Banjo Camp North beginner tracks
– Clawhammer Novice/Beginner (N-B) with Lorraine Hammond
– 3-Finger Novice/Beginner (N-B) with Bruce Stockwell
Music camps can be intimidating for beginners — so many students, instructors, classes, topics. With this in mind, BCN offers “Beginner Tracks”: six sequential classes designed to provide a small group a relaxed, carefully guided environment — a “home at camp”, a safe place to learn.
Participants in each series meet for five classes taught by a single instructor with many years of experience working with beginners, plus an additional class with a special guest instructor. The track descriptions below outline topics to be covered, but since the collective experience level will determine how quickly things progress, we can’t predict the topic of any one session. You can join, rejoin, or leave the track at any time but beginners generally find that the focus and continuity of the complete track offers you the most organized, user-friendly opportunity to jump start your banjo career! Bring a notepad and recording device.
Interested in a beginner track but not sure if it’s right for you? Come to the ‘Find Your Level’ session on Friday — time and room to be announced — and one of our instructors will sit down with you and help you figure out the right place to be.
The beginner track will cover some of the following topics according to the individual teachers’ curriculum and time permitting:
- How to hold the instrument and pick
- Strings and tuning
- Left- and right-hand technique (including how to use fingerpicks for bluegrass players)
- Chords, rhythm, and using the capo
- Slurs: hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides
- Applying the ideas listed above to common songs
- Basic jamming skills