Good Pickers Never Grow Old

Here's something new I'm learning this week: Did you know that there are different styles of banjo-picking? For real, Lucille! And I'm not just talking about jazz-four-string banjos vs. bluegrass-five-string. I mean, even in bluegrass banjo, there are different approaches to playing. Why I did not know this is that I grew up learning only the one style, the ULTIMATE style (imho): Scruggs style. Scruggs style is named (of course) after Earl Scruggs, of Scruggs and Flatt. Most people have heard of him, even if they're not bluegrass fanatics. He played the Ballad of Jed Clampett, for instance, and Rockytop, and Foggy Mountain Breakdown. But even if he's not a household name to you, his style of finger-picking is what most people think of when they describe banjo music: hard-driving, fast, twangy, loud. Scruggs defined the genre.

But here is what else I'm learning - there are other ways to play the banjo. There's a whole 'nother style, called melodic style. And yet another called single-string. And all these new banjo pickers use these styles, and mix 'em up, just to make things interesting.

This is an ah-hah moment for me. For the last few years, when asked to play my banjo at church or in other settings, I've been asked to imitate songs in recordings that use the banjo in a way completely unlike how I was taught to play. In some ways it was very frustrating, because I felt like a pretty good baseball pitcher might feel if he were asked to play outfield. Well, yeah, I could do it, but why? Wouldn't you rather me do what I know how to do? On the other hand, it did stretch me and make me learn new things, which is fun in its own way.

But, wow, what a relief to know that I'm not crazy and that I do, in fact, play a pretty good banjo- as long as I stick to a certain style. And what's more, there's a whole new universe of music out there for me to learn. I've got a book now that talks about the melodic and single-string styles, how to do them, how to combine them with Scruggs playing, how to use them. I feel like I'm learning a whole new language.

Which is a good thing, because they say what makes you old is not how many birthdays you have, but whether or not you keep learning and growing. So I'm fighting off over-the-hill-itis (acute this week, as in just 25 hours I will officially crest the mountain) by building new brain connections - learning a new way to pick.

What are you learning this week? Or, if you've already topped the hill recently and have good news from the other side, I'll take that too! Please tell me that the forties are even better than the thirties - regardless of what style you play.