Did You Pick While Serving?

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Military Pickers

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Group of banjo pickers with some sort of military background.

98 Members, Created 2/19/2011 -

Administrators: BanjoFlyboy (owner)

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From Bohonkie on 3/11/2011 8:12:20 AM

I see no one has posted yet, so I will! Did you pick while in the service? Often? What did you play and with whom? For myself, I had not yet taken up the banjo but I did pick the guitar a time or two during a two month period. One of the guys had his Dad send an old guitar to him and we traded it back and forth, playing folk songs.

Someone had painted (with a brush) the old guitar before they pawned it at his Dad's store (a shop in Oklahoma). Later, after we were both discharged, he sent me a letter to update me on things. One of those things was he took the guitar to a repairman to have the paint removed and refinished.

It was a very old Martin. I'm sorry, but I don't recall if he told me the model but, from what I now know about them, its size makes me think OM or 000. Memories fade after more than 4 decades...

Thinking back, I really wish I had begun picking banjo while in the service. I started playing banjo a few years after I was discharged.

8 Comments
	DeanT says: 3/11/2011 10:58:29 AM Sure did! I had an old Lotus banjo in my locker and we jammed every day at lunch. Here an old picture: hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...02006.jpg
	Bohonkie says: 3/11/2011 11:26:20 AM Great! I love it!
jlwilk25 says: 3/12/2011 5:46:24 AM I'm on AD at FT Rucker. I've been trying to pick the banjo for a few years off and on. I've not really played with anyone, but would like to start trying. I've been here for less than a year and don't really know of any jams going on. I've got an alvarez.
	Bohonkie says: 3/12/2011 3:54:40 PM Good for you. Seems like you should be able to find a jam somewhere. Have you looked elsewhere on this site? Not sure where Ft Rucker is but maybe post notes in local music stores?
	DeanT says: 3/12/2011 5:12:54 PM I brought my beater banjo to the shop, to practice over lunch. Amazing how that flushed pickers out of the woodwork! Didn't take long and we had a jam group and eventually a band came out of it. We are retired now and playing full time.
	picKen says: 3/12/2011 8:08:25 PM Started picking in 1996 while stationed at Incirlik AB, Turkey on a CHEAP banjo my mom sent over to me. Learned some rolls and a couple tunes, got hooked, bought a new Alvarez when I got back to the states, got unhooked, and it sat in the closet for about 14 years until I found BHO last summer. I'm pretty sure its a full blown addiction now, though!
	delorget says: 3/16/2011 9:28:18 AM I was pretty fortunate in having met picker pretty much everywhere I was stationed (17 years active duty). I acquired a Fender Bluegrass Artist while in Hawaii in the late 70's and hadn't been able to put the banjo down since. I traded it off for an RB250.. sold it off for a Stelling Redfox and just traded off a Huber for a Hatfield Aurora (awesome banjo!). Now retired from the Army Reserves and working for the Army as a civilian, continuing to support the warfighter...
	banjodawg says: 3/23/2011 5:58:59 PM Nope, I never picked up a banjo until 15 months ago! I left active duty 18 years ago. I wish that I had picked up the banjo many years ago, but I am enjoying it now. I play a Recording King RK-87.
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