methamphetamines. (just kidding ---'--::   )  you're either naturally motivated or you're not.....seems like you are.

An important factor was that I started out learning easy folksongs, & became part of a group of friends who played instruments & sang together. The fun & the pleasure of feedback set a tone for the next 6 decades. I eventually learned many more difficult genres.

Even though one is starting out, it doesn't have to be in an extended  isolation,  Learn some easier songs & find others to play with ASAP.

What sustained me was the sheer joy of progress. That moment when something that seemed impossible is finally quite do-able. Then you think, if I can do that, eventually, one day, I could be ok at this

I started the summer I was 21. Between junior and senior years of college. Living in an apartment, working different shifts at a mom-and-pop pharmacy. No girlfriend. So plenty of time to hang around the apartment and practice banjo.

Besides having the time, I came to banjo having played guitar since I was 13, able to figure out chords and fingerpick a little. So I mainly needed to learn the mechanics of banjo, not learn about music (though, in hindsight, teachers who taught me more about music than I knew at the time would have been a big help). Anyway, I was making real banjo music from my first lesson, so it was self-reinforcing. The more I played, the better it sounded, so the more I wanted to play. I think I drove my roommate nuts.

Finally, the reason I was taking lessons was that in the last two months of the semester, I had joined a band to play with some friends at a campus coffeehouse. I already had the banjo but didn't really know how to play it. I knew chords and two-fingered my way through songs. When we decided to keep the band going and to be better the next school year, I took up lessons, because I figured I should learn to play it right. I discovered there was a banjo player inside me all those years.

What started me and kept me going for a while was depression ! When I got home from Vietnam I was very depressed. I started looking for something to make me happy. I heard some banjo music and it really picked me up so I bought a banjo. It's funny that after a year or two I started using methamphetamines to practice. Sometimes I would practice around 6 hours but after a short time they became a problem. I felt worse than when I got out of the Army. Now I'm clean & sober 30+ years and listening to banjo music helps a lot. Also playing with other people helps me.

For context, I should add that the summer I was 21 and taking banjo lessons was 1972. 

Dogged determination. When I retired I decided I wanted to learn to play a stringed instrument. We had a guitar in the house already, so I tried that for awhile. Then in some order mandolin, electric guitar, dulcimer. The dulcimer stuck for awhile, and I learned some old time tunes. Then this random video popped up on my Youtube feed...Mary Z. Cox playing "Snowdrop"...and I thought ..I gotta get a banjo. Never looked back. Having played some other stringed instruments, I knew I needed to stick it out six months or so. I made some picking style changes (2ftl, Scruggs, 3 finger) over the years and just applied that dogged determination to that as well. Progress in banjo can go a few different ways...slow and steady, growth-plateau-growth, exponential. Give it some time, make short term (and long term) goals and celebrate your progress when, and as often, you can.

Greetings Stephen,

What maintain my progress on speed towards my goal of becoming proficient. Will serve several things factored in first of all we all have lives. We’re all running around managing those lives, and along with others, time, restraints, obligations, and surprises. I started with managing my expectations. What is my beginnings are not your beginnings. I grew up around music and you had to read it. However, there are banjo tabs which are similar but I’m familiar initially to me. It’s just like knocking on a drum with your unfamiliar movement. You’ll have to invest a great deal of time and energy into making that awkward unfamiliar movement rhizomatic. Additionally, knowing that learning can be uncomfortable because of challenges, what you see versus what you know how to do. Peoples myself included are constantly exposed to videos of folks doing things naturally, and it seems simple. This leads us all to have fallacies about what can be done in a short amount of time.

Nevertheless, the Banjo is an incredibly amazing instrument that is very touchy, however, if you learn how to cord less than a handful of notes, you can play many folk songs with practice.

So what I did was this. I sat down with the banjo for about 15 minutes a day on my busier days and 25 on my lease busier days every day a week that I could possibly put my hands to it. And I kept a progress journal (this may work for you this may not) and charted my progress along with challenges and accomplishments. Additionally, because I’m such a history nut. Researching songs I was working on and watching performances of other’s hands was inspiring for me in those moments.

However, climb to the summit of anything, is one step at a time, and my failures or setbacks, if you will are just as much of a teacher, if not more towards player.

Personally, there’s nothing like the sound of a banjo, it’s happy, joyful, and because of Eric, and other folks, efforts online, we have so many resources to choose and enhance our study of said instrument.

So welcome to the hang out, remember to have fun while you’re playing.

For me, the main motivator was learning to play a tune that sounded like the music I wanted to play on the banjo. I can't recall which one, but it was probably a fairly simple modal tune that just required a basic clawhammer stroke and a few hammer-ons and pull-offs and nothing beyond the 3rd fret. A month doesn't sound unusual -- some people pick up the clawhammer stroke quickly and for others it's harder.

