Banjo Workshop: A Complete Guide to the 5-String Banjo

by Mike Bailey

Banjo Workshop was written with four important areas of the 5-string banjo technical and artistic development in picking technique, personal style, creativity, and awareness of the instrument's key and tuning potential. Picking technique-Studies in Section 1 will equip you to dissolve the inhibiting notion that some songs are unplayable on the 5-string banjo. Any song is playable if the necessary technique has been learned and developed to accommodate it. Personal style-In Section 2 you will first explore several popular 3-finger sub-styles, seeing how each evolved and how they are all often intermixed within a given performer's own personal style. Through subsequent examples you will be made aware of style potential and the artistic necessity of developing your own personal style. Creativity-Through style development and improvisational skills taught in Section 3 you will begin to think and perform less like a mechanical follower and more like an artistic ground breaker. You will learn to modify arrangements; further, you will learn to create your own arrangements. Exploration of Non-G Keys and Tunings-In Section 4 you will find that playing in keys and tunings other than G are no less fun and no more difficult than playing the familiar G (bluegrass) tuning. Six non-G tunings will be explored, involving ten solos, including major, minor and modal tunings. The overall effort is to make you aware that you don't have to be a technical whiz nor a speed king in order to be a musical artist. If you can add something new and different, something enjoyable to listen to, you are an artist even if you are not yet an "advanced-level" player.

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 23, 2020

About the author

Hi, I’m Mike Bailey—high school flunky extraordinaire and Navy-trained fixer.

Grew up in Illinois (good riddance), traveled half the world, bounced through Florida, washed up in Northern Wisconsin where winters drag, coffee bites, and toast is slathered in existential dread.

Started scribbling poetry in high school. Spent decades fixing gear, cranking out tech docs, business briefs, and Navy-grade justifications proving I can fake adulthood. Along the way, I developed a refined distrust of the usual suspects and a weaponized sense of sarcasm.

Debut novel: 10101 SOS: A Bit in Distress. Inspired by Queensrÿche’s song NM156 + Douglas Adams + unhinged early South Park = absurd roast of civilization in a universe that’s half mirror, half funhouse and half anti-reality. Immersive. Entertaining. Mildly infuriating. Exactly the point.

Off-duty, I still fix stuff—mechanical, electrical, philosophical, and the occasional cracked toenail. I only wear Hawaiian shirts and wear my socks inside out because comfort > conformity.

Also: certified Illinois Wastewater Operator because nothing says “I understand society” like a license to handle its output.

Cracked lens supplied. Bring your own conveyance.