Practising 6 months on

The problems I was/am experiencing are shared by other beginners, as evidenced recently on Banjo Hangout’s forums. My rhythm was all over the place, I wasn’t hitting my left hand chords and notes cleanly and yes, I am still bumping the drum head with my thumb pick. Last week I finally got back into the swing of practice, and this time practising for 40mins to an hour each time, and I attempt to do this daily, so I feel like I am back on track. I also reintroduced beating out the tempo with my foot, and or a metronome. And I re-watched the videos that go along with my tutorial book, Janet Davis’s You Can Teach Yourself Banjo. I have also started practising plain rolls at the start of each practice again–this is something I stopped doing because I found it boring. Now I find it is helping me keep in time so that in the middle of Cripple Creek I can now keep pace with a beating foot or metronome, rather than it sound like I was launching into a completely new tune.

So I am slowly overcoming my practice blues and I can now play my key tunes: Bile Dem Cabbage Down, Cripple Creek (Scruggs style and melodic) and Blackberry Blossom through perfectly at least every fifth time… To make sure I don’t get so bored of these tunes I never want to hear them again I am also continuing to learn Cumberland Gap. However, I am finding that the pleasure I am getting in perfecting the previous tunes enough to prevent me from wandering off into pastures new before putting the others to bed.

My aim is to record a medley of these beginner arrangement tunes to prove to myself that I really can teach myself banjo…

Banjo picks

My banjo came with three standard picks. Two silver nickel picks made by Dunlop and one standard (giant) plastic thumb pick. There is an awful lot of information on picks and picking and so any beginner is sure to be a bit confused if they are seeking advice. I just want to outline my experience here in case it helps or provides comparison for others.

Basically I hated the picks. I followed Janet Davis’s good advice on wearing them, shaping them to your finger and moulding them until they felt comfortable but these things that looked like a torturer’s accessories were just not sitting well with me. I had figured out the art of anchoring a finger to the drum head to at least get the right position but my lack of sensitivity when plucking drove me mad. I hit the head, two strings at once, missed strings and lost good position as my right hand tensed up really quickly.

The good folks at Banjo Hang Out came to my rescue again when I looked up how other people solved the problem of getting used to picks. I learnt a lot about materials and gauges or thickness of the metal finger picks. My set were medium gauge (0.025) and were theoretically adjustable. Janet Davis has a good overview of picks on her site and if you’re in the US you can buy from her online store. I learnt that beginners often get on better with thinner picks, that picks can come in different sizes and women with smaller fingers often prefer to get a small size, and that silver nickel and the alternative, brass, produce different tones. One excellent piece of advice was to try out several sets as they’re not too expensive until you find a set that works. Also, to not give up on picks so easily (although one person advised heading over go the clawhammer family and abandon picking altogether–I of course want to do both). Read the discussion in the Beginners’ Bluegrass Forum on BHO.

After reading up more on different makes of picks, from pricey ones that have special patents attached to them to ones that produce a range of sizes I decided to go for the following and headed over to the website of Eagle Music whose fast and reasonable mail order service is a real asset for banjo players in the UK:

A pair of small size brass split band ProPik finger picks
An adjustable ProPik thumb pick
A pair of adjustable silver nickel 0.013 Dunlop finger picks–the thinnest they make
A standard Dunlop plastic thumb pick

I started off playing with the small brass picks. I got on well with these as they fitted neatly and their split bands made them a comfortable wear. However after a few weeks of practising I noticed that the brass surface slid off the strings as they got shinier through wear, or it could have just been my imagination or bad technique. Whatever it was I was finding them less satisfactory after this time and so changed over to my ultra thin Dunlops. I was much braver with adjusting these and have done so several times, just with my hands. I have since found these much more agreeable, which is just as well, as during my recent house move I lost one of my brass picks! I think my fingers have generally got used to wearing picks, thanks to the comfort of the brass ProPiks habituating me to them.

I haven’t settled on a favourite thumb pick and use both interchangeably at the moment.

So, am I now a champion picker? No, of course not. I still hit the head and the occasional duff string. However my right hand dexterity is improving with each practice. But my thumb remains the main problem. I seem unable to consistently strike the string in a clean downwards motion at right-angles to the string. Consequently, particularly when trying to pick up speed, I often hit the head of the banjo with its point. Returning to the BHO forums a brilliant suggestion was made. Why not try and stick a pad of sticky labels or post-it notes where my thumb goes and keep reducing its thickness until I have trained my hand and thumb to stop hitting the head and strike the string properly. I am about to try this, having just found a small pad that might work.

