Article Contributed on: 5/30/2008 3:50:56 PM
"The banjo is everything that's good wrapped up in a neat package"---
Chris Athey
Most kids play the piano. Some kids play the guitar in all of its versions (electric, acoustic, and air.) Others play violins and flutes and take expensive lessons from expert tutors. Many kids I know don't play anything, period, but are so well versed on all the different bands in all the different genres that they should count as musicians.
My parents wanted me to take the piano. So I took piano lessons for two years. I did the Musician's Guild (a competition of sorts where the player memorizes songs and scales) I attended recitals, I studied theory, and I learned nothing. This wasn't really my teacher's fault, however, nothing could convince me that playing piece after piece
ad nauseam was teaching me anything. Piano, as an instrument and mindset, lacked ( and still lacks, for me) any personality or power.
So I looked up different instruments. I tried the guitar for a while, strumming on an old Hondo that my mom had owned since college. I even paid for a few lessons. Then I took a couple of classes at a co-op ( a home school 'school' of sorts) and
everybody over the age of 12 could play the guitar. The catch was that they only knew how to play chords, no melody, just strummin' and croonin'. After a little longer I concluded that most of guitar was like this, and began to investigate other instruments. I even considered the ukelele for a while after watching a particularly entertaining performance of 'Ukelele Lady.'
I asked my dad, "What instrument do you remember that was really fun to play or listen to?" He thought about it for a moment, then answered, "It would have to be the banjo. No one can frown at a party if someone's playing a banjo in the room."
I thought that sounded neat, so I asked my parents for an inexpensive banjo for my birthday. They got me an honest-to-God $300 instrument. I was stunned when I opened the packaging, and I still haven't gotten over it's simple beauty more than a year later. The slender neck, the gleaming resonator, the dark and smooth wood! what a pleasure to own, much less play! I confidently asserted that I'd be playing it like a pro in six months. Then I started to teach myself.
Let's just say that I still don't play like a pro, but i've never had more fun playing any other instrument before. I can make my banjo sound like a harp, like the theme from
Star Trek the movie, a
Citibank commercial, and many things in between, in addition to good 'ole pickin' and grinnin'.
Much to the trepidation of my sister, who is a classical music aficionado, I normally practice a half hour a day and end the session with a hearty
yeehaw! (They need to put something about that in those 'You might be a redneck if-" books)
Although the banjo may seem simple, the mechanics of playing it are complicated. The right hand (unless the player is a lefty) has picks on the thumb, index, and middle fingers. The left hand, in addition to holding the neck of the banjo, adds in effects, (like the 'slide' which required sounding three or more notes simultaneously) that give the music that bluegrass/country/weird feel.
So, in conclusion, I'd have to say that banjo is fun and worthwhile, and if you ever meet a banjo player, ask him about it. You may just find yourself pickin' and grinnin' too.