There’s so much to learn…

I love it when I get to chat with my site visitors and fans. My goal is to have my main site at www.banjosrule.com, as well as this blog, be very interactive. Recently I had the chance to email back and forth with a site subscriber, Tom Lemmon. We talked about picks and a few odds ‘n ends, and then he mentioned an issue that I thought might be worthwhile to blog about. I’ll share my 2 cents below.

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Here’s a quote from Tom’s latest email:

“When I started playing I only wanted to sound like Earl Scruggs.  You know, doing everything like he did and not trying anything different.  The melodic style came and I always liked it at the time. I tried it but had a hard time learning it.  At that time books were only available and reading the tablature for that was a little difficult. I have been playing since I was 18 and played steady for years.  I stopped and worked on the guitar in the 1990′s but have picked up the banjo again hard for the last few years. I still like to try new things, but wonder if working on the Scruggs style alone has hurt my ability to move out into other things.  The Scruggs style seems to be much more prevalent now and the melodic has died out to some extent.”

A couple of thoughts came to mind that I wanted to save for the blog. I’m of course no expert and not the authority on the subject. In fact, I’m hoping others will reply to this blog post in the comments section below.

How’s your analytical thinking?

I’ve had this little theory floating around in my head for years that I think somehow applies to this conversation, and it has to do with how your brain is wired. I’ve sat down with more than one really good picker (phenomenally good!) and have marvelled…no, drooled…no, planned to cut their fingers off…as I’ve watched them pick out some amazingly technical and progressive licks. And then they’ve tried to explain to me what they were doing by showing me some of the licks. Now I don’t want you to think that I can’t pick up licks from banjo players, because I’ve stolen many a lick in my day, and I’m a fairly solid picker that can do a few technically advanced things myself. But in a few situations, what I was being shown was almost like higher math…very complex, with twists and turns and the requirement of deep thinking. I remember the exasperation of realizing that my brain juices would not flow in such a way as to work with what I was being shown. (One person in particular that I sat down to learn from…and floundered…is a banjo picker by the name of Jesse Taylor, who used to play with Foxtail Grass. If you ever get to to sit down and pick with Jesse, you won’t be sorry. It’s a treat.)

So back to my theory: it seems to me that someone who can pick the complex stuff that is so technical and much like algebraic expressions, has an analytical mind and can think deeply about the “moves” on the banjo neck. To further this “hunch” I was having, I asked Jesse if he was good at chess, and he confirmed that he is. AHA! Eureka!! This was a real breakthrough for the Dr. Paul University Of Banjo Studies.

You see, a good chess player can work out the moves 2, 5, 10, 20 steps ahead. They apply strategy and mathematical techniques to the game. And, a good chess player is likely excellent at other strategic endeavors that require an analytical mind and the ability to think ahead. An analytical, strategic mind is wide open and can see a much bigger picture than some other types of minds.

And then there’s me

I, however, do not have an analytical mind. I stink at chess. I can’t see 5 moves ahead. I can barely see the end of the chess board. (I would have been Bobby Fischer’s water boy in his chess tournaments.) When I’ve been shown some complex licks on the banjo, I couldn’t see how one would ever figure something like that out…and I couldn’t retain it just by understanding the logic. I could have memorized it if it was tabbed out, but I couldn’t create it on the spot or figure it out later.

So, Tom, you wonder if focusing on Scruggs style hurt your ability to learn other things? Maybe. Again, I’m not an expert, but I think the way your brain is wired has a lot to do with it. You may not be able to think through Keith style enough to really work with it. I stink at melodic/chromatic. Or…well, let me clarify: I have a handful of melodic/chromatic tricks up my sleeve that I punch in in hopefully tasteful ways when I am picking, and they sound nice, and I’m pretty good at them. But to play a whole song that way, for me, means that I am just regurgitating tablature that I’ve prememorized. I cannot sit down and make up my own solo, and I never will be able to. Scruggs style, for me, is much more intuitive and easy to work with.

I think maybe the only thing that playing Scruggs style has taken away from learning “other stuff” is that you didn’t spend any man hours on the “other stuff”. You focused on Scruggs, which to me seems fine. Your brain hasn’t been altered, you haven’t “undone” any ability that you may have had…you just developed one subset of skills. If you were of the temperament and mindset to be good at “other stuff”, then there’s no time like the present. No harm in jumping in and switching gears. Just know ahead of time that it will be a challenge. However, if you find that you are struggling with melodic/chromatic, it’s likely not because you spent too much time on Scruggs style; more likely, it’s just that the other stuff is hard!! Are you wired for it? There’s only one way to find out!