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Banjo
I took up classical guitar 3 years ago, at age 60, take weekly lesson. It’s been enjoyable and challenging. Certainly no longer a beginner, but nowhere near where I want to be. Love finger style. My brain and fingers work slow to moderate BPM, anything fast is a disaster.
Is it nuts to consider learning the banjo? I love bluegrass music and the banjo is captivating to me. I want to keep going with guitar, so working on both simultaneously. Appreciate your advice
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Cordoba GK Studio maple Cordoba Esteso Cedar w/Pau Ferro Alvarez Yairi CY135 |
#2
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The country/bluegrass jam I go to on weekends, a lot of the people there are multi instrumentalists. I'm a guitar player and I just bought a banjo last week. I have no intention of abandoning the guitar.
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Please don't take me too seriously, I don't. Taylor GS Mini Mahogany. Guild D-20 Gretsch Streamliner Morgan Monroe MNB-1w https://www.minnesotabluegrass.org/ |
#3
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Bluegrass banjo is mostly in open G tuning, so that helps a guitar player. "Slow" and "bluegrass" do overlap somewhat.
D.H. |
#4
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to answer your question ... yup, it's nuts. keep on with the geetar, maybe change the styles from classical if you want a change etc, but stay away from the banjo, it is the dark side of the Force. i speak as one who succumbed ... three times. What an eejit!
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Malcolm Auden Chester 45 Eastman AC322ce Sigma SDM-SG5 Deering Goodtime Leader O/B banjo Epiphone IBG SG (in cool dude black) |
#5
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Quote:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=681044
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#6
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Give it a try. I have only recently started playing banjo seriously (at 55) but really enjoy it. If you're coming from classical the 3 finger Scruggs style should not be too much a challenge with a little work.
Scott
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scoTt Various stringed instruments |
#7
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You should do it, if nothing more than keeping up your musical interest. I suggest playing the guitar in open G, you'll pick up the rolls pretty easy, coming from fingerstyle background, adding the melody has been my hardest
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#8
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Quote:
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#9
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Go for it!
I started playing myself a couple of months ago, when I attended a bluegrass camp - the guitar teacher there wasn't very good (as a teacher - he was a great player), so I borrowed a banjo and switched "classes". I love the sound of "old time" (pre Scruggs) banjo styles most, and 2 finger thumb lead style is really easy to pick up for a guitar player familiar with fingerpicking. I also started learning to play clawhammer banjo, but the right hand technique for that is super difficult, took me a month before I could even think about doing something with the left hand, too...
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Iris OG, Eastman E1D, Harmony H167, Guild GAD30, The Loar LH300 |
#10
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Every instrument I've taken up has enhanced my playing and enjoyment on every other instrument. I started with violin at 10, added acoustic guitar and electric bass at 13, took up harmonica as well.
Then many years later in my 40's I got serious on mandolin and added viola. About a year ago I started double bass. Every new instrument adds more practice and playing time and new skills. I find I continue to improve across the board. I would now feel very limited if I only played one instrument. |
#11
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I LOVE guitar playing. But when I go to a jam that doesnt have a banjo, I bring mine along. Mostly the attendees appreciate having the sound of a banjo in the mix. It adds another voice and since it is also a percussive instrument, it can help with tempo. (If I play it half decently).
Plus, the banjo is a happy tone and it makes me smile. |
#12
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Quote:
Yep - you really don't have to do much on banjo to fill out the mix. I play clawhammer style (rather than bluegrass picking) - and I can get away with doing very little in a band situation to add "that" sound to a song.
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. |
#13
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"Mom, I have half a mind to play a banjo"
"Son, that's all it takes!" |
#14
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My early foundation in classical and flamenco guitar enabled me to pick up any kind of picking on any kind of instrument quickly throughout my life, because - the foundation of finger independence prepares one for any idiomatic fingering technique. This is essentially the David Lindley axiom of "All one big guitar"; once you've prepared with the "full range" of technique, you typically find that stylistic and idiomatic deployments are technical elements with which the hands have experience - merely arranged and syncopated differently.
After Physical Graffiti, I was searching for a new "hero" - I traded Page for Earl. I was attracted to the flash and speed; the technique came quickly. Quote:
John McLaughlin proclaimed flamenco as the preeminent guitar technique. Flamenco utilizes all five fingers of the "picking" hand in an array of technical devices to render sophisticated rhythms and syncopations - much like drumming. Last edited by catt; 02-05-2024 at 10:17 PM. |
#15
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I received permission from Mr. Haze to never stop telling banjo jokes...
What do you call it when you throw a banjo into a dumpster and it lands on an accordion? ... answer= Perfect Pitch This is 100% a joke. I love Beau Jocque and Allison Brown. Both of their CDs are in my top 20 Keep on playing that old skin head and tell them all Mr. Scruggs sent you! I have been enjoying Foggy Mountain Spaceship (a lot) https://youtu.be/VwXCITr4RQA?si=eKpd4s5VIn1oO9dZ Last edited by mauricemcm; 02-06-2024 at 07:39 AM. Reason: https://youtu.be/VwXCITr4RQA?si=eKpd4s5VIn1oO9dZ |