been a while

I fixed yon Sea Monkey about a month and a half ago, and have been working at building up those calluses again. Slowly, though, because there's a lot these days to split my attention between and among, even after the kid is fast asleep.

But I'm getting back at it. I like "Wildwood Flowers" except for the jarring switch to the F chord halfway through. F chord, why must you sound so very pretty but be so hard on my inflexible fingers? Hooray for The Carter Family, though. Good stuff, there. If I can find tab for "Ring of Fire" I will be over the moon!

But my favorite song so far, out of all of them (even "Goodnight Ladies" LOL) is this very simple tune called "Dance" from an 1860's banjo instruction manual. It's so light and danceable, and I always see in my head somebody's grandpa with his banjo on his knee playing while the kids and grandkids dance in the parlor some spring evening. It's very short and uncomplicated, and is good practice for me for a number of skills (not using the same finger to play different notes on the same string back to back, building up my flimsy pinkie for further full-on F chord mayhem [this song only needs the little finger note of the F chord, lucky me!], and getting used to switching between quarter and eighth notes). Best of all, it has a pull-off, which is a little tricky to accomplish being as it is the wimpy pinkie that must do the pulling off, but is sounds divine.

For a while tonight, I just practiced some rolls with the F chord. Over and over until my fingers were ready to cramp. Sad thing is, I could do that all night it sounds so nice. Even just screwing around in a vague sort of alternating thumb roll sort of pattern, it's just pretty. Have I mentioned that I love the sound banjos make?

Big problem areas: my posture and my right hand. The one affects the other, and crappy posture is what makes my fancy new banjo strap dig into my shoulder so unpleasantly. Bonus points for figuring that out before I really hurt myself, but I'm not sure how I'll fix my posture without mechanical help. Corsets and banjos go well together, right? Speaking of, the problem with my right hand is the very sloppy way I attack the strings. I'm not hitting just the string I want when I want to, which sounds a bit like a Neil Young guitar solo. (I love you, Mr. Young, but I'm not trying to make those sounds, especially not with an instrument that isn't wired.)

And that, ladies and gents, is what life has been like lately.