How to Start Learning Banjo
What do I need to begin learning the banjo?
The first thing you need is a 5-string banjo and a spirit of adventure.
If you haven’t got a banjo yet, Gus can hire you one to get started or help you to source one, at the best quality for your budget, however – BE WARNED – buying from the interent is convenient but may result in a dodgy banjo. Get advice first.
And some fingerpicks, too – two metal fingerpicks, and a plastic thumb pick. Make sure you have a smart phone that has a voice recording function as this will be very handy for recording tunes and exercises you’ll be learning.
Things like an electronic tuner (now available as a cheap smart phone app) is essential and a music stand is handy optional extra.
And $75 (+GST), for an hours lesson. Gift vouchers are available, and Skype lessons are also available for those living outside the Melbourne metro area. Please note that Gus requires 24 hours notice for cancellation or a $30 concellation fee will apply.
Gus will provide you with music, as well as recordings of the music you’ll be playing, plus other goodies along the way.
So – what are you waiting for?
This is the studio where the teaching takes place, including the now infamous banjo window.
Creating not just an appropriate atmosphere for banjo study and practice but also containing precise acoustical properties, this window is the talking point of everyone from interior designers, sound designers and bluegrass devotees. Kevin McLeod from Grand Designs has called it a triumph, Andre Rieu is creating a violin immitation for his next chalet, and Google Earth are wondering why their software keeps crashing from people trying to find it’s exact location.