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Hi Ron, I really enjoyed your article and how you open yourself. Bravo! Hope we can sit and talk and jam sometime, like we really never did at the figa conventions. But I did notice how you had progressed every time. Hope to meet again, Tom
Hi Ron! I always enjoy your take on everything banjo! For me (plectrum) I wandered into the banjo-sing-along circle of professionals in Atlanta as a piano player and they encouraged me to switch to plectrum. …at the age of 24! “The train is pulling out so get a banjo and figure it out fast!”
Although I had a lot of music theory knowledge I had a terrible ear. But with lots of advice from pro banjo players I developed a system that worked for me and began playing professionally within a year. And I had a hard time “thinking” in banjo instead of piano.
In a jazz band the banjo has 3 roles: RHYTHM, HARMONY (chords) and LEAD (solo or melody) but the horns are already playing the melody so I settled on a strategy of writing a NEW MELODY (on the spot) for the tune when the banjo solo came up each time. As the fingers and the ear began to catch up I learned to modify my melody at any time… I call it improvisation. Can I write an engaging melody equal in creativity and charm to the original melody right ion the spot? That has been my goal in 44 years of playing professionally… so far it’s working!
As a young jazz enthusiast I formed an opinion that a jazz solo (regardless of the instrument) based strictly on scales and fast single notes became boring for me… instead I was far more drawn to recordings where the jazz solo was ‘melody’ based… still am!
Hi Ron, I really enjoyed your article and how you open yourself. Bravo! Hope we can sit and talk and jam sometime, like we really never did at the figa conventions. But I did notice how you had progressed every time. Hope to meet again, Tom
Hi Ron! I always enjoy your take on everything banjo! For me (plectrum) I wandered into the banjo-sing-along circle of professionals in Atlanta as a piano player and they encouraged me to switch to plectrum. …at the age of 24! “The train is pulling out so get a banjo and figure it out fast!”
Although I had a lot of music theory knowledge I had a terrible ear. But with lots of advice from pro banjo players I developed a system that worked for me and began playing professionally within a year. And I had a hard time “thinking” in banjo instead of piano.
In a jazz band the banjo has 3 roles: RHYTHM, HARMONY (chords) and LEAD (solo or melody) but the horns are already playing the melody so I settled on a strategy of writing a NEW MELODY (on the spot) for the tune when the banjo solo came up each time. As the fingers and the ear began to catch up I learned to modify my melody at any time… I call it improvisation. Can I write an engaging melody equal in creativity and charm to the original melody right ion the spot? That has been my goal in 44 years of playing professionally… so far it’s working!
As a young jazz enthusiast I formed an opinion that a jazz solo (regardless of the instrument) based strictly on scales and fast single notes became boring for me… instead I was far more drawn to recordings where the jazz solo was ‘melody’ based… still am!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!