Hello everyone! I am new to the forum, but I have been lurking for a little while now. Name is Dave, I live in Southern Maryland. I have been wanting to learn to play banjo for some time now, but could not afford to buy one. I was collecting information to build my own banjo, but those plans got postponed when my dad bought a banjo and a uke at an auction out in western Virginia. He kept the uke and gave me the banjo, so now I am learning. I have been reading all I can read, listening to all I can listen, watching on Youtube, and picking everyday. My inspirations for wanting to learn banjo are Robert Montgomery http://www.robertmontgomerymusic.com/, Old Crow Medicine Show http://www.crowmedicine.com/, Alison Krauss, Flatt & Scruggs, and the the 8 year old banjo prodigy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3qbB4Kq3Y0 . There is quite a variety between those inspirations, but I am interested in learning all I can about the banjo and going Scruggs-Style once I get beyond the basics.
I am a saxophone player, I own a Tenor, Alto, and Melody saxophone, though I haven't played regularly in years. I can read music, or at least I used to be fluent at it, and have 3 semesters of theory. Hopefully it is like riding a bike and comes back to me as get into the habit of regular study and practice. I would like to say thank you to the members of the banjo hangout. I have been reading and following a lot of great guidance from this forum to help me learn the banjo basics. A few very helpful items such as the Banjo Book by Frank Estes, fingering charts by Paul Muhlrad, James Bottorff, and Frank Estes, videos by Rob Bourassa have been super helpful. Right now I am working on learning the fretboard and the chords, and practicing rolls. Also I am practicing Cripple Creek daily. Nothing is more motivating to me then being able to play a song in front of someone and see them smile. It keeps me practing all the other things I need to learn, but aren't as much fun.
There really isn't much in the way of bluegrass bands around here. I did go to a little place a few miles from here one time, before I had my banjo, but the players did not seem very friendly and I don't know that I will go back. I do have a step dad that plays guitar, my grandfather is learning Dobro, a cousing learning violin (isn't that the same as a fiddle?) and my dad is learning ukelele. Hopefully we can get together and jam sometime. I also enjoy attending bluegrass festivals, and look forward to being able to take my banjo to the next one.
I still may build that banjo some day. The one my dad gave me is no doubt a cheap, beginner's model. I hope to save some money and replace it with a higher quality instrument once I learn what to look for. In a few years I may have collected enough hardware and good wood to begin building that one-off banjo, but for now I think I need to concentrate on learning the instrument.
Sorry for typing such a long post, I had a lot to say!! Again, thanks for the great Forum to come to and I look forward to being able to one day call myself a banjo player!
Dave