Other than that I have had a big break in practice owing to moving and I am slowly persevering with, perfecting and speeding up Cripple Creek, including its melodic version which I love most, and learning Blackberry Blossom and Cumberland Gap as I delve into the new world of proper endings. I have also pre-emptively bought a copy of Wayne Erbsen’s Clawhammer for the Complete Ignoramus…

Stairwell Sisters bango (credit: Vance Dubberly)

After some years of fascination I have now decided to acquaint myself with the banjo first hand. Yes, I want to buy one and learn it. Tenor or 5-string? Short or standard scale? With or without a resonator, and what of the those still made in the USA such as the Deerings and Gold Tones, versus those assembled from parts made in Asia? I am lured by Saga’s Rovers but what do I know? Not much at the moment but I am looking forward to an odyssey of musical and self-discovery that I didn’t think possible but am now brave enough to try. So far much of my initial armchair research has involved poring over the following banjo sites.

Andy Perkins, The Banjo Works (UK specialist in banjos).
Hobgoblin Music (UK and US folk instrument suppliers).
Eagle Music Shop (instrument suppliers including US Deering banjos).
Gold Tone banjos (well-known American makers).

I am learning a lot from:

Banjocrazy.com, particularly the videos of Paul Reynolds playing everything from Irish trad to Persian folk on the amazing Gold Tone cello banjo.
Banjo Hangout, a great forum with reviews.
Banjo Physiology 101 . A great introduction to banjo terminology, anatomy, tone rings, rims, metal or wood, explained.

The Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice is about to make a ruling on whether it is fair to force people into retirement at the age of 65. Since 2006, British Law has decreed that it is legal for employers to force retirement at 65. Over 600 challenges in tribunals await the decision.

At a time when it is becoming very clear that the balance of the UK population is towards older age groups, and at a time when the unsustainability of high pensions is clearly going to have a knock-on effect in years to come, why on earth can’t people work longer if they are fit and able to do so? Is retirement a right?

Will I get to retire in 35 years time? Or will it be 40 or 45? I am doubtful as to whether there will be any such thing as a state pension by then. There will be a smaller and smaller number of working age people having to support a larger and larger number of retired people (so-called baby-boomers) many of whom have in fact retired early and therefore will spend between about a quarter to a third of their lives in retirement. Is this really a useful way to spend a human life?

So let us help the aged by encouraging them to keep active and work (or else do what some of them already do and take on essential voluntary roles or impart their knowledge to younger people in their professions).

UPDATE: Sadly the ruling went against those that brought the case. Alas.

UPDATE 2: Since the General Election, the new coalition government have reversed the right of employers to enforce retirement at 65.

It’s been a while since I’ve made this journey on the train, and definitely not since my little survey of train journey times between Salisbury and Chippenham. And incidentally the price has gone up to £17.50 for a Saver Return.

The journey time from Salisbury to Chippenham via Bath Spa (no direct services at all) is approx. 1h13m. BUT, returning on a Sunday (as many people might), it takes over 2 hours! Also changing via Bath Spa bit with a 40 minute wait. Thankfully you can kill 40 mins at Bath during the day but honestly, this is not even viable by my reckoning and at £17.50 return, even less so.

On a weekday journey time back from Chippenham to Salisbury is reduced to 1h22 but we know there is a direct line ready and able from Salisbury to Swindon via Melksham that could do the job is under an hour.

I have finally got the attention of more people from south Wilts to join the continued TransWilts Rail Campaign and you can read more in the latest newsletter of Salisbury Campaign for Better Transport.

I am really very disappointed that I still can’t confidently recommend anyone travel from south to north Wiltshire or vice versa by rail at the moment, unless it is your only mode of travel.

I have so much backlog to go through for updates on local train issues I thought I would kick-off with a disappointment and share my frustration at both my outward and return journey on Saturday 13th October, travelling from Salisbury to Bristol.

