Navigating the Fingerboard: From Circle of Fifths to 4-3-5 Theory of Finding Chords and Creating Solos Over the Fingerboard with Greg Cahill

Banjo | Greg Cahill | Intermediate | Period 1 | Week 2 (July 14-19, 2024)

This class will cover the circle of fifths and Nashville number system theories and apply them to connecting chord positions in different sections of the 5-string banjo fingerboard. We will use full and partial chord positions to create solos in different keys and learn how to transpose solos from one key to another. This class will also focus on a quick-study way to learn solos and memorize them more speedily and efficiently. Be sure to bring your banjo, picks, and a capo to class. There will be handouts and it is highly recommended to bring a recording device/charged cell phone to record any points of discussion or playing demonstrations of particular interest throughout the class presentation.

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About the Instructor 

Greg Cahill has been playing bluegrass banjo since the early 1970s. He formed The Special Consensus in the Chicago area and the band became a full-time touring and recording entity in 1975. Greg has appeared on all twenty-one of The Special Consensus recordings that have garnered seven International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards and two GRAMMY nominations. He has also released three solo recordings, one European bluegrass music recording, four banjo instructional videos/DVDs and three banjo tablature and instructional books. He has appeared on numerous recordings by other artists and on countless national television and radios commercials (jingles). Greg conducts workshops and master classes at bluegrass camps and festivals worldwide, has taught bluegrass banjo at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago for 50 years and he became the first adjunct professor teaching banjo as a member of the Columbia College Strings Department in Chicago in 2011. Greg was a regular contributor of banjo tablature and interviews with notable banjo players for Banjo Newsletter.

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