Fever Dog - Posted - 06/16/2015:  23:37:13

Hi all,

What are your opinions on whether this book is still relevant?  I've read one book by Seeger, when I was a kid in the early 80s, which was The Incompleat Folksinger which I highly recommend.  It made a huge impression on me and although generally pointed me in less fiscally and/or healthily responsible directions it probably made me a much more responsible global citizen.  Anyway, it didn't teach me the banjo so now I'm learning it.  We will see how that goes.

But, is this book still useful in any way to learn to play?  Or is it dated as probably most things Seeger are?  Is it more than just musical instruction or are there Seeger ramblings on the history of the banjo, ethnomusicology, Woody Guthrie, the Wobblies, etc.?  

Thanks.

blindsniper - Posted - 06/17/2015:  00:01:12

I think this book is still very relevant as there are certain things that will never change, such chords, scales, etc.   It was that book that brought me to the 'Circle of Fifths' that opened up a whole new area for me.  It is, in my opinion, also well written.

Regards

Ian

Bill Rogers - Posted - 06/17/2015:  00:09:13

It's particularly useful if you want to explore different ways of using the banjo to accompany singing--Pete's greatest skill.  It's also one of the few books around these days that focuses on standard C tuning, which I use a lot more than double-c.  

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 06/17/2015:  01:31:38

I also read The Incompleat Folksinger and hated it, but I'm happy to say that How to Play the 5-String Banjo is nothing like it (that might be disappointing to you, but don't fret), and still very relevant and very useful. The biggest criticism I would have is that sometimes Pete only gives half a song in tab and instructs the reader to work out the rest himself. A great exploration of banjo possibilities. Up-picking, down-picking, two- and three-finger work, along with a chapter on bluegrass banjo prepared with the help of Mike Seeger.  People seem to only associate Pete with his "basic strum" and I often wonder how far in the book they got.

Fever Dog - Posted - 06/17/2015:  02:48:15

Well I started on roots/OT/americana/folk from the Woody Guthrie/Smithsonian Folkways album so I really dug it.  It turned me into a (failed) Cultural Anthropologist with strong labor union sympathies.....

R Buck - Posted - 06/17/2015:  04:32:45

IMHO nothing about Pete Seeger is irrelevant.  His life stands as a reminder of how much one person can do.  His banjo book was a great experiment and confusing for many of us decades ago, But now viewed in hindsight with many years of experience, ti is a wonderful collection of banjo styles presented as a hodge podge of possibility.  He brought music to the masses, real music that they could make themselves with or without an instrument.  With that music came a sense of hope and a renewed sense of self worth.  Who is doing that today?

kwl - Posted - 06/17/2015:  06:51:51

I think Pete's How To Play The Five String Banjo is still relevant for the reasons cited above. I also enjoyed reading the Incompleat Folksinger and Where Have All The Flowers Gone. Pete may be gone, but not forgotten and still influencing many of us.

kmwaters - Posted - 06/17/2015:  07:10:08

Thankfully Pete did a DVD with the same title before he left us. It is excellent.

OK-4 - Posted - 06/17/2015:  07:12:17

Great book. It would expose you to most everything. Song accompaniment styles, frailing/clawhammer, Skruggs' style, two finger styles, classic style. Maybe not all categorized and compartmentalized the way one might do it today, but it is all there. Especially nice if you aren't sure what playing technique you will end up using, but want to try out different approaches.

(But if you are already dead-set on a particular style that you want to learn, you can find better books for learning that one style.)

DH#52 - Posted - 06/17/2015:  07:15:34

If you're still learning the banjo, as you say, then you ought to try the book.  It's not especially for Scruggs style, so if that's what you lean toward, you can probably do without it.  I would respectfully disagree that most things Seeger are dated, as you say, because his lessons on how to be a positive, productive citizen and a steward of the land will never be passé.  We're in a heap of trouble if and when they ever are.

