Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Motivation To Get Better

#1

This may sound strange, but I enjoy playing my banjo. I enjoy putting different chords together just to hear the sound. I enjoy playing slow. I enjoy noodling.

I do not enjoy trying to learn a new song just for the sake of adding to my repertoire.
I don’t feel any pressure to “get better.” I simply love messing around with my banjo.
But a little voice in my head nags at me and says “Quit goofing off.” The voice is correct. I probably am goofing off, but it’s fun, I’m happy with it and I am retired.
Working at the banjo seems like work and no fun. I suppose the problem is I have no goals. I don’t want to play in church (and risk the wrath of the music director!)
I don’t want to start a bluegrass band and play in honkey-tonks. And I don’t want to “knock your socks off” with hot licks and flying fingers.
I guess I just want to be a back porch picker where the only audience is me & my dog.
Am I missing something?

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#2

If that’s where your heart is, then be happy with it my friend. Doing something just because you love it and not because you might play in front of anybody else someday it’s totally OK. If music isn’t enjoyable, go to something else. Music is medicine for the soul. So play your banjo on your porch to your dog. You are on the right track.

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#3

Hey @BanJoe When I started learning to play banjo it was never my goal to play with others but I found the rhetoric on the BHO overwhelming that if I wanted to play banjo I should join a jam group and play with others, problem was there aren’t many jam groups in my area. There was even a teacher who had a name for folks like me - Closet Picker. I have to say at first I took offense and formed a dislike for this “teacher” even so I bought all his books and DVDs But for some reason I couldn’t learn his stuff, his approach was a little too cheesey and I have been frank with him and told him so. At the same time I was studying with the Murphy Method and later with Geoff Hohwold and my knowledge and playing skills continued to make steady progress. My confidence grew and I started taking on even more challenging lessons on DVD by many of the top named teachers including Alan Munde. For a time my progress stalled and I felt I was going nowhere. Some of the lessons I was working on had become boring, some were way beyond my skill level. Enter a young red hair boy with bags of enthusiasm for teaching and that changed the way I began to study and practice, At first I was hungry for every new lesson and the more lessons I studied (even the ones I hated) the better my knowledge and skills grew. I don’t jam as often now as I used to, I must confess I have become a Closet Picker, it’s a badge I now proudly wear because I am happy where I am doing what I want to do studying the lessons I enjoy. I don’t need the pressure of playing with others and like you I am content to sit on my porch and play tunes I like even if I pick a bum note every now and then. I don’t have a dog but many of my neighbours have commented that they enjoy hearing the sound of my banjo. It’s not Carnegie Hall but I never set out to be Earl Scruggs my only goal was to be able to pick a tune I like on the banjo and @BanjoBen has enabled me to do that and even more.

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#4

I felt that pressure too, so I went on a quest to find jam groups. I found a lot of them! And I started pick with them. And that simply meant more pressure to come up with a new song for next week, and the week after that, and the week after that. No question it is very enjoyable to play with other folks, and there’s no question it has made me a tad better player, but I’m not so sure I want to commit myself to playing every week. And since most of the pickers were country musicians, I found myself playing backup banjo to Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors” and “Boot Scoot Boogie.” If I was a session musician, that’s one thing. But I guess I’m more of a coffee shop player, not a barn dance picker. I like playing a John Hartford song & not get scowled at because “that ain’t bluegrass.”

It’s no wonder so many professional musicians turn to drink! :scream:

#5

Bless you for your kind words of encouragement!

#6

That sounds amazing.

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