The G String Challenge

 

Old dogs, new tricks come to mind. Why learn a new instrument at my stage of life? When I never really mastered all the others I’ve tried over the years including the tuba, tenor and alto saxophone, and failed miserably on the recorder to boot. Although I have earned a few bob with the guitar and bass over the last 30 or so years and I can hold a tune at the same time thankfully.

Back to the Banjo. This came about due to a project which I put together (Still in progress I must add) of a country music style cabaret set, maybe one or two horse shit and gunshot songs, but featuring a lot of modern day country stuff from artistes such as Keith Urban, Garth Brooks and Vince Gill etc, good stuff and great musicianship.

So I’ve got the Stratocaster and the Takemine acoustic and away to go. Then someone suggested (Marc) it would be good to feature one or two songs with a banjo. So off I go to E Bay and treat myself to a Stag G String Bluegrass Banjo for 155 euros from a place called Music-Acoustic in Germany. I must admit the Banjo seems to be worth every cent to me, although I wouldn’t really know a good one from a bad I can tell a decent bit of workmanship

Whilst waiting on it arriving (which took longer should have, I might add) I did a bit of research on the internet as my knowledge of Bluegrass Banjo would fit on the back of a postage stamp with room to spare. I was actually blown away just by typing “How to play the banjo” into Google. There’s a whole world out there willing to share their knowledge with you, couple that with You Tube and what better start could you have down the long, dusty trail of instrument learning. By the way, having spent two summer seasons in Cornwall, and ten years living in Devon, plus I’ve got a tooth missing, I think I qualify as a Banjo playing Redneck!

The secret to mastering any instrument is practice, practice, practice and to be honest I have found it a real pleasure rather than a chore. Maybe because of the tuning (G Major open) you can always bash some sort of a tune out. Three months down the line and I’m fairly happy with my progress.

Enough of my waffling on, the object of this exercise is to keep you informed and hopefully hear from any other Banjo Buddies out there so we can trade tips and share any info we know about the 5 string jobby. I bought an on line course from a guy I was very impressed with after seeing a few snippets of him on You Tube. He’s called Ross Nickerson and you can find him at www.banjoteacher.com The lessons consist of learning 18 bluegrass tunse and include TABS, 3 different speed Mp3’s and a slow and fast video of both right and left hand for every song, I’ve only just purchased it and I feel an improved player already.

A few other good sites are www.expertvillage.com www.bluegrassbanjo.org Whatever you do you must check out www.youtube.com as they have loads of banjo stuff on there some of it will blow your mind, stuff like Earl Scruggs and friends, the banjo scene from “Deliverance” and check out a guy called Bela Fleck, he takes the banjo to another level.

Before I forget I’ve just bought a pick up which is built into the bridge from www.thomann.de a music store I highly recommend. This pickup is a Shadow SH930 and it works a treat.

Anyway, love to hear from you, and I’ll keep you posted on my progress, and of course any useful information I happen to stumble on.

Best plucking wishes,

Stevie.