Learning with Joemac

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UK 5

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For 5 String Banjo Players based in the British Isles.

523 Members, Created 1/27/2011 -

Administrators: alfiedog (owner) , HSmith

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From dysuldalleth on 4/18/2013 5:45:58 AM

Guys,

Just thought I had to share my progress on learning to play the banjo, which actually started about 6 months ago, but until two weeks ago I was on the brink of hanging it on the wall and going back to my guitar. I initially started to learn to play clawhammer and had a lot of teaching videos from the likes of Kathy Fink etc but no matter how hard I tried, my playing sounded dead and dis interesting.

Through the UK5, I came to hear about this guy called Joemac and I asked him if he would consider giving me some lessons over Skype. Joe agreed to give me a try and we had a bit of an introductory lesson the week before last. Joe showed me how to play some finger rolls and then a basic version of cripple creek. Within just a few of practising i felt confident to play the whole tune and started to work on clarity and speeding it up a bit. I could not wait for another lesson.

Well I had it last night and Joe taught me all sorts of fantastic things which meant I could not only play another tune (banjo in the hollow) but I could also incorporate it into cripple creek and today I have had so much fun improvising it into different areas of the tune, it's great!

I know I'm a long way off, but I feel like a real banjo player today and it really is down to Joe and his easy to understand, relaxed teaching style. I can't recommend him enough to anyone looking for pickin' lessons,

7 Comments
Rikkidikkidoo says: 4/18/2013 6:28:16 AM As a newbie myself (since Christmas) and a guitar player I can empathise. You said "...and today I have had so much fun improvising it into different areas of the tune, it's great!". Yep, it's the fun factor that keeps me picking! I find banjo so much more fun than guitar. I can't play guitar by ear but made a conscious decision to learn banjo by ear. I have nothing written down and rarely look at tabs. Instead I listen to songs, pick out the tune on single strings just to get familiar with it and then incorporate it into my frailing style. What I find is that bits of one song fit nicely into others so once I've got the basic melody in my head I find I can improvise with other little licks that I've learnt in other tunes. Now I have a small repertoire of about 10 tunes that I can just knock out without too much thought - and certainly no fumbling for crib sheets! Sure, some are a bit rough around the edges but so what? - I just love playing them. That's the motivation! I was lucky enough to find a top class banjo tutor quite close to where I live. I had 5 or 6 lessons to start with, then had a break so I could consolidate what I'd learnt, and now I'm having a few more lessons to help me sharpen up the rough edges and look to see how much further I can push myself. I can see this pattern going on for a while because, as you suggest, you can get so much more out of one-to-one lessons than you can by watching videos. Good luck and keep us posted. Richard
	Andyincov says: 4/18/2013 6:37:01 AM Told you! Great stuuf.menjoy the ride
	dysuldalleth says: 4/18/2013 6:51:36 AM Yep u did. Plan is to get to a jam this summer so I'm working hard! Just ordered the smithy bridge Andy so hopefully will sound better too!
	Andyincov says: 4/19/2013 11:34:51 AM Great plan. The sooner you jam, the sooner you'll be actually playing that thing.
aspguitars says: 4/20/2013 2:36:59 AM I spoke to Joe last night. Looking forward to my first lesson on Skype with him next Wednesday. Ade
	dysuldalleth says: 4/20/2013 2:46:42 AM Ade, Enjoy it and you won't be disappointed. Joe is brilliant.
aspguitars says: 4/25/2013 2:21:27 PM Hi! again all. I had my first lesson online (Skype) with Joe last night. I recorded it all with some software for Skype called "Evaer" It worked very well and gives me the opportunity to go over it all again as many times as I like. Joe was very patient with me as my playing was atrocious. I put it down to nerves, and of course being crap. But hey! we all have to start somewhere. I'm already looking forward to my next lesson once I've got all of this one under my belt. Ade
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