It was a sound like I had never heard, like a new breath of fresh air, floating towards me.
I have always, since I can remember, had a love for the banjo, there was something about the twang that I could not really put my finger on. I just liked it. I remember I was about 12 years old and watching Saturday Night Live when Steve Martin came on with the banjo and an arrow through his head, from then on, I really knew I had a strange love for this instrument.
I started playing the guitar at about 17 and I remember being in the store one day, after trying several electric guitars out and sounding like crap, I saw it, it was an old Deering banjo hanging all by itself. I picked it up and started to play, it scared the living shit out of me! I could not believe how loud it was and how much it hurt to play. I immediately put it back on the hook and moved on to some sweet Gibson acoustics. I can really play those guitars all day, but they are so pricey!
I always kept the sound close to my heart though and one day I was watching Austin City Limits on PBS and Earl Scruggs was playing, he was on fire. When he was not soloing, he was playing it like a drum kit with this “chucking” sound that completely kept the beat. I bought several old records from Earl and Lester Scruggs and played them all the time. I even had some albums digitally, that I had swiped from someone but did not discover until later.
I remember on one of the recordings, Pike County Breakdown, that he had s solo that sounded like he had a delay pedal, but it turned out it was just him, making a trilling sound. Coolest thing I have ever heard. I brought it to my guitar teacher, much later, and even he did not know exactly what Earl was doing on that lick.
It took about 10 more years of stalling, but I finally bought a banjo, a Recording King with MOP inlays, and started taking lessons from a good friend, I learned to use finger picks and how to do that chuck. I am still nowhere as good as I would like to be, but it is fun to play along with backing tracks. I have several song books to help me along.
I have not, sadly, picked up the banjo in quite some time. It is still in the case it moved to Denver in, just sitting in my music room, waiting to be played again. This is a new goal for me, I will make the time to play some more each day. I am lucky to have a basement to do this in. The sound of the banjo can hurt the ears of family members that don’t care for it.
My love for the banjo and its unique sound will never die, until I do at least.
CC
