Mind-boggling. He makes playing look effortless.

What an absolute joy to watch; such a tasteful survey of bluegrass banjo. Excellent production, Reverb, and very well done, Noam!

Had the pleasure of meeting Noam by chance at Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville. Guy was so nice, let me sit down and play a fiddle tune with him. Great musician, and a class act guy.

I would pay fifty bucks a month to see Noam make a five minute video about pretty much anything. Who's with me.

I love his monotone expression of his passion it’s really funny and calming. You can tell he plays often. With such ease and mobility he is able to play the instrument and it’s inspiring

I don't play the banjo or any fretted instrument; however, this video was an absolute treat. Noam's explanations and knowledge are a joy and wonder to behold. Thank you to everyone involved in producing this video.

What's really great about Noam is not only his incredible skill as an artist, but his knowledge of the art.

the dude's a genius. unbelievable

Searched KZfaq for a video of Noam and at twenty minutes in I was perplexed and bored. Then I realized I was watching a speech by Noam Chomsky. This is much better.

As a person just stepping in to the banjo world, I have to say I prefer the Scruggs style the most of all styles mentioned in this video. It sounds perfect.

i really enjoyed seeing the comparison of the 3 styles. great segment, superb player. cheers

What a beautiful sounding banjo...such depth and tone!!

Absolutely incredible. I’m a guitar player (hack) and this banjo playing is mind blowing. So cool. Thank you

This is the best banjo style explanation and demo I have seen. Very well paced and backed up with the names of exponents of the style. Good stuff.

Noam, absolutely awesome and thank you for sharing it with us.

This is one of my absolute favorite reverb videos. I've never even played a banjo but I find myself coming back to enjoy this video every few months. Thanks y'all!

Thank you for this explanation and demonstration. Highly clear and informative!

stunning playing and crystal clear examples - many thanks for an outstanding video.

A cool guy, one of the greatest banjo players ever imo, and ALSO a great instructor. Noam is always a treat to listen to

Excellent overview. The key to mastering ALL: know your neck; know your scales.

Having stumbled across this so early in the morning has to be a sign of a great day to come.

What a joyful and beautiful instrument, I could listen to a truly talented banjo picker play for hours and never be bored.

Awesome playing! It's a joy to watch and get inside the head a little of such a talented musician!

Awesome! Love these banjo licks on guitar also

Noam, I'm making a big or may be a not so big leap here. Born in Chicago with the last name like Piekelny (Hellish) Polish translation, you have to have Polish roots. At any rate to me you are the Chopin of the banjo, thank you for taking it to the next level. Ever since I've seen your performance on the Dave Letterman show with Steve Martin, I've been your fan.

Great to see what do you think a banjo master is . Thanks so much for your videos .

A FAVORITE.....smooth effortlessly approached

Yep could watch and listen to him play all day what a great musician!

Thanks for this Noam...wonderful...Jack Baker NYC

Bravo! Insightful, tasteful and it sounds great.

This is a magnificent interview!

I love those recents videos about bluegrass instruments. Thx a lot!

Great video that really explains the development of the 5 string so well.

it's like reverb can read my mind... thank you!

Watching one of the best banjo players of this date. He has earned his spot at the round table.

Thank you, everything is interesting and clear.

What an amazing guy! Sonically humble. Total monster!!!

I learned more about banjo styles in a few minutes of this video than I have since i started picking up the banjo last year. Great video!

Thanks for detailing all the different styles of banjo picking. Roger Sprung is a great banjo player and folk song teacher. His career started in the 50s and 60s up in Greenwich village. I studied under him for a number of years!🎵🎶🎵

My grandpa comes from KY, settled in Louisiana. This makes my heart very happy

What an amazing video - thanks!

Amazing. I'm self-taught from KZfaq and hope to one day be half competent but it's always a delight to see a master and his craft

How did this possibly get a thumbs down. What a great video!

The alternating Pollex(thumb)/Index picking style is actually something early renaissance/medieval lute players did to mimic the plectrum when they stop using it in order to play polyphonic music.

That outro playing was incredible. Wow

The guy’s lecture/explanation abilities are massive. He’s a brilliant banjoist with a professor’s ability to illuminate. ‘Amazing.

I’m glad he mentioned Alan Munde in with the melodic players. I think of Munde’s contribution to the melodic approach was to use it to transfer fiddle ideas to the banjo. Now you can hear banjo ideas on mando and guitar via crosspicking, and Molly Tuttle plays killer claw hammer style guitar, but if you listen to Munde’s old Festival Favorites series from ‘70’s, and play attention to his amazing fiddle tune adaptations, you’ll hear tons of borrowed fiddle licks from all over the place. This guy Noam is the real deal, though, it just pours out of him. Great video!!!

The banjo has me under it's spell. I want to learn everything I can.

