Instruction
Lessons
Workshops
Tablature
"Bill Evans is about as fine a banjo player and teacher as there is! With him anchoring my bluegrass staff, I never have any worries about how our students are faring." Ken Perlman, Director, American Banjo Camp and Midwest Banjo Camp
"Bill Evans was one of the first teachers I hired, and due to the rave reviews he consistently gets from his students, he's been welcomed back enthusiastically year after year. I've come to regard him as one of our most reliable, solid, excellent teachers. As one of his students put it, 'His teaching is as good as his playing, and his playing is unbelievably fantastic!'" Ingrid Noyes, Director, California Bluegrass Association Music Camp
Lessons
Rounder Records recording artist, Banjo Newsletter columnist, AcuTab and Mel Bay publications author Bill Evans is accepting banjo students of all levels for private lessons in Albany in the East Bay. A professional player for over twenty years, Bill has spent a lifetime learning and sharing knowledge one-on-one with such bluegrass banjo masters as Sonny Osborne, J.D. Crowe, Alan Munde, Tony Trischka and Bill Keith.
He has taught literally hundreds of students from all over the world, both privately and at such events as the Midwest Banjo Camp, Lansing, MI; Banjo Camp North, Groton, MA; the California Bluegrass Association's Jam Camp, Grass Valley, CA; the American Banjo Camp, Fort Flagler, WA; South Plains College’s Camp Bluegrass, Levelland, TX; Sore Fingers Bluegrass Week in England; Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend, Roanoke, VA and the Smoky Mountain Banjo Academy, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Bill hosts his own annual camp, the NashCamp Sonny Osborne Banjo Retreat in Cumberland Furnace, TN. The 2006 camp is October 20-22 and features Bill along with Sonny Osborne, Alan Munde, Ron Block and Frank Neat. Bill's students include renowned professional players like Chris Pandolfi (The Infamous Stringdusters), Jayme Stone, Wes Corbett (The Biscuit Burners) and Greg Liszt (Bruce Springsteen, Crooked Still).
Open to all levels of players including beginners, Bill's lessons first emphasize proper right- and left-hand techniques and mastering the skills you'll need to play in a jam session or with a band. Other topics include Scruggs, melodic and single-string styles, back-up and playing with others, music theory, repertoire and banjo maintenance and set-up. Lessons are geared to each student's individual needs. Longer sessions are available for students traveling from out of the Bay Area. Even just one or two sessions could radically speed your progress on the instrument! Lessons are $70 per hour or $35 per half hour for youth. The frequency of lessons is up to the individual student. For more information contact Bill at 510-528-1924; or e-mail Bill at bevans@nativeandfine.com
Albany is located just north of Berkeley, close to I-80 and I-580.
Workshops
Bill's group workshops are open to all levels of players and cover such topics as proper right and left hand techniques, back-up, Scruggs, melodic and single-string styles, composing and improvisation, playing in other keys, banjo set-up and developing effective practice strategies. Bill has spent a lifetime learning and sharing knowledge one-on-one with such bluegrass banjo masters as Sonny Osborne, J.D. Crowe, Alan Munde, Tony Trischka and Bill Keith. His workshop presentation condenses the inside information he's learned along the way in a manner which will help all players raise their level of music-making as well as think about the banjo in new ways. Tablature is presented for all musical examples. Audio and video taping is encouraged.One, two or multi-day workshop options are available. If you are interested in bringing Bill to your city for a group workshop, you can contact him at bevans@nativeandfine.com or by phoning 510-559-8879 (Pacific Time Zone).
For the last twelve years, Bill has regularly contributed to Banjo Newsletter magazine. His monthly "Off the Record" column is one of this publication's most popular features. Bill has participated in virtually every major bluegrass banjo event and instructional camp in the world, including the American Banjo Camp, Fort Flagler, WA (2003-5); Sore Fingers Bluegrass Week (2005); the Bath Banjo Festival, Bath, England (2003); Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Kamp in Maryville, TN (2002); Banjo Camp North in Groton, MA (2001-6); Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, TX (1999, 2000, 2005-6); the Maryland Banjo Academy (2000, 2001); the Augusta Heritage Center's Bluegrass Week in Elkins, WV (1997-99, 2001); NashCamp in Cumberland Furnace, TN (1999-2001, 2006); the Huck Finn Jubilee Bluegrass for Beginners Camp in Victorville, CA (2002); the California Bluegrass Association's Jam Camp in Grass Valley (2001, 2003-6); the Smoky Mountain Banjo Academy in Pigeon Forge, TN (2005-6), AcuTab's Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend in Roanoke, VA (2005) and the SPBGMA Banjo Workshop in Nashville (1998, 2001, 2005).
He hosts his own fall banjo camp with Sonny Osborne, the NashCamp Fall Banjo Retreat, to be held on the weekend of October 20-22, 2006 near Nashville, TN with guest instructors Alan Munde and Ron Block along with banjo set up expert Frank Neat. The setting for this camp is the Drouillard House, an 1865 southern mansion converted into a retreat center and catering is by Nashville's Mad Platter, a world class gourmet restaurant.
Bill co-edited "The Banjo of J.D. Crowe" book for AcuTab publications and co-produced "The Banjo of Sonny Osborne" instructional video for Homespun Tapes. In addition, he is one of the featured players in the Mel Bay Classic Banjo Solos book and CD set (formerly Banjo 2000). His two critically acclaimed and best selling instructional videos for AcuTab Publications, Power Pickin' Vol. 1: Up The Neck Back-up for Bluegrass Banjo and Power Pickin' Vol. 3: Playing Banjo Backup in a Bluegrass Band, along with all of Bill's CDs and other materials, are available at the Native and Fine store. In 2006, Bill will release a third AcuTab DVD project, Bluegrass Banjo Master Class, along with Parking Lot Pickers Songbook, a 250 song compilation book and CD set for Mel Bay Publications.
Tablature for Clarinet Polka & Goodbye Liza Jane (this a .pdf file, you need Adobe Acrobat to read it. Click on the button below to download it for free)
