I saw an interesting article about the 47th Annual RockyGrass Festival in Lyons Colorado that sounded like fun...here is the link Rocky Grass Festival.... check out the lineup with lots of recognized names....oh my...what fun...if any of you out there go to the festival...send me your comments and I will list them here...there is camping available and daily jams around the festival. I remember doing that at different festivals. One in particular was the 4th of July festival at Smithville, Tennessee. They have a blast and lot's of good banjo picking there. The parking lots would be full of bands jamming and at night you could walk around town and play with different groups.

This is a fun way to learn. You pick up techniques, new songs, meet new players, see different styles of picking and develop timing when playing with others. If you get a chance to go to any jam session, I highly recommend it. Don't be shy...if you need to, just go to listen and leave your banjo in the car until you get your confidence up...then get it out and start playing. You can play quietly in the background. The more you play in these groups, the better you will feel and the better you will play. I said leave your banjo in the car...well, maybe not in the car, with the heat and the threat of it being stolen, but you can leave it in the case until you feel you want to get it out and play.

Ok, so let's talk about playing with someone. If you have someone close to you, ask them if you can play with them. You pick a song you know, if possible, and you play rhythm until you get the hang of playing together. Tap your foot to the rhythm you are hearing. When playing backup on the banjo, move your right hand closer to the fingerboard to get a softer sound. If possible, lift the left hand fingers off the fingerboard after playing the chord and the sound will stop, making the chord short. This gives the sound like the mandolin chop chords you hear in mandolin backups. Pick the bottom three strings and play the chords around the 8-10th frets...you will stand out like a banjo, but not overpower the lead notes. Now go find someone to play some music with and start enjoying the idea of learning new songs and styles.

To get some more song ideas and to learn to play faster, try my new books...
Terrie Fleming's Banjo 101...not in tabs, but written out making it easier to learn the songs and I provide practice tips and chord charts to help you. I will be providing YouTube videos of the songs so you can hear them played. Go to this link to purchase your books:Terrie Fleming's Banjo 101

Keep pickin'
Terrie