banjo progress

[dragonlady7]

So Dude and I are taking banjo lessons. Initially he just came up with it as something for himself to do, but then I said I wanted to learn too, so he tacked me on. We own one banjo between the two of us, but we got two sets of picks. We'd figured the lessons would be one person learning and the other waiting, but the teacher has us both sit there, so we both get an hour-long lesson, instead of each separately getting half an hour. It's worked out great.
The only issue is that of course we can't both practice at the same time. But we've now, tonight being our second-ever lesson, mastered enough of the basics that he's starting to give us links to play-along videos and such. And I mentioned that I do have a guitar and I do know how to play two of the three chords we've learned on the banjo, on it. So he was good enough to pull one of his guitars out and show me the secret-- three of the guitar's strings are the same as the banjo's, so you can play a few of the banjo's chords straight on the guitar with no fingering changes, which means I could practice some of the rolls and such finger-picked on the guitar with a banjo style, if I wasn't going to strum across the extra strings. So that's great. I don't know about Dude, but it would motivate me more to practice if we could play together, at least a little.
And a major part of the practice at this stage is just improving the strength in my fingers and building up calluses. Dude's got huge hands so he has no problem with the fingerings at all, but my hands are little and soft.
So maybe we can jam in our living room. I just think that'd be fun.
We were learning how to slide between frets today and my middle finger feels like I've worn a permanent groove into it. I'm not going to mess with that guitar tonight. But maybe this weekend!

Comments

[buttonsbeadslace]

So much sympathy re: finger grooves. Actually, come to think of it, what are banjo strings like? Are they the same as guitar strings, where the metal wire wrapped around it gives it a rough texture, and your fingers make that little noise when you slide them lightly up and down the string? (Violin-family strings are also metal-wrapped, but they're much smoother.)

[dragonlady7]

They are the same as guitar strings, I think. Well... I mean, I know guitar strings can vary, some are all plastic and some are all metal and some are thicker and some are thinner. The banjo mostly has the very thin wire ones, but one of the strings is thicker and wrapped. (Also it's tuned so that the strings don't go in order from high to low like on a guitar, and I keep getting fucking confused about it. And like. There are two Gs and then there's a B and I just get lost. I should probably work on memorizing those.)

They definitely make the noise when you slide your finger. And it hurts like anything. My fingers are still sore today!

My goal is to work up calluses as fast as possible. The teacher said I'd have much better luck doing 10 minutes a day than like, an hour every other, so I haven't missed a day and I've been really trying to do at least 10 minutes of intensive fretting stuff, but it's still like. No progress. So I think I have to do more than that. Maybe I'll Google for tips.
(He also said "and no washing dishes!" but since we have no dishwasher and both of us are doing this, that's not gonna fly.)

[shy_magpie]

sounds like a really fun thing to do with your SO. Does it mess with your body memory to switch instruments like that? When ever I hear about building up the needed calluses to play I am thrown back to a story I read where the guitar took a blood tribute as it was played.

[dragonlady7]

Ha, my goal is not to rip off any of my finger skin. I do not want to pay this hobby in blood. I've bled enough for all my other hobbies. (Sewing and roller derby in particular. I've probably bled for photography but I don't like to recall.)

I had assumed I didn't remember any guitar; I bought this thing in college, and never really learned to play it, or so I thought, but then every time I pick it up I instinctively make a C chord, which is similar but different to a C on a banjo, so.
It turns out I already do have guitar muscle memory, so.

I don't think I'll have too much trouble, because I can build on those old pathways for the guitar, and make new ones for the banjo. We'll see, though! Since I have no exams or deadlines for either, and at some point I'm going to be going back to the farm instead of being here in time for every other lesson unless I redo all my scheduling so that I never miss a Thursday here, which is unlikely, so I'm going to be on a different schedule and unable to bring the banjo to practice on. So really this is a roundabout way of admitting that I'm probably going to take up guitar just to keep up with Dude when I'm out of town. (Farm-BIL is an accomplished guitarist, so I would probably have company if I wanted to practice there.)
Unless we buy ourselves a second banjo. Which we might, who knows.