Posted by midivox on Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Hello, Hut People
I am taking up the banjo again after not owning or playing one for 25 years. I purchased a homemade 5 string on ebay for less than 50 bucks and am in the process of ordering a banjo kit from BanjoTeacher.com
I spent 50 bucks on ebay ordering a stack of used banjo books, a couple with CDs. I am excited to get back into banjo playing. I never planned to not own a banjo for so many years but I kept taking up new styles of guitar playing and getting into programming synthesizers and using midi guitars and also Voice to Midi hardware, which allowed me to scat sing a synth. I had problems with being badly injured in a motorcycle wreck and could not even play guitar for a few years. But now I am playing better than ever and even faster than I played 30 years ago.
Banjo to me is happy, bright, fun, healing and a good time for the player and the listeners. The world needs happy fun all it can get.
Happy Banjos, MidiVox
6 comments on “Learning to Play Banjo All Over Again”
Paul Bock Says:
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 @7:16:59 PM
Good for you! I re-started about 2.5 years ago after 17 years of not playing and am enjoying the journey, although it's going a l;ot slower than I would wish.
INFP47 Says:
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 @7:29:39 PM
Great to hear about another 50 something starting the banjo again. I started playing the banjo about 9 months ago after not playing for almost 26 years. I had previously played from 1970 to 1980 but I'm learning clawhammer all over again - and having a great time!
Tim
Stev187 Says:
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 @10:34:06 PM
Glad you're back. My break was about 6 years. It's fun to get back into it. Welcome!
midivox Says:
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 @12:09:12 AM
Hi All, Stev, Tim, Paul
I purchased a Morgan Monroe MNB 1 in an Orange Finish. It came with a hardshell case, banjo stand, leather strap, tuner, and a banjo book and CD by Ross Nickerson, plus membership in BanjoTeacher.com All my previous banjos were 50 buck throw aways, that I sold every time I moved. I also got the Banjo Encylopedia and a couple of Ross;s other books with DVDs.
I know most of the rolls from playing lots of Chet Atkins over the years, and I know all the chords, since they just have different names for the banjo shapes vs 4 string jazz guitar chords. I am looking forward to getting into advanced banjo technigues that I never had time to learn in the past, or could perform on the garage sale banjos I had in the past.
Thanks for reading and commenting on my banjo blog post.
Happy Banjos, MidiVox
reelolguy Says:
Sunday, December 2, 2007 @11:36:21 AM
Midivox,
I too am another 50+ y/o going to start learning the banjo. Saving up now. Thoroughly enjoyed the forum post on the purchase of the MM MNB-1. I'm still researching but that one is on top or close to the top of the list. Hope to see ya around the hangout "watercooler" again.
Jack
midivox Says:
Sunday, December 2, 2007 @6:35:24 PM
Hi Jack,
The MNB1 is a nice looking and sounding banjo. Especially when purchased as a package deal, like BanjoTeacher.com offers. The case, stand, books, banjoteacher membership really makes the MNB1 a really good deal. I still have my MNB1 in Open Low A Tuning. Since I have multiple banjos, I can keep each one in a different tuning. Banjo Teacher has a nice Banjo Xmas DVD/CD. Thanks for your blog post.
Happy Banjo Holiday Timothy Kelly MidiVox
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