Good luck on your banjo quest.

Steve

honketyhank - Posted - 06/17/2015:  07:23:15

quote:

---

Originally posted by OK-4

 

Great book. It would expose you to most everything. Song accompaniment styles, frailing/clawhammer, Skruggs' style, two finger styles, classic style. Maybe not all categorized and compartmentalized the way one might do it today, but it is all there. Especially nice if you aren't sure what playing technique you will end up using, but want to try out different approaches.

(But if you are already dead-set on a particular style that you want to learn, you can find better books for learning that one style.)

---

As one of the many who used said book as his/her one and only learning resource over 50 years ago, I find OK-4's comment quite accurate. All I can add is: too bad those "better books for learning that one style" were not available back then.

uncledaveh - Posted - 06/17/2015:  07:24:42

This is the book that first got me started many (emphasis on many) years ago.

David “Uncle Dave” Holbrook
The Rockdale Ridgerunners

Now good people, we’re going to play this next tune with more heterogeneous constipolicy, double flavor and unknown quality than usual! Make it light on yourself.

ZEPP - Posted - 06/17/2015:  07:59:44

This book offers a good overview of many different banjo "things."  I still recommend it not only as a learning tool, but a good read.

In fact, I still use my copies as reference materials, and I've been using it for over 50 years now.

I tell my students it's a "must."

Cheers,

ZEPP

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 06/17/2015:  09:53:08

It is a great book to get you started. and it is interesting to see how many ways he can play the banjo. it really shows off the banjo's versatility.

Ken

mrbook - Posted - 06/17/2015:  10:18:44

When I started with banjo as a teenager, the banjo my parents ordered didn't arrive in time for Christmas, but the book did. I actually didn't get the banjo until April or May, but by that time I had read the book through several times. I still peruse it once in a while. The book teaches you to play music - on the banjo.

kwfolk1 - Posted - 06/17/2015:  14:40:52

Oh, my gosh - YES!   IMHO: It's by far the best instructional book ever!  Not only does in introduce one various styles & approaches, it lays out a philosophy to playing the banjo.

Chris

Jim Yates - Posted - 06/17/2015:  19:26:49

I got this book about 10 years before I got my first banjo.  I practised strums and rolls on my leg during high school classes.  I applied some of the information to my guitar playing.  I wouldn't be without this book. 

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 06/17/2015:  19:27:37

I don't find much of Pete's work to be irrelevant today so I guess you can guess how I feel about his book. Do I think it is the only book worth having on the subject of folk banjo? Obviously not, but it is an important part of where folk banjo is today. For the first 2 generations of banjo players after Pete wrote the book, it remained the only book on the subject, but I don't hear loud choruses of people bemoaning the fact that they couldn't learn banjo because How To Play the 5 String Banjo held them back.

Fever Dog - Posted - 06/17/2015:  20:13:45

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Pete Seeger and his work or anything about it was irrelevant.  I should have been more clear.  What I was trying to ask was if his book is still useful for learning to play OT banjo (the style I'm teaching myself) given time and all the new books and learning approaches out there.  It sounds like the answer is "YES!" so I'll buy it.  I would have anyway because I'm expecting a whole lot of interesting Pete Seeger writing in there as well about the history of the banjo, his career, etc. judging from the Incompleat Folksinger which was all over the place in a great way.

----------------- - Posted - 06/17/2015:  21:23:37

This is the book I started on back in 1968. It was the book my instructor used with his students. I suspect because it was the only banjo book out there. I was just a kid, and found it entertaining to color in the drawings with crayons. He and I are still fans of Pete, for all the reasons there are to love Pete. A shining example of a man of strong convictions. I still have my "full color" copy.

mike gregory - Posted - 06/18/2015:  04:21:06

The written instructions on the Basic Strum didn't make any sense when I read them.
Thank goodness somebody who knew how, SHOWED me in two minutes what had confused me for two months.

