For fans and students of legendary banjo player and innovative teacher Roger Sprung

49 Members, Created 4/4/2011 -

Administrators: Rich Weill (owner)

Favorite Quotes from Roger Sprung

From Rich Weill on 6/6/2012 8:50:00 AM

"[M]ost people like to teach song by song. ... I met a guy who said he played banjo.  He said his teacher was ... 'the greatest teacher; in a year I learned six songs, and boy I can play them.'  The second he said that I knew how he was being taught, song by song.  I said, 'Do you know the names of all the chords you play?' and he said, 'Most of them.'  That's not the way to learn – unless you can apply what you learn from one song and put it on to some other song by yourself.  I don't teach song by song, I polish song by song.  I give the person the tools ... so they can do any song."

 – Banjo NewsLetter, March 2011

“The students don’t read music or tablature.  I work with songs that the students already know how to sing by heart.  I teach them the basic rolls, then they put the songs to the rolls, and not the rolls to the songs.”

 – Frets Magazine, August 1984

 “The reason I don’t teach the exact tune right away is because if someone accidentally hits the wrong string, they panic.  If students can get near the tune, as long as they have the right chord and the right tempo, they can play along with anybody.”

 – Frets Magazine, August 1984

“In bluegrass, it’s not the smoothness of a banjo player that counts, it’s the jumpiness – a bounce that’s more conducive to tapping your foot.”

 – Frets Magazine, August 1984

“The most important catalyst for improving is the syncopation, phrasing, and ‘pairing’ of the notes.”

 – Masters of the 5-String Banjo

On tapping your foot:  “You tap to what the others are playing, and then you play to your foot.”

On playing up the neck:  “I go up the neck when the melody in my head goes up the neck.  It may not be the same as someone else’s melody.  It may be a counter-melody."

"Find the loudest banjo you can find, then play it as softly as possible."

"Bluegrass is an instrumentation, but you can play anything you want.  Anything from 'Mack the Knife,' Mozart to 'The Foggy Mountain Breakdown.'"

 – All About the Music [short documentary film about the Galax Fiddler's Convention]

After teaching the G, C, and D7 chords:  "You can now play 15,000 songs."

4 Comments
	banjomikey says: 6/26/2011 8:59:25 AM How about "Sure, I'll play a long banjo medley." When no one asked him to. Classic Roger wit!
	fiddleedee says: 7/24/2011 7:30:26 PM "I played a show one time...Willie Nelson closed for me."
	BDCA says: 6/6/2012 9:29:21 AM Roger was my first teacher in 1962..he taught me how to listen before teaching me how to play. 4 months later I was touring with Roger's band. Cya! Bob
loum1948 says: 9/15/2016 11:24:36 PM Roger is a dear friend, I have played guitar for him for 20 years up until 2009. Not just a great banjo player, he is a wonderful person and great friend.
Post a Comment
You must be logged in and a member of this group to post a comment.

Page: 1  2  3  Last