Dave Carroll from Duluth indie-bluegrass act Trampled By Turtles files this piece to CBC Music about how he came to love the banjo:
"I never grew up listening to traditional bluegrass music. It wasn't until I was about 16 years old that I woke up one morning and could hear the sound of a banjo being played by my dad in the room upstairs. I knew what a banjo was and what it sounded like, just never had the opportunity to play one. I grew up in a home of guitars. My dad was always exploring new hobbies and when the banjo became his, I honestly thought he had lost it.
He had always offered to teach me what he was learning on the banjo and I always declined. I was still learning all I could about playing guitar and didn't want to crowd my head with a crazy banjo. Then something changed, the sound of the banjo resonated (no pun intended) in my head and I started to really enjoy the sound. Not that I ever hated it, it just was there, and then all of a sudden if it was in any music that I was listening to I would instantly pick it out and focus on it. It took me 4 years from the time my dad started playing banjo to actually pick it up and try it for myself. At first I would never let him know that I was playing his banjo. He would be at work and I would wander into the den where he kept it and just pick it up and play.
Being a guitar player, I was daunted by the thought of using three picks instead of one flat pick, and so right away I just played the banjo like I did the guitar. I was really into hammer-ons and pull-offs and that sort of worked well with the banjo. I would sit int that room for hours teaching myself how to play. Once my dad found out that I had sparked an interest in the banjo, he tried to teach me how to play Scruggs style. I did learn a few tunes and still to this day can only play about four songs using finger picks, but my real passion for the banjo came with just one flat pick. It is the way I had been playing a string instrument for 10 years and I just couldn't give it up. I guess you can call me stubborn, but I also am very glad to be playing the banjo in a way that I learned teaching myself.
After a few years of trying to convince me to play Scruggs style my dad gave up, and told me that he thought I played in a unique way and that I shouldn't give that up. Whenever I hear Earl Scruggs or any other banjo player out there that plays Scruggs style very well, I am in awe. It blows my mind. I'll leave it to them."