How Green is My Banjo

Special note: This is one of the many articles written by Andy McGeehan for "Silver Strings" a free banjo magazine for those just learning the banjo.

Hello fellow banjo enthusiasts! My name is Andy McGeehan and I want to thank Angie for giving me the opportunity here to talk about all things banjo. While I've been playing for thirty-five years off and on (mostly off) I'm not a professional performer, so my observations are from the recreational picker's point of view. Currently I'm mentoring three students and I run an informal jam once a week. Today the topic is the totally green banjo student.

Many people who have heard the banjo have fallen in love with it's sound (I did). The result of this is a desire to learn to play the instrument. The green student is one who has never played a musical instrument before and has no prior musical experience. While many instructors demonstrate an enormous amount of patience and perseverance with beginners, this type of student can be exceptionally frustrating for other instructors. The need to review the most basic material repeatedly can grate on the instructor's nerves until it is unbearable. Under these circumstances, I have seen instructors give the student an exceptionally challenging assignment (knowing well that the material is beyond the student's capabilities at that time), and then say when the student can play that, come back for another lesson. Other times the instructor will say the student has no aptitude for the instrument, and should try something else. While I understand the instructors desire not to waste time (his or the student's) and certainly his frustration, this is of no use to the student.

A certain skill level is necessary to be able to enjoy picking or jamming. Now, not all of us are destined to be the next Earl Scruggs or Bela Fleck (I know I'm not), but we still want to play the banjo well enough so that the tune can be recognized. What options are left for the student? Well, there are the numerous CD and video lessons now available. I own a number of these by various instructors and some of them are very good. One of my concerns with them is that if the student has a question about any of the material presented, there is no one to answer the question. Another one would be how does one select the instruction material that is right for the student? If a student is just starting out, the amount of instructional material, by so many different teachers, can be confusing. While video/CD instruction is affordable, it can be easy to spend a lot of money before finding a program that conforms to the student's needs and skill level. The best bet here is your ear. Listen to the kind of music that interests you, and find out who is performing it. If the artist has a beginner level instruction video or CD available, it is likely that this would be a good investment. The tunes being taught are familiar and the material is being presented on a level the beginner can understand. One of the assets to the video/CD lesson is that it can be played repeatedly in the event that the subject wasn't entirely understood the first time around (thank goodness for the rewind button!).

There are many schools of thought on how a lesson should be structured. I prefer the 3-R's method. The 3-R's stand for Review, Reach and Relax.

With jobs, school, and life in general to deal with every day, it isn't always practical to spend as much time with the old five-stringed minnow dipper as one would like. This method divides the lesson into three sections:

Review: Go over the fundamentals. Concentrate on proper right hand and left hand form. Check for proper fretting. Play some rolls or licks that have already been mastered. Play a song or two as a form of warm up.

Reach: After getting warmed up and comfortable, dive into the new material to be covered. Set a time limit on working with the new stuff to prevent getting frustrated or saturated.

Relax: Pick the banjo! It can be some songs or just a couple of licks. Have some fun with the instrument. This is the time to experiment and create.

I have been very successful with this method, and I use it when mentoring others. It keeps the learning experience fresh and fun and in addition, gives a sense of accomplishment at the end of the lesson.

In conclusion then, keep these points in mind:

1. You should be playing tunes you want to play

2. You should be having fun (or why bother with all this work!)

3. The melody of the tune should be recognizable

4. Not everyone is a gifted musician (I know I'm not). Some things that the pros and instructors can do require a great deal of skill and years of practice. It is unreasonable therefore to expect the student with no previous musical experience to learn them overnight.

To learn a tune, here are my recommendations:

Find the melody (just the notes) on the fret board, and repeatedly play it over and over until you can play it comfortably so the tune can be recognized.

Find the chords that work with the melody

Experiment with the embellishments and slurs

The advantage of this method is that you are playing the tune right away and evolving a more sophisticated arrangement as you go along. The work in progress allows you to see improvement more readily.

"Remember; pick it like you mean it!" - Andy

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