Suggestions
for Beginners
1
Sustain: The banjo sounds best when it rings. This is accomplished by
trying to get the notes to sustain. In general, the way to do so is to press the
frets with substantial force, and to keep the note fretted with the left hand
finger for as long as possible until it is needed to play a new note. A common
mistake that beginners make is that they fret the string halfway between the
frets instead of just in front of the fret. Conversely, if you lift your left
hand finger away from the note too soon, or if you donÂ’t apply enough pressure
to the string when fretting, you will get a stubby or muffled sound.
2: Timing and
the use of a metronome: Most students will benefit with the regular use
of a metronome, which keeps perfect time. Start at a very slow setting, and
increase your speed only when you have completely mastered the tune at the
initial slow tempo. I recommend that you start out playing no faster than about
60 Beats Per Minute (one beat per second, with four beats to the measure). This
may seem too slow at first glance, but realistically, it may take a few weeks of
daily practice to play all the way through your first tune at this tempo without
stopping. Be patient with your progress, as it takes time for everyone at first.
All teachers will tell you that students tend to want to play fast at first and
end up playing sloppily as a result. The teacher would much rather hear you play
the whole piece through slowly, cleanly and in perfect time at first, before
increasing your speed. After some weeks of practice with the metronome, you will
develop the discipline to keep good time on your own. You
should develop, with practice, a good sense of steady tempo. Some people can do
this by tapping their feet steadily along to the banjo picking. I recommend
that.
3: The economy of motion: A word about
left-hand(fretting) finger notations:
The general
idea in playing musical passages smoothly on the banjo is to reduce unnecessary
left-hand finger motions so that the fingers move gracefully around the
fingerboard. Because tablature does
not always indicate which finger should be used, it is often up to you to
decide, based on logic and experience, which is the most efficient and sensible
way to play a passage. Determining which fretting fingers to use for a
particular series of notes depends also on what the immediately following few
notes will require of your fingers. And, it bears repeating at this point to say
that in general, after a note is fretted, it is a good idea to try to keep the
finger down on the fingerboard until it absolutely has to be lifted to fret
another note.
4: The economy of motion: A word about right-hand(picking) finger notation: Sometimes banjo tablature does not specify which right-hand finger to use(thumb, index or middle) and the arranger of the tab will assume you know. After your first few days of Scruggs-style picking you will see some logical right-hand picking finger rules emerge. There are exceptions, but for the purposes of learning the basic tunes in the repertoire of this book, they are as follows:
If you are not sure which right hand
finger to use, base your decision on the ease and smoothness of the maneuver.
And remember, the same finger never picks two successive eighth notes in a row.
5: Transitioning between parts: One of the hard things to do when learning is to play through the tune coherently while keeping in time from beginning to end. This includes making smooth transitions, meaning that when you complete the “A” part of the song and it is time to repeat the “A” part, you should be able to make a smooth transition to begin the “A” part again while maintaining proper rhythm. This takes practice at first, and a teacher can help you with this. Listen carefully for these smooth transitions on the CD.
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