Description

The Scale That Makes You Sound Different From Every Other Banjo Player.

Most banjo players improvise using the same handful of Scruggs-style licks. They sound good — but they sound like everyone else. The pentatonic scale gives you a completely different palette to draw from. It’s the same five-note scale that guitar players, fiddle players, and blues musicians have been using for decades to create solos that stand out. And on banjo, it sounds fresh, unexpected, and distinctly musical.

Banjo Improvisation Book 3 teaches you how to incorporate pentatonic-based licks into your banjo playing. You’ll start by learning the pentatonic scale itself in different positions on the neck, then Geoff teaches you a wide variety of licks and shows you exactly how to use each one inside real bluegrass songs.

The 7 Songs You’ll Play

These aren’t abstract exercises. You’ll apply your pentatonic licks to real songs that get played at jams and festivals:

• New River Train — a bluegrass jam staple with a driving rhythm
• Think of What You’ve Done — a bluegrass heartbreaker
• Train 45 — a hard-driving standard
• 9 Pound Hammer — one of the most-played songs in bluegrass
• John Hardy — a classic that works perfectly with pentatonic licks
• Little Maggie — a mountain ballad turned bluegrass staple
• 12 Bar Blues — because the pentatonic scale was born in the blues

What You’ll Learn

• The pentatonic scale — what it is, why it works, and how it differs from the major scale you’re used to playing
• Multiple neck positions — learn to play the pentatonic scale in different places on the fretboard so you’re not locked into one spot
• Pentatonic licks — a wide variety of licks built from the pentatonic scale that you can use in any song
• How to use licks in context — Geoff shows you where each lick fits inside real songs, so you know when to reach for a pentatonic lick and when to stick with standard Scruggs-style playing
• The bluesy side of bluegrass — the pentatonic scale connects bluegrass to its blues roots, and these licks bring that connection to life in your playing

How the Course Works

• 1. Watch Geoff teach each concept and lick. 157 minutes of detailed video instruction with close-up views of both hands.
• 2. Read the tab. 47 pages of full tablature for every lick and song arrangement.
• 3. Play along with the backing tracks. Audio tracks for every song so you can practice your pentatonic licks with a full band behind you.

Who This Book Is For

This is Book 3 in Geoff’s four-part Improvisation series. If you’ve worked through Book 1 (lick substitution) and Book 2 (positional, bluesy, and chord-based licks), you’re ready for this. The pentatonic scale builds on everything you’ve learned so far and adds a new dimension to your improvisation.

This book is also a great fit for intermediate players who feel like their solos all sound the same. If everything you play sounds like standard Scruggs-style rolls and licks, the pentatonic scale is the fastest way to add a fresh sound to your playing.

Who Geoff Is, and Why That Matters

Geoff Hohwald has been playing banjo since 1964 — back when Columbus, Ohio was a genuine bluegrass hot spot — and studied under John Hickman. He’s performed with two of Bill Monroe’s guitar players, shared stages with Red Allen, Frank Wakefield, and Hylo Brown, played with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, and co-founded the Greater Atlanta Bluegrass Band. Six decades of improvising means Geoff has explored every corner of the fretboard, including the pentatonic approaches that separate good players from great ones.

Geoff also runs Banjo Warehouse, our sister shop in Yellow Springs, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia, where he’s been buying, selling, and setting up banjos since 1980.

Buy Direct. Skip the Warehouse.

When you order from GeoffHohwald.com, you’re buying directly from us — a small family business in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Your book is packed and shipped by people who actually play banjo, and if you have a question about a lesson, Geoff is the one who answers the email.

• ✔ Signed by Geoff on request — add a note at checkout
• ✔ Direct access to the author if you get stuck on a lesson
• ✔ Your purchase supports a small family business, not a warehouse
• ✔ Ships from Yellow Springs, Ohio, usually within one business day

Product Details

• Format: Paperback, 47 pages
• Includes: Free online video and audio access (157 minutes of video, plus backing tracks)
• Focus: Pentatonic scale, pentatonic licks applied to 7 bluegrass songs
• Level: Intermediate
• Style: 5-string Scruggs-style bluegrass banjo
• ISBN: 979-8492463236
• Ships from: Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA

The Complete Improvisation Series

• Book 1: Banjo Improvisation — learn lick substitution and create your own solos.
• Book 2: Banjo Improvisation — positional, bluesy, chord-based, and J.D. Crowe-inspired licks.
• → You are here: Book 3: Pentatonic Improvisation — use pentatonic scales to improvise freely across the neck.
• Book 4: Up the Neck Licks — advanced licks for playing up the neck with confidence.