A Banjoist I May Become

If I practice every day, I may become one. I have been alternating between the banjo and the mandolin in my practice sessions. I'm not sure that is a good idea. I enjoy learning both of them, but, I have to admit, I'm not an enthusiastic practicer. I would like to pass through the practice stage and just have all the knowledge, but I know that's not possible. I am making some slow progress on the banjo. I am trying to follow the advice of Patrick Costello to become thoroughly grounded in rhythm and then to follow the chord progressions to play any song. Well, easy for him to say. I fear that any musical genes in my family have skipped from my father, who had his own band and played drums and my mother, who played violin, completely over my head to my grandson, Stephen, who has exhibited some remarkable musical abilities. Be that as it may, I still want to learn these instruments, so I will have to work harder at it and re read and re listen until a light bulb goes off.

I told Anne today that I was thinking of getting myself a birthday present for my birthday that is in two days. I said I wanted a banjo strap. I have one on each banjo, but I want something more colorful for my new banjo. My Deering Goodtime banjo has a strap with colorful frogs on it. My new one has a plain brown strap, not in keeping with my flamboyant character. She suggested that I simply switch straps. (I hate practical advice.) I realized that while my brown strap is a true banjo strap, my colorful one is actually a guitar strap. Okay, I can now see that some of my readers' eyes are glazing over. A guitar strap is shorter and attaches to the instrument differently. Guitar straps come in all sorts of colors and designs and are generally cheaper. So, maybe I want a guitar strap with an appropriate design for my birthday.

In terms of my practice repertoire, I have been trying Will the Circle be Unbroken, an essential banjo tune, Rosin the Beau and Mountain Dew. There are so many songs I want to learn, it is hard to pick a few to practice, but this I must do if ever I am to succeed.

There is a folk musicians group near here, the New Jersey Bluegrass and Old Time Music Society, that meets the third Sunday of every month through May in a church in Little Silver and has practice workshops for new players. They say it is not intimidating, but I'm not sure I want to subject myself to that, but maybe I should. Even though I'm not looking to play in a group, it is said that you can learn a lot in a group jam session. We will see what happens there. I will report back, I think.