I am working on a book about my adventures learning how to play the banjo, guitar and other folk instruments.

My circumstances as a young music student were unique. I was dealing with massive hearing loss and epilepsy. I had been exposed to Eastern philosophy as a young martial arts student. My mother taught me to use the tools the good Lord gave me, so I applied concepts from Kenpo karate and Taoism into my explorations into old-time banjo and country blues guitar.

Much has changed over the ensuing years and much is still the same. I am still learning new things every day, but now I am also a teacher. I have BAHA implants to help me hear, but new problems have sprung up to make my path more interesting. Neurological issues are making it difficult for me to type, so I am writing this new book entirely by hand in pencil.

I am writing at a desk that once belonged to my grandfather. He delivered it to me tied to the roof of his Dodge Dart on my eighth birthday. My great-grandmother helped my grandfather run his electrical contractor business from this desk. I feel them both with me as I work.

I write on Amazonbasics legal pads in pencil. I start out with a large quantity of sharpened pencils point-up in mugs and jars. As they go dull I drop them point-down in an empty container.

I am mainly using Blackwing pencils now and I can’t say enough nice things about them. Some of the nicest pencils I have ever used. The Blackwing long-point sharpener actually makes a difference. It is not fast, but the slow pace adds to my Steinbeck-style morning ritual of sharpening enough pencils to get through the day.

I use a shitajiki writing board under the page as I write to keep the pencil point from making an impression on the pages below it.

MUJI erasers work really well for someone who writes with a heavy hand like I do.

Field Notes and Write notepads help me keep my thoughts in order when I have to step away from my desk.

When I finish a chapter I pass it over to Dear Old Dad. He gives it a quick edit and passes it back to me for scanning.

I scan the chapter to post for our Patreon sponsors. They get the raw unprocessed data that will eventually be organized into a complete work.

After I post the chapter I give the pages back to Dear Old Dad for transcribing to Word, editing and recording for the audio book edition.
Scanned Sample Pages:

To give you a taste of what our Patreon sponsors get, here are single-page scans taken from the first page of the first three chapters.

• Chapter One, Page One.pdf
• Chapter Two, Page One.pdf
• Chapter Three, Page One.pdf

My father takes my handwritten draft and transcribes it into Word. Here us a sample of how that turns out.

I looked up and a middle-aged man was gawking at me like I was a geek in a sideshow. He started laughing and turned to Lefty.“Why is Pillsbury gnawing on a guitar?”

They both started laughing. He made fun of my Converse high tops. He made fun of my Miami Vice tee-shirt. He made fun of my guitar. I started to get mad.

“What’s your problem? Never heard somebody play the blues before?”

He didn’t just laugh at that. He screamed. I thought he was going to go into hysterics. He opened the shop door, leaned out and hollered to somebody, “get in here and take a look at Pillsbury. He says he can play the blues!”

The next thing I know these guys come marching in and all of them think I am the funniest thing they have ever seen. I knew that I had a lot to learn on the guitar, but this was serious ball-busting. I was being mocked and it didn’t feel good, so I mustered up my courage and said, “if you guys are so great, why don’t you teach me something?”

The guy who had started the let’s laugh at Patrick party looked at one the others. They had a silent conversation, with one pointing to his watch and signaling that they had some time. Laughing guy pulled up a stool and sat in front of me. He reached for my guitar, and while it was hard to trust him I handed it over. “Damn, this is a heavy guitar. Okay, Pillsbury, do you know any bass lines like Elmore James played?”

“Who’s Elmore James?”

“Who’s Elmore James! You want to play guitar and you’ve never heard of Elmore James?” The rest of the group voiced their disapproval. “Well, Pillsbury, this is what I’m going to show you.” He took my guitar and made the bass strings ring out in a boogie-woogie rhythm. He started simple and driving and changed the pattern each time through until he had this amazing walking bass happening.

“I want to play like that!” I said.

Several people have encouraged me to move away from my current analog approach to writing and switch to voice to text or write on a tablet computer. I appreciate the input, but I like the simplicity of working with pencil and paper – and I get to have another adventure with my father.

When I do have to type – and the keyboard is inescapable in 2018 – I just take things in very small doses. It took three days with help from Dear Old Dad to put this post together. I move a little slower, but things still get done. Life is good.

Let’s wrap this up with a complete list of my books and essays released under Creative Commons licenses.

Books:

• The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo
• A Book of Five Strings
• The Outlaws and Scalawags Songbook
• Mechanics of Frailing Banjo
• Songs For Sunday
• This is Not a Banjo
• Crisfield Banjo Retreat Songbook
• The-How-Tao-of-Folk-Guitar
• Four Seasons on Brick Kiln Road

Essays:

• Frailing Banjo Backup Patterns and Licks
• Country, Folk, Bluegrass and Old Time Rhythm Guitar Basics
• Basic Frailing
• Calloused Ears: Tips on how to play the banjo “by ear”
• One Finger Guitar