Video

That’s dedication your putting into your instrument , fantastic to see and hear.

Great video and fantastic playing. Jimi Hendrix is most definitely inspirational and I really enjoy watching Paul Davids channel, he’s nice and laid back yet throughly watchable. Thank you !

Hey Mark, you are doing great. I've been on this road for 10 years! For me, the best thing was to start playing with other people. I realized that playing your break is only 10% of what you might do in jam. Backup is so important and once you learn all the parts of a bunch of songs you can mix and match to build up solos on the fly. Keep it up!

Congrats on 500 hours! That's some dedication that a lot of folks don't have. Figuring out the most efficient way to practice is such huge progress and a major step forward, so good for you! I too play so much better when I warm up with older songs first and then try to tackle the new song I'm learning. I've started getting a little bored with my practice sessions, playing the same old songs over and over again, so I just recently started practicing a little differently...one day I will play all the old songs but I'll focus mainly on increasing the speed. The next day, I'll play the same old songs, but I'll focus more on not accidentally muting the strings with my fretting hand. Some days I focus on increasing the volume (I play quietly). This technique keeps practicing a lot more interesting for me, and I get less frustrated because I'm trying to perfect ONE thing and not ten at once, lol. Congrats again, I'm glad to be part of your journey and it's awesome watching you become an amazing banjo player. By the way, that little extra half hour of practice each day makes a huge difference, wow!

ive only played for about 2 months now but i dont think i could quit, learning banjo might be one of the most satisfying things ive ever done lol, i practice for hours ever single day and thats not an exaggeration

If I played an hour and a half a day, my family would murder me in my sleep, haha! Grats on your progress so far!

Congrats! It's definitely good to practice on different instruments when possible. It helps your technique be more adaptable and flexible and less rigid.

Congratulations on making it 500 hours!! That’s a massive accomplishment

Very cool man. If you want to hear some truly exceptional bounce, listen to Allen Shelton play. One of the greats, and famous for his bounce--his album Shelton Special is really good

is that a Claw hammer or bluegrass? been considering a Banjo as my first string instrument.

Thanks Mark for sharing these videos with us, always looking forward to the next video, your doing great, keep it up, I'm at 150 hours and loving it. Thanks again!

wow you invented shuffle

Why do people never get the fact that people like Jimi COULD NOT KEEP TIME. (Chuck Berry neither) Any effect that had on the music was incidental. If Jimi didn't have the genus of Mitch Michelle who could just follow Jimi where ever he rambled, Jimi would never have been famous.

I want you to always remember this. No one wants to listen to a Foggy Mountain Breakdown played with terrible timing, bad syncopation and too fast. People do want to hear She'll Be Comin Round the Mountain played perfectly. Choose a simple song and master it. Cripple creek is a good one but there are many.

I love this channel.

When you played it straight, it was just perfectly even, but with that bounce, my head started nodding along with you. Nice! Playing it straight just doesn't have a rhythm. It is hard, but you can try it in the songs that you are up to speed on. To me, it feels like galloping on a horse. Bum ba di da, bum ba di da, bum ba di da. Maybe Mike has some pointers on how to do it properly or what the exact rhythm is.

Good job! Practice does make perfect. 👍

Even after 6 years of playing this thing, I still am slow on the F shape sometimes. If you can get that target note anchored and get your fingers down on time before they are needed, well, that "technically" works. You should practice that chord transition by itself until it is complete muscle memory. In your warmups, you should add that.

That split wood pile is dandy! My husband and I used to split tons of wood at our tiny lake cabin here in Minnesota and it's sure taxing on the body. Recently we moved farther North close to the Canadian border, and we don't have a woodstove anymore or a cabin (boo!). Mike is lucky to have you as a student. You care about being honest with him, and you care about his time - he knows this and I'm sure he appreciates that about you. I'm curious to know more about these speed drills that he has you practicing. I've been dishonest with past musical instructors, too. One of the most common ones for me was telling my instructor that I was comfortable with playing a piece of music when I wasn't. I may have played the piece well enough and accurately, but I was not comfortable playing it and I desperately wanted to move on to something else. Don't ever forget that this is YOUR journey and you get out of it what you put into it. It sucks that the things we don't want to focus on are generally the things we need to focus on the most! Practicing quietly is something that I almost always do too when I'm home with my husband. As soon as he leaves the house, I play as loud as I can and man I let that banjo honk! My dog doesn't seem to mind at least, lol.

