I started playing ukulele about 2 months ago and I started practicing my ukulele early in the morning when it is quiet. I start around 3:30 in the morning and practice about a hour. After practice I get ready for work. I practice in our living room.
I find when I pick my banjo up and start practicing it takes me a good 5-10 minutes to get "warmed-up". During that warm-up I kinda get frustrated that it just does not sound like it did it last night or the day before when I had been playing for a couple of hours. Thanks for doing this and sharing your journey with us. I have noticed that there are a lot of us folks in the early stages of learning the banjo and this progression type content keeps me motivated. Thanks for taking the time and doing this stuff.
Ahhh, yes, I know this feeling well. I have many thoughts on this. In fact, I made a video covering some of these thoughts that you may want to check out...ua-cam.com/video/S6g4OIIX878/v-deo.html...Try resetting your expectations during warm-up, as in, don't have any expectations of proficiency during warm-up, let the warm-up be just that, a warm-up with no judgement. Second, if you can't avoid judging your performance during warm-up (and sometimes I can't either), make sure you are comparing like for like. Don't compare your performance from the end of your last practice to your performance during warm-up on the following practice. That's unfair and a recipe for frustration. Rather, compare warm-ups to warm-ups. That all said, no one is going to criticize you for being slow and clumsy when you are cold. We are all slow and clumsy when we are cold. Thanks for tuning in!
Hi Mark, Claudio from Rome again! As we say in Italy, this video "falls like a bean" (i.e. "just at the right moment").I didin't practice that much in the last couple of months. Mainly due to the heat but also because my seasonal melancholy kicked in and I was losing motivation. I recently bought Scruggs' famous book. At chapter 9 he has a series of warm-up exercises, roll practices and short tunes. Thet're kind of more intricate than they look but I find them extremely relaxing to practice. So what I do is I do a few of Earl's exercies, then a tune or chord progression, then more exercises and so on. Without realizing it I'm back to a couple of hours a day. And when I play tunes after the warming up, it's just a whole new world in matters of speed and accuracy. I was given my banjo for Xmas 2023. I haven't been counting my hours lately. I used to consider an average of 1hr/day up till june, minus something but I just lost count now. I'm probably somewhere around 200. It's a long way to the top, but I'll get there. Thanks again for your videos, I really enjoy them.
Hey Claudio, are things cooling down in Rome yet? My grad school professor at the University of Washington was also a professor at a university in Rome, so he filled his entire lab with Italians...and then there was me. I wish I could remember some of the Italian phrases they taught me...that was year ago, actually decades ago now. Which Scrugg's book are you talking about? It sounds good, I might want to pick one up.
@@2000HoursofBanjo Well, it's still over 30C° during the day but it's cooling down. The book I have is "Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo". I've got the revised and enhanced edition, published by Hal-Leonard. It's an excellent text book. According to many famous banjo players, it's a sort of must-have for every picker. Plus it has lots of tabs of famous tunes. Hope that helps.
Do one video of a practice unedited! To see how others practice would be helpful. Also maybe share what songs or drills you are working on. My banjo start time is June/July of 2021. But probably behind you in skill level. Which is ok, we are all on our own journey. Your video is inspiring me to practice everyday.
@@Dphoto45 this video may also be worth a watch, too. It goes over one of the main drills I implement during practice. ua-cam.com/video/kancEnltLkE/v-deo.htmlsi=K49LNFu-i-Qu_Mht
Love your videos. They inspire me to keep going. I only miss the odd day each month but make it up by practice 2-3 hours the next day But your absolutely spot on you have to at least hold your banjo every day
Some things that help keep me motivated - 1, if you find that what you're working on is not fun and you dread working on it for more than a day or two in a row, find something else to practice that you want to work on. And 2, make recordings of songs that you're working on occasionally, even just quick ones made with your iphone or whatever. If you start to feel discouraged about your playing, listen to a song you recorded 3-6 months ago and then try to play the song again, you're bound to have improved since recording it.
I listen to a pro banjo player, then i say to myself I want to play like that. I usually leave my banjo out also, that way i find myself picking it up alot throughout the day.
Surprisingly, I had never listened to bluegrass or knew the name of a single banjo player when I first picked up the banjo. It’s opened up a whole genre of music for me. I’d love to be able to play like Colton Crawford from The Dead South.
This is not a joke. The best reason to play banjo is how people will treat you. Even if they don't like banjo, people eill smile when they find out and assume you are a nice and friendly person. Once again this is legit from personal experience. It is equivalent to when people find out im a minister. Immediately treated better. Strangest thing :)
What do you do to encourage yourself to practice, particularly on the days when you don't feel like practicing?
@@2000HoursofBanjo having my banjo easily available like you discussed
I started playing ukulele about 2 months ago and I started practicing my ukulele early in the morning when it is quiet. I start around 3:30 in the morning and practice about a hour. After practice I get ready for work. I practice in our living room.
