Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Banjo: Everything You Need to Know to Start Playing the 5-String Banjo
Ron Manus is co-owner of both Alfred Music Publishing and its sister company, Daisy Rock Girl Guitars. With five years of prior music industry experience in recording and retail sales, Ron joined Alfred in 1988 and today is the company's Chief Executive Officer. Ron's energetic and creative contributions to Alfred have improved the company in many vital ways. In the 1980s, he managed the creation and growth of Alfred's New Media division, expanding the company's core strengths beyond book publishing and spurring the evolution of music instruction into contemporary mediums such as software, enhanced CDs, videos, and DVDs. He also played an instrumental role during the 1990s when the company transitioned to its current team-based structure, a system that allows the business to react more quickly to changing market opportunities. In 1992, Ron improved Alfred's already pristine reputation by forming a partnership with the National Guitar Workshop, setting up Alfred as the exclusive publisher of their nationally acclaimed curriculum. In 2005, Ron was an instrumental part in the acquisition of Warner Brothers Publications from the Warner Music Group which brought into the company the music of George and Ira Gershwin, Henry Mancini, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Nickelback, Madonna, Carlos Santana, Van Halen, Green Day, Evanescence, and hundreds more. Ron is one of Alfred's top-selling authors, having over 100 published titles to his credit, including instructional items for guitar, bass, banjo, harmonica and ukulele. In addition to holding prominent positions with Alfred and Daisy Rock Girl Guitars, he also plays guitar and sings in the rock-solid, no-nonsense, punk rock band sASSafrASS.