Wow! Great explanation

I've seen and heard a lot of nice banjos, but the tone of that one is just amazing! Obviously you're a very accomplished player, but that's a real beaut. 👌

Incredible banjo playing!

What I like about bluegrass is that the sound varies depending on where you are in the US

I have played guitar and bass for years in a variety of settings and in different styles. I ordered a banjo from amazon the other day. I was excited about getting into it. Listening to this man has just doubled that excitement. :-)

Gorgeous picking!

Thank you. Learned something today !

I had the honor to have a small talk with Bill Keith at Grey Fox the year before he died. Aside from the details of what we talked about, I quickly realized how special he was as a man. Gentle, helpful, enthusiastic, immediately friendly. Noem and people like him had the privilege to spend real time with him. I think, and hope, a bit of his personality may have rubbed off on Noems generation.

That sure was some sweet banjo picking 👍🏻

Truly a master and such a cool dude😎

i saw him with Punch Brothers about a month ago. unbelievable.

Love the banjo

Wow! Simply, Wow!

I'm not even a huge fan of the banjo but this was really interesting!

God, this guy is so good. So fluid.

Lovely playing

Your amazing man!

I saw this guy in Danville. He's awesome

I love all of these styles. I’d better get good. Noam’s tone is amazing, too.

Masterful!

Blurred line's terrific when stringing classic songs 👌

What an utterly beautiful man, on every level!

Just like listening to Roots of music which might be lost but for guys like this!

My new favorite banjo player

Love Noam and the Punch Brothers. The new sound of Bluegrass.

Wow, very informative. This explains in a nutshell what I attempt to tell folks. And, with all due respect for Bill Keith, thanks so much for mentioning Bobby Thompson. Also, lets not forget Larry McNeely. I look at Larry as one who had a large influence in moving melodic banjo to the forefront.

Throwing some melodic in between Scruggs is real a cool sound...I do it sometimes and its my fav way to play. Im not a melodic player but i can pull off pieces of melodic in spurts while playing Scruggs style its got a killer sound that flows and jams.

Wouldn’t it be 4 styles with the fourth being the Noam style?

What an excellent player!

Nice, Noam!

Noam is just the smoothest dude out there.

Pretty awesome!

I thought I was good at banjo *until I watched this video*

Noam is a banjo ninja!

I'm no musician, but I like this videos.

I saw the movie "Deliverance" in the 70's and the very next day, I went out and got a banjo. I never did learn to play very well, but I remember that I had a Tony Trischka song book that also came with a record. I tried and tried to learn how to play "Paddy on the Turnpike" but it was just too difficult. Didn't stick with it long enough to get good...and unfortunately...I just couldn't find anyone in the Atlanta area to teach me. But, I do have some good memories of those days. I used to go down to Holcomb Bridge Park and sit by the Chattahoochee River and play late at night. I could hear dogs howling from miles away. I don't know if they were singing along with me or just howling because it hurt their ears!

That was very interesting. Great playing too. Makes me realize I know nothing about the banjo!

How many years of practice are we watching here? Very enjoyable to watch.

I like the intro song, want to find more stuff like that

I love the Earl Scruggs sound the most but each to their own

Thank you. 🎼🤘🏽

Love the scruggs sound

Coming new to banjo playing after 30 years guitar playing it’s great to see the different styles. Fretting and finger style isn’t new to me but I wish to learn true banjo playing and not just play it like a guitar which the single string method is the closest to.

The song at the start is redbud by Noam Pikelny.

When Noam and Critter came into my shop it was a great day! He’s such an amazing player and a super nice guy.

So many great pickers these days....its off the hook. From to Earl to Keith to Trishka to Fleck...to all the young dudes on stage nowadays. Its nuts.

I'm going to use this video in my ESL classes to illustrate the word "effortlessly".

my anthropology teacher is Noam Pikelny's brother. It's lowkey surreal but really cool

Phenomenal technique, but most of all: what a beautiful sound! Although I'm familiar with the banjo styles of Scruggs, Keith and personal favourite Don Reno, as a European/Belgian I've not really been raised on bluegrass, as opposed to many Americans. Of course we have access to the records (and in these digital times any other medium), but it very much remains a second-hand heritage for us. Nevertheless the sounds of the instruments (banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro...) have always haunted me, and since way back in the seventies I've tried learning all of these, with whatever istruction material was available in those days. The books I have learned from mainly focused on bluegrass techniques, and later on I also found material on frailing styles. But what I see here in the very first 20-odd seconds of this video totally knocks me out. It sounds like parlour music from the 19th century to me, anybody has an idea what it is? Propably an existing piece or an arrangement of an old piano/guitar tune? Anyway, I absolutely love this playing style, and I'd love to hear more of it, and eventually study it. Does anybody have any suggestions for starters? Thanks in advance!

Sublime

This guy seems to know every note on the banjo, he is so fluid, I guess its a God given gift, What happened to mine God?.

Love this information. I noticed you didn’t mention frailing?