Videos

Get Rolling: Ultra-easy, No-fail Intro To Bluegrass Banjo Only $20 for one hour video with tab.
Any new banjo player, even a child, will be playing along almost immediately with Pete on over twenty well-known songs. Basic strum and 3-finger roll technique, plus simple chord changes, yields good-sounding music. Two of Pete's students show the basic of playing together. View video highlights.

Bluegrass Slow Jam for the Total Beginner
Just Right for the Brand New Picker! A super-easy, no-fail play-along session with Pete "Dr. Banjo" Wernick. Anyone, with any instrument, can get into this bluegrass jam session, even if you've never tried it before. All you need to know are four basic chords (G, C, D and A) to play along with the band.

Beginning Bluegrass Banjo
Best Seller! Two-hour video + tab. Months' worth of learning, just $30.00. A step-by-step method based on 20 years teaching. Split-screen closeups, fast/slow repetitions make video learning best! View video highlights.

Bluegrass Jamming, A Guide For Newcomers and Closet Pickers
Seventeen bluegrass standards at moderate speeds, a soloing opportunity in each song, chords clearly shown, many pointers on the how-to's and etiquette of bluegrass jamming. Lyric book included.

Click for information about Pete's latest videos: How to Make Up Your Own Solos and Bluegrass Banjo Backup, Basic Level.

Books

Bluegrass Songbook
140 classic songs. The only book with instruction on bluegrass singing, including bluegrass harmony, and many pages of tips from the all-time greats!

Bluegrass Banjo
The "classic" that started many professional players, with almost a quarter-million copies in print! A clear, complete course from the easiest chords, songs and beginning rolls to advanced licks and instrumentals. 143 pages with many photos, 43 tablatures.

Basic Skills camp, only qualification:
If you can change chords smoothly between G, C, and D7 while playing any sort of strum, you can benefit from and enjoy this camp. If you can do the above while maintaining a TITM roll, that's better yet.

The main goals of this camp are:

• Ability to play comfortably with other players, even if only at slow speeds with easy chords (Maintaining a roll while playing is an achievable goal); and
• Ability to create a solo to a simple bluegrass song (one whose melody you can hum or pick out on the banjo).

Pete says: "If you don't have BOTH of the above skills, you are best suited to the Basic Skills camp. These skills are flat-out necessary for any player trying to get beyond the 'closet' stage. If you play leads only by reading tabs and/or memorizing instructions, this camp will help you break through."

Pete and Joan offer jam camps nationwide every spring and summer nationwide, and spring and fall in Colorado. Many of the sessions are held right before a major bluegrass festival on a nearby site. Hundreds of new jammers have been launched at these camps!

Learn:

1. How to follow chords to new songs and play along comfortably
2. The basics of simple soloing - even when you don't know the song!
3. Standard jam procedure and etiquette
4. Hands-on individualized help

• All-Time Bluegrass Jam Session Tunes - Top 100+
• On Stage Fright and Playing Under Pressure
• Using and Making Play-Along Recordings
• Helpful Hints
• A New Direction in Teaching and Learning Bluegrass
• Can't find people to jam?
• Favorite Songs That Use Two or Three Chords
• Summary of Beginner Banjo Method
• Learning to Sing in Tune
• List of Two-Chord Songs
• Loop Exercise Method