2013 08 07 - Less than one week

This is more for tracking my own progress than anything else, but of course - any comments are welcome!

I picked up the banjo for the first time on Friday, 8/2/13.  I am using a series of YouTube videos for the beginner and so far I really like the videos because he takes it very slow and they are short - he shows you one very basic thing and I go practice it.  There is a teacher in the area so ideally I would like to start taking lessons in the fall, but for now, my wallet dictates that I must wait for formal instruction!  Here goes...

On my first day, I learned the "Forward Reverse Roll" and played it very slowly (60 bmp in 4/4 time, one quarter note per beat).  I played it like that for 30 minutes or so just to try to make something happen.  Once I wasn't making any mistakes I kept the metronome at 60 bpm but played them in 8th notes so basically I doubled the tempo.  I successfully got that down in a short amount of time.  On that first day, I finally ended with 16th notes at 50 bpm.  I made sure to not try to go any faster for my first day since I wanted to be accurate.  I was pleasantly surprised with my progress for the first day!

On Saturday, 8/3, I warmed up with eighth notes at 50 bpm for a bit then doubled the tempo to 16th notes, where I ended the day before.  I did this for about 15-20 minutes then started picking up the tempo.  I went to 55, 60, 65, and ended at 70 bpm.  Each time I upped the tempo I started with 8th notes and then doubled the time to 16th notes.  So I picked up 20 bpm from my first day, and I was happy about this.  I was also doing my best to not think about what I was doing, to just let the fingers pick on their own and this was working pretty well.  I was even talking to my daughter while doing the roll without a lot of mistakes or restarts.

On Sunday, 8/4, I did not increase the tempo - I held her steady at 70 bpm with 16th notes.  I also started dabbling with the alternating thumb roll (first quarters, then eighths @ 70 bpm) since that one roll was starting to get a little boring both for me and everyone else in the house.  I was able to do the rolls at 70 bpm but the new roll was half-time (eighths vice sixteenths).  I can do the f/r roll pretty good now and decided to up the tempo the following day.

Monday - 8/5.  I did end up increasing the tempo to 80 bpm for the forward/reverse roll and did that without error so I think I'm getting it.  Although I'd love to be at 120, I do realize that I've only been playing for 4 days and things will come with time and practice!  I tried doing something with my left hand for the first time, and it hurt.  I can make the D7 chord but it's not very comfortable at all.  I kept pinching off the adjacent strings but if I really take my time I can fret the chord with a clean sound.  I have to keep my thumb on the very back of the neck, and I think that's OK but I'll look into that.  I can't make the chord while doing the roll - I have to stop, fret, then pick again.  I think this will also just come with practice.  I'm not trying to do any more chords for now - I want to get at least 3 rolls down at 100 or even 120 bpm in sixteenth notes so I can do them in my sleep before I worry too much about that left hand.

Well, that's about it for now.  I'm real excited to keep picking away at this!

TW