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teakinmn |
It's been way too long since I've updated my progress. I'm about 2.5 years into it now, and I have no intention of stopping. I play at a jam every Thursday night that I love -- and I've made several great friends there. We play a lot of bluegrass, but we also do a fair amount of John Prine, Bob Dylan, and Norman Blake. One of the guitar players was short a banjo player for a volunteer gig, and asked if I could fill in, so I must be doing something right! The gig was only an hour, but it was a great time, and I hope there are more in my future. I've got around 40 tunes/songs that I can play decent solos for now, and I'm usually comfortable taking a break on most any tune as long as I know at least the key and hopefully the chord progression. My break may not follow the melody exactly (finding melody on the fly is still a weak point for me), but as long as I'm on time and on the right chord I'm happy. Playing good backup is still the thing I SHOULD work on most, but I'm always pulled more to getting my solos right, and learning new tunes that I like. I'm sneaking up on retirement and I hope to devote even more time to playing this fall and winter. I tend to really like the way that tunes in minor keys sound on the banjo, so among my favorites are "Jerusalem Ridge", "Cold Frosty Morning", "Glasgow Reel", and "Return to Dismal Swamp". Other highlights include meeting John McEuen and Alan Munde.
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