Absolute Beginners - Banjo | Complete Picture Guide to Playing the 5-String Banjo | Step-by-Step Instruction Songbook with Audio and Online Access | Learn Banjo for Adults and Kids

Good book for beginner

If you're 100% fresh to playing a banjo, or have never played a guitar, then the Absolute Beginners Banjo book is a great place to begin. It starts off introducing the banjo to you, naming the various parts and talks a bit about tuning. It then moves on by teaching you your first chords with some classic Bluegrass songs to learn. The accompanying CD is helpful to hear the examples in the book and also provides backing tracks for you to play along to of each of the various songs. Obviously the 5-string banjo is not all about strumming a few chords, so the book quickly moves on to teaching a few classic finger picking styles. It's very easy to follow with clear illustrations and tips on techniques. If you play another stringed instrument such as a guitar, then you may find the first half of the book a bit too basic. I already play guitar so for me I jumped well over half, and being a short book there wasn't much left for me to get from it. But then it is an ABSOLUTE beginners book and with that in mind, it;s an excellent and friendly place to start.

Good book to encourage progress

This is probably the best little book you can ever buy, if you want to learn the basics of how to understand and play a 5 string banjo. I have read it from cover to cover many times and I have learnt something new every time I read it. As a complete novice it has put me on the right path to learn and play this wonderful instrument. It takes you through the anatomy of a 5 string banjo, how to change strings, how to tune it, how to hold it, and more importantly how to learn to play it. When you have followed this book, you will be able to play songs using basic chords You will be able to read and understand how banjo music is written. You will learn to play rolls which are the building blocks of bluegrass banjo music. I cannot recommend this book more highly. The free tutorial CD that comes with this book is outstanding.

On a whim I decided to learn to play the banjo having never played an instrument in my life apart from the recorder when I was in primary school many years ago. As an absolute beginner I have to say that this book is brilliant in teaching the basics in a clear and concise manner. The CD helps a lot so you can link up the correct tempo with the tablature, without it I'd be unsure if I was playing at the correct speed. I would imagine if you can play the guitar then you'd probably get through this book very quickly and I'd recommend a more substantial book in that case. But for me, who is struggling with basic chord changes as it feels so alien to my fingers, it's great to practice with and it will probably be a long while before I've fully mastered all the techniques in this book. I'd highly recommend for people who have never played a stringed instrument before.

Expected this to include an online audio link as indicated on image of cover, but it arrived with a CD so will probably return it. Contents of book look good though.

I bought this book being completely new to the banjo, and I have to say that I thinks it's fantastic. Dead easy to read / understand and the cd is a great help too. I borrowed a couple of books from a local tutor and they were nowhere near as good as this one and the others that I looked at on Amazon did not have the same appeal as Absolute Beginners. If you are starting out with the banjo then please buy this book. You definitely won't regret it.

quite a good book for a novice but did not include play along audio ?

Wrote and pictures to teach even the slowest student to understand and learn to play

tout petit livre, quelques morceaux interessants pour débuter mais il n'y a meme pas tous les accords : seulement sol do ré ... c'est quand meme un peu juste je l'ai pris en kindle et bien sur ... pas d epossibilité de récupérer les audios pas l'achat du siecle en somme....

Aunque está en inglés, no es un obstáculo para el que no entiendo da el idioma, ya que las explicaciones son conocidas y claras. Buen método para iniciarse.

This book should give me the start I need to play some Banjo stuff.

Habe das Buch an einen Banjo Neuling verschenkt. Er war begeistert.