The best way to develop an 'ear' for banjo (i.e., sound to motor skills)? Find a patient fiddle player. Weaned me of tab in a hurry. Best way to develop a skill for variations? Explore above the first three frets in every tuning. Find out where else the notes can be found. I really enjoy these talks, Josh. You could offer them for college credit, with your book as the textbook.
New subscriber here. I play the guitar but your videos are extremely extremely helpful in figuring out how to learn and remember songs which is something I've been struggling. Thank you!
I took lessons at the Blueridge Pick'n Parlor back in the 80's for years and my memorization was next to nothing even now that I dug out my 🪕 this is something I really Need...
Josh, I believe you just answered a question about how do I learn to play an instrument and not be stuck solely to tab or notations. I began my journey with the concepts of taking the visual approach which has actually been crippling to my progress over 12 years. I have learned a lot but it's been limited by what I see on the page. I definitely need to work on the listening skills and transformation of the sounds to physical actions and muscle memory growth. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
great content Josh many thanks for this, loving these. Can you do a brainjo bite how to turn a bad practice session into a worthwhile practice session?
Great video! I'm definitely in the "learning path problem" camp so I guess the solution is to "develop musical fluency and develop my ear". HOW do I "modify the learning process to support the development of musical fluency"? When I learned to play "John Hardy", for example, my teacher played the 1st measure and I copied him. Then he played the 2nd measure, and I copied him again. Then he would correct me, saying "you are fretting the 3rd fret but you should be on the 2nd fret". After repeating him, one measure at a time, and making adjustments when I messed up, I finally learned the song. It sounds like you're saying that is a bad approach because I'm learning the song note-for-note (by rote). What would be a better approach to learn to play "John Hardy"?
As a dyslexic I find while my melody memory is pretty good I think actually, I do find issues around remembering variation. Or at least remembering to use them even when I do remember them. It can be pretty frustrating. Or with old time music I sometimes have frustrating difficulty around playing the a or the b part too many times.
josh now I'm sad.. I'm an old classical guitar guy that reads treble clef, then I learned Scrugs, built a lute and now read french tab, learning drop thumb clawhammer and you say it"s not for me, maybe I pick or pluck the fast parts!
This is really helpful. Can you talk a little bit (maybe you already have somewhere?) about a couple related problems: 1. What's going on in my brain when I'm in the middle of a song and can't remember the words to the next verse? It's not that I don't have them memorized--often, if I open my mouth, the words end up coming out, but leading up to that moment, my mind is a total (and panic-inducing!) blank, though often my fingers are playing the song just fine. 2. Why can't I think more than 2-3 of the songs I know when I sit down to practice? I've got a fairly deep repertoire (I've forgotten more song than I know, as they say), but when I have an instrument in my hands, I can rarely think of more than a handful of songs. It's even worse if someone asks me to play something for them!
I think it’s just being lazy. I had the same problem when i was playing guitar, i always practiced from tabs so when someone asks you to play you need your tabs. When i started playing banjo i s
@@waltzingpeter It's not laziness--I've done the work to memorize TONS of songs and lyrics, and I rarely practice with any sort of paper in front of me (usually only for about 10 minutes when I'm either trying to memorize words (and then usually I stop playing and write them down, which helps immensely) or learning a new banjo technique/lick that's so new that muscle memory doesn't help. What's really going on is that there some sort of block, some sort of forgetfulness, that happens sometimes, where I can't consciously think of what I should do next (a forgetfulness that muscle memory often carries me through), either how the next verse starts or what song I should play next. Once I get started, things flow right along--it's the STARTING that's hard.
That's the weird part--it's stuff I know stone cold and have played a million times. If someone said, "play the song where the first three words are, "I was standing..." I could launch right in and crush it. But too often, I end up staring at the wall, thinking "What songs do I know????" Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh.
Well i do know somewhat what you mean. I work with playlists so i don’t have that particular problem. I do walk alphabetically in my head through my repertoire. And practice most songs every day at least an hour. We are humans afterall. Not machines
The best way to develop an 'ear' for banjo (i.e., sound to motor skills)? Find a patient fiddle player. Weaned me of tab in a hurry. Best way to develop a skill for variations? Explore above the first three frets in every tuning. Find out where else the notes can be found. I really enjoy these talks, Josh. You could offer them for college credit, with your book as the textbook.
