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Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast

30 Jan 06 - 01:17 PM (#1657884)
Subject: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: Geoff the Duck

Hi folks - you all seem to have missed a very useful thread.
The Daily Frail

Patrick Costello, Banjo player and author of a book called The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo, has a web site. On it he has started using latest technology to "podcast" a daily banjo lesson. He has started with simple clawhammer techniques and then is demonstrating how to assemble simple measures, to make a more complex sound.
The files are MP3 format, and can be downloaded individually by standard Blicky but can also be downloaded automatically for an i-pod or similar.

Each "lesson" is a couple of minutes long, so is a nice "bite sized" piece of information. They are also explained on his web site, using TAB notations.

All in all, if you are wanting to learn clawhammer banjo, it is well worth a look and listen.

On his web site, he also has an earlier series of banjo instructions and guitar lessons.

Quack!
Geoff the Duck.


23 Feb 06 - 04:11 PM (#1677063)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: Geoff the Duck

Just bringing this thread back to the surface. The web site has just had a change of style and appearance and appears to be going through an assortment of changes. The banjo podcast is still happening, it has looked at some basic techniques and chord changes and started to string them into accompaniments for songs. I like the way Patrick tackles the presentation of his lessons.
The main page of the web site can be found here -
http://howandtao.com/
I am not sure if the links to different sections stay static or will alter because it is a dynamic site which keeps changing. There is a menu which takes you to several different sections. Look for one listed under "categories" and click on "podcast". It takes you to a page which has explanations of the lessons, it links to the MP3 files which are the bit of the lesson you can listen to and also contains a link to the "RSS Feed" (whatever one of those is) which is what you copy and paste into your "podcast catching" software.
Check it out, it's worth a look.
Quack!
Geoff the Duck.


23 Feb 06 - 04:39 PM (#1677085)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: Geoff the Duck

There are other things also on the web site. The tutorial pages also contain a "Folksong of the Day" which also links to sound files for guitar and banjo.
Other stuff on the site include downloadable texts of work he has previously published, The Outlaws & Scalawags Songbook, which may not be there for an extended period of time.
Quack!
GtD.


24 Feb 06 - 06:44 PM (#1678133)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: GUEST,Banjo Newbie

Hey, checked it out, some cool gear there.

Walt.


05 Mar 06 - 03:23 PM (#1685811)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: Geoff the Duck

Refreshing this thread following a conversation with a fellow 'catter who is learning banjo. Patrick's web site has undergone a major redesign and is very different in appearance than before the weekend.
He has also put his How and Tao books back for online reading.
This probably explains why there haven't been any NEW episodes of the Daily Frail for a couple of weeks.

Check the site out.
Quack!
GtD.


20 Apr 06 - 02:52 PM (#1723042)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: GUEST,Patrick Costello

Actually, I was kind of busy going deaf.

My hearing has always been pretty bad, but since October things have been going downhill. Around January it got to the point where I was having a hard time hearing myself talk.

Things are a tad better right now - but in the time I took off to get through the hearing thing a few exciting new ideas came up and right now I'm in the middle of a pretty complicated guitar & banjo project.

The web site is going to be around for a while, but the odds of any kind of an update in the near future are pretty slim. After the current project is finished this summer my plans are to put my instruments away fo a while and leave the teaching stuff to my students.

-Patrick
http://howandtao.com


20 Apr 06 - 05:58 PM (#1723221)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: Jon W.

Patrick, best wishes to you on the hearing and on your new project. Thanks for sharing your awesome talent so freely.

Jon W.


22 Apr 06 - 12:41 PM (#1724719)
Subject: RE: Tech: Online Banjo Lessons - podcast
From: Geoff the Duck

Sorry to hear it Patrick.
I was starting to get interested in the podcast idea and was looking forward to the possibilities you were starting to offer with the Daily Frail and your Folksong of The Day project.
Quack!
GtD.