Reflection on the Journey

     Through out this whole journey I have really been happy with the product I have produced.  I was able to successfully learn the banjo and reach all of my goals in the allocated time.  It is sad to see that this project is over, but I know I will continue to learn the banjo.  I have really developed a love for the instrument because of the genius project.

     Overall, I was happy with my TED Talk.  I was able to get my message across about how the only way to practice was to completely immerse yourself in the practice.  I also was able to show my product in a way I thought was acceptable and portrayed my journey well.  I showed my process and showed the method I developed to help anyone else wanting to learn an instrument.  One thing I wish I did was talk about the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in this project.  I did mention my love for folk music, but I wish I specifically mention the motivations.  Besides this I was very pleased with my talk.

My grade for myself is a 27 / 30 (90).  I was quite pleased with the way my talk went and I hope you enjoyed it if you were able to attend.  Thanks!

Greetings from South Carolina!

     Hello all.  Ben here for my final blog post.  I am right now in South Carolina for spring break but that hasn't stopped me from continuing this banjo journey.  Even though I was not able to bring my banjo with me on this vacation I have been able to do lots of readings on the banjo and I have watched many many video tutorials on various banjo techniques and songs.  At the beginning of this week I was able to practice some banjo and continue perfecting Dueling Banjos which is by far the hardest song I have learned so far.  I also recorded it with my guitar that went well.  It only me about 20 takes to perfect in my eyes and a few hours of mixing but I was very pleased to record a song with banjo for the first time, especially a song like Dueling Banjos.

     As I mentioned above I did lots of readings and was able to able to learn about the banjo.  As I was doing this I was away from my banjo but it made me itch to do some bluegrass picking and playing some folk songs.  I will include a link for any of you that may be interested in reading up about the banjo.  I also got from this experience that reading up on an instrument or any topic for that matter, is that it makes you want to get hands on with that certain topic and almost forces you into playing some more.  Even though I did not make a ton of progress in learning the banjo I was super happy to discover the importance of reading up on a topic and its ability to make you want to learn more about it.

http://bluegrassbanjo.org/banhist.html

See you and thanks for reading!

-Banjo Ben

Vlog Time!

Banjo Vlog (Genius Project) from Ben Chaiken on Vimeo.

Here is my Video Blog.

Enjoy!

So Close!

     In terms of the Banjo this week has been the most successful for me.  I was able to perfect the picking challenge I have been working on this week and I finished learning 3 songs this week.  Additionally I read through all of the banjo encyclopedia I received from John.  After this week I felt so good about the banjo playing I have done and I really reflected on my progress.  I realized how far I have gotten in the banjo learning progress.  I can now truly say that I play the banjo.  I got to that point that I can just noodle around and make something sound decent like I can on the guitar.  I am going to cover all of these things I have done this week in this blog so enjoy! 

     I guess the best way to cover my awesome week is to go through it chronologically.  I started off this week by learning songs and starting a picking challenge.  The songs I was able to learn this week were Each Coming Night by Iron and Wine, Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons, and Dueling Banjos pt 1.  The most difficult of these songs was definitely Dueling Banjos.  After going at it for about a half hour my fingers were dead tired and I was sick of the song.  I decided I needed to improve my picking abilities.  After a few minutes of searching I found quite a challenging exercise that sounded good.  I needed for this exercise to sound good because I planned to drill it for at least an hour.  If it didn't sound good, my ears would be in constant pain and I don't want to hurt my precious ears. Here is the link for any of you aspiring banjoists (I doubt there are any here).  This exercise worked my fingers to the bone especially when I increased the speed my metronome was going at.  After that hour was over I went back to Dueling Banjos and I felt a HUGE difference in my ability to play the song.  After this, I could have just ended my week for banjo playing, but it was only Sunday night!  I decided to keep going, specifically with readings. 

http://www.hughcan.com/music/exercises/banjo_picking_exercises.pdf

     For my main reading this week, I read through the banjo encyclopedia my friend John gave to me for my birthday.  The music in the book was done by Mel Bay.  Mel Bay was an acclaimed music education book writer.  If he wasn't I would be doing a lot of my banjo playing completely wrong.  This book showed me many new techniques and suggested songs to learn to play to improve playing skills one of them being Dueling Banjos.  After reading through this book I felt that I had picked up many new little techniques.  Along with learning these new techniques I felt that I had a greater understanding of the banjo as an instrument and the theory behind it.  This book was a great read and was able to assist me in continuing the banjo experience!

