Starting back banjo question

[danieljones8623]

Hey everybody,

Hope everybody is doing good. So, I’m starting back after taking about 6 months off. Funny thing, my hand would go numb before when I practiced for just a few minutes. Turns out I had a pinched ulnar nerves. So I had a procedure, and 6 months later, my hand had recovered very well. So, I’ve been tinkering again on my banjo and I’m just starting over from the beginning and I was hoping I could get some advice. I was just wondering what would be a good indication that it would be good for me to move on to the next lesson? I don’t want to form a lot of bad habits just to progress and develop layers and layers of bad habits. For example, I’m working on the C and D7 chords. Do I need to perfect these and be flawless before I move on to rolls, or get to where I’m pretty good at chords and move on to rolls and just practice them both in the same practice sessions?

Also, when I get to the rolls, should I be practicing with a metronome?

Thanks in advance for any info.

[Archie]

Hi @danieljones8623 Daniel

Back to @BanjoBen 's Forum

Glad to hear you’ve recovered from your injury.

As to your query concerning Bad Habits check out my post

Bad Habit Syndrome

I often see posts on the Banjo Hangout where students obsess over acquiring bad habits or a seed is planted by a teacher to suggest the only way to avoid picking up bad habits is to have one to one lessons with a teacher, preferably with them. Since I am a distance learner I have no first hand access to a professional teacher and have had to rely on books DVDs and Online lessons to acquire my banjo skills. The few face to face lessons I have had I knew more than the person teaching me. So here …

You should also check out Banjo Ben’s recent Hangout Video. It addresses a lot of the concerns you have about moving forward.

Some teachers believe you should practice rolls using a metronome, I did as a beginner, but it can be quite tricky. I tend to practice rolls using a TEF TAB file and TablEdit or the FREE TefView app. My advice is to follow what Ben say’s. Work through the Beginners Learning Track and you will make good steady progress.

Click on this link and it will take you right there.
https://banjobenclark.com/university/beginner-banjo

"I’m working on the C and D7 chords. Do I need to perfect these and be flawless before I move on to rolls,"

I takes a bit of time to become flawless I have been working on it for 16 years and I still haven’t reached perfection.

You should definitely practice your chords/chord progression as you practice your rolls if you wanna be a banjo player.

[Michael_Mark]

It helps to practice concepts independently, since we have a limited amount of “brainpower” to think about things while we play. So I recommend you practice your chords and your rolls independently, and then work on bringing the two together by rolling over chords. This will give you enough to practice without getting bored, but will help save you from overloading yourself! Welcome back to the banjo!

[BanjoBen]

Both these guys had a great answer, and I do think you should have a metronome handy (you can use the online google metronome) to keep you honest.

I talk quite a bit about whether to progress in the video Archie linked.

Congrats on the healing and continued journey with the banjo!