Phill Gibson

Sometimes, our musical efforts can be a lot like raising kids – you have to pick your battles. Just as with young ones, you have to know when to pursue discipline (lest the effect of discipline becomes worse than the original cause), so also, you have to know what to pursue musically. We all have only so much time, and I’ve come to face the fact that you can’t do it all in one lifetime. 

I’d love to be able to concentrate on old-time music, delving deeper into the nuances of Scruggs style, learn all kinds of melodic licks in all sorts of keys, get really fast and proficient in single-string style, learn about 500 standard songs, get very comfortable with every known chord progression you’re likely to hear in jazz, and also get up-to-speed with mandolin, guitar, dulcimer, dobro, fiddle, etc. But that’s a lifetime’s worth of work.

So, let’s let it be just that, and take a lifetime to make progress, shall we? We’ll never get to the end of learning, so don’t try to get there; just enjoy the journey.

So go after what interests you the most, long term, and stick with it till you either 1) see results or 2) see more clearly that this isn’t turning out as you had originally hoped or thought.

Here’s an easy technique for the very common situation in which you are playing a song you don’t know the chords to. Assuming it is a fairly simple song with only I, IV and V chords, this works very well.

 Are you already familiar with what I, IV and V chords are? If not, then here is a quick explanation.

Major chords are named just like the notes that make up all musical scales in western music: G, G#, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F# and back to G again. Many songs use only a few chords and the most common are G, C, and D if you are playing in the key of G. If you are playing in C, these same chords would transpose to C, F and G, In D, they would transpose to D, G and A. To save time doing all this transposing from one key to another when it really isn’t necessary, a numbering system was invented.

Let the root chord (that is, the chord that is the same as what key you are in) be the I chord (G if you are in the key of G). Then the IV chord is C for the key of G and D is the V chord for the key of G. That’s as much as you need to know for now. Check out Earl Scruggs’ Banjo book for more info on it. It’s on page 31 in the 2nd ed. and is called the Nashville Number System in his book.

OK, back to our technique.

First, you have to find what key you are in. Aside from asking ‘what key are we in?’ in the middle of the song, you can find it yourself with a little practice. Start by making a G chord with the F position. Pinch this chord and see if it fits the very first chord of the song (most songs start on the root, but not always – a better choice would be the very last chord, but by then, you’ve sat out one whole verse and chorus). If G isn’t the root, then slide up a fret. It’s probably not G# unless everyone is playing sharp on purpose. Keep sliding up the neck – to A, B, then C and D. With some practice, you should be able to find the root chord somewhere between your first and second G chords in the F position.

Now, assuming you have found the root fairly quickly, then with a little more practice, you’ll be able to pick up the next chord change. I’ve found an excellent way to pick up not only chord changes, but which chord it has changed to, is to listen to old country music. Many old country songs use only I, IV and V in various orders. Soon, you can start to hear that each chord has its own ‘flavor’.

From the F position root (say G for the key of G) you can easily make a IV chord (C for the key of G) by laying your ring finger down flat on the 5th fret. A V chord (D for the key of G) is made with the basic D position or even with a bar chord on the 7th fret.

 Try these finger positions and you’ll see how easily you can switch between them. Remembering them as simply I, IV and V, you then have the whole fret board in any key at you disposal with very little brain work.

I am not ashamed to admit that I love easy things. So if I find something that is not easy, the first thing I do is try to see if I can make it easier (but not if making it easier is too difficult, then it would not be overall easy anymore!)

Oftentimes, we are very goal-oriented with trying to learn something or improve on it. And that’s a good thing, certainly. But sometimes that can also mean that we get a bit rushed; moreso than what is good for us. Relax (or as they say in Singapore: ‘Relak, Lah!’). Your quality of playing starts to suffer when you get in a hurry with practice.

One thing I found that improves the quality of your playing and is REAL easy to boot is as follows. It seems sort of strange, but it really does help your quality of playing.

Lie down and take a nap (I told you it was easy!), and while you’re doing that, play the banjo. Not fast – here, you are concentrating on a very slow, steady rhythm in your picking hand. Don’t bother with your fretting hand, except to totally muffle the sound from the strings if you like. Only concentrate on making each picked note perfect at a pace that is decidedly slower than usual.

After awhile, you’ll get very comfortable with this pace and you’ll appreciate how it brings back a better perspective on clean playing. You may even nod off doing this; that’s fine, too!

I did this a lot when I was first learning, especially in the dorm at college. I did have a bit of respect for others’ need for silence after all, I guess.

Since this is such an easy task, do it for 30 minutes from time to time, and, if sloppy playing has you, it will cure what ails you.