The first time I started playing, I wanted to play so much that I didn't need anything to sustain my enthusiasm, my problem was I wanted to practice all the time and couldn't because of family chores.

The second time I took lessons (there was a 10 year hiatus to finish raising my family), I was determined to get away from tab and learn to play by ear. Going to jams, sitting in the back, watching, listening, trying to hear chord changes was enough to keep me working on learning to improvise and play with others.

Loved the Clawhammer sound and had determination way beyond any resources, intelligence or talent. I am glad you have a teacher which I did not have. I truly believe that having a teacher combined with decent practice/motivation on your part can accelerate the learning time 10X. You said you thought you were slow. Keep in mind Pete Seeger said it took him a year to be ok with clawhammer and another year to be comfortable with it. It is fun! I just spent the morning busking at out local Farmer's market and made ones and ones of money – Ha! Fame, fortune and all that goes with those two are just around the Clawhammer corner – more Ha! Just have fun! banjered

Well, hey, you've got the Internet, and over a hundred and thirty THOUSAND banjo owner/operators you can ask.

Back around 1961, in a town of under a thousand, didn't know ANY banjo players.

What sustained me was discovering that three chords meant I could play HUNDREDS of folk songs, and the Folk Music Revival ( or what Arlo Guthrie called "The Great Folk Scare" )was just picking up steam.

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

The first time I started playing, I wanted to play so much that I didn't need anything to sustain my enthusiasm, my problem was I wanted to practice all the time and couldn't because of family chores.
 

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 OP,  I feel the same as Texasbanjo, but let me ask you a question.  You mentioned that you are a beginner on clawhammer, but do you play other instruments?  The reason I ask is that I've tried to play many instruments over the years and I have had a success with several, but not all.  For me at least, I can know within a month or two of playing an instrument if it is something I'm going to love playing or not, and, if I love it, I'm exactly like Texasbanjo, I can't put the dang thing down and I neglect other life duties!  For example, I took up fiddle as a covid project, loved it immediately, and now I've gained 15 pounds and my wife is always mad at me because all I want to do is sit around and play fiddle.  I was making slow progress for quite some time, but the motivation was always high. In my defense, my fiddle didn't come with any frets for some reason, so it was extra hard for me. 

However, some instruments just didn't click for me and practicing was a chore, the mandolin and dobro come to mind. I though I would like to play both of those, because I certainly like listening to them but, for various reasons, I didn't like playing them at all and I didn't want to waste my time, forcing myself to practice.

So, if you play other instruments and love to play them, but clawhammer banjo is not doing it for you and you are struggling to stay motivated, then maybe it's not for you. However, if you're new to all instruments, then I would urge you to give it some more time.  I find that progress is not linear there will be leaps and bounds, and there will be plateaus. 

The banjo sound.
(The "fame and fortune" aspect never really entered into it.)

Yes the sound made we want to play the banjo.What sustained me is that I never felt the need to learn a "style" of playing to get stuck into or stuck on. I just decided to play some tunes. Luckily I had a rhythmical droning style I use on guitar and adapted that - a sort of 3 finger old time style. Too often people think it's Scruggs or clawhammer.

Unfortunately, my motivating advice is something akin to: "Choose your parents carefully ..."  In my case, it probably helped that I was "a fully immersed 12--13-yr-old," and even better, I had an equally if not more-motivated twin brother(!).  We played constantly, helped by VERY supportive parents and extended family.  It was the time of the "Great Folk Scare," in the early 1960s, so even in our modestly-sized town, there were many like-minded travelers ('though a proper [i.e., "non-jazz"] guitar teacher was a tough find!)  Dad got us introduced to Lester and Earl at age 13, and to Carlos Montoya at about the same time, so we WERE Motivated!

I was in college and grad school from 1968 to 1979 (!), and the music (and guitar and banjo) most certainly preserved whatever sanity I retained!  And the music helped get us jobs as guest-ranch COWBOYS and mule packers ... !!  What could be better?!?

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Originally posted by doryman

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

The first time I started playing, I wanted to play so much that I didn't need anything to sustain my enthusiasm, my problem was I wanted to practice all the time and couldn't because of family chores.
 

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 OP,  I feel the same as Texasbanjo, but let me ask you a question.  You mentioned that you are a beginner on clawhammer, but do you play other instruments?  The reason I ask is that I've tried to play many instruments over the years and I have had a success with several, but not all.  For me at least, I can know within a month or two of playing an instrument if it is something I'm going to love playing or not, and, if I love it, I'm exactly like Texasbanjo, I can't put the dang thing down and I neglect other life duties!  For example, I took up fiddle as a covid project, loved it immediately, and now I've gained 15 pounds and my wife is always mad at me because all I want to do is sit around and play fiddle.  I was making slow progress for quite some time, but the motivation was always high. In my defense, my fiddle didn't come with any frets for some reason, so it was extra hard for me. 