And now, with Youtube, beginners can see people explain every kind of style there is.

But, the book DID help me get started.
And now, I am the owner/operator of what is arguably the largest portable banjo factory in Wisconsin.

minstrelmike - Posted - 06/18/2015:  06:51:41

imo, Seeger's How to Play the 5-String Banjo is the only actual banjo manual I've seen.

It should be the first thing anyone uses to get started on banjo.

All the other stuff is focused on -bluegrass- or -oldtime-, not just basic music played in any style on 5-string.

If you can already play guitar, then you can probably use one of those methods to kinda figure out how to play music via oldtime or bluegrass techniques, but if banjo is your first instrument, Seeger's book ought to be your first teaching method. It starts with the basics, strumming chords, and as it leads you thru all the different ways of playing banjo, you come to the realization that the left hand leads the songs and the right hand determines the "style."

You know. just like guitar ;-)

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 06/18/2015:  08:12:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fever Dog

 

 I would have anyway because I'm expecting a whole lot of interesting Pete Seeger writing in there as well about the history of the banjo, his career, etc. judging from the Incompleat Folksinger which was all over the place in a great way.

---

Don't expect too much of that. Pete includes almost no information about himself at all. He does include an appendix on the history of the banjo, some of which has been disputed by modern scholarship. You will enjoy his DVD of the same name, though, which is long on stories and short on banjo technique, and would probably make a decent companion to the book.

Pluckin Mutha - Posted - 06/18/2015:  08:32:49

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jim Yates

 

I got this book about 10 years before I got my first banjo.  I practised strums and rolls on my leg during high school classes.  I applied some of the information to my guitar playing.  I wouldn't be without this book. 

---

Like Jim, I practiced rolls on my leg as I sat in classes in University, not High School. I was a bit older then as I didn't start to play until I was 23.

Like Mike Gregory, I just couldn't get the hang of "Frailing" until someone else showed me. Then I just jumped on and was off to the races.

Mutha

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 06/18/2015:  12:06:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by mike gregory

And now, I am the owner/operator of what is arguably the largest portable banjo factory in Wisconsin.

---

Mike - is that a factory that makes portable banjos or a portable factory that makes banjos - or a portable factory that makes portable banjos?????

Inquiring minds are very snoopy.

Joe Connor - Posted - 06/18/2015:  12:42:22

If you're looking for Pete's writings, check out Pete Seeger In His Own Words (Paradigm Publishers 2012). It's a collection of his letters, notes, articles etc. divided by subject matter and is fascinating reading.

And, yes, his instruction book is still relevant, for the reasons the earlier posters have noted. I've owned that book for more than 40 years and every time I pull it out, I find something I had overlooked before. 

Edited by - Joe Connor on 06/18/2015 12:43:53

Fever Dog - Posted - 06/20/2015:  20:11:44

Aren't all banjos portable?

Gumbo - Posted - 08/22/2015:  11:45:31

It is a great book,written by a great man.

lazlototh - Posted - 08/22/2015:  12:30:33

I have had his book for 50 years. It is still a good read, and a good way to spend some time with Pete and indulge myself in his enthusiasm.

mikehalloran - Posted - 08/24/2015:  16:53:27

In many interviews, Pete acknowledged the major shortcoming of his book: He never really finished it by completing many of the examples and taking many of the lessons to the next level. Well, too bad but what he did leave us was a great overview of more styles than most of us will ever learn.

If you but it to learn something called "folk style", you will be disappointed to find out that doesn't really exist. The whole book is many different aspects of folk banjo but certainly nothing you can call "folk style" unless you learn everything – has anyone?

I doubt that anyone ever will finish the book the way that Pete intended. It certainly could be done – he laid out how to do it. Or rather, he said to get the record and work it out yourself.

It would involve a lot of research, obtaining the rights to a lot of recordings…

Would it ever sell in the numbers needed to make money? Uh... yea... sure it will... trust me...