I was a concert guitarist and this ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Banjo Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. is a detailed description of applying what I learned as a student at the Royal College of music in London studying with John Williams and Carlos Bonell.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
It is the goal of this ebook to help you find a personal banjo technique that prevents and/or heals injuries on the banjo caused by playing with too much tension and poor posture that causes pain and strain.
Before coming to the college I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my left wrist, and I used what I learned as a student to solve the problem, and I never hurt again. This ebook goes into great practical detail to explain how to press the strings cleanly without staining your hand, wrist, and left shoulder.
I also go into great detail looking at how to use the pick or finger style playing. The principles of great guitar technique are identical in banjo technique in the left hand and arm. Clearly the pick has a very different technique than finger style and I address this. Also, by applying what I learned about the right hand in classical technique from the best players, I bring this expertize to finger style banjo playing.
I also look at the whole body posture with the banjo and show you how to sit or stand fully upright with ease and flow in your body. You never need to lock a single muscle in the body to play fully upright on balance and with power and precision. The technique I present here works whether you stand or sit, with or without a shoulder strap.
What I also bring to this article, is that I also worked intensely an Alexander Technique teacher while I was in London, and the combination of the Alexander Technique and amazing guitar teachers and performers got me out of physical trouble permanently. In this article I offer everything I did and learned about playing the guitar with ease and painlessly.
I am also a certified Alexander Technique teacher, and in writing this article I married everything I learned about classical guitar technique from Williams and Bonell to everything I learned about body use in the Alexander Technique. I am offering in great detail a manual for playing the banjo without pain or strain or injury.
In this ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Banjo Technique, I look at general principles of good posture and great banjo technique, and I offer you a way to see if what you are doing on the banjo works. If you are in pain and hurting, then you are doing something that is hurting you. It actually may not be bad technique or bad posture. It may be that you are playing making too much effort – using too much muscle to play the banjo. In the article I offer you tools and principles, so that you can raise your awareness level and play the banjo using half of the effort and get twice the results.
In finding a way to play the banjo without pain, strain, and injury and trusting yourself to perform accurately, you will rush to practice and not worry about whether you will play well that day. This ebook describes clear ways to find the zone and to continue to play in the zone consistently.
The banjo is a very heavy instrument, My husband, who is over 65 years, has a hard time with one shoulder as a result. Do you address this in your book?
Yes. My ebook really goes into how to play the instrument without straining your body. After he’s read the ebook, I’ll also answer any questions not answered in the ebook.