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
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
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
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
Intermediate / Advanced
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• 44 Lessons
• 43 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
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
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
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
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
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
Peghead Nation’s Clawhammer Banjo instructor plays a mashup of two versions of a great old-time tune.
A powerhouse band packed with Peghead Nation instructors plays an original tune from Bill Evans.
Peghead Nation's Contemporary Bluegrass Banjo instructor Wes Corbett joins Sam Bush on a classic John Hartford song.
Banjo Demos
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.
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