It's been awhile

Hi fellow banjo lovers,

It's been some years since I posed something in this thing, so I thought I should update it.   Been busier than a one-armed paper hanger with teaching and playing and haven't really kept up with all the folks here.

The band is history.   Well, not history, but I'm not playing in it anymore.    I have discovered that all the whining and arguing, the practices, keeping up with business cards, rehearsing every week---is just not my cup of tea anymore.   I just want to play and I've found that with a group of about 4 or 5 friends.   We get together every couple of months or so, have a barbeque or a potluck on a Saturday afternoon and play for about 4 or 5 hours off and on.   Just right.  Just enough to keep my hand in it and not lose my edge.  

I've branched out into teaching, just a couple of folks right now to get my feet wet.     It's not much different from the other instruments I teach.

One lady is 64 years old and is playing on a nice little Washburn starter banjo.    She got the forward roll on the first day and can play a couple of simple tunes like Bile Dem Cabbage and The Old Grey Goose.    She played guitar for some years when she was younger and has good coordination.   Plus, she listens to what I tell her.   Don't you just love older students?

The other student is 14 and taking off like a rocket.     He has been playing tenor sax in his school band for about 3 years and also took some piano lessons.     He and his dad saw a consignment banjo for sale for a hundred dollars, thinking the dad would play it.     It's an old one with an aluminum pot and a friction 5th peg, but it stays in tune and seems to be pretty true all the way up the neck, which is a bit surprising.   He seems to be a natural and very eager to learn.   He has long bony fingers, just perfect for all those reaches, slides, hammers and pulloffs. (I was not blessed with this.   Short and stubby.  Aargh!)   He's already mastered the forward roll and I'm teaching him the backward and combined forms now.

Other than that, I'm very busy, mostly helping and playing in the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society.    I find I'm playing more old time music now than anything else.    I use my little Bean Blossom open back and it works just great.   Not on every tune, mind you, but on enough to make it enjoyable (and not annoying).   That, plus a lot of dulcimer, which I find I'm liking more and more.   (Oh no, a dulcimer player on Banjo Hangout.   Horrors!)

That's all for now.     Hope I don' wait 3 years to post again.

Banjo Finn

I Have A Band