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Paul Bock |
Good progress has been made in recent months, thanks to steady exercises, lots of practice, and "pushing" the muscle-memory bank to recover.
Recall that the problems were two-fold: A broken index finger joint (first joint) in 1987 that was never treated and grew back crooked and very weak, and which resulted in a "muscle-memory" block of how to even use it on a banjo; and a left-wrist break in 2014 that severely reduced my ability to form chords with the left fingers. Added to that are the facts that I was completely dormant as a banjoist for 20 years following the first accident, then in a not-trying-too-hard mindset until the second accident, then *FINALLY* enough drive reappeared to increase my effort despite the fact that I ain't getting any younger (just turned 84 this month).
So it's been a VERY tough climb, but I'm getting better and better by the day in my ability to accurately form chords, pick smoothly with my right hand (a lot of re-training and intensive practice necessary, which still continues) and am now playing songs and backup in both Bluegrass & folk genres, plus some different-path excursions into country, 50s/60s/70s pop, even some older jazz-type or pop tunes ("Five Foot Two", "Sheik of Araby", "Over the Rainbow", etc.) and a resurrection of dabbling in the "classic" banjo style of the late 1800s/early 1900s. And , of course, using some of my "Johnnie Whisnant" training in playing melodies and backup out of closed chords. A great example of the latter is "Five Foot Two" in Bb, which came to my attention when my wife (who plays both C and alto flutes in a flute choir as well as an instrumental ensemble) told me that the flute choir was thinking of playing the song and thought a banjo might add something. Well, I learned Allen Shelton's version in G decades ago, so I asked, "What key?", and she replied that they would play it in Bb and then segue to C. I thought, "Well, let's give it a shot", and did. It takes a bit of left-hand work that may be new to some but it's not really that hard, and it sounds really bouncy and fun.
Within the past year I've had four public appearances (three in the past 4 months): One doing "Grandma's Feather Bed" (John Denver); one doing "MTA" (Kingston Trio); one doing an Appalachian-style gospel song with a church choir ("Empty of Me") that required me to learn the "2nd string up one" C tuning popular in that part of the country (but I "picked" out of it, not "claw-hammered") *AND* had to learn the song and the banjo part from sheet music (an effort that is a story in itself since I don't read music); and a 16-song potpourri with four guitars and a bass that covered country, older pop songs, a couple of prewar jazz-style tunes, etc., and which we threw together in less than two weeks with only two rehearsals.
But the more I play, the more my ancient hands are lovin' it! Sometimes life is good! ;-)
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