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Old 12-18-2011, 10:50 AM
815C 815C is offline
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Default Hello, my name is Dave and I play the banjo...

Yes, I confess - I play banjo. I grew up playing bluegrass - flatpick guitar, mando, dobro, banjo, fiddle.

Here's a tune I played banjo on a couple years ago. It was a session that was being produced by Tommy Sims (who got a Grammy for Eric Clapton's Change The World). I haven't even owned a banjo for 20 years, but like I said I grew up playing one and still remember the fret board, and I play a lot of fingerstyle guitar which translates nicely to the banjo with right hand technique (I didn't use finger/thumb picks on this session - just fingers for a less bluegrassy tone). I'd played a lot of live stuff for the artist doing the project (Anthony Skinner), usually guitar or mando - but never banjo. I guess he just assumed I could play one.

I got the call for the session about 2 days prior and borrowed a buddy's Gibson and spent a couple days remembering how to do the rolls, then went to the session. Tommy Sims asked me where to mic it. I asked him if he'd ever recorded a banjo before. He said no. I said, "Well, we have equal experience with this - lets try putting the mic there." I was over dubbing on the tune - most of it had already been recorded. I didn't get to hear the tune till I showed up at the studio. It was pretty easy stuff until the bridge which got into a bunch of weird unfriendly banjo chords. But he liked what I did on it. Tommy Sims has quite the ears on him. He looked like a rapper and had no experience with banjo, but during the bridge there was a Bb chord and I played the short G string on the banjo in a roll and he stopped me and said, "Hey man, leave that 6th out of the Bb." Pretty impressive.

The song is titled TINY MOTOR CARS. You can hear it on the link below. The banjo comes in after the 2nd verse.

TINY MOTOR CARS

One of these days, I'd like to get another banjo - a decent one - and do a bit more playing on it again.

Last edited by 815C; 12-18-2011 at 11:41 AM.
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Old 12-21-2011, 06:09 AM
Bob1131 Bob1131 is offline
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I love banjo in an accent role, such as it is in your example. I bought a Gold Tone OB250 (5 string) a couple of years ago and am still learning to play it, but I really like what it adds to some of the songs I play. For example, here is a song I used it in. The lyrics were written by fellow AGFer Ranger1964 and I wrote the music. I have a lot of fun learning and playing the banjo, but I just don't get to play it enough to play as good as I would like. In time, I hope to actually learn some bluegrass banjo!
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Old 12-21-2011, 06:25 AM
HHP HHP is offline
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I have a 17 fret tenor, I know, its a gateway instrument that may lead to full blown 5 string, yeehaa playing if I let it get out of control. I don't play it that much as I do have a dog and neighbors to consider, but I am sure I can keep it under control.
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Old 12-29-2011, 11:52 PM
bohemian bohemian is offline
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I play banjo, currently a '93 Bart Reiter Grand Concert internal resonator open back.
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