Video One

86-min, includes tab and detailed notes
Level 3

The banjo inspired a great variety of playing styles in the South during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. On this in-depth video lesson and demonstration, Mike Seeger presents a survey of those styles, teaching each of them to help you develop a full range of repertoire and traditional techniques. This is the first of a 3-volume series covering virtually all of the major banjo styles and techniques, as well as a look at some of the types of banjos that have been played throughout its history in America.

Volume 1 focuses on a family of styles generally considered to be of African origin and variously known as clawhammer, frailing, rapping, drop-thumb and down-picking. Each video section features a song or tune with brief information as to its style and source, a complete performance of the piece, and detailed split-screen instruction on how to play it. You’ll also see a close-up view of each of the nine banjos used.

Mike teaches a wonderful variety of songs that you’ll soon be adding to your repertoire: "Soon in the Morning, Babe" an African American clawhammer picking style from Mississippi with gourd banjo; Josh Thomas’s "Roustabout" an African American accompaniment technique from Virginia; "Jim Crack Corn" an irregular-accent clawhammer style; "Battle in the Horseshoe" a basic clawhammer tune; "Darling Cora" using Kentucky multi-finger brush technique; "Devil’s Dream" in North Carolina up-pick, up-&-down-stroke style; "Little Birdie" using two-finger Kentucky up-pick, down-stroke style; Around the World, in a three-finger up-pick down-stroke style; and "Whoopin’ Up Cattle" a clawhammer piece on a double-drone-string banjo.

The pieces on this video encompass a wide range of difficulty. Some will be easy enough for a near-beginner to be able to play, and an advanced intermediate player will quickly be able to master these pieces and greatly benefit from Mike’s program.

Video 2

90-min, includes tab and detailed info
Level 3

Picking up where Video One left off, Mike Seeger continues his in-depth lesson/demonstration of predominant banjo styles of the 19th and early 20th century. Volume Two focuses on two- and three-finger techniques, some of which are the foundation for contemporary three-finger style. Each segment features a complete performance of a song or tune, comment on its style and source, and detailed split screen instruction for playing it. You'll also see close-up views of each of the nine banjos used. The enclosed booklet includes tabs, a banjo discography, how to choose and set up a banjo, and much more.

Songs include: Flop Eared Mule (up-picking double-note style); Lost Gander (thumb-lead with extensive use of harmonics); The Sailor and the Soldier (a variant of the previous technique); American Spanish Fandango(from 19th-century parlor banjo repertoire); Got No Silver Nor Gold Blues (Uncle Dave Macon minstrel style); We're Up Against It Now (arpeggio technique); That's What Old Bachelors Are Made Out Of (waltz-time back-up techniques); The Last of Callahan (fiddle tune); Lady Gay (Dock Boggs's style).

Video 3

110-minute video, includes tab and detailed informational notes
Level 3

The banjo inspired a great variety of playing styles in the South during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this three-volume in-depth instructional series, Mike Seeger presents an overview of this great American tradition, helping you develop a full range of traditional techniques and repertoire. Mike has acquired his knowledge of these styles directly from traditional players and their recordings.

Volume 3 focuses on mid-twentieth-century styles, the majority of them using finger picks. Each lesson features a complete performance of a song or tune (each one played on a different historical banjo), commentary on its style and source, and detailed instruction for playing it using our easy-to-follow split-screen camerawork. The accompanying booklet includes tabs, a banjo discography, how to choose and set up a banjo, and much more.

Tunes played: Down South Blues - a Dock Boggs blues played with a “slide;” Last Night When My Willie Come Home - in two guitar styles: Maybelle Carter and country rag-time; Wabash Blues - clawhammer instrumental, metal finger pick; Bright Sunny South - Wade Mainer/Ralph Stanley “up-up” picking with picks; Roll on John - Roscoe Holcomb style, thumb and finger pick; Needlecase - early three-finger instrumental, finger picks; Come My Little Pink - Earl Scruggs style; I’m Head Over Heels in Love - Mike’s clawhammer version of Earl Scruggs style on an early Flatt & Scruggs song.