New subscriber here. I play the guitar but your videos are extremely extremely helpful in figuring out how to learn and remember songs which is something I've been struggling. Thank you!
I took lessons at the Blueridge Pick'n Parlor back in the 80's for years and my memorization was next to nothing even now that I dug out my 🪕 this is something I really Need...
Josh, I believe you just answered a question about how do I learn to play an instrument and not be stuck solely to tab or notations. I began my journey with the concepts of taking the visual approach which has actually been crippling to my progress over 12 years. I have learned a lot but it's been limited by what I see on the page. I definitely need to work on the listening skills and transformation of the sounds to physical actions and muscle memory growth. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
great content Josh many thanks for this, loving these. Can you do a brainjo bite how to turn a bad practice session into a worthwhile practice session?
Excellent Josh! 👍
Unknown unknowns...are they beyond comprehension? 😁
Thanks for your insights
Great video! I'm definitely in the "learning path problem" camp so I guess the solution is to "develop musical fluency and develop my ear".
HOW do I "modify the learning process to support the development of musical fluency"?
When I learned to play "John Hardy", for example, my teacher played the 1st measure and I copied him. Then he played the 2nd measure, and I copied him again. Then he would correct me, saying "you are fretting the 3rd fret but you should be on the 2nd fret". After repeating him, one measure at a time, and making adjustments when I messed up, I finally learned the song.
It sounds like you're saying that is a bad approach because I'm learning the song note-for-note (by rote). What would be a better approach to learn to play "John Hardy"?
Thank you
As a dyslexic I find while my melody memory is pretty good I think actually, I do find issues around remembering variation. Or at least remembering to use them even when I do remember them. It can be pretty frustrating. Or with old time music I sometimes have frustrating difficulty around playing the a or the b part too many times.
josh now I'm sad.. I'm an old classical guitar guy that reads treble clef, then I learned Scrugs, built a lute and now read french tab, learning drop thumb clawhammer and you say it"s not for me, maybe I pick or pluck the fast parts!
Of course it’s for you! Anyone can learn - plus continuing to develop your ear at this point is immensely good for your brain! :)
I know a lot of tunes and can play them when a fiddler starts the tune. But I don't remember their names.
This is really helpful. Can you talk a little bit (maybe you already have somewhere?) about a couple related problems:
1. What's going on in my brain when I'm in the middle of a song and can't remember the words to the next verse? It's not that I don't have them memorized--often, if I open my mouth, the words end up coming out, but leading up to that moment, my mind is a total (and panic-inducing!) blank, though often my fingers are playing the song just fine.
2. Why can't I think more than 2-3 of the songs I know when I sit down to practice? I've got a fairly deep repertoire (I've forgotten more song than I know, as they say), but when I have an instrument in my hands, I can rarely think of more than a handful of songs. It's even worse if someone asks me to play something for them!
I think it’s just being lazy. I had the same problem when i was playing guitar, i always practiced from tabs so when someone asks you to play you need your tabs. When i started playing banjo i s
@@waltzingpeter It's not laziness--I've done the work to memorize TONS of songs and lyrics, and I rarely practice with any sort of paper in front of me (usually only for about 10 minutes when I'm either trying to memorize words (and then usually I stop playing and write them down, which helps immensely) or learning a new banjo technique/lick that's so new that muscle memory doesn't help.
What's really going on is that there some sort of block, some sort of forgetfulness, that happens sometimes, where I can't consciously think of what I should do next (a forgetfulness that muscle memory often carries me through), either how the next verse starts or what song I should play next. Once I get started, things flow right along--it's the STARTING that's hard.
Are those times with songs you know through and through or is the whole lick/ part new to your ears?
I didn’t mean to offend you
That's the weird part--it's stuff I know stone cold and have played a million times. If someone said, "play the song where the first three words are, "I was standing..." I could launch right in and crush it. But too often, I end up staring at the wall, thinking "What songs do I know????" Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh.
Well i do know somewhat what you mean. I work with playlists so i don’t have that particular problem. I do walk alphabetically in my head through my repertoire. And practice most songs every day at least an hour. We are humans afterall. Not machines