whodathought
Verified buyer
06/02/26
Melodic Banjo Handbook, great course
Excellent graded exercises and etudes.
Melodic Banjo Handbook
Learn Melodic Banjo Style, Techniques and Repertoire
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About this course
Popularized by Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson in the 1960’s, the “melodic-style” banjo technique was born out of the bluegrass tradition as a way for banjo players to play note-for-note fiddle tunes. Developing your melodic banjo technique will help you to play faster, smoother, more efficient melodic runs across multiple strings.
Ned Luberecki’s Melodic Banjo Handbook will show you how to play major and minor scale positions for the most common keys used in bluegrass melodic style.
”We’ll work on fingering patterns so you can get them up to speed, I'll also show you my techniques for working out melodic style melodies so you can create your own arrangements, and you’ll have all of TrueFire’s learning tools to work with.
Along the way, we’ll learn popular fiddle tunes in G, C, and D played in a melodic style. We’ll play Blackberry Blossom, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Katy Hill, Texas Gales, Stoney Point, and more, AND we’ll explore some bluegrass jam applications for your melodic banjo runs.
Working regularly with this handbook is really going to help you get your melodic-style chops together, so grab your banjo, and let’s go!”
Ned will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.
You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your banjo and lets get melodic with Ned Luberecki!
Ned Luberecki’s Melodic Banjo Handbook will show you how to play major and minor scale positions for the most common keys used in bluegrass melodic style.
”We’ll work on fingering patterns so you can get them up to speed, I'll also show you my techniques for working out melodic style melodies so you can create your own arrangements, and you’ll have all of TrueFire’s learning tools to work with.
Along the way, we’ll learn popular fiddle tunes in G, C, and D played in a melodic style. We’ll play Blackberry Blossom, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Katy Hill, Texas Gales, Stoney Point, and more, AND we’ll explore some bluegrass jam applications for your melodic banjo runs.
Working regularly with this handbook is really going to help you get your melodic-style chops together, so grab your banjo, and let’s go!”
Ned will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.
You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your banjo and lets get melodic with Ned Luberecki!
What you'll learn
- Apply single-string style technique when necessary
- Transfer familiar fingering patterns from G and C scales to D major
- Understand how to start a scale on an open string
- Understand how to use major scale fingerings for minor key melodies
- Learn how chord context transforms the sound of scale patterns
Release date: 07/22/2021 • 1h 56m runtime
Sample lessons
The G Major Scale
Demonstration
Descending D Major Scale Pattern
Demonstration
Ascending Lower Position Pattern
Demonstration
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Playalong Performance
What's included
49 lessons • 27 charts • 12 Jam Tracks
Melodic Banjo Handbook
Hi, I'm Ned Luberecki and welcome to Melodic Style Banjo.
In this course I'll introduce you to what's known as Melodic Style banjo playing.Other terms you may have heard include Chromatic Style, Keith Style or Fiddle Tune Style. In the guitar world it's sometimes called Cross String Style and in classical guitar it's known as Campenella Style (Italian for "Little Bells").
Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson were the first banjo players to popularize this style back in the 1960's as a way to play note for note fiddle tunes in a smoother and faster way than single string style.
I'll show you how to play major and minor scale positions for the most common keys used in Bluegrass melodic style playing and we'll put them to use by learning some fiddle tunes in each of those keys. I'll also show you my techniques for working out melodic style melodies so you can start creating your own arrangments.
Ready to go? Grab your banjo and let's get started!
In this course I'll introduce you to what's known as Melodic Style banjo playing.Other terms you may have heard include Chromatic Style, Keith Style or Fiddle Tune Style. In the guitar world it's sometimes called Cross String Style and in classical guitar it's known as Campenella Style (Italian for "Little Bells").
Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson were the first banjo players to popularize this style back in the 1960's as a way to play note for note fiddle tunes in a smoother and faster way than single string style.
I'll show you how to play major and minor scale positions for the most common keys used in Bluegrass melodic style playing and we'll put them to use by learning some fiddle tunes in each of those keys. I'll also show you my techniques for working out melodic style melodies so you can start creating your own arrangments.
Ready to go? Grab your banjo and let's get started!
What is Melodic Style
In Bluegrass music, vocal melodies can be played using quarter notes and half notes with plenty of space in between for banjo rolls and licks. Fiddle tune melodies are often all eighth notes and are more difficult to play in Scruggs Style. Single String style can allow you to play them but Melodic Style can be smoother. In this lesson, I'll demonstrate how melodic style works and compare it to the other styles.
Melodic Style Workouts in G
In this section we'll learn some common melodic style fingerings and tunes in the Key of G.
The G Major Scale
In this lesson we'll learn a G major scale in single string style and also in Melodic style. We'll show common fingering for one and two octave scales.
Ascending G Major Melodic Pattern
I've heard some flatpick guitarists refer to these excersises as "Folded Scales". They make for great practice for the left hand fingerings required for Melodic Style banjo. This one works for a G scale and moves from low to high.
Descending G Major Melodic Pattern
Here's the same scale pattern moving from high to low.
Melodic Style Tunes in G
The best way I know to get used to navigating the melodic style is to play some tunes. Here are a few standard fiddle tunes that make use of the melodic style patterns for the key of G. You'll make use of these same scale patterns for tunes in the key of A by using a capo.
+ 42 more lessons
Reviews
12 results
john0717
Verified buyer
05/27/25
Very well done. Easy to follow!
Jazzfunk
Verified buyer
12/23/24
Clear and detailed instruction on the art of melodic banjo playing from one of the best banjo players/teachers around.
ovatohud
Verified buyer
01/07/24
Very satisfied
WouldYouLikeSomeMustard
Verified buyer
10/04/23
Good introduction to melodic style banjo
Ned is a great teacher and this course covers the basics of melodic style which is what I was looking for. I bought it on sale and think it's a great offer, my only gripe is the length of the videos. I think I'd prefer longer video lessons in fewer files when downloading the course, as many of the video files are a minute long. I think it would be better to have, say ten longer videos and let the user pause as they see fit. But that's more a review of the service. The course material is great and easy to follow. I would definitely get another course if I saw one on offer again.
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