Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Discuss the Banjo lesson: You Are My Sunshine– Slides

#22

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!

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#23

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!

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#24

@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!

#25

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.

#26

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.

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#28

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

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#29

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.

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#30

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?

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#31

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.

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#32

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.

#33

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!

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#34

Thank you so much, @cafferata.richard!! I’m honored by your words!

#35

Ben, I have been so pleased with your instruction. It is so refreshing to have such a supportive, encouraging mentor. I am a half-assed okay guitar player who is learning the banjo. Your lessons help me immensely.

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#36

Wow, thanks for those kind words, @tlberry3037!

#37

timing is my downfall also! i think if i play it a million times maybe it will be right. maybe two million times. just started using this site. i tend to think of the melody/the words and not the exact timing of the notes. oy!

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#38

That’s exactly what I use the TEF files for. You can slow things WAY down and the timing of the notes stays put. I usually start a new song at 30% speed and increase in 10% intervals until I have it memorized and playing correctly. If timing is right at 50% speed, it’s just a matter of slowly increasing speed until timing is right at 100%.

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#39

Hello, I am brand new to the banjo and even instrument world. I have the first two parts of this song remembered but going into it further I am getting a little tripped up. Is there another video with ore explanation/ slower view of which fingers are picking/ which fingers go where?

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#40

Hi @raeanneayer00 Raeanne welcome to @BanjoBen 's Forum.

There are three video’s for this lesson. The first is the introduction and preview, the second is the lesson and the last is the slow play along.

If you look closely at the TAB displayed on the video you will see below each note either a T 1 or 2
This is the picking patterns. T = Thumb 1 = Index & 2 = Middle finger.

By watching the video and studying Bens fretting hand you can see where Ben places his fingers for the melody notes.

When I learn a tune I will usually learn one or two measures at a time, or in the case of a musical phrase sometimes up to five measures.

During this phase I regularly pause the video and practice the phrase over and over to help me memorise the phrase before moving on to the next section.

On the bottom right of the video you’ll see a little cog icon, click on this to slow the video playback.

I also use the TEF File for practice/ play-along. You’ll need to install Tefview on your device to use the TEF files.

Hope this is of some help.

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