Current Issue | Home | Other Mel Bay Sites | Purchase Banjo Products
Whiskey Before Breakfast | Meet the Banjo
The Rights of Man | Prelude

Meet the Banjo –

a history of the beginning banjo experience

by Dan Levenson

Hi folks,
A great many of you have written or told me how much you are enjoying my new instruction book, Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch: A Guide for the Claw-less published by Mel Bay Publications. Your most common comment is how it really DOES start from the beginning and assumes no knowledge of the banjo. You have asked me how I did it! SO, I thought I would take a little time this month to tell you how it all started. Well, perhaps not ALL started, but how my book, Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch came into being. At the end of the article, I'll even let you know how you can get started on the banjo and .nd a workshop near you.

It all started with a banjo. "Doesn't everything," you ask? Okay, so you folks understand banjo things better than most, but many other folks don't even know what a banjo is, or even what to do with one and somewhere along the line, my mission in life became spreading the banjo round the world. At Banjo Camp North a few years ago, Ken Perlman introduced me as the Johnny Appleseed of the Banjo.

It was September 1997. There I was at the Walnut Valley Festival in Win.eld, Kansas and I saw it. The Deering Goodtime Banjo. It was introduced that year at that festival and I had to have one. In fact, I bought the .rst one ever sold! They only had 8, and I didn't hesitate! The other 7 were sold in no time and it was easy to understand why. Here was a banjo that weighed only 4 pounds, was open back, all maple construction, built in the US of A and with 5 geared tuners (that's right, even the .fth string peg is geared) that sold for about $250! A .rst! I had been looking for a banjo like this for several years and had even approached several builders about building a budget banjo that would play right and give folks an opportunity to start out playing banjo with a quality instrument that didn't cost a fortune. This one had the bonus of weighing only about _ of what my Vega Tubaphone banjo weighed. And, hey, it sounded good too!

SO, new banjo in hand, I proceeded to swap out the frosted head for a .ber skin one, and replace the tailpiece with a no knot, my favorite way to "old timey up" the sound to my liking. Yes, I did this in front of Janet Deering at their booth, but not to worry Janet has seen me do this before, only last time it was on a gold plated Calico model at the folk alliance conference. This time was much less traumatic, I am sure. (Perhaps another month I'll write about getting that more old timey sound out of your banjo). Banjo adjusted, I headed out into the festival night and played this very cool little banjo all weekend.

A festival's worth of test driving and then several months using this great basic banjo was enough to tell me that this was the instrument I had been seeking for my new students. Nice sounding, excellently made, durable and all at a reasonable cost. I was ready to make a pitch.

March 1998. I called Janet Deering and made my case. I wanted to start a workshop to introduce folks to the banjo who didn't even own a banjo. Why? Even at less than $300 it seemed a bit much for folks to invest to try something out when they didn't even know the difference between old time and bluegrass banjo playing. Heck, some folks (many actually) didn't even realize the difference between 5 string and 4 string banjos! I wanted folks to take up banjo, and I thought this would be the way to get them hooked.

Janet had me put the request in writing so she could discuss it with Greg, her husband and co-owner of Deering Banjo Company. In the letter, I asked Deering to give me 10 banjos to do a workshop called Meet the Banjo ^TM where I would bring the banjos and teach folks the history of the instrument (actually originally a descendant of the Assyrian Lute), the different types of banjo and banjo playing, the difference between the two major types of 5 string banjo playing styles (bluegrass and old time) AND get them to really play these styles for themselves. I .gured I could do it in about 3 hours. Oh, and in the original letter, I even asked for a new van to pull my trailer – an old 1973 28' silver Avion -- and hold all those banjos.

Well, it didn't take long, perhaps a week or so, and I got a call from Janet Deering telling me that she wanted to hear more about the workshop, but what was this about a van? I told her that the van part was negotiable – actually a joke really or perhaps more of a dream – and we talked more about the workshop idea. By the end of the call, they were willing to give me not 10, but 15 Goodtimes to take out for the workshop. And at that year's Maryland Banjo Academy sponsored by Banjo Newsletter magazine they delivered the banjos to me facilitating the workshop that has kept me pretty busy for the last 6 years. A couple of weeks later, I held the .rst Meet the Banjo ^TM.

So, what is this workshop all about and why was it so different? Well, .rst as I said it was really for folks that always wanted to play the banjo but didn't own a banjo or know where to start. It starts pretty much as soon as you enter the room and get handed a banjo. Yep, right away, you get to touch and hold one. But, don't worry, I bring you along slow. As you start getting your handouts, signing in on the attendance sheet and seeing who else is there, we begin to discuss the history of the banjo as you start to get comfortable with this new thing in your hands. And that is the only point at .rst. Get comfortable with your instrument. I have found that the more comfortable and natural holding a banjo becomes the easier you will .nd to learn to play it.

We continue together through the development of the banjo from fretless lute to fretted technologically modern instrument and follow the development of the banjo's musical role from the minstrel stage, through old time and on to bluegrass. Then it starts. You start to strum it; with just your .nger at .rst, then catching that .fth string (the short one) with your thumb. You start to aim for just one string with your .nger, pop the .fth string, waving from the wrist until you notice that old time sound. Yep, before you realize it, you are strumming a steady rhythm along with everyone else in the room. It's starting to happen.

Okay, so now it is time for a little bluegrass 3 .nger style playing. Pinch with two .ngers and your thumb at the same time, then thumb – index .nger – thumb – middle .nger – thumb; string 3 – 2 –5 – 1 – your .rst three .nger roll, and next to a real forward roll. 3 – 2 – 1 – 5 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – thumb leads.

PHEWWWwwww. Questions? Comments? Time for a short break! Hey! It's been more than an hour and a half! Where has the time gone? How come we are stopping? Don't worry, water, stretch, relieve and compare notes! Back after our short break and it's on to chords. Well, another chord. Since the banjo was already tuned to a G chord. Only one more to learn at the moment then it's on to the tune. You all remember Buffalo Gals. Chord on, chord off, strum thumb, you gotta sing, we all know it. Then again with alternating thumb, then again with the forward roll, singing all the time. What, you want to do it by yourself? Okay, but we'll all sing with you to help you out.

By the workshop's end it sounds like a real band. Some of you have done better than others. Some got the clawhammer strum – thumb stroke better than the .nger style, others the other way around. A few turned on by bluegrass and ready to get a banjo and continue, others, hooked on old time. Yes, even a few who are like, "well, I always wanted to try that" and now they know too. BUT, we've all had a great time and the banjo is a little less of a mystery to you than it was a few hours ago.

Intrigued? Inspired? I hope so. If you are wanting to know when and where you can experience a Meet the Banjo^TM workshop for yourself, or you have a friend who has always wanted to try the banjo, you can find out where they are by going to my website at www.clawhammerbanjo.us and checking out my schedule page. OR, if you already know you want to play old time clawhammer banjo, you can go right to my book and DVD Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch: A guide for the Claw-less and begin today! I hope to see you at a workshop soon.
Till next time.