Yeah, this is a blog, so you are supposed to share personal stuff on a blog, right?
Ok, yeah I sort of promised not to do that, and I think I have maintained about less than 1% personal stuff in blog posts on here. That's pretty good I reckon, so I think I can stay under my quota there by adding this tid bit:
I was trying to play Lonesome and Blue on my guitar this morning, and it just wasn't working out. I figured that I needed either a mandolin or a banjo to make it sound good. And, I love the mandolin, I really do. But I've never seen myself as a mandolin player. I started with the bass guitar, and then graduated, or regressed depending on your point of view to the acoustic guitar...which honestly I never liked. So I got a violin, which I can scratch tunes out on on, but I should probably seek professional help for at some point.
Which leaves the banjo...one of my favorite instruments ever. Roll picking style that is. I never liked clawhammer much.
So I did what normal adults do and bought one on Amazon. Yup, banjer is inbound. Got the finger picks too. Was a rather expensive banjo...I dunno why people think banjos all come from the back woods and trailer parks in the south. The dead-blamed things are way too expensive for that. I think my bass guitar, acoustic guitar, bass amplifier, and violin together cost less than this banjo, which was not even close to the most expensive one.
So banjo pickin's is for the rich now I guess. I'll wear my monocle whilst pickin'.
And no...I won't provide any videos of it. This isn't a music blog. Someone tell WD that please.
I think a video is necessary. With the monocle.
ReplyDeleteAt the very LEAST a picture. For sure.
Congratulations, Keln. Did you name her yet?
Dude, don't worry about the personal stuff - it humanizes a blogger and gives some background: Why should we listen to this person, and why should their opinion have weight? The more we know about you, the more informed our decisions as to that weight can be.
ReplyDeleteBesides, who doesn't like a funny anecdote, or a video of a friend making a fool of themselves? I know I do.
Dude wanna start a band? we can do an alt country bluegrass punk kinda thing? I've been looking for a banjo player for a while!
ReplyDeleteYou should. I'd drive a long way to see that.
DeleteYeah, I've thought of a bluegrass punk fusion before. "Punkgrass".
DeleteIt worked for Celtic and punk, why not bluegrass and punk?
you should check out chuck Ragan... he was in a punk band called hot water music and now does that with solo blue grass stuff... also he and this guy named austin lucas did an album together called bristal ridge. its awesome.
DeleteI listened to some of Chuck Regan. Pretty good.
DeleteBut check these guys out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENUdP8xP3Uk
I like Brian Regan. That close enough?
DeleteSome friedly advice (and a bad joke):
ReplyDeleteI've been playing on and off since the seventies (yeesh!) and highly recommend a rare book (with sheet record attached!) called Bluegrass Banjo by Tony Trischka. Should be cheap on ebay. Otherwise the motherlode of banjo courses is HomespunMusic.com which has a huge sale around the middle of March each year. Get on their mailing list early.
Also, get a metronome.
Q. How does Nashville define an Optimist?
A. A banjo player wearing a pager.
Thanks for the advice. I am familiar with Tony's work. I'll probably do what I normally do and just fiddle around with it for a while before I get into actually learning how to play it.
DeleteActually, you forgot about the banjar and the ukulele.
ReplyDelete