Essential Practice Techniques for Bluegrass Banjo – Tony Trischka

Here’s a lesson that’s a “must-have” for all bluegrass banjo players. Tony Trischka, who has been called “one of the most inventive banjo players alive” by Billboard Magazine, has recorded a nuts and bolts practice session that is designed to improve your timing, strengthen your hands and help you play with precision, power and rhythmic sophistication. It is filled with exercises, etudes and workouts for both your left and right hand, covering many of the building blocks of bluegrass banjo.

This in-depth workout will enable you to achieve sinewy slides, crisp pull-offs, powerful hammer-ons and locked-in right hand patterns. Working with a metronome, Tony details a variety of rolls that highlight the rhythmic aspects of the right hand. He helps you to “straighten out your time” so it’s consistent and even, and shows you how to identify downbeats, upbeats and in-between beats while playing increasingly tricky rolls.

Tony’ invaluable advice will help you to get better results from your practice time and maximize the efficiency of your practice sessions by dividing them into discrete sections. He provides helpful hints about metronome work as well as suggestions for expanding your creativity, using tunes like Tom Dooley, Cripple Creek and some original Etudes to help you build your technique.

“As a teacher with over thirty years of experience, I’ve found that students are hungry for material that goes beyond simply learning tune after tune. In fact, my students suggested a good portion of the material presented here. This lesson should be an indispensable aid to the aspiring bluegrass banjoist.”

– Tony Trischka