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.

Mandolin Lessons

My mandolin lessons so far have been from several older books that I bought years ago and a couple of newer ones. I am currently learning the notes on the first and second strings and reacquainting myself with reading music. A lot of banjo music is written in Tab (tabulature) in which, instead of a regular musical staff, the staff represents the strings on the banjo and a number appears on each line representing the fret at which the string should be pressed. Tabulature is helpful when starting as it allows you to play without first translating the music into strings and frets, etc. It can become a crutch and it is best to use it sparingly until you can play without it.

Mandolin music is also available in Tab, for some genres, but the mandolin can play so many types of music that it is best, I believe, to start with regular music notation right in the beginning. It is probably easier to use music notation with the mandolin because the tuning of the mandolin remains constant, whereas the banjo can be tuned in a number of different ways and, of course, with each tuning the location of the notes change.

So far I am playing rather rudimentary songs: Bile Them Cabbage Down, Shoo Fly, Merrily We Pick Along and Skip to My Lou. These songs use notes on the first two strings. Soon I will learn the notes on the third and fourth strings. The Mandolin Cafe has a section offering free lessons, which are very basic, but then there are offers to buy more complete lessons. The prices seem reasonable, but maybe I will wait a little while and see how I do with the books that I already have.

My First Audience / Mandolin / Banjo

I was tuning my mandolin last night, when my five year old granddaughter, claiming she wasn't tired at 10:00 o'clock p.m. and therefore didn't need to sleep, climbed onto the top of the sofa to watch me and ask what I was doing with the guitar. I tried to explain to her the difference between a guitar, a mandolin and a banjo, since the banjo was sitting right there and she could plainly see that it wasn't the same as a mandolin. She listened politely. I then decided to play a few tunes on the banjo, which I did. I played Gypsy Girl, Wildwood Flower, Cripple Creek, Bile them Cabbage Down, Red River Valley, Skip To My Lou and Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore. She listened politely. So, I have now played the banjo when someone was actually listening to me. She didn't run screaming from the room, or laugh uncontrollably, so maybe I am ready to play for other humans. Not sure yet. It may be that she wanted to do either or both of the above, but was afraid she would be sent to bed.

I was thinking of the name of this blog. I don't like "The Banjo Man" for some reason. I was thinking of changing it to "A Banjoist" or maybe "A Mandobanjoist , but that would imply that I play a banjo mandolin, or as some call it a mandolin banjo. I do have one of those, although I promised it to my 13 year old granddaughter when she was six or seven. The skin head on it is torn and I have a new skin head, but, so far, I lack the courage to replace the head by myself. Since I bought the skin head, I have learned that there are small drum heads that might work well on it. Maybe that will be a back up plan. Anyway, I don't know what to do with the name, not that it makes a whole lot of difference to the people (person) that follow this blog, but it's something to think about.

So, the mandolin is now in tune. It was badly out of tune probably because I haven't played it in a while. But, now it is good to go. There is basically one tuning for the mandolin, not like the banjo which is open tuning. The mandolin is tuned like the violin, in perfect fifths, so it is supposed to be easier to play than the banjo. We'll see about that as I now start to work on that along with the banjo and to master snow shoveling techniques in the coming days.

No Retreat For Me This Year

I won't be going to the Folk Musicians' Retreat this year because of Anthony's and Alex's First Communion in Florida. Some of the musicians that I met there the past two times were really great people and I'm disappointed that I won't be there, but I would much rather be with the boys on their important day. It seems funny that, now that I'm retired and have few things on my calendar, two important events have to conflict. There are all of these other days when I'm not especially busy.

I am still trying to get some playing in every day, but I have to get to the point where I sing while playing. Maybe soon.

The Transition

I haven't published much on this blog, because, frankly, I got tired of thinking of legal related topics to write about. I am now retired and, except for a few wills and estates for family and close friends, I think it would be ducky to retire from the law as well. I know that some colleagues love the law and would continue to practice to their dying day. I like the law, find it fascinating, but also find it getting more and more complicated. So, since I have told my banjo buddies that my musical name should be Barrister Bill, I will use this blog to write primarily about my musical progress, mostly on the banjo, but also on the mandolin or any other acoustic instrument I might try. I am not going to even think about giving instructions. There are others who are much better at that than I. One in particular is Patrick Costello.

So, this will become, in effect, a diary of my progress and, hopefully, spur me on practice righteously. I do know that I must sing as I'm playing. In fact, I should first of all learn to sing the songs. The songs that I can play thus far, not really well, but I can recognize them are:

1.)  Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore
2.)  Skip to My Lou
3.)  Red River Valley
4.)  Bile Them Cabbage Down
5.)  Cripple Creek
6.)  Wildwood Flower
7.)  Gypsy Girl

I am currently working on Rosin the Beau and Spanish Fandango. So, we'll see how all of this goes.  

MOHS Surgery

I had MOHS surgery on my left cheek today to remove bad little cells that had taken up residence there. I was at the dermatologist's office for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I think the surgery took about twenty minutes. They called later to say that they had gotten the deep cells but that there were some peripheral cells that still remain that they can freeze dry in about four weeks. I will get my stitches removed next Tuesday. All in all the procedure wasn't bad - there really was no pain except the small sting of the needles when I got numbed - and the healing pain isn't very much either, yet. The last time I had it, it wasn't bad either. Tylenol will take care of it, if necessary. 

Folk Musicians' Retreat

I recently attended a Folk Musicians' Retreat at Janes Island State Park in Crisfield, MD, organized by Pat and Patrick Costello. It was a bold excursion for me because even though I am trying to learn to play the banjo, I felt that I was not far enough along to be considered a "musician." Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the nice group of people that I met there who were willing to share and to help me learn. The weekend, from Thursday to Sunday morning, was fairly unstructured, which worked out surprisingly well. There were some specific workshops, but for the most part, you could just sit where others were gathered and you would learn something. Some of the people there have been playing individually or in bands for years and were very good players. Others were about where I was/am, so I didn't feel uncomfortable. There is a very great deal to learn and I am just beginning the journey, which is why there is no video posted of me playing the banjo. Go to www.tangiersound.wordpress.com and scroll down for pictures of the Retreat.