I’m up there with many of you age wise, BUT - I’ve stopped stressing about how fast I “have” to play. I’m learning the banjo (now after playing dobro for a number of years) and at one point, I was getting stressed about ever being able to play fast. A good friend said to me “At our age, we’ll never be great, so let’s just have fun!” It changed my way of thinking. I’ll never be able to play banjo (or dobro) as fast as the musicians onstage, or even keep up with players at some jams, but I’ll play accurately. (And, it’s amazing how good some songs sound when played slower.) My goal is to play them accurately and fast (enough for me). Luckily, I found a great jam where everyone is on the same page. Some fast songs, some slower…but we all have fun! (For all you younger players, keep going - I love hearing you play as fast as you can (cleanly), but take pity on us old folks who are just learning!
Discuss the Banjo lesson: You Are My Sunshine– Slides
I’m with you in that same boat! Welcome to the forum the people here are great and very helpful and supportive. I was going to try the Dobro but went with the Banjo first, not sure if that was the right way round but hey It’s all about the fun at this stage in life. Hope to see you often in the forum.
I’m with you!
Hello,
I am having trouble remembering which times you use 1 and which times you use T on the middle string. To me it sometimes seems a little arbitrary. Is there a process you would normally use to decide when to use 1 and when to use T? How would you recommend practicing this song to help me get that down?
I would recommend learning to use one or the other depending on the surrounding notes. Typically, the best way is to not use one immediately after or one note after it was used… in other words, allow two notes of space before using a finger again to get the best speed.
Sometimes it will be better to break the rule for specific tone qualities. However, you don’t need to worry about that at this stage.
Hi @SarahM Sarah if you look closely at the bottom of the TAB on the screen you will see @BanjoBen has indicated which finger to pick the string with. As you gain experience much of this will become automated like riding a bike. I was always taught when you are learning to play a tune play it real slow, Learn to play accurately. If your not sure go back and revisit the lesson as often as you need to. If you are able post a video of yourself playing, make sure your fingers are in view to allow Ben to offer more guidance.
I figured that practicing slowly until comfortable would likely be the answer. I’ve been following the finger indications, but still keep messing them up. But I could also go even slower.
Hi Sarah,
I recently learned this song and I had the exact same issue. Like at the end, two almost interchangeable phrases, but one ends with the 1 and the last one the T. I had a hard time remembering it slow, because I could end either phrase with either T or 1. If you notice, the next to last phrase ends with a 1, but the note before that is is the high G (with a thumb). So if you were playing that fast, it would be tough (or impossible) to play T T. I just had to learn it real slow until it was almost automatic.
BTW, I am pretty sure Ben wrote it that way to exercise both ways. It would be easier to play, just doing it the same every time, but the change up makes us learn more stuff.
Hi Sarah yes that will happen for sure. In the early stages your training your brain to pick and fret the right strings through listening, memorizing and touch. Accept the fact that your gonna make mistakes. But with practice your mistakes will become fewer and your playing will get better
As well as playing slow, practice playing small sections of the tune, especially the sections (measures) you find the most difficult. Be patent with yourself, Trust me I have been down this route before I know it works. It may take a month or two but you will get there.
Just think how many times a baby falls over before he or she can stand on their own two feet.
Hi Dennis:
I am in a similar boat. I am 67 and started playing in February. I had tried in 2005…but…I owned a business so had very little time to practice. I put the banjo away for 16 years! I will tell you one thing…this site is by far the best available. Ben and his team are amazing. I focus on playing cleanly. When I play at a certain speed cleanly…I ramp it up to the next level. The, I try to play cleanly at that level before moving on. I am about the same as you. I will never be an accomplished banjo player…but…I am having the time of my life. This instrument brings me great joy. Do it for you and you alone. Time and effort will help us with speed and accuracy. You are doing great!
Sorry for late reply, but I put it that way to have you exercise them both, not for you to have to do it that way going forward (like @Mike_R said). Keep it up!
