No comments about Making Musical Instruments: Banjo, Snare Drum, Dulcimer, Tambourine, Hardanger Fiddle, the Dolmetsch Recorder.

2 comments about Mel Bay A Treasury of Favorite Songs for Autoharp: Guitar, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo, and Keyboard.

1. I received this book today. I am very disappointed in it. There is NO music, melody lines, or distinction between the chording on the various instruments listed on the cover: autoharp, guitar, ukelel, mandolin, banjo and keyboard.
   The entire book is merely song lyrics with chord symbols above the words. There is no way to know the melodies of the songs included.
   Don't waste your money on this book.



2. I bought this as a beginner book for my new autoharp, so I think it's a perfect learning tool for me at least. If more words are needed, a simple search on the internet will find them usually. The chords are pretty much universal.

No comments about Gospel Banjo.

No comments about Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Banjo By Ear.

5 comments about Bingo the Banjo Picking Bear.

1. My kids love this book. Bingo's song is one that will catch on and stick, and I liked the message behind the story, of family, giving, and friendship. We could all take a lesson from Bingo!



2. Wow, what a charming story. My son loves this book. Our family enjoys singing with the story. You are never too young or too old to stop wishing and dreaming. The power of possitive thinking. Great Bed Time Story. "Think Happy Thoughts" Can't wait for the next one.



3. This is a very entertaining children's book with great illustrations that make the kids laugh:)



4. How can you go wrong with the message in this story? It is fun to read and the kids haven't tired of hearing it read to them. Catchy "jingles"!



5. I love this story! I love the message behind it. I love the importance of patience that it conveys. Just like Jay Miller's other book, "Sal and Sally", it is wonderfully written and enjoyable to read. There is a message of family, commitment to an idea, a dream, a hope, a desire. Don't pass this book up. My children love it and even like reading it themselves. This is just the starting off point of what is showing to be a great line of books that I am sure will continue to prove themselves excellent.

No comments about Solo Banjo Works.

No comments about The Banjo Music of Tony Ellis: Original Tunes and Arrangements in Tablature and Notation.

No comments about Mel Bay Southern Mountain Banjo Book/CD Set.

1 comments about Banjo Granny.

1. 
   Not a bad children's book, but it did not light a spark in me. I thought the text was good and the illustrations were wonderful. Both authors and illustrator certainly have talent. However, I did not think the book as a finished product (i.e., the combination of the text and illustrations) was all that good. Granny was wearing Nikes and supposedly up for a trek across a river, over a mountain, and then across a desert - but she was still obese. And at one point she was walking down a trail that dead-ended at a river with no bridge to walk over. In my mind, if she had Nikes to wear, then the river should have been wearing a bridge. And where did she get the helium when she used a balloon to go over the mountain? I could go on with thoughts like these.
   
   The story is about a middle aged lady who wants to visit her grandson who likes bluegrass music. She decides to go visit her grandson and packs her banjo so she can play him some bluegrass songs. The bulk of the story is about her journey from her home to his.
   
   As we all know, a kid's book can be lousy from a critical standpoint, but wonderful from a commercial standpoint. Since one can turn the pages in this book and pretty much figure it out just by looking at the great pictures, I honestly believe it will be popular with most young children it is read to. 4 stars!

4 comments about The Early Minstrel Banjo: Technique and Repertoire.

1. I didn't read the minstrel history in this book, and for all I know it might be interesting, maybe even enough to buy the book for it. But I can't recommend it for learning to play the music. The introduction of the old, confusing mistrel tutors, from Gumbo Chaff (1851) through Frank Converse (1865), sheds wonderful gloom over already obscure playing methodologies, rythms, and fingerings, and the transcriptions are not very inspired. There are also lots of annoying problems. For example, it gives musical examples in both traditional notation and banjo tab from about page 22 onward, but the banjo tab (sometimes presented with a bizarre trebel clef sign wrapped around the a note -- true also for the standard-notation music), is never given with the open strings named, so you'll have to figure the key out for yourself, every time. When he does indicate a tuning (e.g., p. 54) he gives the names of the strings in the order 4-3-2-1-5, and names the key for the 4th string, but calls it the old minstrel key. The footnote on that page may clear it up for some: "The songs in the key of G correspond to today's key signature of C, while those in the key of D correspond to today's key signature of G." OK. Got it. now I'm all set. But songs from the tutors are transcribed to banjo tab, mostly in what would be called high-bass "bluegrass" tuning (g'dgbd) or low-bass "standard" (g'cgbd) but shifted up or down as though capoed. I didn't notice any modal, minor, or double tunings, but it's a true pain to figure out what the open strings are in each of these tabs. If you just want to play the music, go get any of Bob Flesher's books. (Come to think of it, he's got history of the minstrel movement, too. And cheaper.) Leave this one to the music majors , , , who probably don't need it.



2. The author of this fascinating and useful book confronts the story of the minstrel banjo head on: its playing styles, development, and influence is exhaustively and informatively told. Weidlich mines all the methods [published from 1851 until the end of the Civil War] well for what they have to offer those learning minstrel style [banjo]. Attractively designed, and enriched with many period images, this book is an impressive fusion of historical scholarship, musical analysis and very useful instruction. It has much to offer anyone interested in old-time music or the five-string banjo's music and history.



3. As an amateur musician and musical history enthusiast, I must say that Mr. Weidlick's book is a fascinating, ADVANCED look at the banjo's musical past... I think the reviewer, Mr. Thiebolt, has some built-in assumptions of his own about the book which do not necessarily reflect the reality of what the book really is.
   
   I do not see anywhere where the author claims that this work is an instruction book or primer for Banjo 101. It's seems pretty obvious that this is a detailed historical view of specific banjo work of the time, and clearly it is an ADVANCED LOOK at the strumming of the time. It's also painfully obvious that Mr. Thiebolt just doesn't get it- either musically or literarily, which in his own review he admits is beyond his comprehension.
   
   For real banjo players who know music, this is an interesting in-depth piece of banjo history, and a good how-to on replicating some of the licks of that era... CJ,III



4. The book is a real treasure for the old-time banjo enthusiast, equally satisfying those looking for history, theory or practice. I learned much from the ample background information provided on the development of the banjo and the minstrel era music. Detailed explanation of the composers' various left and right hand playing techniques was very informative and helpful but, for my taste, finally became somewhat lenghty and "academic" (my reason for giving only four stars). Of course, I particularly loved the many, many minstrel music songs being presented in excellent tablature (arranging them must have been a lot of painful work!), plus the extra-bonus of adding the Briggs' songs also in standard notation. A warning: solid experience in clawhammer style is essential for getting immediate access to play these minstrel songs, but I think a mere bluegrass banjoist will hardly come across this book. In summary: a fine book written by an obvious expert of old-time banjo music.