The Glory-Beaming Banjo

July 2 is exactly the midpoint of the year, with 182 days preceding and 182 days to follow. It seems like a good time to reassess my goals for 2025. In years past, I would post my goals in January. This year, I didn't even bother doing that. I figured you probably get tired of constantly hearing how I'm behind on my playing goals, so guess what?  I'm behind on my playing goals this year.  I totally missed two months of playing, not playing at all in March and May. However, I started to get back into a groove in June. I'm hoping to use that momentum for second half push to get back to playing music regularly.  I typically set three playing time goals each year: a primary goal, a minimum goal and a stretch goal. I was hoping to reach 100 hours of combined playing this year, with a minimum goal of beating last year's total of 85 hours and a stretch goal of 124 hours.  Having missed two whole months and topping out at a combined 5.5 hours in February, the only goal ...

Happy Inauguration Day! Here is your inaugural Glory-Beaming Banjo post of 2021. Usually, I start the New Year with a post about my goals for the following 12 months. So far, I've been dragging my feet when it comes to figuring out exactly what those goals should be.  After a difficult and stressful year that forced us all away from our typical social and communal interactions, I often found myself sapped of motivation to practice and ended up falling short of last year's goals. Quite frankly, I'm not especially interested in coming up with new bars to meet ... or not. Sure, I want to get better and learn new tunes. Sure, I will continue to log my playing time and keep striving for that mythical 10,000 hours benchmark. But I don't want to feel beholden to a specific set of parameters right now.  I think my biggest goal this year is to reconnect with the old-time community in Northeast Ohio and beyond. I want to be able to attend an in-person jam. I want to go to a festi...

It's been several months since I've been to a local jam session. Since my son was born in September, it's just been too difficult to find the time. One of my goals this year is to get back to playing with others, preferably in the next month or so. The thought of playing my banjo in a group again fills me with a bit of anxiety. By nature, I'm not the most outgoing person. Couple that with the feeling of being way out of practice, and you have a recipe for the nervous nellies. As readers know, I've spent most of my music-playing time this past year learning the fiddle. However, I still don't feel confident enough to play it in public. Besides, there are plenty of fiddlers around and not enough banjo bangers to keep them honest. It seems high time I get back to woodshedding tunes on the five-string to get myself back up to speed. I like to practice by playing along with recordings. Last night, I was reminded of the handy Old-Time Jam Machine , an online sour...

Greetings Banjo Newsletter readers! Check out some excerpts from my interview with Riley Baugus that didn't make it into the article in the April issue of BNL. * * *  If you're reading this site, chances are you're already obsessed with the banjo. In commiseration with our affliction, our good friend Craig "Frailin" Evans wrote a piece for the Huffington Post, appropriately titled "Obsessed: The Banjo." Evans is busy wrapping up the second volume of his banjo builder documentary, which we wrote about back in June 2011. Since then, he has finished the first volume, Banjo Builders East of the Mississippi, which is now available from the project website, Conversations with North American Banjo Builders , as well as through the Banjo Hangout . You can also watch each 20-minute episode online on a pay-per-view basis. Soon, both volumes will be available through Smithsonian Folkways . The second volume will feature Banjo Builders West of the Mississipp...

Learning to play the banjo began as solitary venture. Me plus banjo plus book plus websites: that's how I started. This instrument and the music I wanted to play wasn't passed down to me from an elder. While my grandparents lived in Brevard, N.C. , they didn't play music, and it wasn't until after I undertook the banjo that I learned of the region's thriving old-time community. Instead, the banjo was my key to connecting with others. After two years of playing (but just one year of playing old-time), I finally summoned the courage to attend my first jam in May 2010, the Kent Shindig , in my hometown of Kent, Ohio. There, I found a thriving -- and growing -- group of people interested in the music to which I had become addicted.  There's discussion now at the Banjo Hangout about missed generations in the old-time community, decrying the decreasing frequency of musicians learning knee-to-knee from their elders.  Having to rely on technology to le...

In the old days, Old-Time music was passed down person to person by direct contact. That is the nature of folk music. However, the Internet is changing that. True isolation is becoming rare in the United States, as an increasing percentage of the population has access to computer networks. Now, Old-Time music is passed down avatar to avatar by broadband connection. As a beginning banjo player, the Internet is an invaluable resource for learning tunes and accessing information on anything from buying an instrument to researching musicians. Of course, you have to be wary of some sources that might be misleading, but the Internet is for the most part a great tool for any banjoist. My top five banjo and Old-Time websites are: Banjo Hangout  -- a forum for all types of banjoists Digital Library of Appalachia  -- free sound files Zepp Country Music  -- for all your banjo needs FolkJam.org  -- find other musicians to play with  Northeast Ohio Old-Time Music Gro...