Learning the Banjo…a few hours of practicing.

So today I spent about two hours practicing. At least now Pekoe is leaving me alone. She just looks at me with a leer and lays down and watches me. Sometimes, she just walks into the hallway and plops down with a huff (as if to say, fine! whatEVER!) I guess this is what teenagers are like, LOL.
I pretty much spent the time practicing rolls. The hand position and location of my anchor finger really makes a difference and I need to concentrate on where they are or I have trouble. I also found that in low light, I have a hard time plucking the 1st and 2nd strings. I find myself plucking the 1st string when I think I am on the 2nd string. Hand position makes a huge difference, so I really need to be consistent.
After practicing, I decided to try out my electronic tuner. This has to be the best device ever created! 🙂 Once I realized the note that each string represented it was easy to tune:

D – 1st string
B – 2nd string
G – 3rd string (one octave lower than the 5th string)
D – 4th string (one octave lower and the 1st string)
G – 5th string (the short string on top when holding the banjo)

I also think that this would be a good tool to use to figure out if your left hand is playing the right cord. I wanted to play more tonight, but my hand was a bit fatigued so I will rest and try again tomorrow.

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