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Patrick Costello was born on March 25, 1970 in suburban Philadelphia. He learned to play the five-string banjo to win a bet with his father, and after winning the bet went on to teach himself the guitar. Patrick is nearly deaf. He started losing his hearing as a child due to chronic ear infections. He worked around his hearing loss by resting his teeth on the upper bout of his guitar – which allowed his nerves to pick up the instrument through bone conduction. In recent years Patrick has had bone-anchored hearing aids surgically installed. The difficulties Patrick faced learning his craft inspired him to use the Internet to help others. To teach music online in a way captured the intimacy of learning a few licks at a jam session. Patrick's work online has helped tens of thousands of aspiring musicians to make music. In addition to his work online, Patrick is the author of The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo, A Book of Five Strings, Songs For Sunday, The Outlaws & Scalawags Songbook, The How and the Tao of Folk Guitar, The Mechanics of Frailing Banjo and Four Seasons on Brick Kiln Road.
