Twang!

About twenty years ago I was walking through the streets of Cambridge (England) with my mother. We wandered past a music shop. There was a mandolin next to a banjo in the window. It was my birthday coming up and, well, we walked out of there with a mandolin, a beautiful instrument I never really took to. When I moved to Boston, the mandolin stayed behind.

I’m wondering whether I just made the wrong choice. This evening I picked up a clawhammer banjo from a friend’s house across the way. Jim plays bluegrass guitar AND mandolin and won’t be needing his banjo for a while, so he’s generously lending it to me.

I’ve learned three chords so far; I am mystified by the upper register fifth string and how to play it (backwards from a guitar, it turns out); and I have the kittens totally intrigued. More anon.

The Ecotone wiki discusses Courage and Place today. That seems to be more than I’m up for just now but please scoot on over to take a look.