I don't have an instructor besides books and some you tube. My speed has improved just by shear repetition of playing songs I have tablature for. I don't play with the picks very much, which is why I found your channel. It has been a bit of an inspiration to me to watch you and see you grow. I mainly play clawhammer style and I had a bit of time figuring it out on my own. Can you share these speed drills that you are talking about or would Mike object to that?

You are making great progress. I stumbled upon one of your earlier videos and I can clearly see the steady improvement. I also appreciate the honesty about the challenges you have/are experiencing and I think we can all relate. I'm curious if you are taking in-person lessons or online. Keep it up!

Now, try to play it as fast as possible (with the metronome) where you can still play about 75% of it correctly. Do this a few times to find where you get locked ip. Play through the problem areas as best you can and note where they are, then go back and focus just on those areas with a couple bars before and after.

Inspired by your last video, I've just started learning Foggy Mountain Breakdown. I use a pure foggy mountail roll at the beginning. I basically hit the 1st string also after the first hammer-on. I find it easier and smoother, but I do like Eli's version that you're playing. I'm really struggling with that g-lick though. You transition to it perfectly after the E minor. Great job! I'll get there, just give me a couple of weeks.

You started to do something I haven't seen you do before on the second time through of Will the Circle, and it is really important to keep doing it. You were moving your head and body to the rhythm of the metronome and I found myself feeling it too.

Awesome pickin', man!!! Keep it up. Btw playing slow creates control and control creates speed, but we do need to push our limits. God bless!

keep going man! I started 4 years ago, and you have already caught up to me. Love this channel

You're getting faster for sure and Cripple Creek sounds beautiful! Everyone always says "fast will come naturally with time" and I think I'm finally starting to understand what they mean: When I do my warm ups (rolls or short 1 line songs) with a metronome, I have noticed that I involuntarily start to play a little faster than the metronome once I get more familiar with what I'm playing. Brain fart city for me, too. The weird thing is I can memorize a song as long as my sheet music is a few feet away from me (just in case I need to look at it), but as soon as the sheet music is out of reach of where I'm playing, I'm lucky when I can remember the first few notes of the song! What the heck is that about?! I think I create mind games with myself sometimes. You're doing really great and your speed is definitely noticeable - sometimes it takes a second set of ears to hear and notice progress. Lately, all I've been noticing is my own mistakes, and not being thankful for how much I've learned so far.

thank you for your reply . good luck and happy playing

if move your thumb to be ahead of your finger you will be able to play a lot faster.Your thumb needs at least an inch forward of your finger, watch JD Crow and also crook your wrist

Hey man, I'm learning the banjo as well! Props to you for recording your progress and being mindful of how you're coming along!

This video is golden! You're like an emotional support therapist and a music teacher all-in-one. I truly believe that getting frustrated when learning an instrument is inevitable. Patience, self-forgiveness, and persistence are key for us humans. I'm having a bad practice day today, but I was able to plow my way through by telling myself "The longer I hold this banjo, the better I will become whether I realize it at the present moment or not". After a half hour, I was having a ton of fun and didn't care how crappy I sounded. The lactic acid point is amazing and could be why I'm having an off day...hooray for yard work, lol. I read an article a few months back on the "1% Improvement Rule". Basically, strive to improve by just 1% each day and after a year you'll be 37 times better. These improvements seem marginal at the time, but they sure do build a strong foundation. It's all about accumulation. I will revisit this video the next time I'm having an off day - this is definitely an inspirational one. Thanks so much for putting this together, you are appreciated!

Good job dude. You got it bro, keep going 🙏 youll get to where you want if you keep believing. I promise.

Hi, Claudio from Italy here. Thanks for your videos. Just wanted to say, it's ok to plateau every now and then. I know the feeling is awful but it's important to not get discouraged. I've been playing for only 5 months now but when I feel stuck I found out doing a couple of days of just rolling with a metronome very useful. Like, back to step one It works like a meditation for me plus my fingers build up some memory. Another thing di I do is just roll the chords to some well known song that I like. No solos or melody, just chords backing. It's fun and relaxing and all the same useful. But this can be risky because you relax too much and forget to challenge yourself with harder tunes. Anyway, keep up with the good work!

This is soooo cool. I just discovered your channel today, and I HAD to go back to your very first video to see how far you've come! I just started playing banjo for the first time this past April and I can't wait to be as good as you are! I too have been practicing an hour every day and I sometimes get frustrated because I can't play even a tenth of the speed as some of my favorite banjo songs (Foggy Mountain Breakdown - yeah right, haha!!). I've noticed one thing that really helps me warm up before my practice each day is to practice my rolls (all open string) to a metronome. I'll practice the forward roll, backward roll, alternating thumb roll, foggy mountain roll, etc. for at least 5 minutes before I start playing the song I'm learning. If I don't warm up my fingers first, they are so stiff and hard, and I always end up picking the wrong strings! You are awesome, I love this channel! Keep on playing and never put down that banjo! :)

I'm on Day 19 of '30 days' but its taken me 2 months to do it.... don't worry about slow progress. You are a bit of an inspiration to me, I will get to where you are eventually but I'm not rushing. Its all about enjoyment and having short term as well as longer term goals.

