Complete Clawhammer Banjo Book

Book excerpt: With this volume, the reader is pleasantly surprised with two books in one- Section One by Alec Slater, and Section Two by Lisa Schmitz. Alec's portion is intended as a guide for the clawhammer or frailing banjo player with some previous experience in this style. He stresses the fact that this style of music can be fully learned only from within the oral tradition in which it grew. the instruction included here is meant to provide a review, and not to take the place of qualified teacher. Alec recommends that ...anyone wanting to get this playing right, should find someone in your area who plays and have him/her teach you. Listen to it, watch it, and make it your own. In Section Two, Lisa Schmits presents an extensive collection of 163 jigs, reels, polkas, hornpipes, strathspeys, waltzes, and songs from Ireland, Scotland, the Shetland Islands, Cape Breton, New England and Southern Appalachia for banjo solo. the national origin of each tune is indicated. Lisa offers personal, authoritative settings of a great variety of tunes at an intermediate level. Written in tablature only.