Salt Creek

And here's the next song I am to master on the banjo:



It's called Salt Creek.

Firstly, I need to point out that this guy has the same banjo as me, and it gives me the warm fuzzies.

Man, I counted today that I've been taking lessons for three and a half months. One month of which, I was out of the country and banjo-less, which really makes two and a half months of learning tops. For a while there, I thought I was improving, but now I seem to have regressed, although I did play Fireball Mail pretty fast today. It's so much fancier than Cripple Creek, but I keep tripping up on that one. Granted I did spend a lot more time committing the song to muscle memory. I play better now when I don't pay attention.

Digression: I've been reading Oliver Sacks, and he's been talking about people with various neurological deficits. One woman lost the feedback between her body and her brain, so she had to watch herself doing all her motor activities to tell her limbs what to do. And it's funny the way that works with learning songs on the banjo. Because I almost always have to watch my right hand. My left hand can work it's fancy magic, but my right hand will slack off without supervision. Especially when I'm just playing chords. Even doing simple stuff.

Anyway. I wish I had people to play bluegrass with. If I could just throw myself fully into bluegrass and play nothing else, I'd do it. At least for the time being. The banjo teacher keeps tempting me with invitations to jam with his girlfriend who he's teaching banjo too. He seems to be convinced that I'm either an able student or friendly enough that he doesn't mind my company. Either way, that's sweet of him, and I hope that all works out at some point.