8/3/16

Earl Scruggs 5 String Banjo Instruction Album (Poer International Corp, 1967)

Forget teaching birds to talk, or any of that.  Let's learn to play the banjo instead.  Of course, I said recently that you couldn't learn to play the guitar from a 45 rpm record, so why then would a longer format work for a more difficult instrument? I'd say the same applies, and it's equally as futile to try and tune a banjo to a record as it is a guitar.  As this record was in basically unplayed condition, I'd assume nobody tried it.
Once again, a book is meant to accompany this recording, but in this case, it was sold separately.  You will just have to enjoy learning from Scruggs' dulcet, Huckleberry Hound-like tones, which, being born in the American South, convey a sense of friendliness, to me at least.
He does cover a lot of ground on this one, as the back cover shows, and if you've ever messed with a banjo, you know it's a bit overwhelming.  Why anybody invented an instrument with a round body--which slides off your lap as you are trying to play it--I will never understand (probably some sort of sciencey reason).  Good luck!

LINK:  Earl Scruggs (don't we need an apostrophe here?) 5 (don't we need a hyphen here?) String Banjo Instruction Album (Poer International Corp., ES BIA-1, 1967)


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