Beginner Banjo: Roll your way into songs

Name: Beginner Banjo: Roll your way into songs
Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews)

Banjo Rolls-Easy Songs-No TAB Needed

(2 ratings)

4 students

Created by Jody Hughes

Last updated 2/2022

English

English [Auto]

What you'll learn

You'll learn your main banjo rolls
You'll learn your basic G-C-D7-Eminor Chords
You'll learn the songs Cumberland Gap and Cripple Creek
You'll learn hammer-ons and slides to add to your songs
You'll learn the Foggy Mountain breakdown Roll

Requirements

No prior skills are required
No TAB reading skills necessary

Description

This course teaches Beginner banjo in the fingerpicking/roll based style made famous by artists such as Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Bela Fleck, and more. Part of the difficulty in learning 3 finger style banjo is knowing where to start. Many books and videos start you by teaching you how to read TAB, rather than starting you with HOW TO PLAY BANJO. I will start you with banjo playing only, the logic behind the roll patterns, and more:

We'll start by learning how to wear our banjo picks.

Next, we'll talk about how to get the best tone out of the instrument and how to place your hand correctly on the instrument. Right-hand technique is CRITICAL to getting a great sound out of the instrument.

With our right-hand, we start with the basic pinch pattern. This pinch pattern helps beginners establish good timing and is found in most songs.

Next, we move on to two ROLL PATTERNS called the alternating thumb and forward-reverse roll. We'll go over fretting the instrument and learning our basic chords G-C-D7.

We work on coordinating our right and left hands by combining our two roll patterns with the chords we've learned. The basis for most songs is being able to move from chord to chord while doing right hand patterns in proper timing.

After these fundamentals are established, we are ready to move on to learning songs. The first two songs we learn are "Cumberland Gap" and "Cripple Creek."

This course comes with audio recordings and a play-along track for "Cripple Creek." Before learning "Cumberland Gap" we learn a new roll called the FORWARD-ROLL, as well as the E minor chord.

Finally, to make our songs sound even more polished and professional we learn ornamentations like SLIDES and HAMMER-ONS and how to add them to the songs we learned.

We wrap things up by learning the standard "Train 45."

By the time you are done with the course, you'll have a strong foundation in the fundamentals of 3 finger banjo playing so you can go forward on your own BANJO JOURNEY and learn whatever you'd like.

Who this course is for:

This course is for the aspiring Beginner Banjo player
Those looking to play 3 finger banjo style

Jody Hughes

Banjo Player, Acoustic Guitarist, and Improv Coach

5.0 Instructor Rating
2 Reviews
7 Students
2 Courses

I've taught and played music professional for over 25 years. During that time I was fortunate enough to perform on the stages of Carnegie Hall, The Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. I'm a 3X GA State Banjo and Guitar contest champion.

In addition to maintaining an online teaching studio of over 20 private students, I play private events around the Southeastern U.S, both solo and in groups. I'm the go to banjoist for the "High Lonesome Mass" written by Choral Composer Tim Sharp. We've played this piece all over the world (China/Mongolia/Argentina/etc)

I am an acoustic music specialist-bluegrass, jazz, folk, and classical. In addition to playing bluegrass for 20 years, I studied improvisation and Jazz under nationally acclaimed pianist Kevin Bales for 5 years. Studying under a pianist as a guitarist allowed me to have quite a unique perspective on all of my instruments. Other training includes vocal lessons, guitar and composition lessons.

I love playing, teaching and working with people from all backgrounds and ages.

My goal is to help you reach your goals along this musical journey!!