I've been mainly studying Dave Hum's style. Dave's 219 YouTube videos are a lifetime library of banjo lessons. I recommend converting all of Dave YouTube videos to MP4's and downloading them to your own computer. You never know what might happen to YouTube's servers with all the cyber-hacking going on nowadays. I also converted all 219 songs to MP3's and downloaded them to my MP3 player, which I listen to in my car when driving, to study how Dave articulates his playing. I cherish Dave's music. By God's grace, he doesn't have a bigger fan than me! The first time I heard Dave Hum play the banjo in 2018 was his song, “Ballad Of Jed Clampett,” which made me weep. I had never heard the banjo played that way.
If you enjoy playing along with backing tracks like I do, I highly recommend buying the program MixCraft. This software allows you to change tempo and keys for a song. I often need to slow a backing track or song down, so I can learn and play along with it at my own speed. MixCraft allows you to easily do that. Like Dave Hum, I enjoy playing in the key of A on the second fret with a capo. Most songs for banjo are made in the key of G. If you only want MixCraft to do these things, the Basic Studio Version ($79) is more than enough. But if you want to make your own backing tracks, like I am doing, then I strongly recommend getting the Pro Studio Version ($149). Unlike other Digital Audio Workstations (DAW's), MixCraft is priced extremely reasonable.
I bought a new Fender Mustang bass several months ago to make backing tracks, but have since learned that using MixCraft's included MIDI bass has actually worked better for my needs. The MIDI bass sounds realistic enough for making basic backing tracks. So, even if you don't play bass guitar, you can use MixCraft to generate all your percussion, piano and bass sounds digitally. I think that is so cool. My heart's desire is to play the banjo, and I only make backing tracks for that purpose. I hope that you're enjoying the backing tracks I've made, as much as I have enjoyed making them to freely share with everyone. Music makes the world a better place! God bless you friend.
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