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
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
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.
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!
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!
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)
Friday, March 8, 2013
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)