[NOTSBA Friends] Hide the women and children...Ed's at it again

[Ed Gregory]

About a month ago, I saw a great video on YouTube called "Rocket Science
video" that made clawhammer seem approachable for the first time - in
theory.

 

I couldn't bring myself to try it on this wretch of a Gretsch banjo that
somebody dropped off years ago. Luthier friends refuse to touch this thing.
I don't know why, though, because it's cool that you can flex the neck while
you play and get some real interesting wah-wah effects.

Last weekend, I went to Rebecca Weiler's beginner banjo workshop at Uncle
Dave Macon days (co-hosted NOTSBA via the person of Ray Mathes) and held a
real banjo, tuned and everything. I was stunned to find that between her
coaching and remembering that video, I could brush and pluck without falling
out of my chair.

I came home and tuned the Wretsch as best I could and went through Rebecca's
exercises. With this mess, whose strings quick sag and do not line up in
orderly fashion, I cannot do more than 1-5, or is it 5-1?   But I was having
a ball. I one-stringed for a couple of hours on the Wretsch and my wife
walked by and said something, after years of listening to me learn mando,
fiddle, and guitar, that I thought I'd never hear and she thought she'd
never say.

"Honey, you're just going to have to buy a banjo. That's all there is to
it."

(Later, she confessed that it was not that she was awed by my raw talent,
but that she couldn't stand the thought of me woodshedding on the Wretsch
for the next couple of years.)



I've looked online for a music store that might rent one on a monthly basis
so I can be a little more certain before I invest $100 or more on a good
banjo  (kidding).

 

But I am getting ready to make modest investment in a beginner banjo and
would love to have your input - especially on what NOT to do on a first
banjo purchase.

 

~Ed Gregory