Here’s a collection of things discussed in the various workshops at Camp Brainjo (if you’ve yet to take the camp survey, please click here to do so):

Practice Tools

The Old Time Jam (oldtimejam.com)

Create the experience of jamming without the prospect of public humiliation or the stink eye!

The “old time jam machine” playlist includes lots of fiddle tunes (including the old time “top 20”), where you can play with tracks of solo guitar or guitar and fiddle.

Use it to simulate a jam experience, work on hearing the chord changes in a fiddle tune (the chords are displayed on the player).

Good for working on tunes you already know, and for what to do on tunes you don’t know (the tunes are grouped by key, so you can just let it run, just like in a jam situation). Find it at oldtimejam.com

(Please note that the old time jam player is not currently compatible with Apple mobile devices (iphone, ipad)).

The Strum Machine (by Luke – strummachine.com)

Create your own chord progression to play along with or choose from a growing library of chord progressions. You can choose the tempo.

Great for working on timing, increasing speed on a tune, learning to hear chords. Find it at strummachine.com.

When playing along with these, make sure to turn it up loud so you can clearly hear what’s playing while playing your banjo.

Stuff to Read

3 Reasons Why Playing the Banjo is Great For Your Brain

Here’s the recent article I wrote that I’d encourage you share with any skeptical spouses regarding the brain benefits of banjo. Click here to read it.

The Neuroanatomy of a Banjo Jam

As I mentioned in the group Q&A, don’t forget to cut yourself some slack in your early days jamming with others, as it’s arguably one of the most cognitively demanding things humans do. This piece I wrote for the Banjo Newsletter provides a bird’s eye view of what’s happening behind the scenes when you play banjo with others(also a good one to demonstrate to a significant other just how brilliant you are). Click here to read it.

9 Ways To Practice Smarter ebook

I also recently distilled some of the highest impact Brainjo Method principles into an ebook titled “9 Ways To Practice Smarter,” along with an accompanying video, which I think you might find useful as you. Some of you may already have it, but for those who don’t, here’s a link to that as well:

9 Ways To Practice Smarter ebook

Adam’s “Sandy River Belle” Tuning

The tuning that Adam refers to as “Sandy River Belle” is fDGCD. To get there from standard G (gDGBD), raise the 2nd string from B to C (which puts you in “G modal” tuning), then tune the 5th string down to F.

Adam likes to play G tunes in this tuning. If you want to play tunes in G, then from standard G, tune the 2nd string from B to C, leave the 5th string alone, and place a capo on the 2nd fret. Now you’ve raised all the strings 2 frets from “Sandy River Belle” tuning, and you’ll be in the key of G (gEADE).

Here are the I, IV, and V chord shapes (the chords listed are for the key of G):

Chords in gEADE tuning

Emails of Attendees

Click on the button below to download a list of the emails for the camp attendees: