Projects/Objectives for the next 12 months

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The Practice Group

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For/to help beginners/improvers indulging in deliberate practice to improve their banjo playing. An open group.

88 Members, Created 11/6/2017 -

Administrators: AndyW (owner) , Boadicea , WayneConrad

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From hoodoo on 8/8/2018 4:33:32 AM

This group was created about a year ago and i've always enjoyed following others progress. I'm wondering what are some of your objectives and projects for the next 12 months?

I plan to continue progressing in the classic banjo style. I've been reprogramming my brain to read standard sheet music. Its takes some time to get used to, but i'm beginning to think that tab looks weird now.

I also purchased a tenor banjo. My plan for the fall is to begin learning Irish tenor music and afterwards (long term, this may be my project for 2020) adapt Canadian fiddle music to the tenor banjo.

Keep up the great work everybody!

8 Comments
	WayneConrad says: 8/8/2018 12:14:47 PM I like your ambition. Standard notation, wow! I want to gain competency in double-C tuning, especially being able to make all the chords. I've gotten by with just knowing C, G, G7, F, Am in root position. But now I need to learn all the chords all up and down the neck, including major, minor, 7, and diminished for all degrees of every key. Augmented and suspended, too. Ear training, always. I still can't hear the difference between IV and V. That drives me nuts. I want to be able to hear chord progressions when people play so I can play along with them without a lead sheet. I want to get much, much better at improvisation. I want to learn to play all the Irish songs with Don.
	hoodoo says: 8/8/2018 2:33:07 PM Reading notation isn't so bad when you get used to it. I find that what you just mentionned also sounds complicated, what is IV & V?
	hoodoo says: 8/8/2018 2:34:14 PM And who is Don?
	WayneConrad says: 8/8/2018 3:02:28 PM Don Cook is a Phoenix musician who shows up to the open stage I go to. He plays mostly Irish songs on guitar. He has a fantastic repertoire and great stage presence. He and I have played together a few times, and liked it, so we're going to make a regular thing of it. I've started going over to his house on Sundays to practice. Great guy, great music, great fun. I, IV, and V identify the most common chords used in American songs. They do it in a way that is independent of what key you are in. If you are playing in C, then the diatonic chords are: I=C, ii=Dm, iii=Em, IV=F, V=G, vi=Am, vii=Bdim. Of those, most songs will use I, IV and V (C, F, and G). Some songs will add vi (Am). Jazz might use ii (Dm). Here's the cool thing about that notation: It stays the same no matter what key you are in. If a chord progression is I/IV/V, and they're going to play it in C, then I know it's C/F/G. If it's in G, then it'll be G/C/D. So it's a way musicians can communicate a chord progression without saying what key something is in.. I don't have a lot of time to refine this, so that might not make sense. Anyhow, if someone is playing, I can hear the chord change away from I (say, C), but I can't easily tell whether they've gone to F or G. My ear just can't hear it, especially since the C might be a closed voicing, and the F might be an inversion, and the G might be an open voicing... this makes it really hard for me to reliably hear the chords. I'm going to address that with my instructor tomorrow. I'm impressed that you're learning to read standard notation even if you tell me it isn't bad.
	WayneConrad says: 8/8/2018 3:16:41 PM PS: This is what happens when you get a teacher who starts shoving lots of theory into your brain. You start saying things like "diatonic chords" that sound much more impressive than it actually is.
	AndyW says: 8/12/2018 11:52:58 PM I'm currently assessing where I want to be heading over the next year. My current tune is Fred Cockerham's Roustabout as tabbed note for note by Bob Carlin. Working now on getting speed up on it which should hopefully help my basic technique (speed wise) for other fiddle tunes.
	Judith511 says: 8/21/2018 3:18:36 PM I am still enjoying practicing. I have been using the strum machine and practicing with that. Keeping on learning more and improving what I have so far. I am getting speed up on some of my early songs which is fun :)
Deleteme says: 9/11/2018 11:29:26 AM I want to move away from tab. Learn more scales, walk downs, keys, improvising.
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