill Badstubner - trombone, Duane Ewing - clarinet/soprano sax, Red Thomas - piano, Jim Brennan - tuba.

Dave was a founding member of the Fourth Street Five in 1990 with members: Robert Young - cornet & reeds, Ron Dubin - trombone, John Howard - reeds, Jim Brennan - tuba. The band played at Old Vic's on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa every Thursday night from June through September in 1990, '91, and '92. The band also played on the first Sunday of every month at Lena's Restaurant from 1992 until October 1994, then at Grazianos in Petaluma from January through June 1996. They recorded their first CD at Bay Records in Berkeley in July, 1997. Dave joined the 16-piece San Francisco Starlight Orchestra in 1991. The orchestra continues to perform on the first Saturday night of every month at the Strawberry Recreation Center, Tiburon, CA.

Dave became a member of the Dress For Less 3 in March, 1991 to perform at the Ross Dress For Less department store on Farmers Lane in Santa Rosa. The band includes Tom Barnebey on cornet and Robert Young on bass saxophone.

Dave recorded with Ted Shafers Jelly Roll Jazz Band on their Stomp Off album in 1993.

Most recently, Dave was the summer substitute with the Cell Block 7 from Lodi, California from 1996 through 1999, and a substitute with the Hot Chamber Music Society and Gold Coast Jazz Band in 1997.

SUSANNE SANGIACOMO became a dedicated plectrum banjo player in 1994. Previously she had studied and played five string bluegrass style banjo. Sue's desire to play the tune "Waiting For The Robert E. Lee" turned her toward the plectrum banjo. She began to take lessons from Dave Frey and inquired about where to get thorough plectrum banjo instruction manuals. Sue quickly discovered that no definitive plectrum banjo instructional sources were in print. Utilizing her skills as a writer and editor of training manuals for a number of Fortune 500 companies, Sue took on the monumental task of organizing and editing Dave Frey's plectrum banjo lesson plans in order to create something that was cohesive and useful. She was able to develop those plans into a complete, easy to read plectrum banjo training Guide. The project ultimately took over three years to complete.

As a beginning banjo student, Sue could quickly see the instructional "gaps" in the Plectrum Guide. Working with Dave, she successfully made the Guide flow from chapter to chapter to its conclusion. The end result is a collaboration between player and student that creates an instructional guide unique in the plectrum banjo world.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 266 pages
• Publisher: S L S & Co; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967361125
• ISBN-13: 978-0967361123
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #493,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great companion to Vol. I, but a must for any player., May 31, 2000

By 

Howard Clark (Brookston, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Plectrum Banjo Player's Guide, Volume 2 (Spiral-bound)

Volume I is probably the best music instruction book ever, but Volume II is an absolutly essential companion to it. If you're already an intermediate to advanced player, you could possibly get along without Volume I, but you've gotta get Volume II. It is comprised of two sections, songs and exercises.

First there are the songs, just about every song needed in a plectrum player's basic repertoire of tunes. But get this, not only are they presented in the usual "fake book" or "lead sheet" format (melody line in standard musical notation with chord names above and lyrics below), there is also a chord chart, as well as chord diagrams for every note in the chord melody!

The chord chart uses a box for each measure with the chord name(s) in each, a great compact memory jogger for use after you've learned the song.

The chord melody diagrams are the tour de force of this set of books and a major advance in the art of string music instruction books. They not only show how to form the chord, and where on the neck to play it, but they also show the timing and the picking. By following these diagrams, you can be playing the chord melody in a matter of minutes.

Part 2 is the exercises, a compendium of all the exercises in Volume I, which is to say all the really good exercises you will ever need to increase and maintain your skills as a plectrum banjo player. Once you have mastered a particular section in Volume I, all the exercises without the accompanying text will be found in Volume II.

When I was first working my way through Volume I, I tabbed each page with an exercise so I could go back and run through it. Then I looked in the back of Volume II and there they all were, exactly as I needed them to be!

Exercises include: Dexterity exercises; All the chords played up and down the neck; Chord transition exercises (same fret and inversions); Chromatic chord scales for every note on the neck; Single string scales; Harmonized scales; Runs and fillers; Intros, tags, and endings; Duoing; and Arpeggios.

If you can master these exercises, you can play any of the tunes in the first section with professional polish. I can't speak highly enough about these books and the accompanying CD's.