Last night I reached a new milestone in my attempt to play banjo and fiddle everyday. When I took my banjo out at a jam, I marked 70 days straight of playing it.
I achieved the same feat on the fiddle a couple days ago. My daily habit dates back to May 7 on fiddle and May 10 for banjo.
Most of my banjo playing over the past two months has been in short bursts, a few minutes here and a half hour there. All of that has been solo, either on the couch or on my porch.
Yesterday bucked both trends. My extended playing session was the longest of the year, while also the first time I've played banjo in a group setting in I don't know how long. Probably a couple years at least.
I've been so focused on learning the fiddle that anytime I went to a jam, my banjo stayed home. It was a measure to prevent myself from taking the easy road and playing what was more familiar.
For whatever reason, I decided to bring the five-string along last night. I'm glad I did. It was a small group, and I was the only one with a banjo.
The first tune was "Julianne Johnson," which was fortunate, as that's a tune I know pretty well. It allowed me to shake off the rust pretty quickly. I was still a bit lost on some of the tunes I didn't know, but it felt good to begin reconnecting those synapses for improvising.
There's no denying that my playing streak helped keep my banjo skills primed for the jam. Hopefully, it won't be another couple years until the next time.
Most of my banjo playing over the past two months has been in short bursts, a few minutes here and a half hour there. All of that has been solo, either on the couch or on my porch.
Yesterday bucked both trends. My extended playing session was the longest of the year, while also the first time I've played banjo in a group setting in I don't know how long. Probably a couple years at least.
I've been so focused on learning the fiddle that anytime I went to a jam, my banjo stayed home. It was a measure to prevent myself from taking the easy road and playing what was more familiar.
For whatever reason, I decided to bring the five-string along last night. I'm glad I did. It was a small group, and I was the only one with a banjo.
The first tune was "Julianne Johnson," which was fortunate, as that's a tune I know pretty well. It allowed me to shake off the rust pretty quickly. I was still a bit lost on some of the tunes I didn't know, but it felt good to begin reconnecting those synapses for improvising.
There's no denying that my playing streak helped keep my banjo skills primed for the jam. Hopefully, it won't be another couple years until the next time.
Comments
Post a Comment