Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday Night Beginning Jam

It was another good beginner's jam tonight.  This was the less advanced of the jams tonight, though we have certainly come a long way!  Everyone is picking out their second song now, which means we have over 20 to choose from.  Some of the newer songs include Old Dan Tucker, Little Maggie, Pig in a Pen, Sweet Betsy From Pike, Pretty Mary, and Somebody Touched Me.

We have for quite some time been working to get the banjo players up to speed.  Banjo is the toughest instrument to play fast because it has to play so many more notes than the rest of the instruments.  It is also hard for beginners to go from back up to lead.  Part of that is because the lead is twice as fast as the back up, and it is a timing issue.  Everyone is getting so much better at this, though!  We can finally get through a song with everyone taking solo breaks and keeping up or catching up, whatever the case.  I am so proud of everyone!

We have been working on a couple of instrumentals, including Bile Them Cabbage, Banjo in the Hollow and Blackberry Blossom.

I noticed that Barb is getting her guitar runs down now.  Although I couldn't hear her (she was at the opposite end of the room from me), I could see that she was putting her C run in the right place with the right timing.

It was Barb and Bobby's 41st wedding anniversary as well, so we all sang Happy Anniversary to the tune of Happy Birthday.  Too bad we didn't have any food for the occasion...

No comments: