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Don’t be a Chicken!
By Ryan Crist | January 26, 2008
Do you chicken out when it’s your turn to take a banjo break?
I’ve heard the excuses before. “I don’t know what to play, I can’t keep up, they’re playing too fast, my mind draws a blank, etc…”
I encourage you to take every opportunity you can to jump in and totally screw up a banjo break. Make the biggest mess out of it that you can make. Do what it takes. Just don’t pass up the opportunity to take a break in a song. This is where you become a better banjo player.
This is where you will really learn how to play the banjo, and in my opinion this is where a lot of people get left behind. It’s simply a lack of confidence; however, you’re not going to gain that confidence until you’ve messed up enough songs and goofed up enough banjo breaks to actually play one the whole way through.
I truly believe that a lot of banjo players would become top notch players if they could jam with some more advanced pickers on a consistent basis, and take every banjo break possible.
If you’re going out to a jam tonight or sometime in the near future, remember this. Take a break on every song. You might even volunteer to do a few kick offs and endings of your own. If you’re new this can be daunting, but I’ll share a secret with you.
Here’s a little secret:
When everyone’s sitting around shooting the breeze between songs in a jam session, try to get a sense of what they’re about to play next. If you can’t determine this then ask one of the singers what song he or she wants to sing next. Then (and here’s the secret part) ask them to hum or sing the kick off to you. Now, when it’s time and it looks like everyone’s ready, give it all you’ve got to play something similar to what the vocalist sang to you.
First, while everyone’s still talking plunk out the melody on your banjo. Next, try to quickly put some licks with those notes. Lastly, keep it simple. Play what you can but try to keep the melody involved. It doesn’t matter whether or not you lose the rolls in the progress. That will come eventually.
The previous two paragraphs is the key to remembering kick offs in case you don’t remember the song. You’ll get to where you just hum the lyrics to yourself and then try to put some licks with the melody notes.
Do you know of a good jam coming up?
Let us know where you’re going to play tonight. You might be surprised at who’s reading these same posts.
So where are they? Where are the hot jams in your neck of the woods?
Post your jam in the comment section below.
Topics: Beginner |