Good day

If you have been saying to yourself "wow, that banjo blog has been quiet for a while. I wonder what that's all about," then wonder no more!

The short answer is: I've been doing little other than unpacking. It's driving me up a wall that I (still) have no practice space. Or space to work on freelance projects. Or space to just go have some quiet time at the end of the day. Because the sunroom is still quite full of boxes. I've been focusing on that and other domestic chores lately, and banjo playing has been on the back burner for a while. I wish I could say those days are over, but there's still a lot of work to do to get the sunroom more hospitable. The work never ends. I did move dear Sea Monkey into the only room with a working humidifier, which I hope will be enough moisture to keep him happy this winter. When I have the money, I'll get a proper humidifier for him, but by that time it will probably be the middle of summer and humidity will be the least of our problems. Isn't that always the way?

Today I did break my banjo fast, and did pretty well considering I didn't bother to trim my nails before hand. It's a testament to my improving slide technique, I guess, that having a bit of nail didn't slow me down. I didn't sound that great, but I didn't sound terrible, either.

I wound my brain all the way back to the beginning with many reps of "Good Night Ladies," but this time I played standing up so I can see what my hands look like in the mirror. I mostly did this to snap me out of staring at my right hand (bad!) but also to get me thinking about how I anchor (or not) my non-picking fingers. I clearly need to think about this more, as they were all over the head most of the time.

Other tunes in rotation were "Wildwood Flowers" (I will defeat you, F chord! Later. . . ) and "Cripple Creek" and, in a fit of why-not, a version of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" that had been modified to play off an F chord. And no, I can't really explain what that means. But it was fun to try out a song with a lot of hammer-ons. I didn't get through more than a few measures before I decided I should move back to familiar territory, but I'm proud of myself for not just filing that page away for later. Lots of repetition. Some frustration over how choppy I am, but more than anything, it was fun just to play again. That's why I'm learning, because more than anything else, it's a damn good time. As I can make more time to practice, I'll even out and maybe even discover a sense of rhythm hiding somewhere in the depths of my DNA. (Please come out, little sense of rhythm! The social awkwardness has gone on long enough!)

Problems: my new strap is not comfortable for playing standing up for very long at all. I'm not sure if it's the narrowness or what that's aggravating me. I like the strap in general, now that it's installed, although I think i did it backwards, but I'm now wondering if I can take the pad I previously crocheted and somehow attractively attach that under the strap's existing pad. Gotta think on that more. I might have to crochet something new to best work with the pad's shape.

Speaking of crochet, my little pick bag is full to bursting. It's just too small for three five picks, a 5th string capo, regular capo, and the little wrench for adjusting head tension. I thought about putting the capos in with my mute, which came with it's own little bag, but there's no room there for the wrench, so the new plan is to just make another little bag. It's not like I don't have yarn or half an hour every now and again.

ah, Google! my friend!

Happiness is finding the tab for "Bile Dem Cabbage Down," as that's the tune for "Down In The Arkansas," which I fell in love with while listening to the re-issue of Jimmy Driftwood's Voice of the People. I strongly recommend that album to anyone who thinks that mountain folk are all backward and intolerant. And I just love Jimmy's voice. I'm not holding my breath for the tab for "Straighten Out My Laig," awesome as that would be.

I'm also pleased to find some fancy (read: complicated) tab for "Cripple Creek" since I still can't my own copy. Looks like a good time to learn how to execute a hammer-on, since I'm already familiar with the tune.

I think I've settled on buying a banjo Fiddlewidget. Kinda reminds me of those stickers you used to be able to get to put on the neck of your guitar. I remember seeing infomercials for stuff like that.

Back!

Today I finally got Sea Monkey out and tuned up. This is the first time since it got too cold to play at the old place. WOOO! I didn't get to play too long, because The Daughter came home and wanted to cause havoc with my tuner, but I remembered how to play "Cripple Creek" without too much mangling, with a dash of "Roving Gambler" and "Good Night Ladies" too. The rest of the time, I pulled up a nice comprehensive chord chart that also indicated the notes for each fret of each string, and goofed around with that for a while.

