Hi all , I’ve been picking 5 string for 6 years now on and off on this site , I can tab out any song easily and have in my repertoire over 40 lead breaks at good speed. But I’ve realized playing a 2 min melody of a song isn’t getting me anywhere , and I feeling like I’ve hit the banjo wall. I’ve started with rolling backup , slow back up. And down the neck lick based improvising. I’m wondering about a practise regiment or what direction I should be heading. This banjo site is the best on the net but it’s gotten so vast it’s hard to know what to concentrate on for my playing goals. Any suggestions.
Practise
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You are absolutely correct about the vast amount of information available on Banjo Ben’s site. “It can be too much of a good thing.” For what it’s worth, I think if you could articulate your goals, you would know where you should concentrate.
For me. I always thought I wanted to play bluegrass banjo like Earl. I love bluegrass with its hot licks powerful drive. But as I work my way through the learning Tracks and started paying closer attention to the banjo music I truly enjoyed, I slowly came to realize I need to learn melodic. This realization has re-invigorated me and increased my eagerness to practice.
I’m an old guy and if I’m lucky I might have another 10 years of banjo playing left. I don’t want to spend that time copying Earl or JD or Sonny. I’ll never join a band and tour for the USO. I want to enjoy the wonderful sound made by the banjo, and I want the banjo to make the sounds I hear in my head.
As a Beginner, my expert advice is “Identify your goals.” Be specific. And “to thine own self be true.”
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Banjoe did a nice job covering it. I’d also recommend maybe doing something different. If you haven’t dug into the Tony Wray stuff, that is a whole 'nother sound. I am not near as far along in my banjo journey, but as I sit here, I have been noodling on a tenor uke for about an hour. Is it gonna get me anywhere? Nah, but I am enjoying it. I am snowed in, and my wife fell asleep before I got tired. I ended up laying in bed and noodling on Albinoni’s Adagio (admittedly, in the wrong key) and I probably spent about 30 minutes on that. It was very enjoyable. Whatever you do, have fun with it!
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When is the last time you just hung out & made friends with your instrument? You know, just put on something fairly simple that goes a slow-med speed and just plunked away, improvised, and had fun…no pain, strain, or rules, just fun…inventing, experimenting, finding things that fit, etc.
I find it a great way to get out of a rut and find a direction I might go for a while.
Your goals & direction are yours to decide. There is great personal freedom in choosing where you want to go with your music.
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Hi @j_yanchuk Jeff, 
to @BanjoBen 's Forum. So you say you have been a member here for six years. How come it’s taken you so long to reach out. No matter, your here now.
So after a while we ALL get trapped in our own little learning bubble trying to measure our progress with others and thinking WE have achieved very little when in fact WE have learned a lot.
Ben’s website is structure so you work through the lessons at your own pace. You don’t need to perfect a lesson or ask permission to move forward.
In the beginners section you learn the basic fundamentals (the mechanics ) of playing banjo after that everything else is just FUN. Sounds to me you have been stuck in the beginner section unsure if your ready to tackle the intermediate lessons. If that’s the case move on find tunes that you like and work on these. Don’t be afraid to dip into the advanced section too. You might struggle but you’ll gain so much from the experience.
To expand my practice/playing time what I do is I download the TEF files for the Banjo, Guitar and Mandolin and arrange them in TablEdit so I kick off with banjo, play backup over Mandolin play an UTN banjo solo backup over a guitar solo and finish on a down the neck solo. Every now and then I record myself and post a video here on the Forum for feedback from Ben and other students. That way we all help each other move forward, I rarely play anything perfect multiple times especially in front of the camera. but that doesn’t matter the music goes by so quick few people see my mistakes and on top of that I know no one here is going to put me down. So I don’t worry if I make mistakes.
Ben’s Banjo Backup lessons are great, better than you will find in any book, DVD or other online resource. Unless you know better, if so please share. Again this is all about expanding your knowledge of the fundamentals. Knowing the mechanics of how to play leaves you free to explore the fretboard, build knowledge and confidence.
Others here have provided great advice too that’s the nature of THIS FORUM. Where possible get out and play with others. Attend one of Ben’s Cabin Camps soon you’ll be out of that rut over that wall and reaching new height’s with your 
Now go get that banjo and start pickin. Don’t be such a stranger. Come back and engage with the community. Remember everyone here is friendly and want’s to see you improve.
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Wow , thanks to all of you for some motivation. I promised myself today I’m not going to play “ rocky top” anymore. I’m very bored of tabbing out songs to play for my dog. I’m way up North in Ontario Canada so unfortunately I can’t make Bens banjo camp , I would love it I’m sure. Things are opening up here and I am looking forward to the few bluegrass jams we have here in Thunder Bay. I really miss playing with others. I wish I new what to practise more. My music knowledge is terrible. I can play the guitar , banjo and mandolin. I don’t know a note on any of them. Is that why I stall out at the same spot on every instrument. ? Thanks so much for the input. It does make me excited to keep going.
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Hi Jeff, this site is well structured, the lessons are self motivating, once you get through one lesson move on quickly to the next. If you have to go back and revisit a lesson that’s fine. You wont remember everything but the key points will stick with you and the things you learn along the way will come back to you when you need them. Any time you have a question or get stuck just holler and someone will come to help. Remember too that @BanjoBen reads all these posts and when he is free and has the time he will jump in and do what he does best. Sometimes that is a one to one lesson. I can tell you from personal experience no other teacher online gives that level of commitment to his or her students. So stop worrying and enjoy your journey.
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Jeff, from a couple of your comments “tab songs out easily” ’ and “don’t know a note on any of them” sounds like you have a trained ear (naturally or taught), and can match tones (notes). Either way that is a very good. The sky is the limit when you hear it in your head and can “find it” on the neck easily. And while knowing where notes are on the neck, shape patterns, chord and music theory is very good, some of my best “banjo mentors” and players I have known through many years couldn’t read a note either. Sounds like you just may be in a rut and stuck. Not unusual at all. We all experience it. We are creatures of habit and get stuck on a set of melodies, patterns, runs etc. You mentioned “rolling backup”. Backup is where you primarily live with a banjo and getting proficient with that is very important, especially in jam sessions. Focusing on that in your practice time is well worth it. As noted, Ben has some great information/lessons on that. If you play by ear the internet is a beautiful thing to see all kinds of great video of different players, styles and sounds. I’m old and old school so my favorite player was Crowe. Crowe’s Scruggs style backup is top notch if you like that style. There is some Crowe video on this site in the banjo forum, close up from the front so you can hear and see what he is doing on several songs up close. Carson (Russ) is doing some great videos with his head cam so you can see and hear his hand positions and progressions in backup on a lot of the old classics . So many opportunities to take the basics ( in lessons) and see how they are applied in many songs . And ALWAYS add your own (what you are hearing in your head).
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