i bought today this banjo
i don't know from wich maker it comes, i put some nylon strings on it , but i not can get in in tune, wich tuning do i best use ???
and wich strings are the best for this kind of banjo ???
i put the pic on mine homepage please help me
steven
Hi Folks. I have been trying to learn C/H for about 2 Years now on, and off. I Play 3 Finger Style and am finding it really Hard to get the Stroke going, but Today i tried a Finger Pick (inverted) on my Index, and its starting to Sound Ok. The only problem is the Thumb, i am not getting much Volume from it. I am not Plucking the Top G, but Pressing down and releasing quickly, it does Sound, but not Loud enough. You can Hear the Bum Diddy, but the Volume isnt quite there. Anyone got any Tips ? Also i am thinking of Setting one of my 5s up for C/H. What sort of Height should the Action be, on a C/H Banjo ? Thanks Folks.
Ive listened to many versions of this song on banjo and I can play a couple but this one is by far my favorite! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-kaG1NuLZM As far as i can tell Doc or Merle is playing drop thumb banjo in this tune but its almost like there getting a rolling sound out of it! I cant find a version out there to match this one, does anyone have Tab or ideas?? Also how is the banjo tuned is this in Em or something like that?!
Here are some questions related to the recent thread on Double C/Double D tunings. I'm a novice interested in developing my skills for jamming, and I've taken minstrelmike's advice about working on chord backup to heart. I've been playing through many songs in three tunings: A, Amod, and Double D (ie, G, Gmod, and Double C, capo at 2) in order to get the chords under my fingers.
I've been working mostly with the I, IV, and V chords, but also VI (that would be Em in G, F#m in A), and of course the Amod chord in that tuning. These seem to work with the songs I've been working on--popular old time tunes, such as the top 20 list from the Old Time Jam website.
Here are my questions:
1) Are there other chords that I should get under my fingers to start with?
2) Are there other tunings that I will need at the beginning other than A, Amod, and DoubleD?
3) Are there commonly used closed position chords for Amod and DoubleD tuning, and if so, does anybody have a handy reference list? (I could probably try and figure this out, but I figure why re-invent the wheel when there is so much knowledge out there already..)
Thanks for any advice!
I am slowly approaching my one year anniversary playing clawhammer banjo and I want to thank all of the folks here like OldWoodChuck, Dan, RD, Jim Reed, Donnie Gill, Ratler, Mark Johnson, ZEPP and so many countless others for chiming in on my questions and comments and in all of the threads about anything and everything banjo...kudos to you guys. I cant remember when I last enjoyed playing music so much and my desire to improve and play this instrument is fueled in many part by all of you...your vids, advice and songs...its really a great community of folks here.
Lately I have kinda...well this past week..I have begun to take a closer look at just some of the basics, in particular my right hand. I have watched many vids of alot of the pros and many of you guys who have been playing for years with lots of experience and I have noticed nuances and differences in just some of the basics that maybe I am not doing and should be doing. Maybe I am just over-analyzing as well. For instance in the beggining I know OldWoodChuck had commented about my thumb and possible tension. Back then I didnt really "get it" but now I think I do. I have noticed with many of the players here on BHO who are either A: "Really exceptional players" which there are many here on the BHO or B: "Really experienced players" or C: "Both" .....that the thumb seems to be slightly cocked into a downward position and that the right hand just flows fluidly and effortlessly with more focus on accuracy. Lately I have been taking a closer look at this and am trying to slowly apply this to my right hand and I feel I am having good results. Its helping me to with a bit more accuracy and my tone seems more full sounding, but its also causing me to play "slower" and more focused. I am not being militant about this in my practice but I feel like I am entering a "Sit back and take full stock of where you have been and where you want to go" moments with my technique, tone etc.... Have any of you guys ever had these moments in your learning? What was the result...? Many of these things may seem trivial but I take music and my playing very seriously... Dont get me wrong...I am not at all discouraged or frustrated...quite the contrary..I just want to continue to progress with the banjo and just really get this stuff down before I move along any further to where it is like second nature..
Hello I was curious what opinions people have in regards to the number of frets needed for a clawhammer banjo, is it better to have 17 vs say 16 ? I know you should have a minimum of 15 but is a banjo with 16 at a disadvantage ?
The song I'm interested in is Naomy Wise, here's thre URL:
http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10034423
Is this a Dock Boggs tuning? I think it's really pretty, and I'd sure like to know what it is. Thanks for any help.
Bill Martin
I have long loved Debby McLatchy's Wild Rose of the Mountain and would like to play it. It is on her Miles from Home album. I think it is in a drop C tuning with maybe a capo at the 4th fret. I don't have a capo for my 5th string on the banjo I want to use and I think it has to be tuned to a B to match the tuning she is using on the album. What I want to know is if anyone knows the song, has maybe tabs for it, or has experience playing in the key of E on a banjo which is usually tuned in G or Drop C.
Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed.