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay-The-Banjo-Encyclopedia/dp/0786670746

     The final "big" thing I learned this week was I started to learn to improvise.  So far I have only played songs or drilled on techniques, but improvising means you can pick up a banjo and play anything or sound you have on your mind.  I can do this on the guitar and is one of the most fun parts of it.  Being able to play whatever you want whenever you want.  It is a great skill and it truly dictates whether one can play an instrument or not.  To start tackling this idea I did a little googling and I found a nice and compact tutorial on how to improvise on the banjo.  After reading through it, I am by no means a improvising expert, but I have started to developed the skills.  Hopefully with practice I can pick up a banjo anywhere and do some Folk Shredding!

http://banjoexpert.com/5keys.pdf

     After this week I feel that I can say that I play the banjo.  I feel so good about my increase of playing skills and my newly found ability to improvise.  This project has been so beneficial to many aspects of my music.  It has inspired me to start writing songs regularly again and has added a new instrument to my arsenal.  Here's to another great week! 

-Banjo Ben (it's corn, I know)

Due to Technical Difficulties

This week, has unfortunately been the worst week for learning the banjo.  I kept pursuing the goals of one concept a week and a new song a week.  I continued to learn picking patterns and drilled those patterns for at least an hour.  So far I have greatly improved my picking skills on the banjo, which has helped me tackle those quicker and more difficult pieces on the banjo.  Banjo relies mostly on quick picking because of the simplicity of the chords in it.  In most cases the banjo is used to accent songs, not to play chords in a song.  As well as working on the one concept of the week, I learned a new song.  This week I learned the Cotton Eye Joe on the banjo.  It is a "classic" banjo song that everyone knows. This song went along with the picking exercises I have been learning because it mainly consists of a quick riff and some fast strumming.  I could hardly resist to do the dance as I went along. 

The biggest disappointment of the project so far has been what happened last Sunday night. I was planning and getting ready to have my  online Skype lesson with the youtube user happybanjodude.  I had everything set up, and was waiting eagerly for the video call.  After waiting for about 15 minutes, I received a message from him and got the bad news that his internet was down due to a power outage.  The lesson I could have had would helped me so much with continuing to increase my banjo skills, but it was not successful.  The worst part is that I won't be able to reschedule for a few more weeks.  I am still looking forward to the lesson, but this would have been the critical time to push me forward in the banjo learning endeavor. 

Despite these technical difficulties I have had some great success.  One of my big goals was to incorporate banjo in the final song on my upcoming album.  I started to write the banjo part to the new song and I am quite happy on how it is turning out.  The banjo riffs adds a lot of depth and variety to the song.  Writing a song with a new instrument is even more challenging than learning an instrument.  It has showed me a whole new side to the mechanics and theory of the banjo.  

One great addition to my banjo learning techniques has been books I have gotten as a present from my friend John Abrams.  For my birthday he gave me two books on the banjo.  One of the books was an overall banjo techniques encyclopedia and a Beatles song book on the banjo.  I plan to use these awesome books soon in my banjo learning process.  Thanks John!  See all of you next week!

My Banjo Skills Increase and Various Injuries

So far during this week I have been quite pleased with my progress on learning the banjo.  The main skill I learned this week was to learn picking patterns and how to make the thumb, index, and middle finger together with as little string inaccuracies when I am picking.  One exercise for picking, I worked on for an hour.  I stretched and vigorously worked my fingers for about an hour with that exercise, that I had to ice my fingers because of how red they were and how much they hurt.  Despite the "pain" I went through, this was an extremely important skill to develop because overall, picking is the most difficult aspect of banjo at least for me so far.

This is the exact tablature I used for the picking exercise that I continually did to work on my picking skills.  The biggest challenge I have faced in learning the banjo is learning the picking patterns that I have to learn and the amount of accuracy that is demanded when you pluck the banjo.  In comparison to standard rock picking on a guitar and even on an acoustic guitar, it is much more difficult and nothing similar to what I have done before.  On regular guitar, you only have to control one pick and it is quite easy to strum away or quickly pick single strings.  The closest I have gotten to banjo picking before actually trying it was finger picking on my acoustic guitar which is one of my favorite picking styles.  Compared to banjo picking, finger picking is much easier because you don't have an extension to your fingers that you have to control in addition to your fingers.  The metal picks make it very hard to strum on the banjo and the difficulty to pluck with single fingers make strumming a very difficult task on the banjo.

Another banjo related injury I have sustained this week was also on my fingers.  I was strumming very hard with the metal picks and one of them slipped and cut some of my skin, which then spewed some blood onto my banjo.  Despite being rather gross, I have marked my banjo and there is no question that it is mine!

