Whether you're just starting out or have been playing banjo for years, Peghead Nation has courses to help you develop your playing and tune repertoire. From beginning to advanced banjo lessons with some of the finest players and instructors in roots music, you can delve into bluegrass, old-time, clawhammer, Scruggs-style, melodic, and other styles, building your repertoire of tunes and filling out your toolbox of techniques as you go. See introduction videos of all of our banjo courses below, and check out free sample lessons as well. Enjoy!
with Bill Evans
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Beginner / Intermediate
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• 35 Lessons
• 30 Tunes
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The driving sound of the banjo is at the heart of many styles of roots music. Get started with basic chords, strums, and fingerings, along with simple bluegrass rolls, accompaniment patterns, clawhammer style, and more.
with Bill Evans
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 100 Lessons
• 82 Tunes
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Learn to make your banjo drive the band or play sweet melodies, with solos to well-known songs and tunes, backup techniques, and more.
with Evie Ladin
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Beginner / Intermediate
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• 78 Lessons
• 61 Tunes
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Learn old-time clawhammer banjo from the beginning, with basic clawhammer technique exercises and lots of great old-time and traditional songs to play.
with Bruce Molsky
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 45 Lessons
• 44 Tunes
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Learn the tunes and techniques of some of the legends of old-time banjo, taught by one of the icons of contemporary old-time music.
with Danny Barnes
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 20 Lessons
• 9 Tunes
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Roots music iconoclast Danny Barnes reveals his systematic approach to the banjo, with one-of-a-kind insights on improvisation, reading music, getting a good sound out of the banjo, rhythm and timing, and more.
with Wes Corbett
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 44 Lessons
• 30 Tunes
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Learn the style of contemporary three-finger banjo used by Béla Fleck, Noam Pikelny, Ron Block, and others. With lessons on single-string and melodic style, fingerboard theory, improvisation, and more. For intermediate to advanced players.
with Bill Evans
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 9 Lessons
• 20 Tunes
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Earl Scruggs: A Player’s Guide picks up where Earl’s renowned instruction book Earl Scruggs and the Five-String Banjo leaves off, teaching tunes and techniques that will help each student become a more complete Scruggs-style player.
with Bill Evans
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 9 Lessons
• 23 Tunes
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Learn the two bluegrass banjo techniques that were added to Scruggs-style to create exciting bluegrass music from the 1950s to the present day, melodic-style and single-string.
with Bill Evans
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Intermediate / Advanced
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• 9 Lessons
• 18 Tunes
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Next to Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe is the most influential five-string bluegrass banjo player in the history of the instrument and The Banjo Style of J.D. Crowe provides an overview of his long career, teaching tunes and techniques from J.D.’s earliest days with Jimmy Martin through his classic recordings with The New South and his remarkable work with The Bluegrass Album Band. The series is designed for intermediate to advanced banjo players, and features guest banjo stars Ron Block and Ron Stewart.
Banjo Performances
We’d love to hear what you’ve learned on Peghead Nation. Record a video of your playing and share it with us on our social media channels to help celebrate our 10th!
Peghead Nation’s Contemporary Bluegrass Banjo instructor plays a traditional classic with his duet partner, hammer dulcimer virtuoso Simon Chrisman.
Our Clawhammer Banjo instructor plays an old-time favorite in the Peghead Nation studio.
The flatpicker, songwriter, and singer performs the title track to her Grammy-winning album at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California.
Peghead Nation instructor teams up with beatboxer and progressive hip hop artist to create a cross-genre version of an old-time favorite.
Bill Evans and friends pay tribute to Earl Scruggs's 100th Birthday with an encore of epic banjo proportions.
A wonderful banjo duet on a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic from banjo ambassadors Bill and Babi Evans.
Peghead Nation banjo and mandolin instructors play an Osborne Brothers classic at Great Lakes Music Camp.
Peghead Nation Clawhammer Banjo instructor plays one of her original songs during the Great Lakes Music Camp instructor concert.
Banjo Demos
Evie Ladin demonstrates one of her own go-to banjos.
Peghead Nation banjo instructor Wes Corbett discusses the pickup, amp, and pedals he uses when playing onstage with the Sam Bush Band.
Peghead Nation instructor Steve Baughman demonstrates his go-to open-back banjo.
Evie Ladin demonstrates a custom-made open-back banjo.
Evie Ladin demonstrates a great mid-price open-back banjo.
Peghead Nation instructor Steve Baughman demonstrates his fretless gourd banjo.
Danny Barnes demonstrates his signature model banjo.
San Francisco multi-instrumentalist Rik Elswit demonstrates his 11-inch open-back Huss and Dalton banjo.
Peghead Nation banjo instructor Bill Evans on everything you need to know to get started with the banjo.
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