Out. Took the 10.40 to Bristol Temple Meads. Surely a ‘peak’ service considering many travelling rugby fans on route to Bath Spa, many shoppers and long-distance weekend travellers with luggage. We had a two-coach 158. The train did not empty at Salisbury greatly and although we were lucky to find seats many at this stage were filling the corridors and even the guard’s cab! I will say nothing of the suitcases. By Warminster there was no improvement and while the guard tried his best to shepherd people all the way down the corridor, people were left at the station. This was worse at both Westbury and Trowbridge, hardly [b]anyone[/b] was able to get on let alone claim reserved seats. There was a large amount of emptying at Bath Spa (predictable?) Now, I do not know if the abandoned passengers were a) given appropriate excuse and apology or b) if alternative transport was organised. All throughout, there was no announcement but I do not blame the guard for this and indeed many were complementary at the way he tried hard to make the best of a very bad situation. I would like to add that there were two 158 units sitting pretty at a siding at Westbury which many noticed and were not impressed by, regardless of the ‘technical’ reasons as to why these were not pressed into service.

Return. Arrived in time for the 20.22 back to Salisbury. There was no indication of the service on the departure board let alone which platform: odd. We thought it could be the mysterious service to Barnham advertised at 20.25 so went to the platform (11) and saw a two-coach 158 and assumed it must be this train. However the train sat at the platform, no lights, doors shut. Mysterious Barnham service disappeared and no announcement or advertisement for the 20.22 to Portsmouth. On finding a station guard he informed us that the train was cancelled but they chose not to advertise the fact – or indeed the service! There was no driver. Reason? None given. We were to wait for the 21.22. This meant that one of my travelling companions whose onward journey was to Winchester would not reach until 00.10 with a 45-minute wait at Southampton, a woman on her own at not the most pleasant station!!! This made her total ‘journey’ almost 4 hours as this service missed the appropriate connection at Southampton Central.

In the final analysis the 21.22 which was advertised for the same platform as the cancelled 20.22 service left from platform 1 – an alteration made at the last minute making us all run while the two empty driverless units were still sitting at platform 11.

These are two problems FGW CANNOT blame Network Rail for. They are ‘old’ problems that on a number of occasions they have claimed to improve: capacity and cancellations due to inappropriate resources.

I look forward to the excuses.

May I add I also heard many echoes of: “might as well drive next time.”

Heaven knows (literally) how the Chinese government will administer this one!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/

Last year, during the FA World Cup, I bought a sandwich which came with its own thought for the day. Today I find myself buying the same sandwich made by Daily Bread: shaved cheddar and pickle. It still comes with its daily motto which today is:

If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us airline tickets

Mel Brooks

Quite so.

Last week and today, First Great Western organised some 60 extra services on its network to ferry festival-goers to and from Castle Cary for Glastonbury 2007.

The question is: did other regular services suffer?

Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council are currently in the middle of moving various heritage services from around the county (mainly Trowbridge) topurpose-built facilities in Chippenham which will open some time after October 2007 as Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. These services include the record office (archives), archaeology, museums service conservation (moved from Salisbury) and local studies library.

It is claimed that the new facilities will increase access to heritage collections and services for members of the public. However, have the planners thought about transport issues? To try and reach Chippenham from most of Wiltshire is a trial. There are few adequate bus services and a woeful, mistimed rail service on the TransWilts line which means that you have to add almost an hour to your journey to travel, say, from Salisbury to Chippenham (change at Bath) on the train (previously it was direct to Trowbridge). This is the letter I wrote to Salisbury Journal in response to the story of the new History Centre:

Dear Postbag,

I was very excited to read about the developments to move Wiltshire’s
archives to a new purpose-built centre in Chippenham (Journal, 31 May,
p. 5).

However, do those involved with this project realise how difficult it
is going to be to reach the centre from the south of the county by
public transport? Since First Great Western slashed services on the
TransWilts line (Salisbury-Swindon via Melksham) last December, you
have to now leave the county (change at Bath) and re-enter it, adding
more than 45 minutes to a journey which should take about 55 minutes.
There is currently one direct train a day from Salisbury to Chippenham
timed at 19.05, arriving 20.00!

I have written to First Great Western and Wiltshire County Council
about the poor service on the line and its implications, especially in
view of the current Unitary Bid and increasing traffic problems when
crossing the county. Unsatisfactory replies were given by both. Many
people who use services such as record offices want to travel by
public transport and so it is very disappointing that Wiltshire have
not been more joined-up in their thinking about the location of its
services and the access issues therein.