Charles McNeil was one of the top tenor banjo players of the swing era. This fascinating book documents many of the techniques used by professional jazz banjo accompanists. It focuses primarily on chords, organized into his system of chord families (chords are written with both standard notation and fret board diagrams). He gives precise instruction on right hand picking technique, which is nearly identical to the style of picking used by Django (see Gypsy Picking). McNeil also discusses how to create banjo parts from scores for piano or 2nd violin. Additionally, he includes 22 lead breaks and a fascinating section on the strumming patterns used by professional banjo players of the time (i.e. Shimmy stroke, New York stroke, Whine stroke, Chicago stroke, patter stroke, etc.) Many of these strokes are reminiscent of some Django’s accent patterns (Django started his career on the guitar banjo.) 100 pages with pictures, diagrams, and over a two hundred examples.
Mandolinists looking to expand their jazz chord vocabularly might also benifit from the chord diagrams and strumming patterns in this book. (The tenor banjo is tuned a 4th down from the mandolin CGDA).
For more info or to buy: Click Here
