I found this out quite by accident - and was astonished at how much quicker I progressed - as up till then, even the basic picking exercises (TFTL), which I use at the start of a practise to warm up were painfully slow and awkward. In fact, in a lesson with my teacher, when was working on a new piece, I said to her "I swear I could learn faster and play better if I was blind!"
I was wondering how old your banjo is. I think I have the same Iida model(231) as yours, which I purchased in 1977. Unfortunately, it sat in its case for most of the time since then until I decided to get serious about learning it when the pandemic hit.Just curious because I don’t see too many of that brand around anymore and wondered how someone so young has what appears to be a pretty old banjo. Also would like to know how you like it and what size bridge you have. Mine is 1/2”. I’m thinking of doing some tweaking to the action on mine.
Hi Dave! I've only met one other person who owns an old Iida banjo like us. That's so cool! I'm actually not sure how old my banjo is. I had a dear friend of mine gift it to me about 15 years ago. They weren't playing it and they wanted to give it to someone who would use it. Well, that was me and I've been playing it ever since :-) I've adjusted the neck and tweaked it here and there. I love the way it plays. I use a Snuffy Smith "Pegged" Bridge (.656 Crowe Spacing). It's around $35. It's slightly wider than your standard bridge, but it still has the same height. The wider bridge helps keep my fingers from getting in each other's way.
Yeah, I do that. As an official 'old man,' I'm up a lot in the middle of the night. I play in the dark sometimes--same same :)
I found this out quite by accident - and was astonished at how much quicker I progressed - as up till then, even the basic picking exercises (TFTL), which I use at the start of a practise to warm up were painfully slow and awkward.
In fact, in a lesson with my teacher, when was working on a new piece, I said to her "I swear I could learn faster and play better if I was blind!"
That's awesome, Jack! You are exactly right! Don't look and let your brain go to work :-)
Thanks for watching!
I was wondering how old your banjo is. I think I have the same Iida model(231) as yours, which I purchased in 1977. Unfortunately, it sat in its case for most of the time since then until I decided to get serious about learning it when the pandemic hit.Just curious because I don’t see too many of that brand around anymore and wondered how someone so young has what appears to be a pretty old banjo.
Also would like to know how you like it and what size bridge you have. Mine is 1/2”. I’m thinking of doing some tweaking to the action on mine.
Hi Dave!
I've only met one other person who owns an old Iida banjo like us. That's so cool! I'm actually not sure how old my banjo is. I had a dear friend of mine gift it to me about 15 years ago. They weren't playing it and they wanted to give it to someone who would use it. Well, that was me and I've been playing it ever since :-) I've adjusted the neck and tweaked it here and there. I love the way it plays.
I use a Snuffy Smith "Pegged" Bridge (.656 Crowe Spacing). It's around $35. It's slightly wider than your standard bridge, but it still has the same height. The wider bridge helps keep my fingers from getting in each other's way.