Very sad about Hal.   He was a legend and a trail blazer in banjo web world.   His " Classic Banjo " website is a real treasure.   He also happened to be a bloody nice bloke.   We are going to miss you mate.   You have certainly left a void in the banjo world.

Condolences to his family. 

I have just posted on You Tube, Tyro Mazurka.   I videoed it some time ago, but my fingers will not let me play it now.  My grand children wanted to hear it.

Just type in 'Lonburg'.

Hi Rob

For years I could not master the Drop Thumb method of Clawhammer playing. All I could manage was what was known as 'up picking' from Pete Seeger's book. This style was okay for the slower tunes, but arm breaking if you wanted to play dance tunes with the fiddler. Then I picked up a tutor with a tape by a bloke called Larry Peterson. He just had a way of making it easy, with lots of simple tunes to play along with. Larry lived in Omaha Nebraska. I haven't heard from him for years,… Continue

A Happy 4th of July to all my American mates.
Ray

Hi Gang
I was watching the Pete Seeger interviews recently by Tim Robbins. I noticed that Pete had a most unusual Bridge on his banjo. It seemed to have a couple of little 'outriggers' on it. This gave it four points of contact on the vellum. Can anyone tell me anything about it. I've never seen one before.
Ray

This site is really going places. Now we have Rob Murch and Mike Redman as members, both excellent players. This enthusiasm for the classic banjo is catching and we could be seeing a resurgence. Who knows.