Comments on: Premium Members

By: Rick Prince

Rick Prince — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:07:51 +0000

Hi Ryan, i don’t expect you’d remember me ,i joined as a life member quite a long time ago,at that time i had a Crappy Banjo,and no WebCam and probably had on older Computer,well i have a nice Custom built Banjo scored off Ebay,copy of an old Gibson Bowtie ,i have a logitech Web Cam,my Computer isn’t up to snuff for my web Cam’s needs but it’s functional,i also have a SKYPE account . I’m in dire need of a Mentor who can send me feedback on my tunes i play and learn,i’ve just figured out some of “Hotel California” by the “EAGLES” ,i’m probably clasiffied an intermeadiate . i’m probably going to re-join as a lifetime member,would that give me access ,so as i could make small vids and sent them to you for Critique ? Rick from California

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:14:35 +0000

Yes you can download any video that you would like and then burn them to a dvd for your television. Let me know how you’re progressing. Thanks, Ryan

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:38:19 +0000

Hi Ryan,
Am I able to download videos on to my hard drive so I can burn to dvd and watch on the tv?
regards
Keith (UK)

By: kchittenden

kchittenden — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:21:37 +0000

It seems to be a problem with Internet Explorer 8. When I use Firefox, it works. So….I will use Firefox!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 19:26:52 +0000

It sounds to me like you’re using a mac, in which case you will need to download a wmv player such as flip4mac. Click this link and check it out. Thanks.

By: kchittenden

kchittenden — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:31:15 +0000

Ryan – I am able to log in successfully, but when I try to access the Windows Media files I get a message that says, “Internet Explorer cannot display the web page”. This does not happen with the Quicktime media. Any idea what is going on?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:27:26 +0000

Very good question. You need to start with our 10 beginner lessons which start here. Once you're done with those if you feel like you're still having trouble then email me and let me know. I always encourage folks to communicate. I will more than likely at that point set up a little skype lesson with you and evaluate your playing. You'll be playing soon. Write me anytime. Thanks, Ryan

By: Tom Strauss

Tom Strauss — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:03:26 +0000

OK, what am I missing here? Looking for a logical progression of lessons for a total beginner and haven’t found them yet. What I see is a bunch of video’s that have no sequence or apparent steps to learning. If I have to view each of these video’s to determine if they are right for my absolute beginner level I could spend days just trying to find out where to begin. Where’s the total beginner guide-I can’t even hardly hold a banjo let alone figure out if I need a “D” tuner-whatever that is. Help!

By: Donald Hoover

Donald Hoover — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:55:32 +0000

Do you have any Leather Wide Banjo Straps? If so, How much are they?
Donnie Hoover

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:15:02 +0000

Hi Ryan,

I am fairly new to finding my way around the site. Are there any lessons on basic back-up techniques anywhere please?

Thanks

Tony

By: Randall Smith

Randall Smith — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:02:19 +0000

Ryan,
I am a brand new premium member and am very excited about your website and the potential for learning alot of great new stuff!
I do have a question. Can your videos be downloaded and saved to a hard drive. Right now, all it does is open a Media Player Window but has no option to save it. It would be really great if one could do that.
Randall

By: Donald Hoover

Donald Hoover — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:30:07 +0000

What about the leather banjo straps? How much are they & do you have any in stock?

Later, Donnie Hoover

By: montecassels

montecassels — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:24:28 +0000

Ryan: I think that if I could get tabaltures and possibly tabatures with the words I could progress faster. All the music I know is ( words) I learned years ago. If I could relate the tabaltures to words It would sure Help. If you know where I can get tablatures with words, please direct me in that direction. I also need an arm rest and strap for my banjo which is a Johnson JB 080. It is a 18 Bracket Hooks. The songs that I am working on are: Dueling Banjos, Cripple Creek, Amazing Grace, Banjo in The Hollow and Red River, I an going to concentrate on these ones first, I can relate to them. After I master these songs , I will try to pickup on that fancy stuff you guys play.

Your Help will be greatly appreciated .

Monte

PS: How do I send you a picture of ths fat ole banjo picker for your collection?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:19:46 +0000

Monte, I’m so glad to have you on the site as a premium member. You’re going to learn a lot of good new banjo material. You’ll first want to start learning your rolls (forward, backward, and alternating). Once you’ve got these under your belt you’ll progress to chords. Let me know how you’re coming along and always send me your questions. Thanks, Ryan

By: montecassels

montecassels — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:08:14 +0000

Ryan: Today is my first, I am a 76 year ole bluegrass loving ole man with no muscial ability except good listening over the years, I have collected quite a collection of ole timer Autographs with a lot of them now in Glory playing for our Lord. Any way I got my banjo last year and have been very slow in understanding how to play like you guys. HELP, treat me like I don’t know nothing, Music Or how To Play and start me from (scrach-scrach) and bring ne along. I have one handy cap and that is that my middle finger on my right hand will not bend down but about 70%. I am trying to compensate and use my index finger more on picking the 1 string and can keep my pinkee finger down on the head instead of the 2nd finger. Is’s coming slow but I belive I can work it out. Looking forward to working with you in making a me a faily good Picker.

Monte

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:15:58 +0000

Most of those lesson were made on a mac. I’m in the process of converting them to wmv format. It should be complete soon. Good question. Thanks, Ryan

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:09:22 +0000

Donnie, don’t be too hard on yourself. This is very common for new pickers. I’m glad to hear that you’re getting the rolls down. You might focus on picking out the melody notes without rolls and then add the rolls in later. Keep it simple and don’t get too overwhelmed. I would work on Bile Them Cabbage. It’s a great tune to pick out the melody and then inject some rolling patterns. Keep it up!

By: banjo donnie

banjo donnie — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:39:24 +0000

Ryan

Been making some progress on the banjo which I’ve been practising for 9 months now. Seem to do rolls OK, but tunes are a problem. I can hit the right notes but have no rhythm and fail pretty much in accenting the melodies, so what I play is hardly recognisable. Actually I don’t always know which are the melody notes anyway!

By: kellythompson

kellythompson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:04:07 +0000

Ryan, I am getting alot out of your videos and I’m spending way more time playing than ever before thanks to you! I do have one question so far; I am experiencing difficulty viewing the lessons with the blue Q icon (mp4)? The ones with muticolored arrow button work fine. Do I need to download some special program to read or view these lessons?

By: charlesbowlin

charlesbowlin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:16:21 +0000

Bryan, what a great site–very, very useful and helpful.
I am having trouble knowing what to do with the left hand while in this case picking the forward roll. I,m a month old premium member, so try to be patient, hehe.
Does the left hand fingers stay on the same strings as the right hand fingers are picking? What I am trying to say is when I am picking the 2,1,5 roll pattern, does a left hand finger have to be fretting the same string the right hand is picking? This would be a great lesson for me on your site.
Thanks muchly,
Charles Bowlin