More Banjo

Ned Luberecki's Bluegrass Banjo for Beginners 

Learn How to Play Bluegrass Banjo 

Anxious to learn how to play Bluegrass banjo? You couldn’t be in better hands than Ned Luberecki’s. Ned is one of the most popular banjo instructors at music camps around the world including Nashcamp, Munich Banjo Camp, Camp Bluegrass, B.C. Bluegrass Workshop, Midwest Banjo Camp and many more. Ned was also named ‘Banjo Player of the Year’ in 2018 by the International Bluegrass Music Association and he tours the globe with The Becky Buller Band and with Stephen Mougin (of the Sam Bush Band) as Nedski & Mojo. 

We’re thrilled to welcome Ned to the family with his first TrueFire course, Bluegrass Banjo for Beginners! You will likewise be thrilled with how quickly his fast-track, hands-on curriculum gets your Bluegrass banjo chops up to speed without struggling through tedious theory or boring exercises. In fact, you’ll play your way through the course, first learning the essential chords and rolls, and then putting them to work immediately learning a repertoire of popular Bluegrass tunes and melodies. 

”We’ll kick off the course learning how to play the fingerpicking patterns that we banjo players call rolls, you’ll learn your first chords, left-hand techniques, and how to start with a basic melody and use fill-ins to turn it all into bluegrass-style banjo. You’ll learn to play Cripple Creek, Cumberland Gap, Jesse James, Worried Man Blues, Tom Dooley and more must-know tunes. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to call yourself a Bluegrass banjo player!” 

Ned organized the course into 6 sections. In the first section, you’ll learn the basics. ”We'll go over some of the basics (how to hold the banjo, naming the parts of the banjo, picks, tuning, etc.) If you've played another instrument in the past, some of this will already be familiar, but there are a few terms which are "banjo specific", so follow along. If you've never played an instrument before, just jump right in and get started!” 

The second section is focused on banjo rolls. ”Banjo rolls are repeatable finger picking patterns. Practicing rolls will help you develop speed and accuracy with your right hand. While there are many combinations of three fingers and five strings that can be called rolls, we'll focus on 5 basic rolls to get you started.” 

Chords are the focus of the third section. ”Now it's time to get your left hand into the game and learn some chords. In this section, you'll learn the chords G, C and D7 and a basic strum to get you playing a couple of easy and familiar songs.” 

Combining rolls and chords is covered in the fourth section. ” We’ll combine the new chords you've learned with a couple of rolls and make the Tom Dooley, Worried Man Blues, and Boil Them Cabbage Down songs sound more like banjo picking!” 

In the fifth section, you’ll learn how play songs starting with the melody. ”We'll start by playing the melody alone with no embellishments, and then I'll show you how to add some fill in notes and rolls to start to make it sound like bluegrass banjo playing! We’ll work with Jesse James and Good Old Mountain Dew.” 

In the sixth and final section, you’ll pick a few left-hand techniques and put them to work. “You’ll learn how to play slides, pull-offs, hammer-ons and we’ll apply them playing Cripple Creek and Cumberland Gap.” 

Ned will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way.  You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the playing examples. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. 

Grab your banjo and let’s play some bluegrass with Ned Luberecki! 

About the educator

Ned Luberecki

Ned Luberecki is the banjo player for The Becky Buller Band and also tours with Stephen Mougin (of the Sam Bush Band) as Nedski & Mojo. Ned was formerly the banjoist for Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, The Rarely Herd, Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time, The Gary Ferguson Band, Radio Flyer, Paul Adkins and the Borderline Band and in 2018, Ned was voted Banjo Player of the Year by the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association).  

Ned teaches private banjo lessons in Nashville and now over the internet via webcam! Check out nedski.com for more info. Ned is a popular banjo instructor at music camps across the country and around the world, having taught at Nashcamp, Munich Banjo Camp, Camp Bluegrass, B.C. Bluegrass Workshop, Midwest Banjo Camp and many more.  

Ned is also an on-air personality on Sirius XM Satellite Radios Bluegrass Junction (channel 62). Tune in Sunday Afternoons from 2:00 - 6:00 pm (eastern) for More Banjo Sunday. Ned brings his banjo to the SiriusXM Channel 61 studios and plays live banjo tunes during the show! Stay tuned for the Sunday Banjo Lesson every Sunday at 3:00 pm (eastern) when all the breaks in the hour are devoted to how to play the banjo. Ned also hosts the Newgrass/Progressive Bluegrass show Derailed, Saturday nights 7:00 - 9:00 pm eastern.