Hello to all, an introduction and some thank you's
I am a new banjo player and have been lurking here for a while enjoying the discussions and information on the site. I've been playing for a few months now, and I have to give some thanks to a few people that have helped me, and that any beginner should pay attention to.
The first thing that any beginner wants to learn is the bum dity and it seems there are about a thousand video's on YouTube that all say the same thing. They show you the basic stroke and say practice it a million times. And they are right, some may be more entertaining or boring but they are all basically saying the same thing. So watch who you like to see what this clawhammer thing is all about.
That being said, I have to thank a few people that have made things clearer than the average YouTube video. First is Old Woodchuck for Rocket Science Banjo. It is for me, clear, to the point and makes a lot of sense without a lot of unnecessary rambling on. I really don't like to have to listen 10 minutes of drivel to get to 30 seconds of how to do something.
Next is Mike Iverson for his great tabs and his video on right hand and thumb positions. One of the important things to get from Mike's video is that Mike says is that he uses all of the techniques, but as a beginner you have to start with one, and the work on the on others as you get comfortable with them. A great video that I got a lot out of.
Next is Donald Zepp for his video on Personalized Clawhammer. As you start to work on things like double and drop thumbing, taking a basic song that you know how to play and then playing the whole song in one technique, really helps to work on that technique and helps instill that “muscle memory” that is often talked about.
As for me, I've been playing finger style guitar for over 40 years and this clawhammer thing takes me back to when I first started playing guitar, remembering that it wasn't easy, and while a lot of fun, it was a lot of work also. It can be said that playing the banjo is not a natural act (let the jokes begin
), but very few things are. It is a lot of fun, but also takes a little bit of work too.
My banjo is a wonderful epiphone MB100 that I got at a sale for all of 40 dollars and have taken apart numerous times and refinished,strung with nylon strings, made a new tailpiece, and am having great fun experimenting with.
So there you have it. Have fun, and to all the people that contribute in any way, Thanks