Banjo Bonnie,

You don't realize how fast you are whizzing along. Be patient with yourself, you are doing fine! I spent many hours just picking out the melody on records. It gave me an informal knowledge of scales and trained my ear to hear the conversion from the sound to the string and fret.

Freight Train is a great tune for practicing the melody driven fingerpicking style.

Remember that you are on the path and you know your goal. That is all you need to know. When and how are secondary.

Good Luck Little Neo! Keep on pickin''. And yes, practice seldom feels like practice. I just like to play. And now I'm so good that Rick Fielding calls me out of the audience to accompany him on Sandy's Larrivee. How's about that! See, there is hope for all of us.

Roger in Baltimore