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|  | |  | | | Mel Bay The Banjo Encyclopedia: Bluegrass Banjo from A to Z | | | | | SKU:
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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | The Banjo Encyclopedia is a comprehensive, in-depth banjo instructional tool that covers the many intricacies of bluegrass banjo playing, including numerous topics that may have been overlooked in banjo instruction to date. The Banjo Encyclopedia can take a student from the beginning, to intermediate, and right through to more advanced styles of banjo playing. Ross Nickerson uses his many years of experience helping hundreds of aspiring banjo pickers by offering the banjo student an opportunity to learn in a practical, straightforward manner. This wide-ranging banjo instructional book will focus on many techniques that will help every aspect of a banjo player's musicianship while simplifying many subjects in the learning process. The included 99-track CD recording will enable the student to learn easily by hearing author Ross Nickerson demonstrate each song, and perform many of the banjo licks and phrases included in the book slow, and up to tempo. The CD also includes an advanced song section with a full bluegrass band accompanying Ross along with additional intermediate songs for the student to learn. The Banjo Encyclopedia is undoubtedly one of the most complete five-string banjo books on the market today and a must for every banjo player's collection.
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Ross Nickerson | | Sheet music: | 228 pages | | Publisher: | Mel Bay Pubns | | Publication Date: | September 24, 2003 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0786670746 | | Product Length: | 11.74 inches | | Product Width: | 8.76 inches | | Product Height: | 0.49 inches | | Product Weight: | 1.42 pounds | | Package Length: | 11.6 inches | | Package Width: | 8.5 inches | | Package Height: | 0.6 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 10 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 10 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Great book, but needs to be spiral bound!! Feb 22, 2005
By Robin Koontz
"BanjoMomma"
I bought this based on customer reviews and it appears to be all it's cracked up to be. However I wanted to warn folks that a book this thick and perfect bound is not very practical. You will have to break the spine to get it to flatten out and actually use. Or you can have it trimmed and rebound at a print shop. I noticed that the website, BanjoTeacher.com, does offer a spiral-bound version and am sorry I didn't go that route. I just don't like tossing my credit info all over the internet, so it would be nice if Amazon could carry the spiral bound edition as well.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
A welcome and thorough study of the instrument Oct 19, 2004
By J. Ross
"a-music_fan"
In the old days, banjo techniques were passed down orally from generation to generation as part of regional and familial folklore. Today, aspiring 5-string pickers have a multitude of high quality instructional materials readily available. Ross Nickerson has an impressive resume as a performer, recording artist and teacher. One of his primary goals is to help avoid having to learn everything the hard way. He provides time saving, practical lessons and advice. The Banjo Encyclopedia is very comprehensive, covers many topics, and is a tool that should be referenced regularly.
He starts at square one with the basics of holding the banjo, using picks, reading tab, tuning, positioning hands, and overcoming difficulties. Rolls and exercises are then covered. Chapters are dedicated to right hand technique, as well as that for the left hand. By the end of Chapter 3, one is learning "Banks of the Ohio" and "Bury Me Beneath the Willow." An important lesson that many books fail to present is practice habits and practicing priorities. Nickerson does a fine job emphasizing the importance of a good practicing routine. Basic Scrugg's picking is then addressed and related to the songs, "Sitting on Top of the World" and "Nine Pound Hammer." Melodic and single-string styles of playing introduce some fiddle tunes, and then the author has us put it all together along with rhythm and chordal backup. Chapter ten broaches the subject of improvisation, before we get into kickoffs, turnarounds, and endings. Playing at slower tempos and in waltz time are covered. Finally a chapter on banjo maintenance by Mike Munford addresses all the parts. Advanced songs taught include John Henry and Train 45. The accompanying CD is 78 minutes long, and clear references to the disc tracks are given throughout the book. Nickerson teaches in a very straightforward style, although I might have slightly changed the sequence of some of the instructional material. The Banjo Encyclopedia is a welcome and thorough study of the instrument, most appropriate for beginning and intermediate players. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
The way to learn banjo! Nov 29, 2004
By Keith M. Parks
"Cornbread"
This is a great way to begin your banjo journey. I have taken lessons with Ross and he is a fantastic teacher. He has an easy way about him that draws you into the instrument instead of scaring you off it.
The book is written in that very same style. It is very comprehensive but it is broken up into sections that allow you to progress naturally. You will find yourself going back to chapters well after your "beginner" stage. He shows you many different styles of playing and even how to mix them together! I think it's better than the Scruggs book. (but you should own that as well - just because)
If you play banjo or are thinking about it, buy this book. Trust me.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Not what I was looking for Feb 16, 2011
By Crowhurst
I bought this book based on the rave reviews it has received here and while I'm glad these reviewers have found the book useful I was quite disappointed with this purchase. It's not that this is a bad book or that the information presented might not be useful to a novice but as an advanced musician I found half of this book to be redundant. A large portion of the content is written text on the basics of how to practice, how to use a metronome, and so on. Of the first 50 pages maybe about 6 contained information (roll patterns) that was practically useful to me. If you have already seriously studied a musical instrument (especially fingerstyle guitar) you may find, as I did, that there's just too much 'hand holding' going on here to make this a worthwhile purchase.
Another drawback of this book is its total exclusion of staff notation (the Amazon preview doesn't include any pages which give an example of the book's song presentation format). The book is totally in tab so you can't sing or use any other instrument except a banjo to play through a musical example or melody line. Tablature has its place but it is incapable of expressing intervallic relationships and therefore supplemental. Sure, you can take out the CD and scroll through 99 tracks if you want to hear how an example sounds but that doesn't cut it for me.
I am considering giving Neil Griffin's 'Complete Bluegrass Banjo Method' a try. The Amazon preview is fairly encouraging, Mr. Griffin's book looks a bit more old school with all the basic stuff getting covered in the first couple of pages. I also see that in the introduction he makes a point about the importance of staff notation: "Those monsterous, mysterious, written musical notes that everyone seems so afraid of can be the greatest friend and helper you ever had when it comes to making music." I look forward to seeing what this book can offer, Mr. Nickerson's book was not what I was looking for.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Excellent resource Oct 14, 2010
By Nathan Rousu
I'm not new to music (educated musician), but I am new to the banjo. I found this book incredibly helpful to get me started.
I've found that it does a good job explaining various techniques with both right and left hands. There's a lot of information on how to perform quite a number of right-hand picking rolls. The book has quite a bit of material related to various licks, turn-arounds, and songs that help the beginner player get their heads around the technical skills of banjo playing. The CD included with the book is also a helpful aide to hear how it should sound and encourage the player to clean up any technical issues that aren't getting a sound that's as clean.
Probably the strongest point of the book is how it gives the player insight into banjo arrangements so as to prepare players with some decent tools to venture out into playing most anything that comes their way.
I also found that the writing style of the author is quite accessible and effective at communicating.
Bottom line, if you're looking to learn banjo, this is a resource that needs to be in your library.
See all 10 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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