I find when I pick my banjo up and start practicing it takes me a good 5-10 minutes to get "warmed-up". During that warm-up I kinda get frustrated that it just does not sound like it did it last night or the day before when I had been playing for a couple of hours. Thanks for doing this and sharing your journey with us. I have noticed that there are a lot of us folks in the early stages of learning the banjo and this progression type content keeps me motivated. Thanks for taking the time and doing this stuff.
Ahhh, yes, I know this feeling well. I have many thoughts on this. In fact, I made a video covering some of these thoughts that you may want to check out...ua-cam.com/video/S6g4OIIX878/v-deo.html...Try resetting your expectations during warm-up, as in, don't have any expectations of proficiency during warm-up, let the warm-up be just that, a warm-up with no judgement. Second, if you can't avoid judging your performance during warm-up (and sometimes I can't either), make sure you are comparing like for like. Don't compare your performance from the end of your last practice to your performance during warm-up on the following practice. That's unfair and a recipe for frustration. Rather, compare warm-ups to warm-ups. That all said, no one is going to criticize you for being slow and clumsy when you are cold. We are all slow and clumsy when we are cold. Thanks for tuning in!
Hi Mark, Claudio from Rome again! As we say in Italy, this video "falls like a bean" (i.e. "just at the right moment").I didin't practice that much in the last couple of months. Mainly due to the heat but also because my seasonal melancholy kicked in and I was losing motivation. I recently bought Scruggs' famous book. At chapter 9 he has a series of warm-up exercises, roll practices and short tunes. Thet're kind of more intricate than they look but I find them extremely relaxing to practice. So what I do is I do a few of Earl's exercies, then a tune or chord progression, then more exercises and so on. Without realizing it I'm back to a couple of hours a day. And when I play tunes after the warming up, it's just a whole new world in matters of speed and accuracy.
I was given my banjo for Xmas 2023. I haven't been counting my hours lately. I used to consider an average of 1hr/day up till june, minus something but I just lost count now. I'm probably somewhere around 200. It's a long way to the top, but I'll get there.
Thanks again for your videos, I really enjoy them.
Hey Claudio, are things cooling down in Rome yet? My grad school professor at the University of Washington was also a professor at a university in Rome, so he filled his entire lab with Italians...and then there was me. I wish I could remember some of the Italian phrases they taught me...that was year ago, actually decades ago now. Which Scrugg's book are you talking about? It sounds good, I might want to pick one up.
@@2000HoursofBanjo Well, it's still over 30C° during the day but it's cooling down.
The book I have is "Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo". I've got the revised and enhanced edition, published by Hal-Leonard. It's an excellent text book. According to many famous banjo players, it's a sort of must-have for every picker. Plus it has lots of tabs of famous tunes. Hope that helps.
@@dsclaud I am a picker and therefore I must have it ;) Thanks, Claudio. Stay cool.
Do one video of a practice unedited! To see how others practice would be helpful. Also maybe share what songs or drills you are working on. My banjo start time is June/July of 2021. But probably behind you in skill level. Which is ok, we are all on our own journey. Your video is inspiring me to practice everyday.
@@Dphoto45 I got you covered. Check out this video of an unedited practice session. ua-cam.com/video/kMc5KfsDhvs/v-deo.htmlsi=Zbn7xt6IJt-vhBdo
@@Dphoto45 this video may also be worth a watch, too. It goes over one of the main drills I implement during practice. ua-cam.com/video/kancEnltLkE/v-deo.htmlsi=K49LNFu-i-Qu_Mht
Love your videos. They inspire me to keep going. I only miss the odd day each month but make it up by practice 2-3 hours the next day
But your absolutely spot on you have to at least hold your banjo every day
Some things that help keep me motivated - 1, if you find that what you're working on is not fun and you dread working on it for more than a day or two in a row, find something else to practice that you want to work on. And 2, make recordings of songs that you're working on occasionally, even just quick ones made with your iphone or whatever. If you start to feel discouraged about your playing, listen to a song you recorded 3-6 months ago and then try to play the song again, you're bound to have improved since recording it.
Excellent advice!
I listen to a pro banjo player, then i say to myself I want to play like that. I usually leave my banjo out also, that way i find myself picking it up alot throughout the day.
Surprisingly, I had never listened to bluegrass or knew the name of a single banjo player when I first picked up the banjo. It’s opened up a whole genre of music for me. I’d love to be able to play like Colton Crawford from The Dead South.
Thank you for this inspiring video 🙏
This is not a joke. The best reason to play banjo is how people will treat you. Even if they don't like banjo, people eill smile when they find out and assume you are a nice and friendly person. Once again this is legit from personal experience. It is equivalent to when people find out im a minister. Immediately treated better. Strangest thing :)
Then I need to start buying some more banjo-related t-shirts. Thanks for the comment!
My banjo is a tenor goldtone ukulele
That's cool. What makes a ukulele a tenor ukulele?
@@2000HoursofBanjo the length of the scale , tenor, concert and soprano sizes