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Rating: 
Summary: Earl Scruggs is the master of the Five String Banjo!!
Review: I absolutely love this book. I've had it for a short time, but I'm just amazed at all the content and learning it has to offer. What better way to learn the technique of Bluegrass Banjo than from the master himself, Earl Scruggs. The book has a lot of great features. It offers different methods and playing, and all the technical things a banjo player needs to know in order to really play his or her best. The tabs are my favorite. All of Scruggs's best songs are tabbed to his exact notation by himself. If you feel you're a pretty good banjo player and you feel comfortable, get this book to help your playing ability soar. Scruggs even shows you how to make your own D-Tuners, which I'm gonna try very soon. I definitely give this book 5 stars because it is well worth the money and is an asset for a banjo player to have handy for the rest of his life.
Rating:
Summary: A necessary tool for Bluegrass Banjo
Review: I absolutely love this book. I've had it for a short time, but I'm just amazed at all the content and learning it has to offer. What better way to learn the technique of Bluegrass Banjo than from the master himself, Earl Scruggs. The book has a lot of great features. It offers different methods and playing, and all the technical things a banjo player needs to know in order to really play his or her best. The tabs are my favorite. All of Scruggs's best songs are tabbed to his exact notation by himself. If you feel you're a pretty good banjo player and you feel comfortable, get this book to help your playing ability soar. Scruggs even shows you how to make your own D-Tuners, which I'm gonna try very soon. I definitely give this book 5 stars because it is well worth the money and is an asset for a banjo player to have handy for the rest of his life.
Rating:
Summary: The essential guide to learning the banjo
Review: I have used this book ever since I can remember. It takes you from starting out on the banjo, like learning which string is what, and brings you up to playing with confidence. It also helps you to have fun not only with the banjo, but also with other musicians. This book not only deals with how to play the banjo, but also takes you through some of the history of it. This book also shows you how to make your own banjo. This gives you even more insight for your playing. This is truly one of the GREAT books of the 5 string banjo. I heartily recommend it for anyone that wants not only to learn to play the banjo, but also for anyone that wants to learn about this great American instrument.
Rating:
Summary: To Learn Banjo- The Holy Grail
Review: I have used this book for quite some time. It is a fine insight on the rudiments of "Scruggs" style banjo picking and a much better insight on the man himself. I would recomend this book to anyone intersted in Earl and his begginnings. Be forewarned, however, that the tablatures for the songs contained in it, are not complete versions of the songs as he recorded them, and are in many cases, incorrect.
Rating:
Summary: The best banjo book ever written
Review: This book is to bluegrass banjo as The Holy Bible is to Christianity. This book is wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone. I would recommend getting the audio tape for the book also.Earl is the best. Earl is the innovator. He is one of the few that is truly entitled to write a book.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much, too fast
Review: This book presents too much information too quickly. I'm a music teacher, and if I were to teach somebody banjo, I'd use a different book. The material just isn't sequenced properly. All of the tunes are fairly advanced, and there's not really any songs that a beginner could play. All there is for beginners is boring, repetitive exercises. The material on chords and music theory progresses far to quickly for most newcomers to the subject to understand. Earl Scruggs is certainly a master of the instrument, but his pedagogical techniques leave much to be desired. The book might be useful to somebody who has some background in music and some experience with a stringed instrument, like guitar. It also has a lot of good information about the instrument in general - it's construction, history, etc. One other thing - the binding makes it almost impossible to lay the book flat, which is very frustrating when you try to put it up on a music stand.
Rating:
Summary: Too much, too fast
Review: This book presents too much information too quickly. I'm a music teacher, and if I were to teach somebody banjo, I'd use a different book. The material just isn't sequenced properly. All of the tunes are fairly advanced, and there's not really any songs that a beginner could play. All there is for beginners is boring, repetitive exercises. The material on chords and music theory progresses far to quickly for most newcomers to the subject to understand. Earl Scruggs is certainly a master of the instrument, but his pedagogical techniques leave much to be desired. The book might be useful to somebody who has some background in music and some experience with a stringed instrument, like guitar. It also has a lot of good information about the instrument in general - it's construction, history, etc. One other thing - the binding makes it almost impossible to lay the book flat, which is very frustrating when you try to put it up on a music stand.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential book for bluegrass banjo players
Review: This is the de-facto standard for bluegrass banjo. It covers: the history of the banjo, how to read tablature, how to play the banjo (three-finger Scruggs style, of course), tablature for a over a dozen bluegrass classics, a great chapter on how to build a banjo, and finally a short biography of Earl. If you read this book, you will know your banjo well. What's amazing is the age of the book and how relevant every bit of the text still is today. Banjo's just haven't changed much! The only reason I don't give this book five stars is that it probably isn't for everybody. If you know nothing about music, it probably won't be sufficient. For example, if you don't know timing of musical notes (quarter notes, eighth notes, etc.) and how to work out the timing, this book (while it covers that subject very briefly) probably won't teach it to you. But if you have a basic understanding of timing, and have a banjo in your hand, this book will get you going. I look at it like this... it's a much better resource than Earl had at his disposal as a kid, and look where he's got to. So you and I have no excuses... ;-) This book used to have an LP album (sold separately) that had Earl playing the lessons for you to hear, and that has been transferred to cassette. (NOTE: The book comes with no media at all!) Perhaps if they came out with a CD-version of the cassette, and gave it to you inside the book, I would give the book 5 stars. I've looked, and only recently found the cassette at an online sheet music store. It's on the way! Happy picking!
Rating:
Summary: THE BANJO BIBLE WRITTEN BY THE BANJO PROPHET!
Review: This is the guy who developed the fast-pickin' style known as bluegrass, or really, "Scrugg's Style," banjo. This is the man who played 'The Beverly Hillbillies" song, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (from the movie Bonnie & Clyde), and "Duelin' Banjos" from the movie "Deliverance." It's the book to show beginners and experienced ones alike the standard rolls, finger techniques, and breakdowns that every banjo player should know.
Rating:
Summary: THE BANJO BIBLE WRITTEN BY THE BANJO PROPHET!
Review: This is the guy who developed the fast-pickin' style known as bluegrass, or really, "Scrugg's Style," banjo. This is the man who played 'The Beverly Hillbillies" song, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (from the movie Bonnie & Clyde), and "Duelin' Banjos" from the movie "Deliverance." It's the book to show beginners and experienced ones alike the standard rolls, finger techniques, and breakdowns that every banjo player should know.
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