Banjo
Photo by Mike Melnyk
Banjo, bluegrass, level 1— This class will be an introduction to and exploration of the musical language of Earl Scruggs (and his contemporaries), using your thumb and two fingers, and the five string banjo. Primarily intended for beginning players who have some familiarity with basic right hand roll patterns, this class might also be helpful for intermediate players interested in melody based soloing. Using traditional song material, we’ll begin by tracing the basic melody line, and then weaving it into various roll patterns, a la Earl. Along the way we’ll cover fundamentals of getting good tone, good timing, and using both playing hands to their best advantage.
Please bring a 5-string banjo in good playing condition, picks (2 metal finger picks and a plastic thumb pick), a capo, and an electronic tuner. Recorded examples and printed handouts will be provided, and individual performance and recording is encouraged.
Prerequisites: Students should know how to tune their banjo to open "G" with a tuner, be familiar with forward, backward and alternating thumb rolls, and know how to play the first position "C" and "D7" chords. Knowledge of closed chord shapes is encouraged, but not required.
Keith Little is a nationally acclaimed bluegrass musician, recording artist, and composer. Performing on guitar, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, Keith is a featured member of the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, and the regularly appears with duo partner Jim Nunally. He’s participated in many top bluegrass recordings, including Dolly Parton’s award winning albums The Grass Is Blue and Little Sparrow, and his compositions have been recorded by Longview, Tim O’Brien, Claire Lynch, and the Whites (among others).
A dedicated teacher and coach, Keith has taught at the California Coast Music Camp, British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Augusta Heritage Workshop, American River Acoustic Music Camp, and the Sore Fingers Workshop in Sommerset England. His classes at our camp have always been popular and we’re pleased to have him on our staff.
http://www.keithlittle.com
Banjo, bluegrass, level 2—Jam Survival Skills for Intermediate Players—This will be a practical "hands on and let's play" kind of session with easy to understand tips and skills that you can immediately use in your music camp jam sessions and bands. Topics to be covered include the role of the banjo in a jam session and how to support different instruments and singers effectively with vamping, roll patterns and up-the-neck techniques. Bill will also cover what kind of licks to use where, kick-offs and endings, navigating the keys of C and D, and using the capo effectively to play in all keys. As time allows, Bill will also cover slow song, waltz time and fiddle tune accompaniment and how to work up Scruggs-style solos.
Prerequisites: You should have one or more years of playing experience and be able to execute the fundamental left and right-hand techniques of Scruggs style banjo (roll patterns plus slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs and chokes). Prior playing experience with others is not necessary but it will be helpful for you to be comfortable playing up-the-neck chord positions for G, C and D major. You should be able to play through some of the standards of beginning level Scruggs-style banjo but it’s okay if you’re not playing up to speed yet (tunes such as “Cripple Creek,” “Cumberland Gap,” “Fireball Mail” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” for instance). As in all of Bill’s sessions, this will be a “hands on, let’s play” style of class where the entire class will do a lot of group playing. While tab reading is helpful, it is not necessary to read tab quickly to still get a lot out of the class. Audio and/or video taping is encouraged. Bill will provide tab examples of most everything covered in class.
Bring: a five-string banjo, strap, plastic thumb pick, two metal fingerpicks, extra strings, a capo and a fifth-string capo and/or railroad spikes already installed on your instrument. Audio and video recording equipment, a note pad, a music stand and an electronic tuner are optional but can be helpful.
Bill Evans is one of the world’s most celebrated banjo players and teachers. As a performer, Bill has toured all over the world and has played with David Grisman, Kathy Kallick, Maria Muldaur, Darol Anger, Peter Rowan, Laurie Lewis, Tony Trischka, Jody Stecher, Alan Munde, & Dry Branch Fire Squad among many others. He currently tours widely with fiddler Megan Lynch.
Bill’s latest accomplishment is writing Banjo For Dummies, which has quickly become the best selling banjo instructional book in the world. In addition, he hosts three instructional DVDs for AcuTab Publications, is the co-author of the popular Mel Bay book Parking Lot Pickers Songbook: Banjo Edition, and has written instructional columns for Banjo Newsletter magazine for the last fifteen years. He is a CBA Music Camp favorite teacher and we’re proud to have him on our staff.
http://www.nativeandfine.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/billevansstringsummit
Banjo, bluegrass, level 3—In this class, we’ll explore the three major styles of bluegrass banjo playing: Scruggs style, melodic, and single string. We’ll especially work on right hand technique, and we’ll go over music theory specific to the 5-string banjo. The class will include an analysis of the concepts used to improvise solos, for all levels of playing.
