Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus (book w/ online audio)

I absolutely love this book! I would give it more than 5 stars if I could. I am a completely beginner banjo player. I have also never played any other musical instrument in my life. Within 30 minutes of me reading this book, I was playing Old Molly Hare! It was pretty slow and steady but I was playing all the same. I am super excited about playing the banjo and this book has been a godsend! I would recommend it to any beginning banjo player. Side Note: As an African American, I also appreciated the author's inclusion of African American role/influence in old-time banjo playing. Thanks for the representation!

Yes, I'm a complete ignoramus, but ingnorance can be cured. I'm aloso lazy, which is harder to address. If you're like me, both ignorant and lazy, this is about the best you can hope for. If you don't p;ut at least a little effort in, it's not going to do much for you, but the book priogresses through baby steps to make it as painless as possible. If you are, as my favorite uncle used to say "too lazy to work and to timid to steal," it's not going to transform you or make you an instant success at this--but neither will anything else.

Nothing beats sitting knee to knee with another person to learn an instrument but this book is a good substitute. I've been playing Clawhammer banjo for a few years and am more of an intermediate to advanced player, and even know this book is officially for beginners, I found this book to be very helpful in honing my techniques, seeing new techniques and learing additional songs. I especially like the fact that the lyrics for the songs is included, most books and DVD's on clawhammer banjo exclude the lyrics. I would recommend the book to anyone who plays or wants to learn clawhammer banjo.

I played electric bass for years, mainly classic rock and some jazz. After seeing the neighbors band playing old time music I decided that I could do that too. I ordered a deering goodtime banjo from Amazon and found it to be painfully more difficult to play than I had expected. I went to the local music store to buy more strings and the gentleman there, seeing I was new to the banjo decided to explain the finer points of playing the banjo. He went on to describe the various "rolls" I would need to learn. I explained that I was not playing bluegrass but rather I was interested in playing clawhammer style. He just sorta gave me a blank stare for a moment as if I were speaking some other language and then went on with his lecture about rolls.

Clawhammer style is just not as common as bluegrass and consequently there seems to be fewer resources for those wanting to learn clawhammer. After a couple of days with my new banjo I had about given up and decided that the clawhammer banjo was a mysterious instrument that can only be played by a chosen few. After getting the ignoramus book I quickly began figuring the instrument out. Soon I was playing cripple creek, old molly hare and some of the other tunes in the book.

This book is great if youre a complete novice because it assumes you've never picked up a banjo before and guides you through the whole process of tuning your banjo, explaining the parts of the banjo and getting you started playing the clawhammer lick as he calls it. The tabulature in the book is great too because the tunes are fairly familiar ones yet very very easy versions of them. My only other suggestion to potential buyers would be that you go to youtube and search for "banjo bum ditty". Theres a lesson on playing the bum ditty that will help you along.

OH MAN!
This was absolutely fun and painless, and the perfect gradiant with the perfect songs (and a cd) for picking up the clawhammer banjo! (I got this in conjunction with Dan Levenson's book, (Clawhammer from Scratch - for the clawless)(see my review - it made me a player!)

Wayne's book worked along perfectly! The tab (should you actually learn it - it's totally simple when presented right!) And It was presented right - one line, simple notation, no complexity - and several songs in each tuning catagory - all standards at just about any jams, - they are known -

The CD in it's clarity is perfect, and delightfully playable with -

If Clawhammer has been bugging you, get this book - it's a rumptious feast - and breaks it all down - ( if you WANT to play a bumditty strum, ou get it naturally, because the tunes presented are so engaging that you are greedy about playing - (and Dan's excercises from clawless) are the perfect gradiant -This is a winner, and what I coach and teach out of - Do yourself a hoedown dance and get this book if you are new, total beginner, or somehow still disillusioned from other books -
It will turn you into a banjo addict, facile with all tunings, and give you a real beginner but respected rep to take to the porch, or to jams -

Great book to start learning the clawhammer style banjo. I have Erbsen's Bluegrass banjo book as well. I'm glad he wrote two books as I find I like the clawhammer style better and look to continue in this style of banjo. But, I will have the ability to play Bluegrass as well or mingle both as some do. Overall a great book that introduces songs(tabs) that help develop the clawhammer style and also introduces hammer ons and pull offs. It is this book as well as his other book that made me truly enjoy the banjo. Further, the songs(tabs) provided are much much older songs that I enjoy playing as well as enjoy the lyrics of a time gone by.

If you are a complete beginner and only have this one book and only have one banjo, just do everything this book says and you will be a clawhammer samurai in no time. But I only have one banjo and I like to play it in standard GDGBD tuning. The lessons in this book require the banjo to be re-tuned to GCGCD. I don't like to leave my banjo in that "I don't know how to play it" tuning, so now I need a second banjo. Thanks Wayne.

If you're like me, you bought a banjo and that big ole Earl Scruggs book and thought you were well on your way to becoming a bluegrass legend. For me, that was almost 20 years ago. I soon got frustrated by wearing fingerpicks, memorizing rolls, and everything sounding like a jumbled mess. I gave up, well, at least learned how to play chords in open G and started a band banging out all sorts of popular cover songs played at breakneck speed on a banjo. But even though I was playing a banjo, I couldn't play even the most basic banjo riffs, leaving myself and many people disappointed. I put the banjo down for about 10 years and am now starting over. This book is an awesome introduction to everything banjo, from the tunings, the style of play, old tyme music etc. So it's worthwhile to get a little background and history. But the best part is the music is easy to learn. Unlike Scruggs style (which is pretty virtuosic IMO) Clawhammer is easy to learn, difficult to master. So you will be playing in no time, and then adding embellishments as you get more comfortable. With this book, the accompanying audio samples (included on CD and also via a weblink), and one of many YouTube primers on clawhammer style, you're about a month or so away from playing some cool old tyme tunes around the campfire. But the best part of all is that plucking a banjo, in any way, any style, is just fun and relaxing.

Pickin to Clawhammer. Started out pickin on the banjo and didn't take long to realize that to get the full range out of the instrument I would need to add clawhammer style to my playing toolbox. This is not a compare/contrast or review of the two styles, just the book in question. Like all Wayne's other books this one is fantastic. The instruction is basic enough for someone who picked up a banjo for the first time and then opened to page 1, but still offers enough variation in each lesson that as one progresses they are still growing as a player. The included CD is a godsend because you know what you're shooting for as you play. This is the third book by Wayne I have picked up on my banjo journey and they are without a doubt the most useful items in my music library.

Best beginning clawhammer tab book out there. Was having problems with other tabs being too complex. These are simple enough to get you started, with tips on how to decorate them with various hammer-ons, pull-offs, etc. Fantastic book!