My husband has been wanting to learn the banjo and we’re hoping to get him one in the next couple of months.
I said, “If you learn the banjo, I’ll learn the fiddle.”
Was that a really stupid promise to make? For a little background, I’ve played piano since I was three or four, plus various band instruments, plus noodling around on a friend’s violin.
Funny, my dad went to a bluegrass festival recently and loved it, and now he wants to learn the fiddle too. He can sing a little, but has never played an instrument before. I really hope he sticks with it. He loves bluegrass and Irish/Celtic music and old-timey country-western (nothing at all like modern country), so it would be awesome.
Of course, he doesn’t even have the fiddle yet, but he hopes to borrow an unused violin from the band director at the middle school where he teaches.
Tough question. I would normally say the fiddle player is doomed, but the fact that you have musical experience and your husband doesn’t makes it a bit tough.
Banjo is definitely easier to learn than fiddle. It depends on both of your levels of dedication, but I’ll go with hubby.
edit: Upon reread, that’s ambiguous. I’m saying that I think hubby has a slightly better chance of sticking through it, although I would not place any bets either way. It’s a pick-em.
My brother has a violin. I played a little guitar, keyboards and trumpet throughout the years. I played around with the violin for a few hours one day. That fretboard is tiny. I don’t know how anyone with hands larger than the average 10 year old is able to pick up a violin and play anything.
My brother, who plays a mean axe and is a far better musician than I will ever be, can’t get the hang of it either.
I agree with DJ about the fiddle. There’s no margin for error because the fingerboard is so tiny. And then there’s the bow. Practice practice practice!
The standard banjo tuning (“open G”) is a G chord and the basic chord shapes, slides, and pull-offs are fairly simple so it’s pretty easy to get something going that doesn’t sound like you’re trying to strangle the thing. Hard to say what a person with no musical experience will do. If he has a sense of rhythm that’s a huge step in the right direction. Lessons ought to be in order at least to learn the basics.
Banjos in the price range you’re looking at are generally good enough to get started on. The weak spots are typically the tuners and the inability to adjust the neck much. If your husband really wants to stick with it it’s not a big stretch to get a much nicer instrument.
The important thing is that it’s set up correctly so hopefully the store you’re going to has experience with banjos.
As a violin teacher, I reckon you’re the one in for the tough time! It pretty much is a fact that it takes longer than most instruments to make a decent sound. The technique needed is also one that it’s difficult to pick up by yourself, or from books/videos/etc., especially when it comes to finer control of the bow in particular. If you are going to do it by yourself, then I strongly recommend doing so in front of a mirror - everything important is in a position that’s difficult to see otherwise.
And yes, there’s no margin for error on the fingerboard, the difference between in tune and hideously out of tune is a fraction of a millimetre. The advantage of its small size, however, is the speed you can get around it once you know what you’re doing .
There are other instruments that go well with the banjo that are quicker to pick up–and involve less of a start up investment–if you want to hurry to the place where the two of you can actually make music together. Harmonica + banjo is an awesome sound, and I think the harmonica is an overlooked gem of an instrument.
My brother-in-law plays banjo and has had good luck finding bluegrass jam sessions at meetup.org. They are mostly old, old people that meet at senior centers and play a whole variety of things. He’s learned a great deal. He also swears by youtube–apparently there are lots of videos of people demonstrating techniques.
For a while my boyfriend and his friends were trying to start a self-taught jug band. There’s tons of great instructional material online to learn how to jug, believe it or not. But you need a shitload of breath control.
.