I didn’t need them, but I put new strings on my banjo anyway. It’s always an exercise in “things go wrong.”
I bought a set of Banjo Ben’s medium gauge to try, and they are just fine, but it was time to go to a light gauge anyway.
I had a set of Huber’s in my collection, so I thought I would put them on since they came packed in paper rather than an air-tight plastic bag.
When I got to the 5th string, I found the packet was empty. That jogged my memory to two string changes ago when I broke a new one & used one of the Huber’s as a replacement. Since the 5th string is always the last one I change, I just left the old one on rather than break into a new set. I figure, “Hey, a 10’s a 10.”
So I’m starting the New Year with mostly new strings, but keeping a bit of “tradition” with me.
My old eyes have a hard time getting the winding right, but practice makes perfect. At least I’m no longer wrapping them around the post in the wrong direction anymore!
And I’ve also learned a valuable practice insight. “Start with the easy stuff first.”
I’ve been working on getting smoother with the F chord shape and not muting strings with my ring finger. This requires rolling the wrist a bit beyond my comfort level. That means I need more practice to stretch out my tendenodians. After doing this for a while, my wrist is so sore I cannot play anything!
So I am happy to report I am making progress, I’m a better banjo player now than I was last New Year’s and
I’m looking forward to advancing beyond the Beginner’s learning track this year! Whoo-hoo!
