Banjo Primer Book for Beginners: with Online Video & Audio Access

I have been playing the jazz guitar (electric, bass) for 43 years now. I have no banjo background/experience. I got this book yesterday in Kindle format. The Kindle format comes with the video access to see the digital version of the DVD that came with the hardcopy version of the book. On the very first page of the Kindle book, there is a URL there. Just click that URL, and it will take you to a page where you need to enter your email address only once. I believe the email address is a token that matches to your amazon email address. Do not wait for Amazon to send you an access link. The link to access the video, as I said is on the front page of the digital version of the book.Geoff Hohwald, the author, is one tough instructor, and I like it. He's serious about what he wants you to do and stresses the importance of getting things right first before going to another section of the instruction. The book touches everything, from the posture, tuning, using the fingerpick, to reading the tablature (love this part)...AND it comes with the backing track bass and guitar mp3s (downloadable) to accompany your playing. The backing tracks some in three speeds- slow-med-fast. There's no need to read music notation as, from what I have seen so far, there are all in tablature format. I am only on the first 10 minutes of the video, and then I stop and read the Kindle book. It is important that you read the book and supplement it with the video or vise versa. But the book has a lot of info that really gets into the specifics and fundamentals of banjo playing.There are online banjo instructions sites out there; there's one that charges $250/month. Ridiculous. Uhh no thank you. This book should suffice as a good starting point to learning the banjo. For a guitar player like me, the transition or rather the learning curve is slightly easier to cope with because some of the fundamentals of guitar playing do apply to banjo playing... hand positioning, picking/plucking, posture, even tablature reading. But there are other basics in banjo playing that are completely different from guitar playing. The tuning is one thing which is completely different from your standard EADGBE guitar tuning. So all the blues scales, pentatonics, major, minor scales you know in guitar is out the window completely because of banjo's GDGBD tuning. And this is the beauty of learning the banjo, the learning to "walk-again" moment to me is a priceless experience.Get this book. This is all you need to get started with banjo playing. To a guitar player wanting to learn to play the banjo, this is the only book you will need. To someone with no experience in playing an instruments, guess what, this book is all you need to. Highly recommended!

Though the book is a slightly dated, the book is still relevant to learn from. The author, Geoff Hohwald has done a fantastic job of how the book is laid out and is extremely easy to follow. Learning to play from the book took me only 3 days and I was easily able to play the song "Boil Them Cabbage Down" from memory. I have no prior experience playing a banjo, except from noodling around with one from the local big box guitar store. The book only uses Tab format and not music notation. This makes far more easier to learn from as a background in music is not necessary.Book still includes the DVD to learn from and two music CDs with sample arrangements and background tracks to play along with. I have yet to use any of the digital media, but the book alone taught me. Love it, as for I have always wanted to play the banjo.This book is intended for pure beginners with no experience and for a regular size 5 string banjo, not a banjo-guitar, banjocita, banjo-ukelele, or some other different type of banjo.

Great help for banjo playing

The Banjo Primer Deluxe is an OUTSTANDING choice for beginner banjo players - even those that have dabbled in it already. I originally used a DVD course that was ok and tried youtube, but Geoff Hohwald's is a MUST. I am an experienced guitar player and always wanted to try banjo. This course starts out explaining everything you SHOULD know first (i.e. the parts of the banjo itself, how to attach a strap, proper posture, tuning, banjo care, proper positioning of your hands/fingers for correct technique and efficiency, etc.) Other courses will jump right in and have you picking away without taking the necessary time to give you this important education about the instrument. He also provides you with a fantastic set of tips on "how to practice" - these tips apply to any instrument and I wish I had these at my disposal when I learned guitar! Worth the price alone. Seriously. I learned so much faster and more accurately as well. My playing cleaned up and flowed naturally. The Banjo Primer breaks down learning the banjo in simple, easy to follow steps at a very slow and manageable pace. Then in small intervals he speeds each one up gradually. Bit by bit, note by note you then begin to piece together full measures in sequence until eventually you are playing an entire song from start to finish. Then, and only then, does Geoff challenge you with 5 different speeds of backing tracks to jam along with a bluegrass band. He proves that ANYONE (any age, gender or experience) can play the banjo and play it well. If you have the ambition and follow along patiently, there is no doubt you'll be picking away like a pro in a very short amount of time with this course. I still can't believe how inexpensive it is for what you get. Loads of fun! Highly recommended.

Book is very good, but the video and cds really make a difference! Makes learning much easier!

Bought as a gift for my SIL who picked up a banjo. He loves it to get him started picking.

The book is very good and easy to learn

Excelente producto

a great book hope it learns me to play banjo

Didaktisch sehr gut aufbereitetes Buch. Die Videos motivieren zum Lernen.

A very good DVD starts this course, which provides a step by step easy to follow progression on basic Banjo rolls. The text breaks down songs into measures which can then be put together to complete simple songs like ‘Boil ‘Em Cabbage’ and Cripple Creek.