Leslie R - Posted - 06/26/2023:  13:16:31

I’m going to have hand surgery on my left thumb, this Thursday.
Expected that it will be 30 days before I can begin using it.
I’ve never spent much time on learning music theory, and how to make use of it on a banjo.
I’m not expecting that I would be a brand new banjo playing machine once I can get going again.
But perhaps, given some time, I’ll have a better understanding of how to make music.
To date, I have not heard of going this route, has been detrimental for anyone.
The really awesome players of our time seem to know this like it was first grade stuff.
I think it would also be helpful to get some kind of app, and learn how to use it.
I would really like to hear what your experience has been, if you have been down this road. Or any suggestions you might have.

Thank You

Old Hickory - Posted - 06/26/2023:  13:56:31

quote:

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Originally posted by Leslie R

. . . perhaps, given some time, I’ll have a better understanding of how to make music.

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I think the understanding you'll gain is why does music sound the way it does. Why do the chord progressions that sound good to us sound good to us. Why do chord choices that seem to be against the rules sound good. And more . . .

Understanding these things can very well help you to make better music. Or more interesting music. I think for that to happen, you need to learn theory in way that combines it with specific applications to the banjo.

For example, an important concept in theory to learn is "diatonic" chords or the harmonized scale. This will teach you where terms you've heard such as "I IV V" (one four five) come from. That's great. But there are plenty of banjo-specific chord-scale exercises that show you how to use these concepts in making music. 

Good luck.

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 06/26/2023:  19:40:54

Surgery on Thursday? Best of wishes!

But don't forget to say, "Doc, after this operation, will I be able to play the violin?"

;^)

g-van - Posted - 06/27/2023:  10:45:10

I found this the other day. It helped me. youtube.com/watch?v=GoUQ_WHCe48

If you like it, check out the other videos from that person; if you don't, you didn't lose much.

TomL - Posted - 06/27/2023:  18:11:04

coursera.org/learn/edinburgh-music-theory

This is a free online course. From Scotland so they call some notes quavers. I thought it was very good

banjoy - Posted - 06/27/2023:  22:07:19

If you can get your hands on an old Bela Fleck / HomeSpun teaching booklet / audio or video series called "Banjo Picking Styles" ... the first part of it is actually an excellent demonstration of the modes derived from a scale as applied to the banjo fingerboard.

(The booklet is old, Bela was a young pup in them though!)

Edited by - banjoy on 06/27/2023 22:08:54

rcc56 - Posted - 06/27/2023:  23:38:38

Music theory is a huge subject, and can get so deep that one can get lost in it.
There's only so much one can assimilate in 30 days.

As an experienced teacher, I'll suggest that if you can get a handle on how to build scales and chords, learn to find them on your instrument, get a feeling about how different chords relate [and don't relate] to each other, and get a bit of understanding about form in music, you'll be ahead of the game.

I'm fond of saying "All music is the same," a statement that some of my conservatory instructors would consider to be radical at the least, if not outright heresy. A couple of them might agree with me, though.

The truth is that Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Duke Ellington, Doc Watson, Lennon and McCartney, Earl Scruggs, and everybody else use the same 12 tones, and then make their own personal decisions about how to organize them harmonically and rhythmically. And all of us share more common ground with each other than differences, no matter what style of music we play or write.

If you can get those scales and chords started, a whole world will open in front of you.
It's kind of like getting a bunch of 2 x 4's and sheets of plywood, and learning how to build houses and barns and woodsheds and whatever else you can think of.

Edited by - rcc56 on 06/27/2023 23:43:28

banjoy - Posted - 06/28/2023:  03:30:32

Picking on a 5-string banjo in the music we mostly play you're almost always going to be in standard G tuning. That alone offers an excellent jumping off point because the thing is tuned to a three-note major chord. For me this was one of the most foundational "ah-ha" moments on the thing because by definition it meant there are three ways or "shapes" to play any triad chord on the neck, those being different iterations of a major triad, just how those three notes are stacked moving up or down the neck.

You are most certainly aware of those three shapes; the next step in that basic knowledge is to then identify within each shape, what are the 1st, 3rd and 5th degrees or notes from the named chord you're holding no matter what the shape. This knowledge opens a ton of doors by itself, because as you expand the knowledge of what are minor chords (how they are made, or different or modified from major chords), then adding additional notes to those shapes, 7th or major 7ths, 6ths etc where you are simply adding a note to the shape, all is made a whole lot easier when you know what is the 1st 3rd and 5th.

I never cease to be amazed at how many good banjo pickers out there don't have a grasp of this basic information. I know a (local to me) well-known teacher of the Wernick jam camps who once when I was showing him a tune, had no idea how to add a 7th in its various iterations, I watched him hunt and peck for several minutes trying to find the sound and would not let me just show him how to do it though an understanding of the shape. And he charges big bucks for jamming, which of course, is not the same thing as playing. You can jam all day long without having to understand a thing, that's never required to make good music. But it does help in making better music.



So all of this may be old hat to you, I don't know. But I wrote a booklet on how to understand this basic information as applied to the 5-string banjo and give it away for free as a sticky topic to this area of BHO. There are other sticky topics about theory that are here, all free, all worth checking out. I'm hoping you'll have access to your PC or laptop during your down time. In any event, I think your goal and intended use of your down time is a worthy pursuit and there are lots of ways to get from here to there, and also lots of ways to get lost in the weeds. I wish you well during and after your surgery and a speedy recovery so you can get back to picking as soon as possible.

Edited by - banjoy on 06/28/2023 03:40:09

Leslie R - Posted - 06/28/2023:  04:09:02

This is incredible. Every response given is knowledgeable, helpful and inspiring.
Awesome !
I appreciate it.

Leslie R - Posted - 06/28/2023:  04:19:22

I had a couple more ideas for getting through this 30 day period.
Perhaps practicing rolls, using a metronome, could be helpful. However, the more I think about it, I get skeptical this is a good idea. Seems a bit unbalanced. I’m undecided on this.
Practice making one hand harmonic notes might be something else.

Fathand - Posted - 06/28/2023:  18:30:16

I got my start understanding music theory from the section in the Scruggs Book.

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 06/28/2023:  21:06:05

the devils advocate, Probably 99% of your musical heroes learned to play by ear. I would bet you probably still have your ears, use them to study ear training, You could play any instrument any style of music with no theory.