Banjo | Murphy Henry | Beginning | Period 1 | Week 2 (July 14-19, 2024)
Basic info for both classes: We will be learning to play banjo by ear. (Don’t panic! We will move slowly, step-by-step with lots of slow playing!) We will do a lot of playing together, so come prepared to play! I teach all my banjo lessons by ear, so we will not be using any tablature or written music of any kind. This may seem scary at first, but I will explain everything we do note for note, very slowly and we will all do MANY repetitions together. You are welcome to record the class. (It will be very helpful to have a banjo strap, although this is not absolutely necessary.)
Supplies to bring to both classes: Banjo, strap (very helpful, although not absolutely necessary), picks, extra strings, banjo capo, recording device if you want to record.
YouTube videos of me: There are plenty of videos of my teaching and playing on YouTube. Just type in “Murphy Henry Banjo Lessons.” My daughter Casey Henry also teaches the Murphy Method way and has a YouTube channel. It might help to watch some of these.
Looking forward to working with you. I love to teach beginners!!!
More info: First, we will learn (or review) the three basic banjo rolls. I call these the forward roll, backward roll, and square roll (also called “alternating thumb” roll). You may know these rolls by other names, or you may do rolls without knowing their names. We will then use these rolls, and some easy chord positions, to play a tune (or perhaps even two tunes).
As the week goes on, we may learn how to do some basic improvising on the banjo, playing simple rolls on the three main chords, G, C, and D, in songs like “Blue Ridge Cabin Home”, “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”, “Worried Gal”, “Do Lord”, and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”.
What you should know before coming to this class: How to tune your banjo, how to put on your picks, how to do some basic rolls on the banjo (regardless of what you call them), and how to make a first-position C chord.
You can find this basic information many places, but I do offer it on my Murphy Method New Beginning Banjo DVD Vol. 1 (also available as a download), available at our website murphymethod.com.
It will be helpful, but not necessary, if you can play a song or two—without looking at tab or a book.
About the Instructor
Murphy Henry, co-founder (with her husband Red) of The Murphy Method, teaches banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, bass, and ukulele. She’s been teaching almost as long as she has been playing.
Murphy grew up singing in church and taking piano lessons. She learned how to play guitar during the folk boom, and soon taught her sisters to play, so that she’d have someone to play with. In college (University of Georgia) she played at coffeehouses with just her guitar until, on the recommendation of Florida folksinger Gamble Rogers, she went to her first bluegrass festival and decided that she wanted to play bluegrass.
The Murphy Method has been based in Winchester, Va., for the past 37 years, with Red and Murphy still running the business with some major help in all things from Casey and loads of technical help from Christopher. Red records and edits all our lessons, duplicates our DVDs, ships orders, and talks to customers on the phone. Yes! You can still reach us by phone! Murphy develops new lessons to record, gives in-person lessons in Winchester, and now also offers Zoom or Skype lessons.
In 2013 Murphy published her first book Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass with the University of Illinois Press. In 2015 she received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) for her “pioneering accomplishments” in the bluegrass world.
Murphy has taught at banjo camps all over the country including Augusta Heritage Bluegrass Week (Elkins, WV), Midwest Banjo Camp (Michigan), American Banjo Camp (near Seattle), Steve Kaufman Camp (Maryville, Tenn.), Maryland Banjo Academy, Tennessee Banjo Institute, California Bluegrass Association Music Camp (Grass Valley) and Banjo Camp North (Massachusetts).
Murphy is currently working on a biography of Maybelle Carter, which she hopes to publish in 2027, which will be the 100th anniversary of the Carter Family’s first recording session in Bristol, Virginia!