Which Videos Concern Roly Polys?

I woke up this morning to this question in my inbox: Hey guys! Could you please confirm which video(s) concern "roly polys”? Thank you in advance, I figured more than one person might be wondering this very thing, so here is the rundown: The main roly poly video is Kickstart Your Jamming. That is for…

Beginning Banjo Camp: Happy Students, Happy Teachers

We just finished up our SIXTH Beginning Banjo Camp here in Winchester. I had one of the best groups of intermediate beginners ever, and this was mainly due to their own hard work before the camp. They all had learned their prerequisites and they all knew their vamp chords which made playing together so much…

Tip Jar Jam: Back In The Saddle Again!

ASIDE: (Putting this first so you'll read it!) Dan and I have recently started working on playing melody-based breaks. (He had met my prerequisites: being able to play Roly Poly breaks in the jam in the key of G and the key of open C and knowing the core Scruggs repertoire and being able to…

Tip Jar Jam: Playing In C Without A Capo

I interrupt my playing with Dalton to bring you this blog! Our Wednesday night jam was really different this time. Of course, all jams have their own flavour (to use Brit spelling!) but Wednesday we started off with just two jammers, Diane on guitar and David on banjo. So, guess who I'll be talking about?…

2014: The Year Of The Roly Poly

Well, here it is, December 31, the last day of 2014. And as Lester Flatt sang, "I've been sitting here thinking back over my life..." And what I was thinking this morning as I drank my coffee and read my favorite new author Louise Penny on my Kindle was, in fact, Roly Polys.  For me,…

Tip Jar Jam: Sitting In Bob’s Chair

Last night's jam started off in a sedate fashion, with five banjos and two guitars circled up ready to pick. Then, while everyone was tuning up, I heard some thrashing around in the adjoining room. I did a quick calculation, ticking off students who I knew weren't coming and I couldn't quite figure out who…

Tip Jar Jam: Bouncy, Flouncy, Jouncy*

Wow! We had 12 people at the jam last night: Betty, Kathy G, Ben, Kasey, Steph, Diane, Gregg, David, Chuck (sitting on the floor!), Rhys, Drew, Amber, and Jason. This broke down into 3 guitars, 7 banjos, 1 fiddle, and 1 mandolin. Ben swapped his banjo for the bass early on and with me pounding…

Tip Jar Jam: Chords, Chords, Chords!

Our first Tip Jar Jam after Beginning Banjo Camp showed a marked improvement in the jamming skills of campers David and Gregg--especially when it came to improvising on the fly. During camp we had hit the Roly Polys pretty hard since the new DVD, Kickstart Your Jamming, is coming out soon. (Two weeks, we hope!)…

From Banjo Hangout: Kickstart Your Jamming: New Murphy Method DVD Coming Soon!

Murphy blogs every month over on Banjo Hangout and we will be cross-posting these blogs so they'll be all here in one place. This was originally published September 25th, 2014. I've been trying to figure out how to teach banjo students to improvise for almost 40 years. And it's only in the last year that I've finally figured…

Tip Jar Jam: Three Bobs All In A Row

I just realized I should have taken a picture of the three Bobs: Bob Mc, Bob A, and Bob V! In lieu of that, I will paraphrase a nursery rhyme:  Murphy, merry, quite contrary How does your jamming go? With Silver Bells and three-ply shells And three Bobs all in a row. Not my best…