@BanjoBen Hey Ben, I’m another covid newbie. Is that a thing? Well it was for me, never played an instrument in my life but pick up a banjo, bought your lifetime membership a few months back and away I go. I love the content so far and I feel I’m making better than expected progress for not knowing a thing about music besides shaking my money maker. One question related to this song more that some is do you have play along tracks where you can hear a muted version of a banjo playing the song with the accompany? For me personally I learn better trying to play along with you because I can hear the tune and timing and apply that to all the lessons associated with prior. When I put on a sound track without your playing, even if I play up to speed a bit, I don’t hear the melody well. I end up going back to your slow lesson videos and try to copy as you play which is great. Unfortunately then I don’t hear the rest of the music and timing with it and I struggle even if I have it memorized. I’m sure with lots of time the “timing” will be brought forth from the tab but for whatever reason it just works better for me to learn much more quickly and play it right when I can play along with you and it would be great with the back ground and at higher speeds. I’m already singing the praises of this wonderful service, could I sing even higher if such a play along with another banjo existed? I’ll let you answer that good sir!
Hi Marc!
I might be misunderstanding (that happens to me a lot) but there is a 180 bpm “solo” track MP3 which has the banjo lead part along with accompaniment. Is that what you are looking for? If you wanted to slow it down (or speed it up), there is software you could use to alter the tempo. The MP3 below it is just the accompaniment.
Another really powerful tool is the tablEdit player for the tef file. You can change tempo, loop a section, or set the volume of whatever part you want however you want it. The only downside to that playback is that it is MIDI instruments instead of “real” ones.
Wow thanks for the speedy response. I suppose I’m so new I’ve never gotten to the 180 bpm yet to hear that. And I’m a bit embarrassed to say that a bunch of other things you said is sort of Greek to me. Having never used play back software, not needing to, I’m pretty fuzzy on what your recommending or where a person gets what you have into whatever that is. I’m not a complete moron so I’ll do some research on what you said and truly appreciate the insight and quick response.
Hi Marc at the top of the MP3 stack you’ll find @BanjoBen playing banjo with guitar accompaniment. all the other files in the stack are guitar accompaniment. If it’s still too fast you can download Audacity a FREE mp3 player to allow you to adjust the speed of the MP3 file to where you feel comfortable. I personally prefer to use the TEF files and TablEdit/TefView for practice
Marc no need to feel embarrassed here. We have all been where you are right now. If you don’t understand something just ask. This is a supportive community who all want you to succeed.
Audacity https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
TefView Player https://tabledit.com/tefview/
TablEdit https://tabledit.com/download/ - Not Free but the best tool for writing and editing tablature.
The difficult thing for me with this lesson is the timing of it!! I’m having a hard time counting with it and making it sound good/right, especially all the notes in measure 8. Any tips on how to approach this?
Hey @mgedwards, have you tried playing along with the TEF files (which will play the banjo solo along with you, while showing the tab)? I think you might find these helpful if you’re struggling with timing, since you can hear and see the notes of the solo along with backing and a metronome.
If you try that and it isn’t helping, you may be “overthinking” the timing. As long as you understand what the beats are, it might be beneficial to stop counting beat numbers, and instead try just playing to the beats without thinking about the number. In other words, try to “feel” the beat more than just thinking about it.
Measure 8 is a little different in that you don’t land on the target note until right after the downbeat (because of the slide). Also, when learning something, I often play so slow that it just doesn’t sound right. What works for me is to play along with the slow version of the video until you get some muscle memory, then when you can speed it up a bit, it starts to sound right.
New Gold Pick member here. I am so blown away by all the content on the site! And @BanjoBen , you are a GREAT teacher (speaking as an ex-primary school teacher of 30 years experience).
As well as the lessons and resources, the nuggets of good advice in the forum are great. Your comment here is just such an example. Thanks!