r/bluegrassguitar

I’m a 24-year-old Swiss lad and I’m looking for someone from the US who can teach me to play the banjo. I’ve always been passionate about Appalachian folk and bluegrass music. (You can imagine how hard it is to find someone with my musical tastes where I live, haha.) I really think the time has come to get stuck in and start learning! Does anyone know of a teacher for complete beginners? And in your opinion, how much should I spend on my first instrument? What type of banjo is best to buy? Can you give me some advice? I hope someone can help me, and thank you in advance!

I’m comfortable playing around 100 - 105 bpm

To really climb up the tempo caste system I need to be like a practice/gym rat right? Push max tempos everyday almost right?

Any good resources for learning Norman Blake tunes. I can pick up the chords by ear, but some of his intros have a lot going on. I've found a few YouTube videos and tabs here and there. Any songbooks or anything like that?

Both £3000 a piece. Wider nut on the D18

Intermediate player, but brand spanking new to Bluegrass.

Want to pay about $800 for a beginner's instrument. My hands are not the biggest, so a slim C neck is attractive since (I think) dreadnoughts are usually pretty big.

Before I plunk down $$$, I just wanted a rough sanity check. Is the Alvarez MD60-HERRINGBONE 2024 model is a decent choice? I know strings and setup make more of a difference than neck curvature, but from reading, it looks like the MD60 is comfortable, sounds like a dreadnought, is reasonably priced, and good quality for a medium-tier guitar.

I know there's no such thing as "the best", but if anyone thinks I'm in the right ballpark or way off the mark on this choice, I'd be appreciative to hear the feedback.

I’d just love to hear how other musicians deal with it. My wife married me knowing I was a musician and my kids know. I met my wife when I played in countryish singer songwriter rock band. I’ve loved every kind of music and have played most genres but I started back up with bluegrass and going at it pretty hard. The family can’t hear it like I do and think of the music as jankly dinka tink tinka music. I’ve introduced them to Billy Strings, Bryan Sutton, Sierra Hull, Tony Rice and Doc of course. They tolerate Billy and Bryan. They roll their eyes at anyone else. Rolling their eyes at Doc kinda hurts my feelings.

Would love to commiserate with others out there. Tell me your version and how you’re dealing with it.

I want to play Bluegrass. I’ve been playing various Travis picking styles to recorded music to practice (Cotton picking should be called after Elizabeth Cotton imho). I’ve also been struggling to understand the depths (I’m drowning) of music theory . Any advice on some links, shortcuts, theory that most applies to Bluegrass? Truly would rather be able to play by ear and I know that’s the roots of the genre. Any advice on ear training good too. I’ve been memorizing shapes and feel like I may be wasting my time. Just don’t know what to do with some of this theory stuff.

Hello all! One of the things that I realized has been a hurdle for me is those more slightly uncommon chords. The ones that aren’t the 1,4,5,2,6,7 (Nashville number). Actually, I have a good grasp on those chords in the g shape, but less so in the c shape and even less in the d and e shape. I know these are fundamentals that should all be muscle memory.

I’m hoping by making this post, we can compile some songs that will help for getting more comfortable with the chords that don’t come up too often, but just often enough to stump us.

For example, One chord I’m thinking about now is the d minor chord and shape. It’s an easy chord, but it always stumps me when a song gets called with it. I’ve started to practice “Walk On Boy” by Doc Watson for the d minor.

“Dark Hollow” was one that has that g7 or (whatever key7) chord that stumped me before but now I can play it easily.

Any other songs?

While I'd rather support a local guitar shop, GC's 0% four year financing is just a siren's song too strong. $60-$80/month is right in my discretionary budget - but accumulating it over 4 years just... doesn't seem like the move.

So I'm going to go look at the D-18, D-28, and HD-28. I'm initially leaning toward the D-28. I do love some mahogany though.

One of my buddies called into question some of GC's stock. I don't mind a little extra setup out the door - but am I in bad idea territory?