Hello everyone! Im sure this is asked all the time, but I would like some responses. I've been playing acoustic guitar for about 13 years now. I'm 32. I've been in a country duo cover band for 10 years or so. My strongest point is singing and harmonizing. I never took playing guitar to a high level. I was content on learning the chords and singing the songs, with some lead work here and there. I really think if i would have challenged myself to be a better picker I could have been. I have a good ear for music. I picked guitar up really fast when i did start.
Well, currently my duo band is grouping up with some other folks to form a full band (Country Music, all Eras). I will be sharing lead vocals, but I really wanted to bring something more to the table with our setup because there is basically 3 lead vocals, myself, my buddy and a female who joined up. I'd be playing rythmn guitar and singing basically. My buddy had a banjo at his house he bought when he lived in nashville but he never took to it. I decided to take it home one weekend and give it a try. My family roots are from Kentucky and I've been around bluegrass a lot in my life. Always loved the banjo but it looked impossible to me.lol.
So here I am 2 weeks in and I can't put it down. I feel im picking it up really fast. I found some basic roll patterns on Youtube and just sat around rolling it w/out chords or anything. So i got brave and wanted to learn something so I learned a few licks and practiced those. So i got even braver and decided to try to Learn Foggy Mountain Breakdown through YouTube because I love that song. I can play the intro which to me is before the song goes up the neck, at a decent pace, nothing as fast as the song really is. If i try i just stumble all over the place.
Now all I feel im doing is trying to play the song to its full speed. Should i just forget this song and move on to more basic stuff. I haven't even got into where all the chords are on the neck. I guess I really would like to know what my best approach should be on doing this. My goal is to learn the Scruggs Style, be a respectable Bluegrass Picker, and gain my Technique from that and then be able to back songs in our Country band with some lead fill ins and such. Should I take lessons? Just a lot of questions on which way to learn the Banjo to be the best I can be. Thank you for any responses and info you all may offer to me on this endeavor.