learning

I've got a borrowed banjo,

some finger roll homework,

and some picks.....

When I was in 6th grade I learned to play the viola.  The summer after 6th grade my family moved from Florida up to New Jersey.  I did not join orchestra at my new school.  I was still feeling too new, too unsure, too..... middle school, I guess, to dive in and keep on playing.

Years later, in high school, I got a guitar.  Learned a few chords and then forgot about it.

A few years ago, I thought about taking cello lessons.  It's my favorite stringed instrument to listen to, but something held me back.  (aside from general nervousness and feeling like I was too old to start lessons...)  I think it had something to do with the fact that you don't (typically) carry around your cello and whip it out around a camp fire.  Something like that.  I wanted something more portable, something I'd be more likely to carry with me when I travel or go to a friend's house.  (Though to be really honest, if I learn to play I'm much more likely to play at home than I am in the company of others..... I get shy about some things and I think this would be one of them.)

But anyway.  I decided~ fiddle or banjo.  Maybe even both.  Eventually.  And while I feel like I'm carried off to some wonderful far away place when I listen to soaring (or lively) fiddle tunes, a friend just so happened to have an extra banjo that he was willing to lend to me.  He brought it over, showed me some finger rolls, told me to practice them for a while and then go from there.

So, here I go.

(then he told me he also has a fiddle. hmmmmmmm)

Here's to learning new things~