Recent Comments
Priti on D Tuning for a Cripple Creek M… Pgibson on D Tuning for a Cripple Creek M… Bruce Woodmansee on D Tuning for a Cripple Creek M… Tommy on I’m Doing Online Banjo L… Pgibson on A Tribute to Jimmy Arnold RSS
Author Archives: Phill Gibson
The Fence We All Straddle
When it comes to ways to learn the banjo or mandolin, there are a couple of different paths we can follow. Each path uses the same set of tools and so can look very similar to the other, but the … Continue reading
Posted in Beginning Banjo, Music in General
Tagged Banjo, Duplication, Improvisation, Learning, Mandolin, Tablature
Leave a comment
Bluegrass Owners Association Covenant
No, this blog doesn’t have anything to do with an actual real estate entity. Read on for what it is about. I know how covenants work within a homeowners association. The new homeowner signs the covenant, promising to abide by … Continue reading
Posted in Banjos & Bluegrass, Banjos and Society
Tagged Bluegrass, Crossover, Etiquette, Genre, Jamming, Jazz, Oldtime, Style
Leave a comment
Back to Basics – 3 Essential Chords
We started this series of basic lessons last time with the 4 essential rolls. Today, we’ll look at the 3 most common beginning chords. What is a chord, anyway? Without going into a good deal of music theory, you can … Continue reading
Back to Basics – Intro and 4 Essential Rolls
Here’s another series of blogs I’ve started! This one is on beginning 5-string banjo techniques. Sometimes, it is hard to sort out all the required details from the extras when you’re just getting started in something complex; learning to play … Continue reading
Posted in Beginning Banjo
Tagged Alternating Thumb, Backward, Banjo, Basic Rolls, Beginning, Forward, Reverse
1 Comment
T.V.O.T.F.C
It stands for the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddlers Convention – the grandaddy of mid-south fiddle contests, as they have advertised it for forty-something years. I went to the second ever TVOTFC years ago, with my grandmother and mother one cool … Continue reading
Posted in Venues
Tagged Alabama, Athens, Bobby Osborne, Buddy Spicher, Convention, Fiddlers, Old-time, Tennessee, Valley
Leave a comment
When can you say that you're a banjo player?
That question surely pops up in every beginning banjo player’s mind. It’s very natural to want to see progress happening as we practice and improve. I think I started thinking of myself as a banjo player on two different levels. … Continue reading
Posted in Beginning Banjo
Tagged Banjo, Beginning, Cripple Creek, Freed-Hardeman College, Improve, Mandolin, progress, Tim Alexander
2 Comments
Thinking Like a Banjo
You can lean the basics of your style of banjo playing, be it Scruggs, clawhammer, tenor, etc. and know how to play it, but your knowledge is still at a rather superficial level until you learn that intangible quality of … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophical Ramblings
Tagged Banjo, characteristics, emulation, imitation, Practice, Style, Thinking
Leave a comment
The Practice Banjo & Bluegrass Jam Session at The Coffee Tree Books & Brew
As usual, this is on the third Saturday of each month; Septembers jam will be on the 19th. It’s from 4:00 – 5:00 pm at The Coffee Tree Books & Brew across Bailey Cove Road from Grissom High School in Huntsville, … Continue reading
Posted in Beginning Banjo, Venues
Tagged Banjo, Coffee Tree, Huntsville, Jam Session, Mandolin, Practice
Leave a comment
Name – Skill Correlation
I’ve often wondered; is there any relationship between people that have names easily identified with a certain skill and their propensity to take up that skill, or at least to have a greater than usual interest in that skill? You see … Continue reading
Posted in Music in General, Philosophical Ramblings
Tagged Alicia Keys, Association, Correlation, Gibson, Name, skill
Leave a comment
Phill Gibson 