And now, just what you have all been waiting for with bated breath; the Plectrum Banjo Challenge Part 2 (cue applause)!
If you think “I’m not good enough to do this,” give it a shot anyway; you may surprise yourself after it’s all said and done. If you consider yourself to be too good to bother, let me say this; it is my experience that the very best musicians are also among the most open-minded, and eagerly take on challenges. That’s how they got so good!
If “everybody was doing this” (jazz improvisation), I would be too shy to bother putting my 5¢ in. As it is, I see a need (more like a gaping hole!) and I intend to fill it (and to encourage others to contribute to the effort as well); my beloved banjo is worth this attention!
I spent a lot of years “wishing instead of fishing”; “oh, why can’t I be as good as so-and-so?” Then I would wake up from my daydream and do other things instead of what I needed to do to actually accomplish the dream. “Someday, when I have time!” When I finally awoke, I realized that not just years, but decades had gone by in this wishful dream state!
Having no other choice in the matter, I have decided to think of myself as a much younger person (but with a brain this time), and to pretend that those 30 years were my “prep time” for the “someday.” When I look back with this new clarity on things that seemed insignificant at the time, I realize I haven’t wasted as much time as I thought.
Getting a degree in music education was a huge step, for instance; I just had to figure out how to apply the knowledge to the banjo. I’m still on schedule—just a late bloomer! I plan to live for a long time anyway (so far so good!), so there’s no such thing as “too late.”
Anyway, open up Part 1 if you haven’t already started, give it a go, and then compare by opening up Part 2.