About

Hi, Let me introduce myself...Tony Geoghegan... Tricky spelling, but easy to say - It rhymes with Raygan. Bet you thought it would rhyme with Sony :) I've been on this planet for quite a while and I plan on staying here for at least as long again! I love listening to (and playing) the finest music in the entire universe... Bluegrass... with a capital 'B'. I've heard it said that if you want to play as good as Scruggs! all it takes is the determination, perseverance and a mountain of practice. We each have the tools to do that...A brain, two hands and a banjo.

Most of the time I live in the small town of Upholland, Lancashire - situated in the north west of England, UK, but this is my virtual home here in the realm of Cybernia!

As well as my interest in Bluegrass and banjo, I like to listen to country music and another great pastime of mine is programming in Borland Pascal using the fine RAD tool called Delphi, I started with D2 Standard, then D3 Pro, D4 Standard, D5 Enterprise and I now use D7 Enterprise . If you happen to share an interest in using Delphi, then feel free to E-Mail me, perhaps we can swap some info and projects.

I've been pickin' on the ol' banjo for a few years now and I consider myself good enough to be called a 'seasoned beginner'. Pickin' banjo is a continual learning process and those of you who think you can learn everything about Bluegrass Banjo in a single lifetime...Forget it...You never will. Oh...here's another thing..... If you're reading this and are of the opinion that there are only two banjo tunes...fast & slow, then you've no business reading this page, Click off ;-) Now, where was I? oh yeah...I used to play guitar and stunned people when I was 15 by telling 'em I could play a thousand and fifteen chords! It's that long since, I can't remember if I was telling lies or not. Way back then, I always liked the sound of the 5 string 'popping' away in the background on certain records played on the radio and at that time I didn't know that the music clicking my pleasure receptors was of course - Bluegrass. Many (MANY) years later I bought my first 'El Cheapo' banjo. I thought Ok, what shall I play first?... Yep...I know...That thing from the "Deliverance" movie...Wrong! I couldn't play a damned thing and I spent an entire year playing banjo like a guitar. I came across Pete Seeger's 'little red book' and that opened up a completely different ballgame. Rolls? Picks? Aahhemm!....Yes....Well....I went out and bought picks......Now which way round those gizmos were supposed to go was a mystery... They can only go two ways and I got it wrong first time! It took months and months for me to feel comfortable using the picks and years to feel comfortable rippling out the rolls. When I bought the book - Earl Scruggs & the 5 string Banjo, I realized how it should be done - but me doing it was going to take some time and much practice. Since then I've learned some good banjo tunes and breaks and wrote a half dozen or so of my own originals, which for anybody interested, can be found on the tab page along with accompanying MIDI files...Included, is a tune I wrote a couple of years back in memory of a very good friend of mine who died...I named it for my buddy...Canadian John...Hope you like it....John would have!

In these pages I shall be sharing all the info 'n' stuff I've accumulated over the years and hopefully my efforts won't go unnoticed. As yet, this site is still under construction and is little more than the bare bones of what will eventually be more substantially beefed up pages. Should you wish to contribute anything of your own to these pages in the way of tips, hints, info etc or maybe just have a pop at me...e-mail me and we'll talk! If you do have a contribution to make, please keep it original, i.e. Your own work, as I won't include anything taken from other publications or material governed by copyright. All original works, e.g. Tabs, funstuff, info, anecdotes, etc will be included if the material has not already been covered and space permitting. All submitted material will receive proper credit within the pages.

Here's one last thought - It really doesn't matter what your preference is regarding which music is best suited to the banjo. Whether you prefer Bluegrass, Frailing, Clawhammer, Old time, Folk, Melodic, Classical or whatever else can be thrown at you - it shouldn't raise the issue of what is best played on our wonderful instrument. What IS important is that you enjoy and play well what it is you've decided your banjo should 'tell' people. Remember a banjo is dead until a player begins to play it and brings it to life! It doesn't care which street it goes down nor to which audience it is being played to....Don't let it gather dust! Tell the world you have a banjo... Let it sing!

Thanks for visiting, I hope you find something to interest or entertain you within these few pages and I hope you enjoy your stay at..... Banjo Hollow.

If in browsing this site you find any dead links or other faults and inconsistencies, please take a few moments to report your findings to me. Thank you.

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Since July 16 2003