Saturday Morning 12th September 2009 - A Banjo Class

I had a banjo class this morning; with Frank Lee, of the Freight Hoppers.

[N0036]

Of course, there were several dozen other people there; asking questions in an accent and idiom I did not understand; and I didn't have a banjo.
But, I suppose, like learning any language, you have to start with an overwhelming mystery. Asked about tuning in some piece, he said (something like) "it's a fretless banjo with nylon strings in a double-C tuning let down to an A, so really it's a double-A tuning, I suppose" (I loved the "I suppose"). And: "It's one-finger left hand, with hammering on". And so on.
I got to see a fair bit of how they do the 'claw-hammer' style, but it's very hard to see at all: their fingers hardly seem to move. I bought a DVD. Let's hope it shows it in slow motion.

Then there was a flat-foot dance lesson. That's a lot of fun, although some people seem to use it as a trance-inducing technique. It's also a 'boys-showing-off' style.

And then it was time for the big event of the day.