Difficult banjo books ?

Subject: Difficult banjo books ?
From: matt milton
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 12:52 PM

I've recently been enjoying buying up cheap old secondhand banjo books and learning tunes from em - teaching myself to read tablature for 5-string.

I've learned a few tunes from the 60s Seeger books (both Pete's and Peggy's) and Barry Kornfeld's 'how to play bluegrass banjo'. Just picked up Fred Sokolow's book of ragtime banjo tabs and I've made a start on some of the Scott Joplin transcriptions.

But I was wondering if any banjoistas on here could recommend a really really DIFFICULT book of tunes to play - something that I could really get my teeth into? Anyone got the Earl Scruggs book?

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 01:01 PM

Do you want difficult tunes to play or a hard book to understand?
Don

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: greg stephens
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 01:52 PM

Maybe just get a tunebook and have a crack yourself at working them out for banjo?

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: Melissa
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 03:05 PM

I had the Scruggs book and found it plenty difficult--the thing was FULL and I had a hard time with the ones that had melody lines I wasn't familiar with.

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 04:05 PM

Does a 110 year old seven string qualify as a 'difficult' banjo ??

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: fretless
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 04:44 PM

Ken Perlman's style of clawhammer is very complex, and he's written a number of tab books. I expect they'd be a challenge.

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: GUEST,Jack Campin (in Transylvania)
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 05:05 PM

Why not just get a copy of the Bach solo violin sonatas & partitas and have a go at those?

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 05:15 PM

I've been playing one or two of the Bach violin solo partitas on the violin on and off for the last 10 years. Still never fully cracked any of them.

It's funny you mention them, because trying to play them is what got me back up to the speed on the violin, after having not touched it for many years. It was a slow, painful way of remembering how to sight-read. I'm kind of after something similar for the banjo, to get me really au fait with reading banjo tab. Some stuff with lots of chords, or big intervallic jumps etc would fit the bill.

Thanks for the suggestion of the Ken Perlman. I was wondering what that clawhammer book was like. I'll give it a go.

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: fretless
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 05:24 PM

Another one to try -- if this is the one I'm remembering -- is JOHN BURKE'S BOOK OF OLD TIME FIDDLE TUNES FOR BANJO, by John Burke, AMSCO Music Publishing Company, 1968, ISBN 0-8256-2801-6. It came with one of those nasty little plastic records, which is important because without it it is often difficult to derive the tunes from Burke's embellished versions of the pieces.

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 06:00 PM

That John Burke book looks very interesting. I'm someone who believes that actually you CAN judge a book by it's cover (well, sometimes):
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1344172301&searchurl=an%3Djohn%2Bburke%26bt.x%3D0%26bt.y%3D0%26kn%3Dbanjo%26sortby%3D3

Unfortunately, it's long out of print and sells for quite a lot of money.

I think I'll check out some of Tony Trishka's books. They look interesting.

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: GUEST,fretless
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 07:53 PM

Matt, I don't know where my copy of Burke is, but if you try banjo hangout someone there might be able to get you a Xerox. The book isn't too long.

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: Ref
Date: 24 Jul 09 - 06:32 AM

If I had a difficult banjo, I wouldn't be writing a book about it!

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 12:09 PM

There are several books of classical/Bach material for banjo -- in fact, I have a little stack of them that I was getting ready to take for trade-in to the used bookstore. My ex bought them for me for Christmas one year, but they're way beyond me. If you're interested, I'll send them for the cost of the shipping (< $10, I'm sure). PM me.

~ Becky in Long Beach
(the books are in Tucson, I'll be back there tomorrow night)

Subject: RE: Difficult banjo books ?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 03:29 PM

Sorry, I was on a different computer. To PM me, I'm "Desert Dancer".

~ Becky in Long Beach
and often, Tucson