I've had a song swirling in my head but have forgotten the title, etc. Some of the words are "wish I had a nickel, wish I had a dime, I wish I had 10 dollars, I'd love you all the time Won't you come and go, won't you come and go." Some other words I remember are "shoes and stockings by the door, little bare feet on the floor. Won't you come and go", etc.
I'm new at the banjo but think I can get it so it's fun to play.
Thanks
Tune of the Week for Friday the 13th is Mississippi Sawyer, a widely-known old tune. I always thought the tune was named for a citizen of the State of Mississippi who made his living sawing logs into planks; it turns out a "Mississippi sawyer" was a term from riverboat pilots and crew referring to a partially submerged log bobbing up and down in a sawing motion, which could wreak havoc on the hull of a paddleboat. Another alleged source for the name is a gentleman who built a sawmill near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, who was also a fiddler and hosted an annual picnic. This appears to be a contrived tale.
The tune is also known as "The Downfall of Paris". The Fiddler's Companion has this to say:
DOWNFALL OF PARIS, THE (Ceimsios Parais). AKA - "Scrios b-Paris," "Fall of Paris." AKA and see "Hae You Ony More Ado" (Shetland), "Mississippi Sawyer" (USA). Irish, Hornpipe or Set Dance; English, Hornpipe; Old-Time, Breakdown; Scottish, March. G Major (Kerr, O'Neill): D Major (Ashman, Old-Time versions): C Major (Winstock). Standard. AABCC (O'Neill/Krassen): ABCCDD (O'Neill/1915): AABBCCDD (O'Neill/1001): AA'BBCCDD (Sweet): AA'BBCC'DD" (Kerr): ABBCDDEE (O'Neill/1850). Better known in the American South and among modern American fiddlers as "Mississippi Sawyer," the melody was called "The Downfall of Paris" in Europe and this title was at one time retained in parts of Tennessee and the Ozarks. According to Winstock (1970), the tune's popularity may have surpassed that of the famous "The British Grenediers" in its day. It was played early in the 19th century when the allies entered Paris after the battle of Waterloo, but "on that occasion (the British commander) Wellington sharply put a stop to it, and the offending Royal Regiment played instead 'Croppies Lie Down.' Apart from being played by military bands on every conceivable occasion, its 'one tormenting strum, strum, strum' was the delight of amateur pianists throughout Britain" (Winstock, 1970; pg. 105).
***
The melody, however, had not been new to France in Wellington's time. Famously, it had been the vehicle for the song "Ça Ira," or "Ah ca ira" ('les aristocrates a la lanterne', or, roughly, 'Lets go lynch the aristocrats'} sung by the first and bloodiest French Revolutionaries in the late 1780's. Elson (The National Music of America, 1899) reports: "It was sung to many a scene of massacre and bloodshed; it was warbled and trilled out when the mob carried the head of the beautiful Princess de Lamballe, on a pike, through the streets of Paris, and thrust it up for the unhappy queen to look at." Despite this gruesome association the melody began innocently enough as a light vaudeville piece composed by one M. Bécourt, a side-drum player at the Opéra. It soon proved popular as a contra-dance melody and frequently appeared in the French cotillions prior to its being seeped in blood. Interestingly, especially in view of the tune's later importation to America, the title was suggested by none other than Benjamin Franklin who used the phrase (which translates as "It will succeed") in connection with the prospects of the American Revolution. General Lafayette took Franklin's expression and passed it to a street singer named Ladré as a good refrain for a popular song....
It took some time after this for its dance roots to resurface, but in 1816 the melody was again printed, this time in England in Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom. Vic Gammon, in his 1989 article "The Grand Conversation: Napoleon and British Popular Balladry," says the "La Ira" (sic) was adopted as a military march by the British Army, initially as a means of confusing the enemy on the battlefield. It later developed into the dance tune "Downfall of Paris" and became widespread in Britain, where it appears in collections of Irish music as well as in southern English village musicians' tune books. It us one of the official set dances (for dance competitions) in Ireland.
***
The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published by 1954. Some 'crooked' versions are extent in the United States (see Charlie Acuff's version which has 15 beats in the 'A' part). See note for "Mississippi Sawyer" for more on the American variant. Source for notated version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 28, pg. 8. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4, No. 372, pg. 40. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 395, pg. 189. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 165. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1562, pg. 289. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 957, pg. 164 (set dance version). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 44. Thomas and Leeder (The Singin' Gatherin'), 1939; pg. 59. Winstock (Music of the Redcoats), 1970; pg. 106. Island ILPS9432, The Chieftains - "Bonaparte's Retreat" (1976). Charlie Acuff. Rounder Records, Darley Fulks - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Vol. 2: Along the Kentucky River" (1997. An unusual version set in waltz time)
[Fiddler's Companion excerpt is edited slightly here -- the complete version is longer and dwells on the French Revolution]
Despite its origins in bloody revolution and riverboat disasters, it's a fun tune. There are a zillion versions on YouTube. A few examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuNSod60ssY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX9Sj4jNQ80&feature=related (our own FretlessFury)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flvagD3hxRU&feature=related (Zepp)
There are 18 old-time versions in the BHO Jukebox. I particularly like the version by the Sedentary Ramblers:
The B part of the tune is often varied between major and modal. Cathy Moore (BanjoMeetsWorld) has a mini-lesson entitled "Messing with People With Mississippi Sawyer" demonstrating the major-modal switch and then switching to play the entire tune in a minor key (which would certainly mess with a room full of contradancers):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBKPs_c6DQM
My head was messed with from an early age -- I have always played a simple modal version of the B part. Lately I've been working on a major version and major/modal switch.
