Branching Out On the Banjo – 2 Volume Set

Banjo Newsletter, by Wayne Shrubsall

Branching Out On Bluegrass Banjo, Volumes One and Two. Homespun Video

Peter Wernick has been in the instruction business now for over twenty years, teaching banjo while performing with various groups such as the late great Hot Rize. That’s no news. Nor is this , which has been out now for some three years and is one of Homespun’s top selling video series. I should have reviewed it when I got it, but that’s another matter that I hope this review will correct.

The success of this should come as no surprise to banjo enthusiasts. Wernick’s banjo-teaching has been exemplary for all of us, in part because his interest in the form called bluegrass (and music in general) is really a passion. Though Hot Rize has disbanded, Wernick continues to perform with his wife Joan in a Colorado-area duo format, and he appears with other musicians as opportunities avail. Lately he has assembled an eclectic band called Flexigrass which features clarinet and xylophone among other non-bluegrass instruments. Though it will not appeal to hidebound bluegrass fanatics, Flexigrass is a good sounding aggregate.

Enough update. The [videos] themselves are filled with valuable information which is augmented by well-designed tablatures which do a good deal of work. At times, Wernick refers the viewer to the tabs rather than elaborating on each note of certain banjo solos; at other times the selections (back-up, fillers, and so-los) are explained to the viewer in painstaking detail. This variety of approach adds to the appeal and value of these [videos] as instructional devices. In addition, the tabs employ a unique chord fingering system which uses geometric shapes to represent fingers on the left hand. Once learned, this system cuts down on the interpreting time one must spend in figuring out the chords: this is important, as working with chords is integral in this series.

When one thinks of Scruggs style harmonic structure, one thinks of the seventh and sixth chords as things which are vamped (Wernick calls this “chunking”) or as the basis for back-up and solo rolls. Wernick explains these as significant features of the bluegrass sound. But then he does what an individual artist must do: he adds his approach to banjo harmony, chording, and rolls. Wernick’s approach to rolls and harmony may be characterized by two factors: The forward and back right hand roll (Thumb– index–middle– thumb– middle index– thumb-middle), and the use of the ninth chord. Both of these create the distinctive Wernick sound, and their use comes up again and again on this . This is not to suggest that the  is only a dissertation on How Pete Plays. There is plenty of material derived from Scruggs style (including the fine “Foggy Mountain Special” which I teach students as a means of mastering backup in higher neck positions) and others (notably Bill Emerson’s “Theme Time”,) presented as a way into learning chord positions up the neck. Nevertheless, the ninth chord is the factor which most distinguishes Wernick’s playing, for not many straight-ahead bluegrass performers use it–at least not to the extent that Wernick does.

What you will like is the section on basic music theory. This section is easy to follow and put into practice, more so than other similar video and print efforts I have seen. The student will also receive good advice and illustration for using passing tones, walking the chord, converting slow to fast back-up, exploring the fingerboard to create solos and fills, employing what Wernick calls “the big tree of licks,” forming two- and three-finger left-hand formations for fills, playing in C and other keys (notably D) without capo, learning to be a tasteful banjoist (this is no oxymoron, folks!), and playing in the key of D out of a modified (3 tuning (the fifth string is tuned to F (a strategy not enough banjoists use).

One thing which characterizes the whole is Wernick’s three rules for good musical ideas: they must sound good, be fresh ideas, and be easy to play. The last factor is the main selling point of this . Naturally, determining what is easy to play will vary from musician to musician, but I think Wernick can claim that he has succeeded in showing a variety of licks and techniques which are indeed easy to play–once one has approached them with the idea of disciplined practice in mind, which Wernick emphasizes. As for the fresh ideas, the basics are provided, and you are given the opportunity to employ them as you like. Wernick’s fresh approach. as I said above, is his use of the unusual ninth chord in his material.

While the first  emphasizes theory, fills, chording, and backup, the second shows one how to play a variety of solos, at least six of which Wernick created himself. In performing these, Wemick analyzes how he came to create them, and how they fit his three rules, thus applying the information provided on [Video] one. Wernick’s earnest and supportive tutorial tone is seasoned with fine examples of his deadpan, dry wit. This is climaxed by a surprising comic ending to two. Not many tutorials are willing to have a little self-deprecating fun.

You have a choice: you can attend Wernick’s banjo camp or buy these [videos]. The [videos] will save you some money, and they are effective. Nothing completely replaces a flesh-and-blood teacher, but these [videos] come mighty close. It’s a good course, well worth the cost of admission. My standard of assessing the value of instructional material is to figure that the cost of a series must equate at least to what individual lessons covering the same material would cost. With that formula in mind, I figure that these [videos] are a clear bargain.