Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Howdy from Texas!

#1

Bob here, from Cedar Park, Texas. I’m truly thankful to have discovered Banjo Ben and hope to not only fulfill a life-long dream and learn how to play the banjo, but to also leverage the lessons for guitar and mandolin to improve my playing on both. I taught myself how to play guitar on a cheap twelve-string with a warped neck and bad soundboard when I was eleven. Since then I have picked up about 40 years of bad habits. So I want to start off fresh with the banjo. Having recently purchased a used Morgan Monroe MNB-2 as a starter banjo, I have started to progress through Ben’s lessons. My goal is to build a solid foundation based on technique and theory, an approach the site seems to support well. About me:

Favorite genres: Bluegrass (duh), country (mainly twang), alt. country, western swing, classic rock

Favorite current performers (a sampling since the list is really quite large):
[ul]Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (since '71 )
Steep Canyon Rangers
Ricky Skaggs w/Kentucky Thunder
Eagles
Brad Paisley
Mumford and Sons
Turnpike Troubadours
Robert Earl Keen
Miranda Lambert[/ul]

Fightin’ Texas Aggie.

Glad to be here!

#2

Howdy OABob83,
Good to meet you. Good to have a fellow Texican.

#3

Hi Bob, glad you found your way to the forum. Lots of good information here as I’m sure you’ll discover. By the way I’m also a big fan of NGDB!

#4

Welcome from Tennessee!

#5

And welcome from Oz! You’ve moved into a good neighbourhood on this site - a lot of helpful friendly folk.
I spent a few years off and on in Austin in the early 80’s so I can even understand your strange accents in this forum :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

welcome aboard…from the cold county of Minnesota…you will be able to teach us a thing or two.

#7

How are things progressing on your banjo pickin’?

#8

BeardedBanjo,

Thanks for asking. Shortly after I jumped on board last summer, my wife and the mother of my children fell ill and passed away. It was a long and challenging fall and winter, so my learning dropped to the bottom of the priority list although I frequently picked up my banjo to maintain proficiency on what I had learned. Today I just paid for a lifetime membership to banjobenclark.com, renewing my commitment to what I started and what what Amy wanted for me. With things finally hitting an even keel, I look forward to getting back to learning the banjo.

Bob

#9

Bob, I am so sorry for your loss. I hope music brings as much relief to you as it does to me.

#10

Thanks, it does. And I love seeing it live on through our children. Each becoming more and more accomplished and surpassing me in many areas. The family that plays together stays together…