Minor Update

Since I just got a shout-out from The Nikiverse, I thought I should mention that Sea Monkey and I are still weathering our Halloween costume-induced separation. That is just about over, though, and I am literally itching to get back to pickin' soon.

Over the past weekend I went up to Different Strummer and got a new thumb pick (size small, for those days when it's cold and my thumb *isn't* bloated--drawback of shopping for picks in mid-August), some fresh new strings, and one of those little wrenchy things so I can adjust Sea Monkey's head tension. I haven't actually done that yet, as I'm waiting for a night when I am not completely exhausted, but soon. That's what I've got to get done before any more practicing happens, because I must have a banjo that sounds right.

But the coolest thing about visiting the Old Town School was the vending machine just as you come into the building, which sells sugary confections as well as, you guessed it, strings for various instruments, including banjo! I love that place. I talk to a different employee every single time I go there, but they're all nice and knowledgable and they don't mind when I agonize over thumb picks.

The only other thing is that I trimmed my nails tonight. I've decided to take it easy on my right-hand nails, because it looks like I'll be needing those a bit longer for when I make my foray into frailing. Since there's some nice instructional material online, I may alternate that in with the bluegrass stuff to keep things lively and give me some new skills. Left hand work should be about the same, but I don't know about this clawhammer business.

ready, set, PICK!

I made a small purchase today. I paid much less than it's listed for on this site. Old Town School FTW! Best sale ever, and I had a good talk with a man who knows his instruments. He convinced me that I didn't need to spend the extra money for a resonator banjo, since that really just makes it louder, it doesn't affect any other sound qualities. I also bought the book they use for teaching banjo at the OTS (Tony Trischka's The Complete 5-String Banjo Player), so when I have the time I'll be quite prepared to take a class. All the while, I had my good friend Angeli cheering me on and a nice lady banjo player helping me pick out finger and thumb picks and encouraging me to give the $3000 Nechville a spin. I should have asked for her name, because she would be a total hoot to be in a class with. The guy also pointed out that with an open-back banjo, I'm not limited to bluegrass. I can play around with ragtime (!!!!) and some international banjo fare. Good thing I have no social life!

I also got a CD for Gaz and a bluegrass songbook for me, because it has All the Songs I Already Know How To Sing. And also, a week ago I had never seen a mention of "Hog Eye Man" outside of my CD collection, and today I was seeing it everywhere. Weird. It took a long time for the guys to bring up the banjo I ended up buying, so A. and I spend a good amount of time chortling over various cool things (turquoise flowery Stratocaster!), and I was sorely tempted by the enormous collection of folk music from Southern Illinois (in CD and tome formats!). I spent too much time around Carmi and Bone Gap. One day when I'm not buying a banjo I'll have to get that, and also the nice collection of old disaster songs.

Speaking of, I'm quivering in anticipation at the nigh endless variety of murder ballads and such that I shall eventually have in my repertoire! I already have music for some goodies, like "On the Banks of the Ohio," and I hope it won't be hard to run down the tab for "Gun Street Girl" because you just can't get better than Tom Waits + banjo. Swoon! Now it's time to start going through my banjo text book and hope for an early bedtime for Gaz tonight so I can get in some good practice time.