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Resources

Patrick CostelloFrailing Banjo Lessons (2006)

Weekly frailing banjo lessons with Patrick Costello.

The project is based at http://howandtao.com, but we are also uploading the files to archive.org each week.


This movie is part of the collection: Open Source Movies

Producer: Patrick Costello
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: banjo; frailing; clawhammer; old time; folk

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: Ronny Parker - - May 3, 2009
Subject: Thank you, thank you!
All I can really say to this man is, "Thank you!"
I've been playing the guitar for about fifteen years, and just trying to figure it out on my own. And in just five days of watching the videos of Patrick and his dad, I am lightyears from where I was before, as far as my understanding of the Science of Music. Plus I'm actually finally learning an instrument! I've already started, 'preaching the word'

Reviewer: Rembrandt78737 - - March 25, 2009
Subject: Great lessons!
I actually started watching these lessons months before I scraped up the money for my first banjo. Couldn't do much except practice my timing but enjoyed them just the same. When I finally bought the banjo the lessons were that much easier. I had already taken much of Patrick's advice to heart before I played my first note. Great series with a great teacher.

Reviewer: RosscoW - - May 26, 2008
Subject: Clawhammer
Watching an old DVD about bluegrass and to my surprise old "Stringbean" playing banjo with Bill Munroe. That was so different to the Scruggs style, not being a banjo player, it looked great, sounded very much more rythmic (if that's the right word). Just browsing the web, found Patrick Costello and BINGO, the questions were answered. Mate, you are great!. We are a bit slow in Australia when it comes to " old time", but, we love it. Beats the **** out hearing old songs about Kangaroos.
keep it up Patrick.
RosscoW

Reviewer: CWHistory - - April 16, 2008
Subject: Thanks Patrick !
Me and my family are deep into Civil War reenacting. We sit around the cracklin campfire at night listening to the sound of banjos, fiddles, guitars, and mouth harps, Ahhhhh, how soothing to the ear. I wanted in on the action.

I have been searching for a place that could help me learn the correct tecnique that Joel and Sam Sweeney made so famous.

My wife has bought me two banjos since November, one is for blugrass, (on our 22nd Anniversary) and for Christmas I was shocked with a Morgan Monroe Hobo. What a wife !!! LOL, and she puts up with the practise too...

I just want you to know I will not miss one lesson you provide, they are GREAT...

Just wish I lived near you, I would be there running you cazy to teach me more & more.

Thank you so much for your time, and your passion for passing on to others your knoledge of music. It will last a lifetime for many...

Wishing you the best,
Richard

Reviewer: Butch50 - - January 5, 2007
Subject: Excellent!
Thank you Patrick, these video lessons are superb and very cool. I have learned a lot from you, and I am not a quick study.

Reviewer: EdLatimer - - October 26, 2006
Subject: Thanks
Thanks to Patrick Costello for putting so much time and effort into creating these videos. They are very helpful, not only because they give beginning players a chance to watch a master musician in action and actually SEE how the basic frail looks, etc., but also because Patrick's tips are practical, and he is very encouraging.

Beginning players such as myself, for example, tend to become obsessed with whether they're doing the basic frailing strum "right"--too many swing thoughts, in other words. Patrick makes a point of encouraging people to take a "not too tight, not too loose" approach to such things. He also encourages people to discover their own individual approach to music and not become unthinking slaves to tablature.

He can be dogmatic, for sure, as when he asserts that there's no need to buy anything but an el-cheapo banjo, and that there's no reason to stuff it with socks or fuss over the set-up and so on. This is the kind of thing a lot of banjo players might dispute, but one thing you can't dispute is that Patrick Costello can really play and is passionate about teaching others.

My only complaint is that I wish he had the time to post more of these videos, more often.

Reviewer: countgonzo - - October 22, 2006
Subject: Frailing Banjo Made Easy?
Excellent tutorial for frailing banjo from first principals, not an easy technique for me to grasp from text based instruction, this video demonstrates basic technique with clarity. Just got to put the time in now to grind in the method.

Segments

Lesson One
Tuning, parts of the banjo and the basic frailing strum.
September 7, 2006
39 minutes 24 seconds

Lesson Two
Your first chord, your first song, using a harmonica for ear training and more.
September 16, 2006
32 minutes 55 seconds

Lesson Three
Rhythmic variations of the frailing strum, double thumb, drop thumb, hammer-on's, phantom effects and more.
34 minutes 40 seconds

Lesson Four
The C and F chords, Boil Them Cabbage Down and more.
34 minutes 12 seconds