Bluegrass instructional resources

We heard yesterday from David Hollender, banjo player and professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dave has been teaching bass and leading ensembles there for many years, and now also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic

The latest DVD release from Flatpicking Guitar is Volume 4 in Brad Davis' Flatpick Jam series. Like the three that preceded it, this DVD is a play-along video where Brad demonstrates flatpicking solos for 11 tunes, and then plays each

Next weekend, guitar and mandolin enthusiasts in the Cincinnati area will have a chance to study with Clay Hess and Rick Hayes. Hess is the new guitarist with Mountain Heart, and had previously worked with both Ricky Skaggs and Mark Newton.

Missouri State University in Springfield, MO has created an Ozarks Studies Program intended to preserve the culture and history of the Ozarks. The program focuses on the collection and study of information about the culture and people of the

Spring 2008 will find a bevy of top American bluegrass musicians heading to Wales to serve as instructors at the Transatlantic Bluegrass School. The school will be held starting on May 7 in the scenic coastal village of Newport, Pembrokeshire

More than 60 banjo players will converge in the small town of Cumberland Furance, TN this weekend for the 7th Annual NashCamp Banjo Retreat. Hosted by Sonny Osborne and Bill Evans, this year's camp also features multi-IBMA award winner Tony

Ross Nickerson has released his newest banjo instructional DVD, Essential Banjo Licks, with more than 100 common banjo phrases every banjo player needs to know. It is intended to offer useful information for players starting at a beginner's level, with many

Our friends at ukbluegrass.com have recently published a lengthy piece on guitarist, singer and songwriter John Lowell. John will be on the faculty of the 2008 Sore Fingers bluegrass camp in England, where he will teach songwriting. The article covers a

George Shuffler, pioneering cross picking guitarist and one of the memorable personalities in bluegrass music, will be acknowledged by the North Carolina Arts Council with its annual Folk Heritage Award on October 25 in Raleigh, NC. Shuffler will lunch with NC

Richard Thompson, our enterprising British corespondent, has found a mandolin gem he recommends to eight stringers worldwide. Lou Martin, born 1944, mandolin disciple of both Bill Monroe and Ralph Rinzler, has published his third book devoted to the teaching and understanding