Paul has written asking for a bit of input with the his banjo playing. Well, I'm no expert but I think that learning is about sharing and having fun, so if I can help.
As always it's worth visiting Patrick Costello at www.dailyfrail.com for the Daily frail which has a lot of searchable content which is what I've found invaluable while learning. Patrick's tab for Jesse James was one of the first things I learned all the way though. It's a simple melody and one you've got the verse chorus/pattern it pretty straight forward. This version is tabbed for frailing which is somewhat different from the bluegrass/scruggs style banjo on The Seeger Sessions version which Paul refered to in his email. I started out trying to play 3-finger picking but soon found that as I hadn't played any instrument before the complexity of learning the right hand picking patterns and the left hand fingering was getting in the way of enjoying playing the tune. I found a pick and strum technique then frailing (downpicking) a more natural method for me. It did take over twelve months practice before the frailing bump-ditty really clicked though.
So just keep playing Paul, and eventually it'll click in. Let me know if there's any other songs we can help with and maybe other people seeing the blog can share their knowledge too! Why not send me a bit of audio.
Just to make you feel better here's an early go at Jesse James.
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