"Bluegrass in the Park" 

Hickory North Carolina

at Henry Fork River Regional Recreation Park.  This event is hosted by the Hickory Parks and Recreation Department

 with the help of Warren Yates of Leisure Unlimited, Inc.

I Can't Seem to Find the Time to Practice 

How many times have we all said that?  I am the worlds worst.  You are tired from a days work, you get home only to start the next set of chores.  The next thing you know, it is time for bed.  The next morning rolls around and the same old rat race begins.  That is the story of my life.  Where is there time for my practicing?  I love my instrument and playing it, but I just can't get it done.  Does this sound like you?

The truth is, when you are dead and gone, your work will still be here and who will be doing it then?  We all want a neat clean home with our instruments tucked away protected in their cases.... BINGO, there is the problem.  We don't practice because having to get the case out, open it up and knowing that we have to put it all back up is really one more job that we would rather not start.

We all want our instruments to be protected, but an instrument not played, is a shame.  I have found that if I leave my instrument out where I can see it, I tend to pick it up in passing and play a short tune. The next thing you know, I can't put it down and I have had a good practice.  Then my mind is set on finding a jam session to go to.  

You see, we work on what is on our minds, so put your instrument in view (out of its case) and you will have it on your mind.  As a matter of fact, I can see my banjo from here.  Hmmmmmmm,  I think I'll pick a tune!

Warren Yates

Getting This Banjo Stuff to Work

Do this roll, then that roll, and this chord, and practice.  How many times have you heard that?  If you have just started to pick up the banjo, you will likely put it back down after trying all of that.  When you see someone playing with so much ease and it does not make sense to you, it can be very discouraging.  In this lesson, I would like to show you how to play the banjo in a few simple steps.  You will need to go back and learn to use the Scruggs roll here in order to work this exercise.  

In the video, I have a capo on the fifth fret in order to have the banjo show up bigger in the picture.  Though you will be playing in C,  you will use the G chord position. The chords that go with it are C and D7 positions.  I always look at chords in their root form.  In other words, a G chord is a G chord no matter what fret my capo is on.  It is just easier to understand that way.  If my capo is on the umpteenth fret and I am seeing a G, then I know where to go for the next chord.  There is an in-depth science about chords that you can learn and understand, but I would rather pick.

Here is how I want to explain to you the easy steps of picking.

1. Pick the song out on one string at a time.  

2. Learn to hold the chord as much as possible while picking out the melody on one string at a time.  

3. With your thumb and pointer finger, pinch two notes for each melody note as much as possible.

4. Allow your first or middle finger to lift and pick on a string between melody notes occasionally.  This is just to fill some empty spots and to give your song a little bounce.

5. After learning the Scruggs roll, play what you have so far and look for a dead spot big enough the put one round of the Scruggs roll in.  Do this every spot that you find.

6. Try to roll the Scruggs roll continuously while playing the melody and picking out the notes at the same time.  

You will have to stop using the Scruggs roll long enough to pick the melody notes, but that is the way it works.  Playing the banjo is a bunch of starting and stopping and changing rolls to fit things together.  Look at it like your rolls and runs are train cars.  Link them together differently and they will be different songs all together.

I have put together a video to show how this works.  I am playing the first part of the song, Nine Pound Hammer.  

This is a Windows Media Player file.  Click HERE to download the video clip.  Below is the melody notes and chords.

The Warren Yates Method of Playing Bluegrass Banjo for Beginners

DVD

The picture below is the Scruggs roll.  The T is for the thumb, the P is the pointer finger, and M for middle.	The picture below shows only the melody notes.  The chords are the letters at the top. The numbers at the top are played open.