More About Me

Hi, my name is Don Van Palta. I'm pretty well known by the 4 string banjo community as "The Flying Dutchman". I got that name because I was born in Holland in 1932! Yeh, yeh, that makes me pretty old, I know! But it also means that I've done a lot of banjo performing and banjo teaching in all that time!

I started out as the first banjo player to perform at the original Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Sacramento, CA in 1955. I still had a little bit of my Dutch accent at that time! I was with Shakey for about 5 years. In 1960 Fred Finn, the owner and leader of the Mickie Finn night club and band in San Diego, asked me to join the band.

I was with the Mickie Finn band for 14 years, including the Mickie Finn NBC TV show 1n 1966. In 1974 I started my 23 year cruise ship career.

During all those years I was perfecting and teaching with my Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Plectrum Banjo method. It started with three books and six cassettes. It then evolved to three books and six video tapes. And finally ended with three books and six DVDs.

Over the years I wrote out over 700 plectrum banjo solos with the melody on the staff, the chords, including the melody notes. above the notes in the usual diagrams. And the words beneath the staff. All 700 solos are now available on one DATA DVD!

I also wrote out all of the arrangements that I put together for my performances in the same manner. But with these arrangement/lessons I also included a DVD or CD where I lead the student through the whole arrangement a few measures at a time. You can hear all 80 of these arrangements on youtube! Just put in my name.

I'm also able to give my students a very meaningful discount on the Ome and Deering banjos. You can check out all of this information on my website: plectrumbanjolessons.com.

Over the years I've taught thousands of students, many of them inspired by our TV show. If you're interested in learning how to play the plectrum banjo, I hope to hear from you!

Sincerely, Don Van Palta