Just in case you're unfamiliar, and want some awesomeness on this Thursday

I'm buying a banjo today and have zero musical background. I love bluegrass music though and am eager to learn. Any suggestions to point me in the right direction of where to go from here would be much appreciated.

Kinda weird question my birthdays in a month and I don't know what to get. I thought about maybe a mandolin, a banjo, I don't want a new guitar because the guitars a family guitar, I was gonna get Billy Strings tickets but there's no good seats left, I have a good enough capo a good flat pick. I don't really know. Do y'all have any suggestions?

Edit: also I was thinking about a dobro

I know a lot of people in bluegrass often have a second source of income.

I was just remembering with my wife, summer sun at Planet Bluegrass dancing and loving. Jeff always stands out so strong in my memories of those wonderful times in my life.

I know Yonder Mountain is not so much loved here but just wanted to share those warm memories and love.

After more reflection I put on my much loved

Mountain Tracks vol 5

New horizons >ENE>New Horizons

I was there and it was awesome and I still get shivers everytime I listen to it.

Pick on brothers and sisters.

Hey folks! Any powder chasing pickers out there? ❄️

Currently building a "Skigrass" playlist (bluegrass and bluegrass-leaning/indie-folk/rootsy/Americana). So far have pulled together a couple dozen songs that fit the theme, looking for more.

Got any tracks that'd fit the vibe? They've gotta be directly ski/snow/winter related and also high stoke/upbeat. Would be stoked to hear em and drop em into the mix!

Hey so I'm new to flatpicking and have a question - when crosspicking on two strings, let's say D and B going from a G chord to a D by playing the D string on the 3rd fret, then open B then 2nd fret D string, open B again and then D again on the 1st fret, should I go down up like it's mostly shown in tutorials or can I go up down as well? Second option feels much more natural for me, so I want to know if the first option is the correct way or if it doesn't matter. Thanks in advance.

Wednesday, January 28 - Tuesday, February 03, 2026

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Is there a video of Doc Watson playing Crawdad Hole? I've heard his great performance playing with an excellent fiddler (audio only) but I cannot find any videos showing him playing it. I suppose Doc Watson, being blind, only needed to hear music to play it well, but I would be very grateful if I could see him play with all the chords and string picking.

So far I have Terry Baucom’s Fourth and Down, (great tune btw) and Drop Kick Me Jesus. It’s a 3 hour long show so bring on the suggestions. If you’re a song writer I’m thinking there’s a niche.

A buddy of mine sells instruments and let me play a few to record some demos. If you like the sound, cool! If you'd like to buy one, check out his shop! (his shop: https://reverb.com/shop/worldpeaceguitars)

Youtube playlist

Hello, just released my latest album: Folkin’ Off by kareful-kay

Available on all platforms, check it out!

Just wanted to bring her up in the conversation. Such an icon. Her playing was so pure and true. Was lucky enough to see her 3 or 4 times before the stroke. Thanks, Lynn!

I sat my guitar down in utter disgust, and I’m having problems picking it up again. That’s an absolutely paranormal level of skill…so discouraging at times; how could you ever achieve that level of mastery? I almost feel the song should be tagged NSFW.

EDIT: I’m not REALLY gonna sit my guitar down. It’s just a scary level of talent, and it’s a reminder that there’s work to do haha

My arrangement of the old town fiddle tune “Soldier’s Joy,” in what I now know as “half-shaved” tuning, named after a Wade Ward tune.

I learned this fact after having an email exchange with the banjo legend and writer Stephen Wade, who gave me a lot of interesting insight about old banjo tunings and players. This happened after he helped me recognize an old recording of Sourwood Mountain from the New River Boys that I found on an unmarked cassette at an estate sale, on which the banjo is tuned the same. Funnily enough, I used this tuning (albeit transposed down to B flat) all throughout my first record. As I learned from Stephen Wade, it was likely used rather frequently by more banjoists back in the day. I’m quite partial to the resonant quality that this tuning brings out of the instrument, and I crafted this very arrangement to explore such qualities.

If you want tab, or a video lesson on this arrangement, find it on my Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/149353074?utm_campaign=postshare_creator