Free Mel Bay Back Up Banjo Ebooks To Download
With its wealth of information on how technique can be tastefully applied, Back-Up Banjo is the definitive book on the subject of banjo accompaniment. Since a banjo player in a band plays accompaniment at least 75% of the time, it is extremely important to master playing in this style. Janet Davis offers specific suggestions for accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist in a variety of styles-- and then provides musical examples illustrating her points. Janet breaks her concepts down into their basic components, making them crystal clear in lay terms. The various back-up techniques are separated into categories determined by song tempo, by lead instrument being accompanied, and by the area of the fingerboard in which the chords are being played. In notation and tablature. Includes an extended play audio recording which demonstrates the examples in the book. Audio and video downloads available online.
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (May 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0871668882
ISBN-13: 978-0871668882
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.6 x 11 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #173,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #26 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Instruments > Strings > Banjos #340 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Techniques #46067 in Books > Reference
While in general the topic is covered well, the supplied audio tracks are difficult to work with. Licks and short demonstration sections are played very slowly so you can understand what's going on, but complete tunes that you'd like to play along with are only supplied at full speed. If you can do that already, you probably don't need this book. The audio is not in mp3 format and not easily transferred to a hard drive. Because it isn't easily available in mp3 format, one can't use a "slower-downer" program to build up speed playing along with the supplied tunes. Your only option is to try to play at breakneck speed to keep up with the supplied audio tracks for full tunes.
This book has so much information that I found it overwhelming. It's a good resource, but you should find a way to get through it the first time without getting bogged down in all the multitude of licks, passing tones, etc. I think the information could have been organized better such that the reader could begin using just a few of the techniques without having so much presented all at once. I actually found it a bit discouraging. However, I can see that if you really study this and get all the way through it, you'd be proficient at backup techniques.
This book is so popular and difficult to get hold of that I was glad I found a used version in excellent condition from . I've found Janet Davis's playing style and instructional materials to be perfectly suitable for moving up from the intermediate level of bluegrass banjo picking. There are enough variations and examples of backup riffs that can be played over tunes and songs I already know, that I'll be going back to this reference for years to come. I'm really glad this version is spiraled too. It is nice to have music that lays flat on the music stand.
Ms. Davis lays everything out about playing backup in this book. It is a pretty good confidence builder, too. Spiral binding is nice. She also lays out movable chords pretty well and provides practical backup "licks" that are tasteful and useful for many songs.
Janet Davis is an amazing teacher. I must agree with some reviewers that in order to play the full speed versions you better drink 3 cups of coffee and you better know the notes (or tab) because after practicing without listening to the full speed version and then trying to play the full speed version I feel like i'm slow and get kind of discouraged, but hey if it was easy it wouldn't feel as rewarding when you play. I may have rambled on there a bit but I assure you the book is worth the price tag. I also own her melodic style book which is very enjoyable and adds another dimension to the typical bluegrass sound.
All instruction books by Janet Davis are first rate. She really knows how to teach and write an instruction book. I own most all her courses and recommentd them highly. I would no problem purchaseing any of her publications. Note: the CD version of this book is no longer available. Audio and video files are now availble online.
Very Good book and cds, well done and and a wealth of info. Easy to follow and learn from for beginner to intermediate player.
A bluegrass banjo player spends ~90% of her time playing backup, but backup gets little coverage in most books. This book has the most helpful and thorough coverage of backup banjo that I have ever seen, and the CDs are excellent as well. Highly recommended.
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