One goal for me every week is to learn a new song of sort on the banjo.  I decided to learn another Mumford and Sons song because of their difficulty and lots of banjo time in the song.  The way I find a song and learn how to play them are using the website http://www.banjohangout.org/tab/.  Most of the tabs on the website are accurate and allow for me to learn a song quickly and easily.  With out this website I would have a difficult time learning the songs, which is one of the main parts of my project and my set goals.

As I mentioned in my previous blog posts I am planning on having a Skype lesson with the youtube user happybanjodude.  He offers Skype lessons on his website.  I scheduled one for this sunday because it seems like a great opportunity to learn banjo from an expert, and because of the lack of banjo instructors in our area, this is the perfect chance for me to learn from an outside expert.  With his expertise and help I can really work out the kinks in my strumming and picking abilities so I can begin to learn much more difficult pieces.  Hopefully everything goes well in the lesson and there is no technological problems so I can have a successful and beneficial banjo lesson that will aid me in my banjo journey.  

I plan to put another blog post after my Skype lesson and will fill all of you in on how it goes.  See you then!

Upcoming Lessons and New Challenges

     Recently I received important news that will aid me in learning the banjo.  I have scheduled a video Skype Banjo lesson with the youtube user "happybanjodude."  This youtube user puts up many helpful video tutorials that I have already pulled many tips from.  To learn my first banjo song "Roll Away your Stone," I watched his video tutorial on the song.  This video lesson will greatly help in bringing me in little techniques that I can't nail yet.  This interaction will also let me ask any questions I have on the banjo that I usually can't get a human answer for.  By this time next week, I will have had my banjo lesson and hopefully I will have greatly advanced as a banjoist.

     One interesting thing I found with myself while playing banjo is that I easily lose track of time.  So far I have been greatly enjoying my time learning banjo and playing the various songs I have learned.  For instance last night I spent about three hours playing and learning banjo techniques and songs.  This is great for me continuing on my banjo journey, but it restricts me from doing homework that I must get done.  I am beginning to see that a greater challenge than actually learning the banjo is to manage my time.  I must balance schoolwork and my music as usual, but this time in even greater amounts because of the time I will be spending learning this new instrument.  This is a challenge that I will constantly be faced with, but I have had past experiences balancing these two areas of my life and I suspect I won't have too much trouble this time.  Next week I will hopefully have had a successful lesson with "happybanjodude" and have no troubles with managing my time between school and music.  See you next time!

Week 1 Experiences

Week 1 Experiences on the Banjo

    
     For the past week I have started on the endeavor to learn how to play the banjo.  The banjo is a stringed instrument mainly used in Folk and Bluegrass music with a unique twangy sound.  After receiving a beautiful Banjo for Christmas and this project has provided the perfect motivation for learning how to play the banjo.  My favorite genre of music is folk music and Banjo plays a critical role in many folk songs.  To continue to write and play folk music, learning banjo is a necessity.  Even after the project is through, I still plan to practice and work on the banjo.  I even hope to incorporate banjo on one of the songs on my upcoming album “Suburban Folk.”

     After learning how to play four different instruments, I feel I have a pretty good idea on how to go about learning the banjo.  To successfully perform in front of the class in six weeks I need to learn many concepts and songs quite quickly.  Each week I plan to learn at least two new concepts and one new song. So far I have done my “homework” and read up on basic strumming techniques and how the banjo is tuned.  I have also began to learn basic chords to play on the banjo.  This week, I am well above my set weekly goal and hopefully I can continue on this trend.  Along with learning concepts, I am requiring my self to learn at least one song a week.  This week I arranged the chords and riffs on guitar for banjo on the song “Roll Away Your Stone” by Mumford & Sons.  It is a fairly basic song that I already knew on guitar and piano so it was easy to transfer that knowledge over to.  Next week I plan to learn another more challenging Mumford & Sons song like “Dust bowl Dance” or “The Cave.”

     In this process, my biggest learning curve was to learn how to properly put the banjo fingerpicks on each finger and how to play with them.  It was a huge adjustment from using a standard guitar pick to finger picks.  It felt extremely awkward no matter how I tried to use them until I finally found a good tutorial on the internet on how to correctly hold the picks and how to play with the picks.  Once I figured the pick situation out, I was able to start learning banjo “rolls” or riffs.  Every time I successfully play one roll I feel like a true bluegrass hillbilly coming fresh out of the Deep South.  So far I am quite pleased with my progress on the banjo and I am looking forward to learning new techniques and songs to aid me on my banjo journey!  See you next week!