Play Banjo Today!

The Hal Leonard Play Today® Banjo series is an awesome way to quickly learn how to play Banjo, covering the basics and important instrument information the new player needs to know. There's no reason not to play!

Videos
Intro (11:11) - Colin introduces you to the series and explains the basic parts of the Banjo, shares a little about it's history and helps us understand how to hold and Pick the Banjo, and the most important part, Tuning!
How to Read Tablature (04:40) - Colin guides you to understand reading simple Banjo music known as Tabs or Tablature. He goes through each string and finger and helps you play through and really grasp this technique.
Pinching and Chords (06:52) - In this video, Colin goes over Pinching notes, which is playing two notes at the same time. Colin also shows us some Chords before playing them all together!
Rolls (09:47) - Colin shows us an essential part of Blue-Grass Banjo, Rolls. We go over several exercises and get comfortable with rolls before playing.
Slides (08:17) - In this video Colin takes a look a big part of the Banjo language, Slides. We practice with some exercises before adding in some Rolls and some of the other techniques we've learned so far.
Pickin a Classic (07:58) - We focus on learning some highly favored bluegrass tunes like 'Cripple Creek' and more. We also learn a few new techniques like Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs.
A Big Lick (06:34) - Colin shows us some big time classic licks that will help us get our mind and fingers on the same page. We also learn a few songs including 'She'll be Comin' 'Round the Mountain When She Comes', 'Walkin' Cane' and more.
Major Chords (08:34) - Colin gets us started with Major Chords. We start learning Chord Shapes, and getting started with our F,D,A's. This video also shows us some other techniques like Muting and Changing Chords.
Sixteenth Note Licks (05:07) - Colin speeds things up a little bit in this video by introducing Sixteenth Notes. We start adding in those little notes that give us that big sound, we'll be playing with Pull-Offs and Slides to work within Sixteenth Note Licks. Finally, we'll practice some new songs and techniques with these new licks.
Chords Up The Neck (09:50) - In this video we start taking our Chord Shapes up the Neck and get our hands moving a bit more. Colin talks a bit about Chord Zones and helps us understand what that means.
Single Eighth Notes (03:08) - Colin explains Eighth notes and how we should go about practicing them.
Minor Chords and Major Scales (06:44) - In this video, Colin breaks down Minors and Scales. We raise and lower notes creating new chords and scales, so that we'll understand the different shapes and positions and how they relate to each other. We'll also learn some new things like the Melodic Style, which resembles a harp like sound and play through some exercises.
Outro (01:51) - Colin signs out with a few words and then shows us one final tune as the credits roll.