Hello All,
I am new to the forum. Nice to meet you. I built a banjo back when I was in college, 1978. Yup, now 60. I was able to play back then but don’t recall much. I also play the bag pipes, nothing easy here. I located my banjo hidden in the attic and have started some on-line classes, got four tunes down. But, I am thinking of becoming a Gold Pick member to broaden my horizon’s and hopefully take off and learn. I do put a lot of time into practice. My question is are the Banjo Ben lessons worth it? Those of you that have taken them, I’d like to here your honest feedback. Thanks,
Cliff
Lessons are they worth the money
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Honestly, yes, 10 times over.
Just try for one month to see if it works for you as well. You can cancel any time if it’s not for you.
Hope that helps.
Jack
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I started with Ben in late 2012. Ben was my only lesson source and I learned how to play only with his lessons.
I started with the Section Rolls lesson. I played that for about 10 days straight (maybe two weeks) an hour or two a day. Then I went on to Cripple Creek. Now after 10 days with Section Rolls, I still had no control over my fingers and I could not really play. Cripple Creek sounded crippled but not like a banjo tune!
For the the first 2 or 3 years, I practiced 3 - 5 hours a day, every day.
It’s 2020 now, and I can kind of play, well enough to fool strangers who don’t know about banjo playing.
Ben taught me 100% how to play. It was worth every penny!
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Welcome to the forum, @troutonthefly! In my opinion, banjobenclark.com is by far the best instructional site on the web. I highly recommend becoming a Gold Pick member. You can create a free trial membership and get access to three lessons as well. I hope you have fun learning the banjo!
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Hi Cliff, and welcome to the forum!
I have both taken and given lessons in person, and taken many lessons online from several different instructors. I am a lifetime member here.
I consider Ben to be one of the more gifted teachers I’ve run across and feel it is well worth what he charges for what he offers.
I honestly don’t know of a better deal if you want to learn to play one of the instruments Ben teaches.
Dave
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Hi Cliff, Welcome to @BanjoBen 's Forum. My honest opinion. This is by far the best place on the WWW to learn Banjo, Guitar and Mandolin.
I am a life member and it’s the best investment I ever made. I have been a member for about 6-7 years and I learn new stuff every day. Everyone on the Forum is really friendly and helpful.
I have tried pretty much every online banjo tutor and IMHO no one out there can match the high quality, detail instruction Ben offers, TABs are 100% accurate, Lessons are easy to follow, Learning is so much fun.
There’s are literally hundreds of lessons here much, much more than you will find on any other site offering similar tuition. A Goldpick Membership is like having your own personal tutor come visit you in your own home.
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Hello Cliff,
I never had anyone else to teach music, I have used music books but never made much progress. But after joining Ben’s site, in the last of couple of years I have made so much progress in Guitar!! And it saved a lot of time, that itself is well worth the money! Ben’s arrangements are excellent, covers all techniques I guess, and also playable at the same time! I can play quite a few songs at decent tempo, that gives me satisfaction. Still so much study material to go through. I started with annual membership then gave it to my daughter and got a gold pick for myself. I would suggest like Jack said try one month and convert it to a gold pick if you liked it!
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Welcome Cliff!!!
I have been to several sites that offer tablature and instruction. None compare to BBC.com in my opinion. There are many sites out there where you can get tabs for songs you want to learn, and many sites that will be able to tell you how to play them. What I have found to be the differences here are; 1, not only are you instructed how to play the tune, but you are educated on why you do things one way, versus another, 2, you can post video here of you playing your particular song/lesson, and get real feedback on things you may need to change to become better, as well as the things you are doing well, 3, the group here, on the forums is amazing!!! Anything from instrument maintenance and practice tips, to what kind of shampoo you need to use on your dog. Well, I haven’t seen that one…YET.
Anyway, bottom line is, its FUN here, and if it’s fun, you enjoy it, and if you enjoy it, you will want to learn and participate, and all those things make you better at it, whatever “IT” is.
As said above, give it a try, heck its free for a month, and I will guarantee you will be glad you did.
And participate in the forums when you can. A great deal of knowledge and a good time can be had!!!
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And of course,… it’s banjo. If you can’t have fun with a banjo with this crowd, then you don’t need a music teacher, you need a travel agent.
And if that don’t work, you’ve always got bag pipes and Edinburgh to fall back on.
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There is no better online teacher than Ben. And if you have problems , he will personally help you with them. I believe he really cares about his students. Not just the money.
Worth every penny !!!
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Banjo Ben is totally worth it, and the best part is you can talk and receive advice from Ben himself!
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Absolutely!!!
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I quit one on one lessons to join here. Not once have I regretted it.
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Yes the lessons are 100% worth it!
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it’s definitely worth it! you get help in the forum or from @BanjoBen ourself if you need, you get tabs in pdf, mp3 back up etc. i think there are few if anyone who offers such a package. and @BanjoBen also has a very interesting online shop.
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I’ve toured all corners of the Internet in search of lessons and teachers for harmonica, guitar, mandolin, banjo (please don’t tell my friends) and the triangle. IMHO there is no better place for learning. The videos are great and the tabs, jam tracks, solo tracks and TEF tabs are essential learning tools worth every penny. Thinking about what it costs to buy books or private lessons, this is the deal of the century! Well, besides buying a 1923 Gibson mando back In July of ‘23. Come on in the water’s fine.
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Are they lessons worth the money? Yes.
I too fooled with my banjo for decades and at age 65 decided to quite fooling around & learn how this thing works. I decided to put aside my pride, start at the very beginning and if the instruction said “Wave a chicken over your head,” I would start looking for pullet. After about two months I have noticed a huge improvement in my confidence & ability as I overcame muscle memory and began to “train my brain” to play.
I find the mp3 rhythm tracks & TEF files a great bonus and very helpful, as well as the video instructions. They help make off-line practice a lot more productive.
Are the lessons worth the money? Only if you use them. You’ll get the discipline necessary to eventually play freely. How much fun is that!
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Outstanding, I appreciate the great and positive feedback, joining today. Thank you
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