Banjo Ben Clark

Video Instruction for the 21st Century

If you are a banjo, mandolin, or guitar player and spend any amount of time on YouTube, you will know about Banjo Ben Clark.  Ben was one of the first instructors to start teaching video lessons via YouTube and he has grown those humble beginnings into a bluegrass instruction empire that now includes hundreds of online lessons, “Gold Pick” instruction subscriptions, celebrity guest teachers, Cabin Camps, and a merchandise store all brought to you with Ben’s trademark southern drawl, big grin, and light-hearted homespun humor.

If Banjo Ben’s down-home persona and hot pickin’ causes you to assume that he was born with a banjo in his hands, you’d be dead wrong. This rural east Texas good ol’ boy was raised playing classical piano!  Although his father was a fourth generation Texas farmer, his maternal grandmother was a well-known classical pianist and educator. 

Ben was trained on piano from the time he was 4 and studied seriously through his high school years.  His first stringed instrument was a guitar that he got when he was a high school senior. He said, “I got a guitar my senior year, but I was more into playing Guns ‘N Roses back then.”  It wasn’t until he was a sophomore in college at Texas A&M that Ben got bit by the bluegrass bug after attending the Overton Bluegrass Festival.

After becoming inspired by the musicians he saw at the bluegrass festival, Ben borrowed a banjo that had been sitting in his uncle’s closet and started to learn how to play.  Guitar, mandolin, Dobro™ and fiddle soon followed.  

Ben was just about ready to finish his graduate degree in entomology when his life took a big turn.  He said, “I was writing a term paper and feeling burned out.  I found a website for the South Plains College commercial music program and sent Joe Carr a letter. Joe wrote back and asked for a tape of my playing.  After he heard the tape, he said that he could probably get me some scholarship money.”  In 2002, Ben left graduate school to attend a junior college in west Texas to study bluegrass music.

After two years of complete bluegrass immersion at South Plains, Ben moved to Nashville and acquired a succession of jobs as a piano player and “utility man” for a number of country acts. He toured with acts such as Lila McCann, Josh Gracin, and Craig Morgan before getting his big gig touring with Taylor Swift.  After spending two and a half years on the road with Swift, Ben signed a publishing deal with Sony Tree in Nashville and joined his talented sisters, Penny and Katy, writing songs for the publishing giant.

About one month into the songwriting job, the president of Sony told Ben that with the big changes occurring in the music business they were planning to cut back and he could only expect to have his deal for a year. Ben said, “He told me, ‘While you are here, write the music that you love and you can use our facilities to record it. After you leave, you can have the masters.’”  The trio recorded two full albums worth of material while they were at Sony and started a band called The Purple Hulls when they left.

As the band was beginning to gain momentum and tour, their father fell ill and the girls moved back to Texas. Ben said, “I worked odd jobs around Nashville and drove tour busses for artist friends on the weekends.  About that same time, I was uploading videos to YouTube transcribing solos by players like Tony Rice.   After I figured something out, I’d post a video that explain it to other people. The more I posted, the more people started to respond.”

When asked how he went from those humble beginnings to the large presence that he now has on the web, Ben said, “I started out just doing it for kicks. I’m not smart enough to have thought about it as a long-term plan. I just made silly videos that were light and fun but also packed with solid learning. Learning is easy when it’s fun. Plus, most of my students are adults. I also learned to play later in life and I naturally teach from that perspective. It just clicked.” Ben’s YouTube videos started out getting a couple hundred hits a day. He was surprised, but then it kept growing and eventually he was receiving several thousand hits a day. By 2010 his channel passed 1 million views.  He said, “I do it for fun while pursuing my own learning journey. It turns out other people want in on that, too.”

Ben reached out on his Facebook page and asked for feedback. “I asked folks if they were willing to support me if I provided more content. I promised to provide a new lesson every week. In the first couple months I had a few people who were willing to pay for what I was putting out there.” In 2011, Ben quit one of his part-time jobs, launched his own website, and began putting up a new instructional video every week. Now, 10 years later, he is still at it. Customers can become a “Gold Pick” member by subscribing to his site and thus have access to all of the material or they can choose to unlock single video lessons.

The lessons on Ben’s site are very thorough and he does not only focus on teaching tunes. There are videos that address technique, music theory, learning the fingerboard, backup and accompaniment, and various common and not-so-common riffs and licks.  And, of course, there are a lot of standard bluegrass and gospel tunes. Ben also has revered guest instructors teaching some of the material. The material ranges from very beginning level all the way through advanced concepts, ideas, and arrangements. 

The amount of instructional material that you receive for each lesson is extensive. Ben provides a “Lesson Preview” video where he plays the song at a fast tempo. Also provided are the written arrangements in tablature in both the PDF or TEF formats. He also includes bite-sized video segments where he plays and explains the content phrase-by-phrase. In these videos, the tab is included on screen. Ben also provides a video where he plays the entire solo at a slow tempo. A variety of play-along backing tracks (at different tempos) are also part of the package. Each lesson also includes a “Lesson Discussion” thread where other students can ask questions and discuss the lesson. Members can also get video feedback by submitting questions on his forum.

Aside from the instruction, Banjo Ben also has his online “General Store” that carries instruments, accessories, gear, apparel, and parts.  And if you love Ben’s instruction and want to study with him in person, he has started teaching in-person at his Cabin Camps. At first the camps were all hosted at his Nashville home, but Ben now also travels to teach camps on location. They sell out fast as student numbers are limited for personal attention, and Ben contracts some of the world’s best instructors to teach alongside him.

Starting over 10 years ago with self-produced YouTube videos, Ben Clark has continually evolved and progressed the technological presentation of his quality instruction with no intention of slowing down.  

He said, “Later this year I plan to launch a new website that has enhanced capabilities and resources. It will give my students the best learning environment possible, paired with customer service done the old-fashioned way. I’ve assembled a topnotch team and I believe we’re just getting started.” 

If you are interested in bluegrass supplies or quality instruction for guitar, mandolin, or banjo at a reasonable price, I recommend that you check out banjobenclark.com.