Hello, my name is Paul, and I’m a banjo player.
This sounds like the opening greeting at a “Banjo Players Anonymous” meeting. (The crowd replies in unison “Hello Paul!”) It’s hard to stand before this group of people and admit this dark secret, but coming to terms with my addiction, and admitting that I have a problem, is the first step to getting help…
That’s a funny scenario, but truth be told, banjo playing isn’t a dark secret at all, and I feel very fortunate to have done as much as I have with my instrument. I am proud to be associated so closely with the banjo, at least in my pseudo-celebrity status that I hold in my local area. There are many people who only know me as “that banjo player”, and I like it!
If you had told me, way back when I got started, that I would be earning a sizable chunk of my income by playing or teaching banjo, I would not have believed you! But aside from the income potential, I look back at some very rich and rewarding experiences and know that I am a lucky man. I got started at the age of 16 when my grandfather introduced me to the instrument, and I fell in love with it. I do regret not having discovered the bluegrass scene and open jam sessions for so many years, because I floundered for so long by myself in my living room. I could have progressed so much faster had I taken a different approach, and I certainly encourage you beginning pickers to seek out a good teacher or some good pickers to hang around with.
I’ve picked banjo in no less than four bands now, and countless hours of jam sessions. I’ve also taken the banjo to non-music parties and performed stand up comedy with it, and I’ve even taken it into community theater. I’ve played for Tony The Tiger at the Kellogg’s Factory, and I’ve been on the radio, the television, and the internet with it. I teach banjo workshops and I write this blog about playing banjo. Here’s the thing though: I’m not the area’s best picker. Isn’t that amazing? I’m sure many of the area pickers find me at least solid and passable on my instrument, while at the same time admitting that I probably have some work to do. I seem to be appreciated for my picking, but I have no illusions that I am heading for Nashville stardom. And yet, I am a working banjo player who is known as “that banjo guy” in my local area.
I would like to share a comment with you that I received from an audience member at one of my gigs, in the hopes that the beginning pickers will take it to heart and receive inspiration from it. I performed at the Kendallville Bluegrass Festival (www.bluegrassusa.net) with my first group, The Apple Blossom Bluegrass Band, for several years. (By the way, this is a GREAT festival and if you’ve never been you should go!!) We shared the stage with some FANTASTIC bluegrass bands, including some national acts like IIIrd Tyme Out, and we felt very fortunate to have been included in the Kendallville lineup so many different years. At the gig this particular year, in which the audience member gave me my comment, the band line-up was stellar as always, and I, in my humble nature, have to be totally honest and admit that I was outlcassed as a banjo picker by several other banjo pickers that weekend. I have some skills and abilities and can hold my own in a band, but I am no Jesse Taylor or Steve Dilling or (*insert favorite picker here*.) What I do have though is a true love of performing, of laughing, and of entertaining an audience. I have a lot of energy on stage and I have fun, and I think it shows. Now don’t get me wrong, I can pick a banjo and I do pretty o.k., but I am definitely not the best you’ll ever find, or even the best at a gig any particular day. That’s why it took me so much by surprise, and touched me so deeply, when I got off the stage after my Kendallville gig and began walking towards the band hospitality area, only to be stopped by a nice, older retired gentleman, who was just beaming ear to ear. He came straight to me and shook my hand heartily as he greeted me. After exchanging some niceties and receiving congratulations on the good show we had just performed, he said to me: “Paul, I just wanted to come tell you something personally. I want you to know that if I had a choice between being given a million dollars OR playing banjo like you do, I would choose to be able to play banjo like you do.” Wow.
The moral of that story is that if you truly take your instrument of choice to heart, and apply yourself, and seek out learning opportunities, and seek out instructional pointers, and live the life of an instrument picker, and just truly love what you are doing on your instrument, it can enrich your life and provide many hours of happiness.