Red Henry

Beginning Banjo Volume 1
Beginning Banjo Volume 2
Slow Jam with Murphy and Casey
Picking Up the Pace: More Slow Jamming
Easy Songs for Banjo
Beyond Vamping: Fancy Banjo Backup

…so as you can see, it’s a great bunch of titles. Now, we’re working on 8 more DVDs, which will be available digitally in a few weeks:

Banjo for Misfits
Vamping: Beginning Banjo Backup
Improvising: The First Stage
Beginning Guitar
Beginning Mandolin
Beginning Bass
Beginning Fiddle
Beginning Dobro

These will occupy us for a while, as we take care of all the details about putting them on line. I’d estimate that it will take about 5 or 6 weeks to have them available. But from now on, we need to hear from you. Which of our DVDs would you most like to see available this way? We’ll have about 25 more DVDs, and need to know which way to go. Please let us know, either through your comments on this post, or by way of the “Contact Us” button on the website. We can’t promise that your favorite DVD will be on line soon, but your opinion is important!

Red Henry

Red Henry

This will give your packages their best chance to arrive at your house by Christmas Eve. So place your orders either on line or on the phone (800-227-2357), and we’ll send them out today and tomorrow by Priority Mail!

Red Henry

Our band (Murphy, myself, Christopher, and Cousin David) is going out this afternoon to play the first of this year’s Christmas parties. This is a large party held at a local church, and we’re looking forward to playing music. A good time will be had by all!

Red Henry

We’ve also had a lot of interest in our very first Murphy Method Banjo Camp, scheduled for late March. We often get inquiries saying “Where can I attend a banjo camp?”, and now Murphy and Casey, two of the best banjo teachers anywhere, will be giving a camp right here in Winchester, Va. There are still some student slots remaining, so if interested, take a look at the details here.
. . . . .

On another subject entirely, last night I did an extensive interview with a researcher who may write a book about Randy Wood, the pioneer (and still currently-active) bluegrass instrument builder who began making superb mandolins, banjos, and guitars way back in the 1960s. Since I have Randy’s very first mandolin as well as #3 (a Bill Monroe mandolin, which Murphy bought from Bill’s estate sale in 2001 and gave me), I like Randy’s instruments a lot and was able to share many stories from 35 and 40 years ago, about Randy’s pioneer work in making great instruments for bluegrass pickers to play.

Everybody keep picking!

Red Henry

Red

Red Henry

I’ll be on the phone myself most of today: 800-227-2357! Talk to you soon!

Red

Red Henry

Now, this little blog isn’t about banjo picks, so rest easy that there won’t be any battles started about those. There are as many opinions about banjo picks as there are banjo players!

But today’s story is about FLATPICKS. We sometimes take them for granted, but not everyone knows what they are. Once a lady had seen our ad for the “Flatpicking Guitar DVD”, and called us to ask, “What does ‘flat picking’ mean?” Well, we did our best to explain, but if you don’t know what a flatpick is, then this won’t mean much to you.

I have a particular, favorite kind of flatpick. These were made of a particular kind of plastic by just a few companies (such as Gibson), and they’re no longer made. Well, I had hoarded about a dozen of these picks, and I used or lost less than one a year, thinking they were a lifetime supply. Then, about a year ago, I put them in a safe place.

Well, you know what that means. I lost them. They were so safe that I couldn’t remember where I’d put them. I looked in every great “safe place” I could think of. I only had two of the picks that I hadn’t put away, and I thought maybe those two would have to be my lifetime supply…

That is, until two days ago. The picks were on a shelf in in plain sight, and fell off when I put something else on that shelf. There they were, my favorite plastic. Good grief.

The moral of all this (if one exists) applies not just to flatpicks but also to banjo thumbpicks, and is in three parts:

(1) Don’t get attached to just one kind of plastic for your picks;

(2) Use lots of different kinds of picks, like Bill Monroe did, so that your fingers are used to variety and can adapt to other kinds of plastic; AND–

(3) When you put your picks in a safe place, Don’t put them in too safe a place. Put them in a place you can find again!

Everybody pick purty–

Red

Great Banjo Tunes cover

The Gold Rush
Shenandoah Breakdown
Bill Cheatham
Dixie Breakdown
Kansas City Railroad Blues  (taught by Casey)
Limehouse Blues

–as you can see, these are some of the very most popular numbers that come up in jam sessions around the whole country! As always, the tunes are taught note-by-note by ear, the Murphy Method way. We’ve had a lot of requests for this DVD, and now it is here!

. . . . .

Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar Vol 2 cover

Our second new DVD is called “Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar Volume 2″ (the old videotape was titled “Basic Bluegrass Runs Vol.2″). We’ve also had many, many requests to make this available on DVD, and we’ve begun sending them out already. This follows on our very popular Volume 1, which we released last year.

Both of these new DVDs are IN STOCK and READY TO SHIP! Just order through our website for prompt shipping and good picking!

Here are the DVD projects we’re working on for the rest of the year:

1. Great Banjo Tunes (was “Advanced Banjo”): These DVDs should be here in about a week.

2. Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar Vol.2 (was “Basic Bluegrass Runs on Guitar Vol. 2):  Also due in about a week.

3. More Advanced Earl: This DVD is actually all ready to go, but the music publishers are dallying about sending us the licenses we’ve asked for. We hope to have the required licenses, and the DVDs pressed, within the next two months.

4. Rawhide and Other Banjo Favorites: This project’s in the same situation as More Advanced Earl. As soon as we have the music licenses, we’ll send the DVD off to be pressed!

When these projects are in our hands, that will make eleven DVDs we’ve brought out this year!

If you have any questions about our DVD conversion schedule, feel free to write us via the “Contact Us” function on the Murphy Method website. We’ll answer any questions we can!

Lots of folks are ordering our other new banjo DVDs too: Vamping (Beginning Banjo Backup); Soldier’s Joy and Other Traditional Favorites; and Capos, Chords, and Theory. These (along with all our Murphy Method products) are here just waiting for you, so order yourself up some fun learning and playing with Murphy and Casey!

That’s all for now! I have to get back to the orders! Good picking to everybody–