Starting Out / Bury Me Beneath The Willow

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Posted by automatic octopus on Sunday, November 3, 2013

So, I'm learning to play the banjo.

It's funny, I've fiddled around with a few instruments in the past, mostly guitars but also violin and a brief foray into mandolin, but the banjo was one of those instruments of which I liked the idea, but wasn't sure I knew what to do with. Not in the sense of knowing how to play, obviously I didn't know that, but more that I didn't know whether the banjo was something that worked as a solo instrument, or what. Bear in mind that I'm in Australia; we don't really have a cultural background of banjos, here.

(insert joke about banjos not having culture)

(insert joke about Australia not having culture)

And, that was an issue in itself - you'll find banjos in this city (the state capital) in guitar stores, and they'll be very low-end things. And, that's what I bought, for the princely sum of $300, a bottom-end resonator banjo. Banjos are expensive here. It was okay, but the sound is a bit like playing a plastic bucket. But, I loved it straight away. Well, I loved the feel of playing the banjo, at least, if not that banjo specifically. I lasted another week or two and moved on to better instruments, and enjoyed things even more.

It's interesting how much difference playing a nice instrument makes, really. Moving up to my Goodtime open-backed banjo was great, and playing was just so much easier and smoother. When my Bishline arrived from the States, though, that was really something. And, those are the two instruments on which I'm learning. I think I'm at about six or eight weeks of banjo playing now, which makes being on my third banjo a bit strange, but I'm cool with that. The first three weeks or so were clawhammer playing solely, and then I transitioned to three-finger picking.

And so, let's get to the point of writing this, which is to serve as a reference for how I'm doing over time. To that end, I've uploaded a short video of something I learned just now - a simple forward backward roll version of Bury Me Beneath The Willow. I'm itching to move on to more complex things, but determined to get this smoother and more automatic, first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlMzU_Nyhbk

I also took the opportunity to record something somewhere other than in my bathroom at home :D

11 comments on “Starting Out / Bury Me Beneath The Willow”

banjoflynn Says:
Monday, November 4, 2013 @10:38:35 AM

Great job on your early success!!!

automatic octopus Says:
Monday, November 4, 2013 @3:21:35 PM

Thank you! I didn't think anyone would read/watch any of this :P

banjoflynn Says:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @5:40:21 AM

I picked up the banjo for the first time about 4 months ago.

automatic octopus Says:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @6:05:36 AM

Awesome! What approach are you taking to learning? Teacher? Books? Online tutorials?

banjoflynn Says:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @6:18:26 AM

Mainly online videos as of right now, I have a friend of mine that is gonna start helping me also I believe.

I downloaded some of the basic songs (bluegrass) to try also.

banjoflynn Says:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @6:29:08 AM

youtu.be/SfnMSBAJsDw

automatic octopus Says:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @7:54:27 AM

That's great! And a somewhat more ambitious tune than my starting efforts!