on an offbeat note...

So...I've been tooling around with my frailing banjo Edie since last summer, and before that with my sister's bluegrass banjo for about half a year...and yet last night was the first time I've tried playing with a metronome.

I was underwhelmed by my sense of timing. I constantly speed the song up as I play, downshifting at the tougher spots, then speed right back up for the grand song finale. "Mama's little baby loves shortnin', shortnin', Mama's...littlebabyloves...SHORTNIN' BREAD!" I have a lot to learn and I am wondering if perhaps I ought to have started playing with the metronome on day one rather than add that as offbeat accompaniment a year later--my audience was likely cringing inside. I apologize. Tonight, for your listening pleasure: Arkansas Traveler! And more of the same songs you've been subjected to for the last two months...