Enjoy the tune. I often refer to it as "Mississippi Surveyor" in honor of my on-line and occasional jamming friends Alan and Jerry, Registered Land Surveyors in Picayune, Mississippi.
Having acquired my first *real* banjo, I decided that I should take clawhammer lessons. Low and behold, fellow BH'er NIck Hornbuckle is a fifteen minute boat ride away. I contacted him and my first lesson is the 21st! IF you Google him, you'll see that he's quite a player. The reason lessons are good for someone like me, is strictly based on impatience on my part. I watch youtube instructional videos and so on, but I can become frustrated with my inability to excell at it "immediately" and give up...lol. With a teacher, I'll be forced to sit there and do as I'm told. Saying that, I just a flashback to Jr. High :)
Last few weeks I've been putting in a lot of hours on the banjo, including much more up-picking than usual. The combination of the normal wear and having to repeatedly smooth out my nail wore it down, so I decided to try out an acrylic nail. Got it put on today at a salon.
I'm not in love with it. The thing that bugs me is that it feels like there's more friction btwn the acrylic and the string than my natural nail. Just rubbing my finger over the acrylic and a natural nail reveals a small but noticeable difference. The acrylic is a little "rougher" (it's still smooth, just not as smooth as the natural one). It feels like it takes longer to play a single string.
Has anyone had a similar experience, and if so, any solutions? Or do I just need to get used to it?
Thanks,
Bryce
After owning it for several months now, I thought I'd give you my impression of it. Simply put, Wow! The more I play it the more I want to play it, it's one of my favorites if not THE favorite. Still holds its tune, still staying in one piece ( the construction quality's been great from the git-go), and still sounds and plays great. If you're ever looking for a banjo in the $150 range, you'd be well advised to give the Epiphone a try. Maybe mine's unique, I can't say, but it's the best banjo money I ever spent.
As you might expect from the price range, it's a straightforward, no-frills banjo. Wood pot, looks like 3 ply, probably mahogony, but it's stained, and I'm no wood expert. Ditto for the neck. The tuners are individual and enclosed. The top of the rim is strongly tapered, I suppose to simulate a tone ring, but I don't know. I do know it's loud. Setup was good, I did have to adjust the action a little to suit my own preference.
By the way, I get no payoff at all for this, I just know there are probably at least a few beginners and others out there who might be interested in buying an inexpensive banjo. Based on my personal experience, I'd recommend the Epiphone open back in a heartbeat. Try one for yourself, and see if you don't agree.
I've been teaching myself for about 2 1/2 years. Each time I've had a dumb question, I've relied on the good folks at the BHO forum to come to my aid. You have never failed to give sage counsel and encouragement. My playing is still marginal but each bit of advice you've shared has expanded my banjo horizons and guided me a bit farther on this journey. I just want to say thank you for all of your help.
I have a question and wanted to know if I could substitute my high D string on my banjo to the high E string on my guitar? It broke and I don't have an extra set to put on, so thought if it would work I would use a D string from my banjo strings? I asked this on my guitar site but I might get more responses here I hope. I have the guitar tuned to standard E A D G B E.
The Briggs' Banjo Insructor of 1855. Such an important book for early banjo stylists. Much of the material is shared by Minstrel Banjo players and Clawhammer type players. Several of the songs are vocal pieces....arranged cleverly to be an accompaniment as well as a solo. Perhaps we could share what Briggs' experiences.....here is mine. First, a link to the original printed music.:
http://www.timtwiss.com/timtwisscomprintmusicsources
Second, I have recorded the entire book...less the vocal pieces. 55 in all. I can take comments about my interpretations, as a contrast to your own experience. The entire project was done on a Hartel Boucher.
http://timtwiss.com/musicstore/Briggs-Banjo-Instructor--4-.htm
I will be anxious to hear and listen to comments and music.
It's all about the rhythm.
R.L. Burnside: Poor Boy A Long Way From Home (1978) - YouTube
In Pete Seeger's How to Play the 5-string Banjo, there is a section on other banjo books. Pete says that Grandpa Jones has a book specializing in frailing, but that he has moved and Pete has not located his new address. Since Grandpa Jones is now dead, I was wondering if his book was still available. I Googled it and there is a book with his name on it from Mel Bay but it has Mark Jones, Grandpa's son, as the author. Is this the same book, or a different one? Anyone with any information on Grandpa's book, you'd be of great help. Grandpa Jones is one of my favorite players and I am interested in banjo tutor books in general. Thanks.
P.S. The book also mentions a banjo manual by Peggy Seeger: The Five String Banjo, American Folk Styles. Does anyone have any info on that?