Mel Bay Publications
Level : Beginning-Intermediate

Alan Munde presents a straight-forward and well-founded course of bluegrass banjo essentials. Designed for those who have never played a stringed instrument to those taking up bluegrass banjo as a second instrument.

• Getting Started - Covers the parts of the banjo, hand positions, first picking patterns, pull-offs, hammer-ons, slides, exercise songs, ending with the professional sounding “Levelland Mountain Breakdown.”
• Review of Rolls, New rolls, and combinations of Rolls, with Examples – Offers the most used rolls in bluegrass banjo playing with often-played examples of each. The player learns many of the licks used in the style with an example of how to combine them to make a solo.
• Roll Logic – How to place a melody into the several different roll patterns.
• Tools and Techniques – Helps develop left hand techniques through the use of intervals of thirds and sixths.
• Creating Solos to Songs – At the heart of the book is this revealing section with many examples of how to create many, many solos to the song Jesse James.
• Songs – Put to use all you have learned on these great standards:
Ground Hog, Wildwood Flower (two versions), Nine Pound Hammer, Worried Man Blues, Lost All My Money, Old Country Church, Kneel at the Cross, Train 45.