Banjo Progress

I’ve been playing banjo off and on now for about 3 weeks and thought I’d share my progress here. This is a very slow version of cripple creek which, if you know the song should be played much faster. What do you expect for 3 weeks??!! I added a little guitar accompaniment along with egg shaker percussion to emphasize the beat/tempo.
For those interested, this was recorded using an MBox2 and ProTools LE with a Shure SM57 mic. I didn’t add any effects to the tracks at all, and had quite a bit of ambient noise in the room caused by computer, ceiling fan, and my dog chewing on a toy.

Excuse the size of this file – it’s about 3M and is 2 min long.

Let me know what you think so far.
I’ve got a couple other tunes I’ve been working on, and will post them later.

btw – that image is of Cripple Creek, Colorado circa 1890.

Goin’ down to Cripple Creek

Yes, I know it has been a while since I last posted here. Recently I’ve actually found Twitter to be a more convenient way to comment on my life online. Requires less time, and fits into my daily routines.
But I’ve recently embarked on a new musical journey that I thought I would share with you all. I’ve been playing music most of my life, starting with woodwinds like the clarinet and saxophone, and moving on to guitar. I’ve played everything from classical to jazz, funk, fusion, rock, and even a little folk. But I’ve never ventured into country or other American genres such as bluegrass, until now. I’m not exactly sure what inspired me, but I’ve had a desire to learn how to play banjo and last weekend I went out and acquired one to start learning. I love the casual nature of the music you play on it – you almost always associate the instrument with celebration and having a good time, and almost never with formality or pretentiousness. It’s an instrument that requires skill but relies on repetition of patterns and a keen sense of rhythm, both of which I felt were my musical strong suits.
So after a couple of days, what are my first impressions? I really love it. I love the sound and feeling of the instrument, and have already learned a couple of songs and am pouring through all the various styles to determine which direction to go in: bluegrass, Irish, etc? If you’re a guitar player it takes getting used to as the tuning is different and that 5th high G string can really throw you off. But so far I’m enjoying the challenge and will be taking some lessons at the local Blue Ridge Pickin’ Parlor soon.
So what did I buy? After extensive research and trying various models I settled on the Deering Goodtime 2 banjo. Not the bottom of the line, but you can spend a whole lot more. I don’t know anything about banjos, but so far I love the tone, response, and feel. I highly recommend for a beginner.

Don’t worry. I’ll be posting a recording or two of my learning to play soon.
Here’s pic of the banjo I bought.

And oh, by the way – apparently playing the banjo is like one of the most un-cool things a dad can do to his tween aged daughters. My oldest has no so subtly posted a sign on her bedroom door “NO Banjo Zone.”

A-Ha! Performance

Great new book. If you are looking for insight on how to improve your leadership and management skills in this new era of virtual teams, and matrix organizations, or you wonder why your organization is performing flat with no apparent passion or self-motivation, then I hightly recommend you get this book. Buy it here.

Wikipedia Meme

I have been tasked by Mr. Cruft to supply the following information based on what is provided in Wikipedia related to the date of my birth, May 7th.

Here are the instructions:
1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
3. List three events that happened on your birthday.
4. List two important birthdays and one interesting death.
5. List any holidays
6. Post it.

May 7th – Three Events
1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years’ War.
1847 – In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

May 7th – Two Births, One Death
(b)1968 – Traci Lords, American actress
(b)1975 – Nicole Sheridan, American porn star
(d)2006 – Lillian Gertrud Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1907)

May 7th – Holidays
Russia – Radio Day (commemorating the work of Alexander Popov)
Bulgaria – Radio and Television Day (see above)

Another MSG reaction

Well, I’ve had another classic MSG reaction. I always seem to react by swelling around my mouth and my right eye.
This time I had a difficult time identifying the source as manufacturers are very clever in hiding MSG in “safe sounding” ingredients like proteins. (see here for a list)
But I think I traced it to a Zone protein bar where the primary ingredient is Soy protein isolate, which is listed as a likely source.
List of hidden sources of MSG.
I also found an interesting article linking MSG to obesity in America. If this is true, then it is ironic that the Zone diet people would be using MSG in the ingredients of their products.