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Goals!
From Zischkale on 5/8/2014 9:39:38 AM
Thanks for starting the group, Jill!
Saw your post in the forum, Cyndy, welcome! We have a local contra dance, but I haven't made it out there to see what the music is like. I don't really have any interest in the dancing part, but it'd be a blast to play for 'em. Could be some cool parallels to your old-time music studying and the Genealogical Society!
It might be good if folks chime in with some specifics on their practice goals. Maybe you want to play 30 minutes a night, spend 15 on a new tune and 15 polishing a familiar one. Maybe 30 minutes practicing drop-thumb in front of the TV and 30 playing to the Old Time Jam Machine.
Another cool idea would be to post before/after audio or video. Give it a few weeks and post an update to track your progress.
I'd like to try for a nightly practice (5 days per week) of:
30 minutes of fiddle
15 minutes learning one song on old-time jam machine
15 playing solo stuff/getting comfortable singing
Any extra time is icing on the cake. I know Spotted Pony is supposed to be a real easy one, but I've never looked real close at a tab for it, so figured it would be a good one to try to play along to by ear. Sang/played some Battle of New Orleans and Way Down the Old Plank Road, and worked on some solo stuff, like a rock song I'm trying to arrange for banjo.
I was blessed with way more time than usual for practice last night, so also got to tinker around on guitar and start learning a David Bowie song.
If I can do an hour a night for a few weeks without missing one, I'll be lucky. Weekend is carte blanche, whatever I can fit in. Anybody got specific daily practice goals?
10 Comments |
 | laertes22 says:
5/8/2014 9:51:35 AM
Spotted Pony is a great tune. First song I learned on either fiddle or banjo (admittedly a watered down version). To me it's one of those that can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be, depending on the arrangement you use.
Drop thumb question:
I have heard several people mention needing to practice drop thumb and it seemed to indicate that it was an advanced or difficult technique.
For me, drop thumb was one of the first things I learned (like literally as soon as I could do the basic clawhammer/frail) and I was told it was no different than the normal frail. So, it's pretty much second nature to me, and all my songs has constant drop thumb throughout.
Is this...unusual, for lack of a better word? Do most people start out not drop thumbing and only learn it later on when they get more advanced? And do most arrangements/tab not have a lot of drop thumb? Then again, most of the stuff I've played has like zero "bum-ditty" either.
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 | Zischkale says:
5/8/2014 10:12:09 AM
Probably a case of folks learning the basic bum-ditty and using ASPOs or ASHOs to get certain notes instead of drop-thumb. I started out very early with those Mike Iverson drills, so drop-thumbing is pretty second-nature to me too, but I'm still trying to get a consistent tone with those ASPOs. There are drop-thumb moves that are tricky to get right for me, like dropping between strings 3 and 4 (Mike Iverson's Battle of New Orleans features this in the melody).
You can play great banjo without even learning drop-thumbing, but I think it's a very useful technique and can help you control tone of a passage more than ASPOs--it can be real bright and clean or more plunky and staccato.
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 | VioletMoon says:
5/8/2014 11:51:19 AM
I started learning drop thumb from the beginning. For a while, I was missing the first string sometimes -- and then I just told myself that if I could hit it with a boom chick, I could hit it with a drop thumb and that took care of that. Then I went through a period of accidentally catching the third string on the way and I worked on being meticulous for a while and that seems to have worked itself out, too. Knock on wood.
My husband seems to use a lot more drop thumb than I do (we have different teachers) and I think it's because he's playing in a more melodic style than I want to.
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 | skiptomylou says:
5/8/2014 1:43:43 PM
Great to hear people are putting so much thought into goals and how to split up their practice time. i'm going to give it some thought over the next couple of days. for the moment i've decided to re-learn a simple banjo tune and then see if i can pick it up the neck
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| laertes22 says:
5/8/2014 2:36:26 PM
I think I must be doing a more melodic style, as well. There are very few "boom ditty"s and very few brush strokes/strums. Mostly a lot of double thumbing and drop thumbing (also a lot of fiddle tunes on both fiddle and banjo). One of the things I love about Clawhammer and Old Time-even within the same style, there is so much diversity!
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| Zischkale says:
5/8/2014 2:49:12 PM
I respect Cyndy's not pursuing such a melodic style. It's cool to be able to play every note in a fiddle tune arrangement for banjo, but I respect more the folks who can get in a lockstep groove with fiddle or guitar. Bigfoot is an old-time band that exemplifies this, though I sometimes wish the banjo was more up front (mostly so I could hear exactly what he's playing)--perfect compliment. I really dig fiddle/banjo duets, too.
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| VioletMoon says:
5/8/2014 4:31:40 PM
I really like fiddle and banjo together, too, and someday I hope to find someone whose playing style and interests fit mine. I've had just one experience (in a small group) where it was really working and it was heaven!
My idea of an exquisite tune? Old Corn Liquor. I don't know it on fiddle or banjo yet, but once I do, I don't think I'll ever get tired of playing it.
There ARE so many old-time styles and it would be hard for me to find one I didn't like, but I do have my favorites. : )
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| Zischkale says:
5/9/2014 6:22:12 AM
Not familiar with that tune, will have to check it out! I suppose one of my unmentioned goals is to get back to another old-time jam in Dallas--there are some great players there, I wish there were more chance for people to break off into smaller circles so you could focus a bit more on single players.
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| laertes22 says:
5/9/2014 6:35:53 AM
Carolina Chocolate Drop do an amazing cover of it. I think they (and some other folks) also spell it as "Ole Corn Likker"
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| VioletMoon says:
5/9/2014 6:42:35 AM
I've seen Rhiannon play it on a fretless on YouTube. Let's just say one of my goals is to grow up to play it like she does. : )
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