5-String Banjos!
5-String Banjos! is for people interested in learning how to play the 5-string banjo. You can take this class if you've never touched a banjo or any other musical instrument before. You can take this class if you've played a little bit of banjo but want to learn more. This class is open to people of all ages, ethnicities, genders, and ability levels. Banjos are super fun and you can learn to play them!
If you are taking this course, it's important that you have access to a banjo. You don't need to own your own banjo, but you will need one to practice on and bring to classes. Ask friends, aunts and uncles, and friends' aunts and uncles if they have one you can borrow. There are a lot of unused and forgotten banjos in attics and basements.
This course will meet for eight weeks. We will learn:
- How to tune a banjo
- Playing chords
- Basic clawhammer (old time)
- Dropthumb and double thumb frailing
- Bluegrass rolls
- Playing "up the neck"
- Alternate tunings
- Scales and transposing
- The history of the banjo
- A whole bunch of songs!
We will be using the book The How and Tao of Old Time Banjo by Patrick Costello for parts of this course. You can find the text for free on the internet at: http://www.archive.org/
I look forward to facilitating this course! Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions!
--Matthew Byrnes
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