Banjo resolutions for 2009: practice and all that entails (including learning to cope with that damnable F chord, without which I can't play "The Great Speckled Bird," alas), learn enough music theory that I can write music on the banjo more efficiently, play at least once with other musicians (friends, teachers, random strangers--I'm not picky, I just need to challenge some of my performance anxieties).

I've been offline while we moved to a new apartment, which also meant no banjo for a good long time, what with the packing and heavy lifting. I have been a sad, sad girl. But happy days will be here soon, I hope. Provided that I can locate the box in which my banjo music lurks.

If not, I guess I'll be writing my own. I know three chords. Plus there that whole Internet full of stuff. I've been of a mind to try out some songs on the banjo, so maybe I'll have that sort of interlude.

My wrist reminds me that I need to take it a bit easy, though. Times are hard, times are hard.

a-HA!

It's cold here. Really, extra special cold. Especially in The Shed, which has but a wee electric space heater to take the edge off. It's usually somewhere in the 50s when there are no people or appliances to warm it up. It's no fun trying to make fingers go under such circumstances.

And that's when it's a good idea to kick back with your tab and your CD and figure out where your thinking is off in translating the little pictures into music. Which is exactly what I started to do with "Hard Ain't It Hard" and "Old Joe Clark." I listened to them both while starting at and occasionally making notes upon the tablature. The tune for "Old Joe Clark" is, after several dozen listens, much easier to pick out and easier to pick in general since it's all on the first string. It's weird but catchy. "Hard Ain't It Hard" is (surprise!) harder. I keep getting lost in the flurry of notes and can't anchor myself well enough to really connect with the basic tune. So I'll keep listening to that one until it clicks, but in the meantime I've got the other to play.

And play I have, but still I have a hard time letting go of the strange rhythm I started with so that I can play it like it sounds. I just realized that what I need to do is slow it way, way down and come at it like I've never played Old Joe Clark in my life. I'm having remarkably little trouble adapting to the gussied up version of "Cripple Creek" because a) I started with the very basic tune and then added more notes and b) I started off slow but accurate in terms of rhythm. All this is rather a no-brainer, but I haven't thought about how music and music learning works since I flubbed my way through flute lessons in the fourth grade. It should go without saying that that was not my finest hour.

Speaking of "Cripple Creek," I still need to calm down about slides. I play them so short that it just sounds like a giraffe that's dying in cute little sound bytes. They should sounds much nicer. I can play them nicer, I just need to calm. down. srsly.

So I continue slowly in remedial banjo. And intermediate knitting, since I would like something nice and woollen for my hands in these cold, cold times.

Tight-ish

I did sit down yesterday to tighten Sea Monkey's head, but I forgot to print out anything that had the diagram of which nuts to tighten in which order, or even any vague recommendations on such adjustments, so I just kinda tightened everything a little bit (about a half turn, I'd say) in something like the pattern I remembered (I hope) from The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo.

I am a weenie, though, and while I did tighten some, it's not really obvious. The bridge is still rather sunken in. I think I'm still a good night of sleep away from working up the nerve to do it right. I didn't rupture anything, though, so that's worth something.

Practice was brief, but consisted of "Good Night Ladies" and "Cripple Creek" and some forward and backward roll exercises that I think sound pretty. Nothing fancy, just working those joints and fingertips to get 'em ready for some serious practice tomorrow. After the aforementioned good night of sleep.

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.

oh, and maintenance notes, so I don't forget

Last night as I checked Sea Monkey's tuning, I was a bit alarmed that the fourth string suddenly got a lot deeper after I hit it. It went from in perfect tune to . . . well, farther and farther from perfect tune. I tightened the screw on the tuning peg, which had worked itself loose, and string four was back in action. And I tightened up the other screws on the other pegs just to be sure they're all happy. Planetary tuners FTW. :)

But that reminded me that Sea Monkey's head tension is a little off, so I need to get me a banjo bracket wrench. And while I'm at it, I may as well get some new strings. I can probably wait on changing them out (and that will be a special day, since changing banjo strings is more complicated than changing guitar strings), but it would be good to have them handy for when I work up the nerve. We've had new strings for the ukulele since July and I still haven't overcome my fear of epic fail enough to change those out. Of course, the uke is mostly a toy for Gaz, who doesn't care all that much if she's missing a string. In fact, she insists on keeping the uke so out of tune that the strings are quite slack.

cold hands are not anyone's playthings

For three days, I played no banjo. My fingers got all soft and flabby. There was moping. But the (un)motivating factor was extreme exhaustion, so if I had pushed myself to practice, it likely would not have gone anywhere satisfying.

