The Sound
Learning By Ear Course
Learning how to play a musical instrument by ear is a skill that is vital to your development as a musician in traditional genres of music. While reading music can also be a valuable skill, in most forms of traditional music—folk, old-time, bluegrass, Celtic, blues—the music is historically handed down aurally. Musicians who participate in…
Larry Rice and His 1959 F-5 Gibson Mandolin
This article provides an insight into Larry Prentis Rice and his mandolin, and contains anecdotal recollections about him from friends, family, and bandmates. As the oldest of the four Rice Brothers, and born into a musical family, Larry Rice wrote, played, recorded and produced memorable music. Born on April, 24, 1949 in Danville, Virginia, he…
Kimber Ludiker
Introducing Kids to Bluegrass Music One of the best ways to ensure that bluegrass music continues to grow and blossom in the future is to introduce the music to young children. Time has proven that when kids are exposed to bluegrass at an early age, it is likely to stay with them the rest of…
Picker’s Paradise Celebrates
A Half Century of Great Music For fifty iterations since 1972, the legendary Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, has crowned national and international champions in instruments as diverse as hammered dulcimer and fingerstyle guitar, banjo and autoharp, and of course the event’s crown jewel, the National Flatpicking Guitar Championships. But the real champion is…
Deering Banjos and the ProPik Finger and Thumbpicks
The ProPik brand of finger and thumb picks that are used by banjo, Dobro, fingerstyle guitar, and autoharp players have been available for forty years. The story of how the company got their start is an interesting one. It begins in 1982 when a guitar-playing design engineer named Jim Mapson, who lived in Orange County,…
Gold Heart Locket
Jeff Black credits a small-but-mighty banjo with providing inspiration for his song, “Gold Heart Locket,” recorded by Black (B-Sides and Confessions/2003) and later by Sam Bush (Circles Around Me/2009). “I’ll always think that song was in that little banjo,” said Black, during a songwriter’s round at The Bluebird Cafe, Nashville. In an exclusive interview for…