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Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo

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Description

This book presents more than 70 tunes in the unique highly developed clawhammer style known as “Round Peak” -named after the Blue Ridge Mountain, North Carolina community where it originated. While not intended for the absolute beginner, this book will benefit players at various experience levels. Tunes in the book are organized according to the specific banjo tuning used, with A and D tunings most prominent. Much of the book’s commentary and the included audio recording is directed towards the fretless variant of the 5-string banjo but as these tunes are written in standard 5-string banjo tablature, they can most definitely be played on the more common fretted instrument. Includes tune lyrics and extensive historical and biographical notes plus technical tips and a discography. Written in 5-string banjo tablature only. Includes access to online audio. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mel Bay Publications, Inc.


Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 13, 2015


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 102 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786686324


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 22


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.1 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.23 x 11 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #191,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #20 in Banjo Songbooks #27 in Banjos (Books) #844 in Music Instruction & Study (Books)


#20 in Banjo Songbooks:


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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Amazing collection of Old Time tunes in the Round Peak style
Format: Paperback
This is *the* book for studying the round peak style for banjo. It's an amazing collection of tabs that are easy to follow and learn from. The recordings are also really helpful. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2024 by Jeff

  • Valuable Resource
Great for someone training their ears, because the tab is so comprehensive, you wish there was an accompanying DVD so that you can see what Brad is doing. But all and all, this is one of the most valuable sources of musical literature of the 20th century within the Appalachian Music tradition. If you want to play one of the most beautiful, once geographically remote styles of American music, this is a great place to start. Although I would recommend for all those potential banjo players out there, get a book, like Wayne Erbsen's Clawhammer Banjo, before attempting the Round Peak Style. Once you've got your "bum-ditty" rhythm down along with a couple tunes, you are ready for this book. One very helpful thing about this book is the accompanying CD, although Brad is playing the tunes up to tempo (very fast), so I would recommend downloading an app like Wavepad, where you can upload songs and vary the tempo without effecting pitch. Enjoy this awesome, historically sound, hauntingly beautiful piece of work. You'll not be disappointed. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2013 by Johnny Duncan

  • This is a great resource for a very specific style of Old Time ...
This is a great resource for a very specific style of Old Time Music played in a small area in Appalachia. It is very technical and not a good introduction to Clawhammer banjo. I find the tabs very difficult to follow, mainly because the familiar melodies I am trying to work out are not always played on the banjo, they are played on the fiddle and the banjo is there to accompany the fiddle. Listening to the CD is good to get a feel for this style, and to hear what a fretless banjo can do, but again, not intended to be an introduction to clawhammer banjo. For me the best thing about this book is there are 70+ songs, many with lyrics included. I use the book mainly as a reference for song lyrics. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2015 by Robert Wachunas

  • Excellent!
Format: Paperback
So many tunes / so little time! If you are into old-time clawhammer banjo - and want to learn Round Peak style the right way (ie: Tommy Jarrell) - this is THE book and MP3 collection for you. Highly recommend!
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2016 by StephLadder

  • no download code for the audio
Format: Paperback
in 2023, this is a ‘printed on demand’ book NOT FROM MEL BAY and as such does >not< have access to the crucial audio tracks that should accompany the book - BUYER BEWARE!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2023 by Amazon Customer

  • Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo - Brad Leftwich
Here is another book where you listen to the authors playing and you get tabs that sort of resemble the songs being played. The tiny bit of instruction in the beginning lets you know you bought this book mostly to listen. Some interesting comments about the fretless banjo, but again, VERY little instuction and none really on the CD. At least, the author takes the time to match up the CD tracks to the tabulature in the book but all the songs are played at jam speed. On the plus side, the included CD is a good one to have. If you already know how to play clawhammer banjo you can learn a lot about Round Peak style and also pick up more than a few licks from this fat book and its 82 tunes. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2005 by R. C. Trost

  • Decent Introduction to Round Peak style
Brad's book offers a variety of quality tabs in the round-peak style, however I sometimes find his tablature notation a bit ambiguous -- in the introduction, he provides an explanation of the "assumed" pull-offs (after striking a string, any open note on the same string or a higher string is a pull-off) and hammer-ons (any higher note on the same string), however there are some times I found that a strict interpretation of this interfered with the natural clawhammer stroke rhythm. Perhaps I'm just not an experienced enough player to know when to use one or the other, but in an educational book the ambiguity strikes me as a bit lazy (the tablature could be annotated for clarity). That aside, the book is pretty darn good. The CD has over 80 quality recordings of each song in the book, which really helped me improve my playing style and note articulation. There are a bunch of a classic tunes that I'd been wanting to learn, or had heard but didn't know the names of. However, I would say that if you've followed Rocket Science Banjo (or any other method advocating a simple index-thumb ["bum-ty"] stroke instead of the index-brush-thumb ["bum-ditty"] as the basic stroke), then there's not a whole lot in the way of new techniques in this book once you get the hang of the alternate string pull-offs, but it's more than worth it for the tablature and songs alone. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2015 by Skylar Cook

  • One of the best Clawhammer books I've found
One of the best Clawhammer books I've found. CD that comes with it is great. Really one of the most complete works on this style of clawhammer from the Round Peak region.
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2014 by Amazon Customer

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