Banjo versus TV: Week 2

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project -- J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

I started the week with a banjo lesson in which Mike gave it to me straight: I've been biting off more than I can chew.

Me: Plink. (pause) Plink. (pause) (scramble to change keys) Plink.

Mike: Stop. Stopstopstopstop!

Because of our vacation schedule it's been a month since our last lesson and, apparently, I've been running amok. (And by "running" I mean "going very, very slowly".) I was trying to teach myself Foggy Mountain Breakdown when I hadn't accomplished the basics of bluegrass rolls.

So my emphasis this last week has been on the basics. I've practiced 7 hours, mostly in repetitions of rolls. The redhead thinks I've been improving.

Also in the last week:

• Got Ralph Stanley's CD While the Ages Roll On, just so I could have a copy of the song One Drop of Water. I heard this song on the Sirius Bluegrass Gospel Train on Sirus Bluegrass and loved it. (It's one of the redhead's favorites, too.) I haven't been able to find the tabs for it. I found the lyrics here. Among his many accomplishments, in 2002 Dr. Ralph Stanley won a Grammy Award for "Best Male Country Vocal Performance" with the song O Death, which he sang in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Coincidentally, I've been watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? this week. Some great banjo work there.
• Added O Brother, Where Art Thou?: For Banjo (Paperback) to my wish list at Amazon.
• Placed some Flatt & Scruggs stuff in my queue at Netflix. More on that when I watch it.
• Used some Christmas cash to treat myself to an Olympus WS-311M digital voice recorder, which I'll use to record my progress.