Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Constructive Practice

#6

You need to understand chord progressions well…to the point of intuitiveness.

Listening to others for cues and recognizing where they are leading can be very important & helpful

Having “go to” licks available in every chord is helpful

Speed comes in it’s own time…learn patience

To learn to jam with others you need to jam with others…no amount of isolated practice can equal the experience of playing with others.

Timing is more important than notes. You can miss a note without others noticing so much…missed timing can throw off the whole group. (in a jam with two pros the other day I got a compliment on my mando playing: “that’s a great chop; perfectly in the pocket even on the wrong chords!” haha…)

Stick to doing what you can…not what you wish you could. (I was way over my head at the jam mentioned above…so I mostly stayed simple on leads or just played rhythm & what I was VERY familiar with for licks.)

My two cents worth anyway…

I don’t have any “system” for learning how to play with others except for doing it a lot and be willing to forgive yourself (and others) for mistakes.

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#7

First, welcome to the forum!

@Fiddle_wood’s post explains a lot I was going to say, so he saved me from writing more- Thanks Dave!

I would just add the one thing that helps me progress the most- listening, and listening a lot. I think I learn more just from listening to records, jams, etc. than I would during a lesson or practice session. When you hear certain licks, flourishes, etc., I find that they become sort of ingrained in me, sometimes to the point that I’ll be able to play new licks as soon as I pick up my instrument next.

Another thing I decided to commit to is that whenever I jam (which is not very often), I take a solo on every song- even if I’ve never heard the song before, and no matter how hard it is or how stupid I look playing the break. This is a great learning process, especially at Cabin Camp, where nobody cares even if you just played the worst solo in the history of the song.

Happy picking!

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#8

You want what I want man! I am a guitar player and love to play with others. I can cruise along on rhythm but struggle with improvised breaks. I have some go-to fiddle tunes and some breaks I’ve learned or worked out myself but when improv time comes I can sound passable or I can lock up, freeze, then stumble to a g run to end it.

My goal is to play a break that is loyal to the melody. So I’m trying g to learn melodies but also learn how to pick them up by ear. Even if I get the first couple of notes I feel good. Then fill in with licks or scale runs.

My approach for 2021 is to spend time on a new song weekly and do my own Banjo Ben style build-a-break. So learn the melody, add scale runs, then add some licks. I hope it works - I’m sure I’ll learn a lot! I’m also planning to record myself in GarageBand. I want to lay down my own rhythm track and then add the melody and breaks.

Stephen

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#9

Yep, hard to beat what Dave has written! Everyone learns a bit different, that’s for sure, and there is so much material on the site. If I were you I’d concentrate on the build-a-break lessons: but, instead of learning what I do, listen to the basic melody version and create your own, then see how it compares/contrasts with what I create.

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#10

Thanks to everyone for your replies - all were very helpful. I will do my best to implement them. Also was wondering - is the TEF file player supposed to sound like a harpsichord or is it just my computer?
Thanks again and I pray everyone had a great Christmas and wish everyone a great New Year! I for one am looking forward to getting back around people and jamming. Enjoy!

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#11

it shouldn’t sound like a harpsichord, but it is a midi approximation of an instrument…so not an acoustic instrument sound.

Look at it as a guide for what the melody sounds like against the timing of the rhythm rather than a goal for tone…

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#12

Make sure the setting for the mandolin TUNING in the TEF file is config as GDAE and in the MODULE section is set to Acoustic Guitar (Steel) or Acoustic Guitar (Nylon) That’s the settings @BanjoBen appears to prefer.

As Dave readily points out what your listening to is a midi approximation of an instrument, a (tone) a midi frequency. How your computer’s sound card and speakers handles those tones will vary greatly to another computer setup. It’s unlikely it will sound exactly like a mandolin.

Just try to imagine it sounds exactly like a mandolin then your ear will become accustom to the sound and when you play along with your mandolin the two sounds will blend together. The whole purpose of the TEF files is to help you learn the tunes. Once learned you move to playing along with the mp3 audio files.

I hope this helps

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#13

I have been playing for a a little over a year and my fingers still have a hard time hitting the correct frets. It’s frustrating. I usually practice 1.5-2 hours a day. Any suggestions on getting the muscle memory for the fingers? This morning’s I was practicing notation and it seemed I was going backwards. I have never taken formal lessons.
Thanks in advance.
Scott

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#14

I don’t know about you but for me I still hit wrong frets but get better at not letting them derail me. My wife had an instructor that told her any bad note you play is just one fret away from being good and you learn to slide up or down quickly enough then it is just a slide and not a bad note.

Personally I have suspected that I have some very mild dyslexia for my ability to sometimes get things backwards. For me I gave up on learned solos and just prefer to play adlib. When you play your own thing it is harder to hit the wrong fret or not be fast enough or whatever.

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#15

@swaltner Post a video and let me see what’s going on, my friend.

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#16

I will do that, thanks Ben.

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#17

Stupid question, how do I post a video ?

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#18

Hi @swaltner Scott Create a YouTube account. upload your video to YouTube then post the link here.

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#19

Thanks Archie

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#20

I could be wrong but Just guessing based on my own experience is that you are probably relying too much on memorization and not putting enough time into improvisation.

Good players also put there fingers in the wrong place but they know how to keep moving. The fact is that any tune can be played an infinite number of ways. It is harder to put your finger down on a non valid note than a valid one. There are a bunch of notes that are blue notes and if you slide than any wrong note is a slide to a right note.

I would have to guess your problem isn’t really hitting wrong notes it is getting stuck after hitting a note that was not in your memorized sequence. At least that is the case for me. Getting back on the track after the train has derailed.

When you rely completely on memory then you have no fall back position. You have not trained your ear so you get lost. Find a recording of the tune you want to learn and play along. Try new note combinations while keeping the basic tune. Written music is a great place to start for ideas but the ultimate goal is to bring your own personality to them. It is much easier to mess up someone elses version of a tune than your own.

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#21

@C-Stewart nailed it!

I used to rely almost completely on tab to learn things… and I would imagine that standard notation is not any better.

Maybe for a few minutes when you practice, set your “music” aside and just mess around on your instrument making your own audible music… I bet and hope you’ll start to see some improved results. And when you’re doing something tedious or have free time (e.g. when you’re driving, etc.) listen to some music from a few different artists- music you’re not currently working on- and just ingrain those sounds in your mind.

And remember, don’t just focus on “practicing”… think of it rather as playing, and have fun playing your instrument.

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#22

Thanks I will work on the memorization. I am reading my music instead of memorizing. Tough for an old fellow. LOL

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#23

I have no idea how long it would take to learn to read at the speed that most tunes are played at. Certainly would not be something that I could even come close to doing. ( I suppose you are talking about fiddle tunes and the like?) My wife is good at reading but started Violin very young and I don’t know that she can read fast enough to play fiddle tunes on the fly.

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#24

Imagine trying to sight read notation for a banjo break on “Train 45” going about 190.

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#25

That’s the beauty of TablEdit you can slow the TAB and follow along.

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