Pickin' and a Grinnin'

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the desire to learn something new. In that post, I wrote about my desire to acquire and learn how to play the 5 String Banjo. Well, after a tax refund, and a LONG discussion about it with my wonderful, beautiful, caring, smart, and lovely wife, I traveled to the Guitar Center in Castleton, and I am now the proud owner of a Mitchell MBJ200 5 String Banjo.

By the way, did you know Guitar Center price matches? Yeah, I didn't pay that price for it.

Anyway, I purchased the Banjo through them, and then later that evening I have purchased some picks, a bag, "Banjo for Dummies", and a Tuner using our savings of Amazon Gift Cards. The picks came in today, and the rest should be in at the end of the week.

So, now what?

I've been practicing at least an hour a day right now, just basic rolls I've found on YouTube, trying to get my fingers coordinated on the strings. Luckily, since I didn't have the picks yet, I could lightly play and not annoy any of the neighbors. Or, at least, I did until 9PM Saturday night, when they were stomping and playing VERY LOUD music upstairs. Then, I went ahead and started some actual roll practice.

Oh, and did I mention that the tuner hasn't arrived yet? Needless to say, the loud music stopped pretty quickly, as did my loud picking. I do believe that we have come to an accord, without any harsh language being thrown around.

Anyway, after a few nights of this, I am thinking that, so far, this is something that I can do. We shall see if this thinking continues after I start trying to play notes with my left hand, especially since my fat fingers like holding down more than one string at a time.

So, this is not something that I'll be writing about every week, just whenever I feel like I've reached a high point and I want to tell someone about it. After all, this is a "Blog a Week" deal, not a "Banjo a Week" deal. I'm just very excited, and I love posting follow ups.

I will see you all next week for "This Post Is Not About a Banjo, I Swear!"
Tony