Cumberland Gap coming along nicely. Keep it up! It is insane just how long it takes to get fluent. Once you get up to speed and in time on a few songs, new ones are a lot easier to learn.

I'm The Banjo Guy at my work. I practice clawhammer on my breaks. Guaranteed 45 mins of practice a day.

I knew that smile was coming. 😊

There is a video somewhere in youtube world the guy was talking about getting a twangy grassier sound in songs he bends on purpose on slides and such

Practice practice practice practice. I've been playing guitar since I was five. I'm 70 now. I still practice practice practice practice. Bought me a banjo the other day... It'll be here this week. I got to practice practice practice practice but music is fun!!

Foggy Mountain Breakdown is such a cool song and I can't wait for the Mark version :) I just started working on it a few months ago and it is a lot of fun.

The advice about not squeezing the thumb to stop bending the string is something I will have to try out with my practice tomorrow. I find myself bending the string when I use my ring finger on the 3rd or 4th string. One thing that helped curb it a little bit was sizing up on my strings. I was using a medium-light gauge because that was what came with my banjo and so I thought that's what I should be using. But as soon as my teacher mentioned that I might like medium gauge better, I saw an improvement. However, it is still a bit of a problem. I am hoping that paying attention to if I squeeze or not will help!

Real stuff, I like that and I DID watch the entire video, keep up the good work

Great to see a video that shows a REAL practice session! (Nice view, by the way-that setting inspires music. )

ha i did it i liked the video... nice job i like it.;)

LOL. We started the exact same day - Christmas 2022! I'm terrible, but I embrace how terrible I am. I was on a business trip and went to the park across the street from the hotel to "practice." I got some "pity cash" tossed in my banjo case, so in my mind, I'm now a real busker!

Another tip, if you don’t have a mute just put a little bit of toilet paper under the strings

I have a couple of things I do as well! 1. You mention taking a short break, but I always think that if one song is just not working, I just practice something else that day and come back to it the next day. A lot of the time I find that it is easier the next day. You don't have to get better at something in just one practice, especially as a beginner. 2. Working through something extremely slow! If a few measures are difficult, I won't only play those measures slowly until I can play them up to speed, I'll play everything slowly. And I mean really really slow. There is something about really taking your time to think things through that makes all your playing better, not just what you were working on. 3. If you're frustrated because you don't know what to focus on, or you don't seem to be improving, then I will focus on something outside of just the music. Sometimes I practice standing up. Sometimes I focus on just memorization. Sometimes I focus on singing along to lyrics while playing. Sometimes I see how fast I can push a song before I mess it up too badly. Sometimes I practice with my eyes closed. Practice doesn't have to just be about improving your playing. 4. If you find yourself easily frustrated, do not record yourself playing on your phone. You will find imperfections even if you thought you did something perfectly.

Loved this video! I started learning clawhammer banjo a little over a year ago, and I absolutely love it. I am still playing and actually practicing more than ever! I'm very lucky that I live in an area that has a folk music school, so I take weekly group lessons which is a huge motivation, because I am always silently competing with others in the class. Wanting to be just as good as the best person in class, or to be the best person in class, is a good motivator for practice. When I first started, I would only practice 20 minutes a day because I didn't know what to practice. Over time, my greed for success grew larger and I started intentionally practicing more. Now, I work towards goals. The biggest motivator for me was when I was given a list of songs that my school was going to play at a teacher-led jam. I looked at the list of songs, noticed that I knew 8 of them, and worked towards memorizing and perfecting those 8 songs. All of a sudden, I would look at my clock when practicing and notice that an hour had slipped by. I realize that I am fortunate to have a place to take group lessons, but I know that if I was not taking lessons, I would not have something to work towards and would therefore not practice at all. The more consistently I practice, the more the banjo is just a part of my life. Every month, playing the banjo just gets easier and easier. I have never seen that chart before, and realistically I know it takes time to learn any new instrument, but it does make me want to get better so I can reach a higher level sooner. I don't know if I'm the only person motivated in this way... Anyway, thank you for the video! This is only the second video of yours I have watched, but I am going to peruse to see what else you have to say. Us newbies need to support each other, even if we don't play the same style!