Alternate tunings for bluegrass banjo

Terry McGill, who plays banjo with New Jersey-based Straight Drive, has written a new banjo book, recently published by Mel Bay.

The book is Alternate Tunings for Five-string Banjo Played Bluegrass Style, and is described as the first three-finger style banjo instruction
book written specifically for the bluegrass banjoist wishing to explore alternate tunings. It is written using banjo tablature and covers G modal, Standard C, Open C, Bb, D modal, Open D and E tunings.

An audio CD is included with the book, which contains fast and slow versions of each song taught in the book. 21 songs are presented, including favorites like Cumberland Gap, Shady Grove, Kansas City Railroad Blues and Pretty Polly – each arranged in other than the familiar G tuning.

The book should be available wherever banjo instructional materials are sold.

Author: John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2004 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents. View all posts by John Lawless