In continuing celebration of my 5 years of writing blogs as The Banjo Snob, I realized that I need to provide an easy way to find my technique articles as well—not just my opinion pieces. Posting my opinions is fun and all, but my real motive is to share my thoughts on actually playing the banjo. Unfortunately, this is where my website has become really convoluted, so having an easy way to access it is important—for me as well as you! I actually use these online lessons to save myself the time of finding the original file and sending it to a student.
By the way, since I have posted them in a public place, I hope it goes without saying that you have my permission to use the materials in your teaching as well; all I ask is that you give credit where it’s due.
Is it all great, irrefutable stuff? I’d be lying if I said it was; in some cases, I’m really going out on a limb and grasping at straws to try to make sense of my ideas. In most cases, it came from someone else before me, and I give credit where it’s due—when I know who it came from. Look at it this way: The banjo as we know it is 100+ years old; everything we teach was done prior to us! Now, finding a “new way” to explain something old, that’s where I strive to make a contribution (as we all should).
I am also aware that some of the earlier stuff needs to be re-done—the Peabody Stroke lessons especially. I’m hoping that posting them in this way will give me the kick in the pants that I need to finally do something about the video/audio quality! So, here is everything I have posted up to the present, in the order that I posted them:
https://banjosnob.com/2018/03/05/4clover/ (aka, “Melody in Other Places)
https://banjosnob.com/2018/07/15/jazz-patterns-for-the-plectrum-banjo/ (here is where I realized I needed to consolidate my lessons. It didn’t work.
https://banjosnob.com/2018/09/15/jazz-patterns-for-the-tenor-banjo/ (and here is where I started to apply the same idea to the tenor banjo, with similar unorganized results)
https://www.banjosnob.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/New-Peabody-Stroke-Lesson-2020.pdf
https://banjosnob.com/2020/06/29/modal-arpeggios-for-the-tenor-banjo/