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impickin5 |
In the mid 50's while in high school, I learned to play a guitar Chet Atkins style. Sometime in the late 50's, I was riding in a car with my Dad and I heard Flatt and Scruggs on the radio. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to learn how to play a banjo like Earl. In about 1964, I bought my first banjo, a new Sears Silvertone for I think $39.95. I could immediately play a few tunes, but I was playing it Chet Atkins style which is an alternating "pinch" style instead of rolls. It took a while to break the pinch habit and play rolls, but I finally learned some rolls, BUT, however, I never EVER, EVER came anywhere close to playing like Earl-God rest his Soul.
So, I never really learned the right way and have been mostly a closet picker in the last 50 plus years or so. I've owned 42 different banjos in those 50 some years. I love to tinker with setup and just noodling around playing my own style.
Of those 42 different banjos I've owned over the years, my all-time favorite is my 1928 Gibson TB3 conversion (s/n 8977-25), with an exact reproduction 5-string neck by Larry Choea, which I acquired in 2010 from a BHO member. I will never EVER, EVER part with it and after I am gone, it will go to the first one of my grandchildren that shows any interest in banjos.
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