Banjo Lessons, Schools & Camps

Banjoteacher.com is an instructional resource for banjo students, from beginner through intermediate and advanced skills. The site offers training CDs and DVDs, books from gospel songs to Scruggs style, and online lessons via instructional videos. Banjoyteacher.com also includes free banjo instruction among its resources.

On the Jim Bottorff's Banjo Page are audio/playback files for practice and play-along. As a resource for banjo students Jim Bottorff's Banjo Page offers audio for tuning plectrum, 5-string and tenor banjos, as well as sheet music and chord charts, and dozens of play-along songs.

American Banjo Camp is a weekend long program for adults 18 and up, in Washington state at Fort Flagler on Puget Sound. The program is a study in old-time and bluegrass banjo with hands-on classes and demonstrations, jamming sessions and a faculty concert.

Midwest Banjo Camp is an opportunity to study old-time or bluegrass banjo with current players and teachers in both styles. The weekend-long program includes hands-on classes, demonstrations, two faculty concerts, and lots of jamming time for novice to advanced banjo enthusiasts.

Dr Banjo Bluegrass Music Jam Camps offers winter banjo camps in Boulder, CO for those with skills ranging from basic to intermediate and advanced. The week long camp focuses on skills from working on solos without tablature, to jamming, to creating licks. One-on-one sessions for problem-solving technique and execution are also available in certain camp programs.

Banjo Ben's is a free instructional web-site for beginners, using the song "Cripple Creek" as the jumping off point for learning to play bluegrass banjo. The site and instructional material are designed on the assumption that the student has never played banjo before; with information/tips on buying your first bluegrass banjo, tuning, to technique, hand movements, timing, explanation of tablature and locating regional bluegrass instructors using the available directory.

Bluegrass Banjo Lessons offers tips on learning to play bluegrass/5 string banjo. Offering supplemental instructions designed to expedite banjo students' progress, the lessons and articles are in the form of videos and blogs, including band performances.

Dr. Horsehair Music sells banjo recordings and instruction books by Bob Flesher, focused on the modern-day clawhammer banjo or frailing style, and the minstrel banjo style. They also include the history of the banjo.

Suwanee Banjo Camp offers instruction for clawhammer, old-time fingerpicking, and bluegrass banjo styles. They also offer African Roots Program classes that focus on the techniques and repertoire of the akonting (ekonting), the likely close ancestor of the 5-string banjo. The annual weekend camp is located in Florida.

Dusty Banjos offers one-on-one banjo and mandolin classes to suit the student all year round in Galway. It is also possible for arrangements to be made for those interested in trying out a banjo before going out and buying one. They offer instruction suitable for beginners up to a good standard. Adult beginners are especially welcome.

The Brown's Creek Banjo Camp and Fiddler retreat offers workshops for playing the clawhammer banjo and local mountain style fiddle, and is instructed by Dwight Diller, musician of West Virginia's traditional music, instructing since 1971.  The Brown's Creek camps consist of 2-4 students per retreat, with large classes being 4 or 5 students, and last 4 days/5 nights, with beginner levels and intermediate levels. Weekend workshops also take place throughout the US and England.

The Fretted Instruments School of Guitar and Banjo provides private bluegrass banjo lessons from beginner to advanced. With its history located in the Greenwich Village of the 1960s, instruction is still based in Greenwich Village today. The Web site offers TABs and MIDI files for listening, ranging from beginner to advanced in skill levels, with dozens of banjo songs.

Hot Banjo Licks provides 50 licks in different volumes such as kick-offs, g-licks, funky licks, and endings. Each has audio recordings to help in learning the touch and timing of each lick, and complete easy-to-read tabbed e-books to print out, with commentary and tips for better playing. They are also available as instant downloads. Wholesale rates are available.

Located in Ripley, Ohio, the Ripley Banjo Works offers banjo and guitar instruction for beginning and advanced musicians. Lessons are 50 minutes and are arranged in blocks of 6 week sessions, which identify short-term and long-term goals to improve the student's performance and repertory skills.

Banjo Train offers lessons instructed by Lee Kaufmann. Lessons use photos, tablature, video and audio for step-by-step instruction. Currently lessons cover beginning, intermediate, and playing in the key of F. Web site resources include basic music theory, banjo tuning, tips on buying a banjo, free tutorials and banjo tablatures.

Videojug offers online videos on how to play and learn the banjo. Lessons include right hand technique, left hand technique, banjo chords, how to buy a banjo, the history of the banjo, and more.