However, some instruments just didn't click for me and practicing was a chore, the mandolin and dobro come to mind. I though I would like to play both of those, because I certainly like listening to them but, for various reasons, I didn't like playing them at all and I didn't want to waste my time, forcing myself to practice.

So, if you play other instruments and love to play them, but clawhammer banjo is not doing it for you and you are struggling to stay motivated, then maybe it's not for you. However, if you're new to all instruments, then I would urge you to give it some more time.  I find that progress is not linear there will be leaps and bounds, and there will be plateaus. 

 

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First let me state that I am NOT a clawhammer player, but play mostly 3-finger Scruggs style.  And I'm far from a beginner, as I play by ear and have played in bands over the years.  I learned clawhammer and it was not for me at all.  

As far as playing different instruments, after I got proficient (at least in my own head) on the banjo, I got a guitar and learned chords and basic backup.    I started a slow jam and most of the folks there played guitar so I had to learn at least the basics and I did.  Tried flatpicking and fingerpicking but never got good at it.  

My next instrument was the mandolin.  Again, learned some chords and played some basic melodies but it just didn't interest me.

Learned to play an electric-acoustic bass so I could help my husband with it.  Not interested in the bass, either.

Then went to dobro.  Not my thing.

Autoharp was next.  Too heavy and too hard to keep in tune.  

About the only instrument I haven't tried is the fiddle.  No offense to fiddle players, but I just can't stand a screechy fiddle.

What Edwards said...very well put. If your enthusiasm wanes, pull up that post and re-read.

Patience. Be realistic about how much practice it will take to develop skills and learn music. Practice at least once a day. Don't try to play music that requires skills I don't have yet or play faster than I can manage. Have fun playing simple tunes. Practice with a purpose: work on the skills that need the most attention, slowly and carefully with a metronome. Then, play some easy music and try to make it feel comfortable and second-nature. Don't listen to that inner voice that sometimes wants to nag about all the shortcomings--keep it positive and fun.

The vehicle is one thing.
I think the driver may not know the journey.
Turn down Hope street where there are no stop signs.

Warning: safety cones appearing, threshold approaching, no brakes, all gas. :)

My opinion only is that you need an in person live teacher that is not all about the money and looking at the clock! Next is actually having a welcoming jam or slow jam or family or friends to play music with. Other than having that ,it is really hard to stay motivated just playing by yourself all the time! JMO,

1. Josh Turknett's "Laws of Brainjo" really helped me. I recommend it to all beginners and intermediates. The laws are complex. Don't try to learn all 30 laws all at once. hoho. But they really helped me understand what I should be trying to achieve. and how to achieve it. Brilliant ideas from Josh, can't thank him enough :-)
clawhammerbanjo.net/the-immuta...practice/

2. Only practice as for long as it's fun. Some days that will be an hour. Some days that will be 10 minutes. Some days that will be 30 sec. Several short practices per day will give you faster mastery than one long marathon. If you are mad or frustrated, you will not learn. Take a break. don't force yourself. I kept it fun using this technique, so had no sustained mad/frustrated days. This was vital for keeping my interest sustained. Practice Every Day. A long weekend practice won't make up for missing 7 daily practices...actually may do harm. Never follow the "practice till it hurts" philosophy pushed by music teachers. This is called aversion training by psychologists, and is a sure way to kill your interest in playing music.

3. Listen listen listen. If you can't hum, sing, or whistle the tune you are trying to learn, you will have a hard time as a beginner (true for experts too).

4. Audacity program is a great way to slow down a song so you can hear the phrases. Audacity is way more capable than you will need (truly professional level capabilities) , just learn the "slow down a song" part. You can also use Audacity to change the key of the song to allow you to use the banjo tuning you are most comfortable with. Old recordings are often not at standard modern pitch; Audacity can correct their in-between keys to standard keys (i.e. standard modern tunings).
audacityteam.org/download/

Hope this helps.

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Originally posted by StephenARhodes

I’m a beginner on clawhammer. I have an excellent teacher who I have a lesson with each week for 30 minutes. Tomorrow will mark my first month with her. We meet on FaceTime and it’s like we’re in the same room. My progress, however, feels slow. So I want to ask you all who have been playing for a while, how did you keep your motivation when you were just starting out? What sustained you then and got you through being a beginner? Thanks in advance.

How long have you been playing? It takes some time to get it going. Less than a year or so you might feel like nothing much is happening but it is. I started Bluegrass banjo when I was about 22 was not very successful and Clawhammer when I was about 25. I was motivated by the joy of playing and the presence and generosity of The Gypsy Gyppo String Band in Seattle. I was also inspired by a concert featuring The Old Hat String Band in Seattle as well. You just have to keep going if you love the music you will do ok,  play it like you mean it. 

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