Bluegrass Banjo for Guitar Players

Guitar players are drawn to any stringed instrument. If its got strings on it, and its in arm's reach, a guitarist will pick it up and attempt to play it. Banjo is no exception. Problem of course is making music with it given its strange string configuration, bizarre tuning and those weird things you attach to your fingers. And so we put it down and return to our familiar six strings, tunings and fingerings. If only someone put a guitar-to-banjo translation crash together 'cause it sure would be fun picking a little bluegrass banjo with the boys...

Sure enough, you won't have more fun playing any other style of music than you would jamming bluegrass tunes with your buds on the porch or on the stage. The tunes are easy to learn and everybody takes turns playing the melody, comping the rhythm and taking solos. And if you're into bluegrass music, and already play guitar, then learning how to play banjo is a hop, skip and jump away with Ben Wright's Bluegrass Banjo for Guitar Players.

Ben, not unlike many banjo players, started out as a guitar player himself and so, he's been there, done it, and has the tee-shirt so to speak. Ben organized the course into four sections; Banjo Primer, Right-Hand Basics, Chord Vocabulary and Repertoire. Work through these four sections and you'll be up and running lickety-split.

The Banjo Primer section covers all of the essential fundamentals that a guitarists needs to know; parts of the banjo, fingerpicks, holding the banjo, open G tuning, a few timing tips, and a handful of versatile chords. Guitarists will fly through this section.

The Right-Hand Basics section will introduce you to the chop, a basic 4-note roll, an alternating thumb roll, a forward roll and a forward-reverse roll. If these terms are familiar to you as a fingerpicker player, you will likewise fly through this section. If you're new to fingerpicking, then no time like the present to learn these simple moves. This section includes a series of playalongs and so you'll be playing some bluegrass banjo practically from the start! Easy stuff and tons of fun!

The Chord Vocabulary section puts the entire bluegrass songbook at your fingertips with moveable major, minor and 7th chord forms. Ben also shows you how to use a capo and how to vamp. You'll be able to play any tune, in any key, anywhere on the fretboard. The bluegrass world is your oyster!

Technically you're now ready to start heading out to the local bluegrass jams, BUT you might want to have a few tunes under your belt and so Ben put together a selection of 12 popular bluegrass tunes that he'll teach you in the last section of the course. You'll learn Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Crawdad Song, Salty Dog, Wagon Wheel, My Sweet Baby's Arms, Dooley, Old Home Place, Rocky Top, I'll Fly Away, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Cabin in Caroline and I Saw The Light.

So yea, problem solved. Ben Wrights crash banjo course for guitar players is now just a click away. Pick up Banjo for Guitar Players, spend a little time in the shed, call the buds, grab some moonshine and play your hearts out 'til the cows come home.