Prerequisites: Students should be familiar with the background and technique of Scruggs style banjo, and be comfortable with the basic mechanics of that 3-finger style.
Bring your banjo, fingerpicks, and a recording device will be helpful.
Chris Pandolfi started playing banjo in 1997 before his freshman year at Dartmouth College. After graduating with a minor in music in 2001, he moved to Boston and spent the next two years as the first ever banjo principal at the Berklee College of music. Chris then moved to Nashville in the fall of 2004. A founding member of the award winning Infamous Stringdusters, he continues to explore new musical territory with the banjo. Chris recently completed his first Sugar Hill release as a solo artist, Looking Glass, which includes an array of original material and a cast of all star acoustic players. He also helped design the Chris Pandolfi signature model Huber banjo, which is now in production in TN.
Chris’ teaching experience includes numerous private students, group classes at the Club Passim music school, workshops, banjo camps, and several festival bluegrass academies. We’re pleased to welcome him to his first year at the CBA Music Camp. www.thestringdusters.com
Banjo, oldtime, level 1—This class is appropriate for those who wish to learn banjo in the southern folk style (clawhammer/frailing). Students will learn basic frailing rhythm, double thumbing, drop thumb and tunings–the essence of oldtime banjo. They will also learn the important nuances of melody playing – hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, characteristic of oldtime banjo. By the end of the course, students will have a repertoire of songs and tunes and the skills for jamming with other instruments.
Prerequisites: It's recommended that participants be able to play the basic clawhammer banjo strum (bum-diddy), and play some tunes (any style) without stopping (slowly is ok). But total beginners are welcome, too—the teacher's assistant will help you keep up. In either case, you should know how to tune your banjo in G tuning.
Evo Bluestein is a well-known performer and teacher of oldtime banjo. From birth, Evo grew up listening to his father play five-string banjo. As a professor of American Studies, Evo’s father brought a myriad of musical guests into the Bluestein’s household, sometimes for an entire semester. Evo benefitted from literally sitting at the feet of the masters; among the banjo crowd: Buell Kazee, Lily Mae Ledford, Tommy Jarrell, Ola Belle Reed, Pete, Mike and Peggy Seeger, NCLR and the Highwoods Stringband.
In addition to teaching oldtime banjo, Evo plays and teaches: oldtime fiddle, mandolin and guitar, Cajun/zydeco fiddle and accordion, autoharp, dulcimer and piano. He composes contemporary music for the banjo, and his instructional banjo video has sold internationally since 1985. Evo was a fantastic autoharp teacher at our camp, he’s also a dance caller, and we’re happy to have him back, this time in the banjo department.
http://evobluestein.com/
Banjo, oldtime, levels 2/3—This class will dig into the various elements that give the old-time banjo sound its distinctive rhythm and feel. We'll conquer several tunes in detail, first with skeleton of the melody and then adding rhythm techniques (hammer-ons, pull offs), ornamentation (rolls, slides) and more. We'll also explore the playing and style of some of the great old-time clawhammer players to see what made their music tick and how they inspired so many players over generations.
Prerequisites: The ability to learn short phrases of music by ear is essential. Students should already have at least a small repertoire of tunes they're comfortable playing. Please bring a recorder (no video cameras please). Bring a willingness to discover some fun new things to do and new music to try!
Bruce Molsky is one of the most influential fiddlers of his generation, and is also a remarkable guitarist, banjoist, and singer. A two-time Grammy nominee, he is much sought-after as a fiddle and banjo instructor, teaching his own intensive instrument workshop program nationally. In recent years, Bruce has expanded his interest and repertoire into traditional music from places around the world. Presently he tours and collaborates with his bands Mozaik (Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny) and Big Hoedown, with Darol Anger, Aly Bain & Ale Möller, Annbjørg Lien, Ellika & Solo and many others.
As a teacher, Bruce has been a regular at Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp for many years, as well as Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's Ashokan, Swannanoa Gathering, and Augusta Heritage. He is on the Advisory Board for the Roots Music Program at Berklee College of Music, and has taught musical residencies bringing old-time fiddle and banjo to Newcastle University (UK), Sibelius Institute (Finland), Neilsson Institute (Denmark), and the Royal Academy of Stockholm (Sweden). Bruce was a very popular teacher at our camp several years ago, and we’re delighted to have him back.
www.brucemolsky.com/
CBA
Home | About the Camp | Instructors | Schedule | FAQs | Home
