Got an email from a player who is getting bored with his playing. He is too reliant on Bum Did-dy for everything and it is getting to that mind numbing stage. Here is what I proposed to him as a way out of the rut. He said he had RSB so the advice specifically references RSB. Since it is a free download it won't strain any budget.
http://www.rocketsciencebanjo.com
You will also need TEFView a free tab viewer from:
It is available for PC, Mac, and iPad
Total cost for both -- Nothing, Zilch, Nada, Bupkis, No dollars and no sense --- make that last one "cents."
If you really don't want to get involved with RSB, just use whatever book or video you are using now.
Writer,
You need to break out of the Bum Did-dy jail. Start by dropping the brush on Did. Instead go to a single note. You can better play melodies this way.
Next get used to using your thumb to do a Bum-pa Did-dy type of sound Frail/thumb, frail/thumb - practice this without fretting for a while until it is comfortable.
Next start doing things like Bum-dy Did, reversing the eighth notes and the quarter note from Bum Did-dy. This might be harder but you can do it. The only block to it is mental - you've been doing Bum Did-dy far longer. Start working on all the possibilities of playing a 4 beat measure: Bum Did-dy, Bum-dy Did, Bum Did, Bum-dy Did-dy etc. Get used to playing any one of those.
At the same time, start to work on doing some melodies - without holding down chords. You can go back to chords later, but try to get the melodies without them for now. If your hand is tied up holding chords you can't do slides and some slurs. By adding more of these to your bag of techniques, you can get a lot more variety into your playing.
I strongly suggest learning to play some fiddle tunes - even if you have never met a fiddler - and even if you never intend to play fiddle tunes. Take a look at the RSB tabs, pick a tune you've heard before and look for a youtube video of it - either on banjo or fiddle, preferably on both. It is easier to "hear" the actual tune on most fiddles. Banjo tends to have too much other stuff going on. Listen until you can make sense of the tune, then take out the tab and start memorizing. You have to actually know a tune to make it your own, and the best time to do that is right from the get go. There is a chapter on memorizing in RSB.
Take a look at the song tabs in RSB - there are not too many actual songs as I concentrate more on fiddle tunes, but each song I do tab has playing notes that explain some of the techniques used to make the accompaniment more interesting than simply brushing out chords with a bum did-dy bum.
Do remember that even if you do brush it doesn't have to always come on the Did stroke. You can brush on the Bum too. I like to reserve strums for emphasis on important notes or cadences. Sometimes I do Rolls (Rasquesdos) instead: unfolding the fingers one at a time to get a machine-gun type sound. Go from the Pinky to the Index Ba-Da-Da-Bum. That entire roll should fit into the same space as a Bum stroke or the same as a full Did-dy - - a quarter note.
This actually is probably a couple years worth of work for you, but your playing will get more interesting for you immediately trying to pull off the challenges.
