by "imprint" I mean like when a young bird hatches out of their egg...the first creature that the chick sees they imprint upon...bond to...usually their mother...so that is a good thing...like in the movie "Fly Away Home"
what does that have to do with us banjo players?
The first time we get a chance to learn some new tune...from a fiddler friend...or whomever...if it goes well and we learn it we tend to want to stick with that version that we first heard...we imprint upon that first exposure to the tune...and if...later...we meet someone who wants to play it differently...in a different key...different structure to the tune...we resist.
This is one way that traditional versions of tunes get passed down...I play it just the way Tommy Jarrell taught it to me....and I ain't gonna change it to play it your way.
your thoughts please
If that's what you want to do, go for it.
For me, I hear a song I like, I learn the chord structure and then take whatever parts of the banjo break I like and incororate it in whatever I decide to do with my arrangement of the song. I seldom play any song note for note as I learned it way back when. I've developed my own "style", if you will. I don't want to sound like someone else. I want to sound like me.
I think a majority of banjo players who eventually learn to play by ear may feel as I do: listen, get the melody in your head and then do your own thing.
When I first started jammin' I found that just because I'd learned a song in the key of G, that didn't mean everyone else played it in that key. If the song was a vocal, then the vocalist decided the key that worked best for her or him. That made me rethink my arrangements and learn to play in most any major key and in a couple of minor ones.
EDITed to add: maybe clawhammer is different than bluegrass and maybe all clawhammer players feel as you do. Since I don't play clawhammer, I really don't know.
Edited by - Texasbanjo on 05/17/2025 14:10:01
Many years ago, Troy Brammer told me, "That's the way I play it. Now, learn it your way."
His advice was to emulate what you like, don't try to copy it. Learn from others but develop what works best for you. That's how you develop your own style.
My personal style has elements of Don Reno, Allen Shelton, Troy Brammer, Bill Emerson, Doug Dillard, and Sonny Osborne intermingled but it's still my style. My version of Peaches and Cream sounds more like Allen Shelton than Alan Munde but you can still recognize the song.
If you want to play a song rigidly, just the way you learned it, that is your prerogative, but I think you are missing out. I learned a lot of songs over the years but, when I started playing with a band that did things differently than I was used to, I had to go back and develop my kickoffs and breaks all over again. That was a learning experience. And, if you really want a challenge, try playing in a band with a woman singer. Women often sing songs in some oddball keys.
One other thing I have shared, and it's considered blasphemy to some people, is that the Earl Scruggs book is good to learn from if you want to sound just like Earl Scruggs. But, if you want to develop your own style, it is going to hold you back. No one I have met that learned from the Scruggs book seems to be able to improvise and develop their own style. When they get to the end of the book they have mastered everything in it, but they have nowhere else to go because the book doesn't give them the tools to develop beyond the rigid style laid out in the lessons.
As Sherry said, maybe clawhammer banjo is different, but I have my doubts.
"No matter how hard you try, you'll always sound like yourself." (Mike Seeger)
I'm not good enough to copy someone else's playing note-for-note.
For me the most important part of playing with others is getting the tune to jell. There are some folks that I play with this jelling was there from the first time. While we are not playing exactly the same notes, a friend described it to me as we both have the same "sense of the tune".