Then I broke my fast and played. I played the songs that I know the tunes to well enough that I can actually tell how close I am to how I want to sound ("Good Night Ladies" and "Cripple Creek"), which are also my slide songs. Even if I haven't mastered other songs that came before these, it's not like I don't need to practice my slides. So that was where I spent most of my time. I also decided to treat myself to a little skipping ahead to read about and try out the next two techniques: pull-offs and hammer-ons. And they are, in fact, just as you would imagine from the name. It's still a strange new coordination to learn, though, when to apply the left-hand finger with respect to when the right hand hits the string. But that was a lovely and nutritious little jelly donut for my brain. Wow. Weird metaphor. Sorry.

The big new thing, as we move into fall, I must rely on technology to keep my hands warm enough for me to play at all. Right now I'm using a combination of some drugstore stretchy gloves that my dad cut the fingers off of, and a pair of nice wooly wristbands that my mother-in-law brought back from Scandinavia. It's great for my right hand, but the glove part sometimes dampens the first string, which is not all that helpful. I'm trying to figure out if there is some way to make something that is both palmless and mostly fingerless but still skin-covering enough that my fingers will be able to move at a reasonably swift pace. This calls for some knitting/crochet experimentation. If only that wouldn't cut into my pickin' time.

Break's over!

Actually, it's been over for a while. I took a couple of days off to let my hand rest, and then promptly injured my middle finger in the same way from which my index finger had just recovered. This time I decided to play through it (though more gently than usual) and it got better soon enough. Last weekend's travel played havoc with the banjo, but now that we're all home, I am back in my groove.

Actually, we celebrated the family unit all being home by grooving to Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Is it possible to hear that song and not be instantly filled with glee and inspired to dance around the room with one's spouse and child? I don't believe so.

But with a little time off, and then with a healthy dose of listening to the CD that came with my method book, I am quite unsatisfied with my progress. Yeah, "Good Night Ladies," even the crazy new version with slides and a forward roll, sounds like what it is, but everything else . . . I couldn't recognize what I have been playing as the "Old Joe Clark" on the CD. Not even close. Of course, part of that is because I was reading the notation wrong (it's been probably 20ish years since I last had to think seriously about notation), but that is only a very small part of the problem. Even playing it through properly, it sounds like something from space. Which would be lovely if I was Struck by Moog. My plan for that song, is to listen to it much, much more, mark the notes I really need to play the hell out of, and then re-learn it.

But in the meantime, I also find myself frustrated with yet another plateau. I just have to keep plugging away, but it's hard to be motivated to play as long as I need to move along. My tactic is to keep it simple. I'm focusing on the two songs I know that feature slides ("Good Night Ladies" of course and the somewhat more complicated version of "Cripple Creek" that's got slides and pinches *and* sounds very pretty, even when I play it), and then filling in with all the baby songs. I return to "Hard, Ain't It Hard" sometimes, but that's another one like "Old Joe Clark" that needs way more thought on my part before it will sound right.

Another thing that inspires mixed feelings in me is that I found the tab for Tom Waits's "Gun Street Girl." The trick is that it's arranged for clawhammer (which is not the style I'm learning) and fretless banjo. I have no doubt that I'll dig frailing when the time comes, but I don't think I've got another banjo in my future for quite a while. From what I understand, the fretless arrangement lent a more strange, somewhat dissonant edge to the song, which I suppose means that playing it on a fretless banjo will make it sound more on-key and crisp? I have no idea. I still plan on trying it out soon, just to play around, but it's another song that won't sound right for a while. At least I know that tune by heart. That's a big plus.

Still, I love my banjo. I love playing, I love learning, I love building my callouses back up. It's all good. So I sound like I started playing two months ago. No big deal, as long as next month I sound like I started playing three months ago.