Get Rolling! An Ultra-Easy, No Fail Introduction to Bluegrass Banjo

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Starring: Pete Wernick
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Happy Traum
Studio: Homespun Tapes
Release Date: 2004-05-14
You can make good banjo music almost immediately with "Dr. Banjo" himself! Pete Wernick has taught thousands of people, young and old, to play three-finger style bluegrass "Scruggs" picking. This super-easy lesson has been time-tested at Pete’s many workshops and music camps, and he will have you playing along in the very first minutes.

With only two chords (one "open," the other using just two fingers), Pete gets you started strumming and accompanying ten bluegrass standards. By learning just one more easy chord, you are now able to play along with almost any bluegrass song. You’ll learn a sizeable group of favorites by simply strumming and changing chords in the right places. Getting started this way builds results and confidence quickly, and is extremely effective in learning timing, left hand, and "ear" skills -- all necessary for eventually playing in jam sessions.

Next, it’s time for the basic banjo rolls that really start sounding like bluegrass picking! With just a four-note pattern, your banjo sparkles as you roll along with the video on all of the songs you’ve learned up to now. You’re ready to jam with Pete’s guest students Joel Adamson and Marie Steen, who show how strumming and picking work together on "Tom Dooley," 'Take Me Back to Tulsa" and "Long Journey Home."

Finally, Pete shows more roll patterns: the Foggy Mountain Breakdown roll, the forward roll, and others. He closes with a lead banjo version of "When the Saints Go Marching In," using your new rolls. By now, you’re well on your way to becoming a real bluegrass picker.

I'm trying to get rollin'
I am pleased so far, this seems to be very helpful. But for a beginner like myself it is a little advanced, but it breaks notes down very well and with time and practice it definitely will make a difference.

I'm rolling!
I like this video. It moves slowly enough to follow without using the accompanying TAB sheets. I appreciate that the accompanying literature takes me slightly beyong a "beginner" skill level.

Strum and Sing!
I purchased this DVD because I have never been able to figure out the whole process of strumming chords and singing songs at the same time. I am totally self-taught and find that to be a harder skill than playing a melody.

Pete Wernick does a fine job of putting together about 10 tunes with only two chords (G and D7) and singing them at a slow speed (easy to strum along, then eventually strum and sing along). Then, he adds the C chord and we get to do another 10 songs. The program concludes with a basic forward roll, which we are to learn well, then go back and do all the songs with the roll instead of a simple strum. The conclusion is a simple version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" with the forward roll.

Songs are: Handsome Molly, Tom Dooley, Skip to my Lou, Take Me Back to Tulsa, My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains, Wake Up Darling Corey, Jambalaya, Shady Grove, Katie Daley, Little Birdie, John Henry, Roll in my Sweet Baby's Arms, She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain, When the Saints Go Marching In, New River Train, You Are My Sunshine, Long Journey Home, Jesse James, Goin' Where the Chilly Winds Don't Blow, Sittin' On Top of the World, Jingle Bells, Auld Lang Syne, and Nine Pound Hammer.

The booklet has lyrics and chords, but you learn the melody from watching and listening to the recording. Since all of these are presented in G, some are a little too high for Wernick (and me) to sing comfortably, but he does give a (very brief) overview of how to transpose to C. I can't do it yet, but maybe soon.

I use a clawhammer bump-ditty, so the bluegrass roll isn't important to me. If I wanted to learn bluegrass rolls, this presentation was very straightforward and I would use it for getting started.

Well, the proof is in the result. I can now sing several basic songs (not all of the songs on the DVD are bluegrass) while strumming along. That was my entire goal and I got there with this recording. For what it is, it deserves the full five stars.

Please note: if you already can sing along to an instrument while you strum, this DVD is not for you. If you are totally clueless about how to put the banjo and the voice together, this is a darned good disk. It really is just what I needed for getting started on what should be a very basic skill.