Alright, so week 2 of banjo class was pretty awesome. Jonas had us all play Happy Birthday together. No solos, I suppose only he could figure out who played it correctly and who didn’t. He also introduced the clawhammer style of playing. So far so good, it’s an interesting way to play banjo because it requires you to keep your right hand curled like a claw and you only strum downwards and pick the 5th string with your thumb on your way up. In addition to that, only the thumb and middle or index fingers are usually used to play this style. Our new tune to practice is “Groundhog” clawhammer style.
I am trying my absolute hardest to dedicate at least 1 hour everyday to practice. Perhaps someone may say that’s not enough, but when you are a mom of 2, wife, pet owner, and full time employee an hour of leisure time means something else just doesn’t get done. Anyway, I am doing this for fun, distraction, and maybe a way to teach my children that you should try lots of things in life. It’s never too late to learn something new. What I truly enjoy about this endeavor is how gratifying it is. You learn something, practice it, and bam then you are doing it. Last week I had no clue how to even attempt to play this instrument. Whenever Jonas shows us something new I look at it and it feels so overwhelming and oh my gosh I am trying to process so much info, can I even do that? Yet, once the info processes in my head it translates so well on the frets and strings. So I guess my lesson here for today is, learning new things are hard, some harder than others. However, if your heart is in it with a little determination things click and you can do amazing things. I haven’t found so much joy in an activity like I have with this banjo adventure in a long time. So friends, I encourage you to try something new, something unexpected you might just find it is exactly what you need to spice up none other than YOU!
-A.
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