Let’s go, @Maggie!
Banjo Ben's Inaugural Cabin Camp, March 28-30, 2019!
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I’m serious Buddy. I’ll come and help and work for free. Looks like a great spread. How many members have you in Europe?
Many students in Europe, yes. But many will want to come even if they’re not Gold Pick members. I don’t know what capacity to aim for but I will need much help, for sure. The thread link below will continue this discussion.
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Hi Ben, I’m a gold pick member from Manchester, England and I am visiting Nashville for 2 weeks from 20th March-3rd April on the holiday of a lifetime. I am interested in your Cabin camp and would like further details please. I play/learning banjo at intermediate level and would love to secure a place if they haven’t all gone. I’ll have to take a bank loan but what the hell!. Look forward to your reply, regards, Mike Phillips
His first Camp is already sold out.
Hi @mikephillipsfire, just FYI, a camp in Europe is presently being discussed and you can find the thread here Banjo Ben 2020 European Camp Planning Thread
Cheers,
Maggie
I’m sold out of spots, but perhaps we can have you over for supper one night since you’re in town from so far away! I’ll send you an email.
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Do you know approximately what dates?
Approximately last weekend in August.
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Thanks! Working through the schedule for this year. I “possibly” have a festival I’m playing at that weekend but it has not been confirmed yet.
Boise is less than 500 miles! That’s next door to us out here! Yippee!!
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Hi all,
I’m really looking forward to the Camp! I do have a question, though; (I’m easily the person with the least “jamming” experience on this thread, though, so please factor that in :-))
I recently took an intermediate group bluegrass jam class from a local (and wonderful) instructor, but found it very difficult because of the size of the group. It was about a dozen people in a smallish room, plus the teacher. We of course had to be careful of how we moved around (even though we were seated) lest we bang into someone else’s instrument, but more problematic was the sound. There were about 4 guitar players, 5 banjo players, and a couple of mandolins, and even though we’d all had the same music to practice from, the sound was mush. It was difficult to hear even one’s own playing, let alone try to make the tune sound good.
Is this a common problem with group sessions? @BanjoBen, are there ways to mitigate this? Do you have an idea yet of how the groups will be structured?
This is probably all still in-progress, just wanted to share my (relatively inexperienced) thoughts.
Thanks all.
-Michael
I should have said, the fiddle player can’t keep time. That’s why it messes me up.
For the most part, the groups will be spilt up by instrument. So, 3 groups of instruments, where each group is a single instrument.
As the days proceed, we may even split up into smaller groups to tackle specific parts of lessons. There probably won’t be a lot of jamming during the lesson time.
There may be some jam time at the end of the day, but Ben is definitely setting aside Saturday evening for a whole lot of jamming. I think he even plans on having a stage. It’s going to be a blast!
Thanks much, @lonewolf223. I understand how that can and does happen. Really appreciate your response.
Looking forward to meeting you and everybody soon!
Yes, it can be a problem. Like Mark says, we’re gonna be split into instrument-specific groups for the instruction. There’s no way to learn anything about your instrument in a big mixed group. We will be jamming, and we should have mixed groups at times to work on band-specific stuff.
We’re gonna have fun and I’m doing everything I can to make it worth your time and investment (it is an investment, by the way, in your playing).
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Thanks, @Mark_Rocka, that’s what I’m expecting, too.
Will everyone be working on the same tunes? One thing that might be interesting would be to split the three groups of 10 into ten groups of 3 at some point late in the day so we could simulate a “band” environment.
A “stage” would be awesome.
Can not WAIT for Saturday Night. Maybe the ten groups of 3 each get up and play a tune? We could live-stream it!
Thanks so much for the response.
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Yes, you have already received a call/email from Andrea, and I’ll follow up with a survey this week and a list of tunes to be familiar with. Keep your eyes on your email.
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Hi all,
I think I’m gonna ship my guitar to the Camp, rather than try to take it on my flight. @BanjoBen, I’m happy to ship either to my hotel or to your house, whichever you recommend. (I suppose I COULD just stop by the General Store on my way in, but I think I want to start off on a familiar box :-))
In case anyone else is thinking along those lines, here’s a great description of how to pack your instrument for shipment from the owner of my favorite local “toy store”, Gryphon Stringed Instruments.
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