#31
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You are engaging in pettifoggery. (1) I merely stated that the banjo played by the young lady in the video is not a standard 6 string banjo. Actualy, what you are saying, that a five string banjo is really a four string banjo with an extra string is quite true. For example, the tuning on a 5 string banjo with C tuning is identical to plectrum banjo. (C G B D) Don't take it so hard. (1) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pettifoggery (See especially definition #2) |
#32
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To be quite honest, it's you whom are giving me the distinct impression that you are one of the snobs at Bluegrass jams that keep me away. Seriously, the world really doesn't revolve around you! Please, don't take that too hard!
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Gerry |
#33
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Yes the sinister truth the 5 string banjo is really is a disguised 4 string!! The only honesty in the banjo world is the 6 string.
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#34
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I brought up Bela Fleck in direct response to your stereotyping of 5-string banjos as being only useful for bluegrass or frailing (and so not being very interesting to you). My only point was that a 5-string banjo can be relevant to ANY music. Saying that though is not the same as saying that a 6-string is not also relevant, and it does not contest the idea that a 6-string might be a very good (better in fact) fit for some people. As Wade said, I think banjo players in general tend to get a bit testy about things. I guess some of this comes from a very strong (and perhaps sometimes narrow-minded?) sense of tradition in the bluegrass world, but then also there are many of us banjo players (in my case I am not fundamentally a bluegrass musician) who are tired of the stereotypes that both the general public and other musicians have about banjos. Among certain family members, I can't play anything on my banjo it seems without them trying to stomp their feet along with the music as though they are at a hoe-down.... even if I am playing something that most definitely is not that sort of music. Many folks can't (or have not) imagine(d) the instrument in any other way. It is hard for many to imagine (or at least they have never imagined) that a banjo player might be a serious musician, or that a banjo might be useful for sensitive, nuanced music. So, in this context I think banjo players sometimes tend to get a little defensive. It is ironic that 6-string banjo players now have reason to get defensive because of the deep seated biases of 5-string players! And I will admit to having biases against tenor banjos, because I have unfair stereotypes in my mind about what they are good for. I'm sure they are much more interesting and versatile than I usually tend to think. When a person who does not have background with banjos (not the OP in this thread of course) asks about what sort of banjo to get, it definitely is worthwhile explaining the unique characteristics of the different sorts, and it sort of bugs me when people suggest that the different sorts are interchangeable. Aside from tone, they are quite different instruments. If a beginner is wanting to play banjo because of the appeal of, say, Scruggs style or clawhammer, it is worth informing them that those styles (and some others) are somewhat dependent upon the unique characteristics of the 5-string banjo - and while a guitar player who wants to start playing banjo might find a 6-string appealing because of a perceived ease of transition, a 6-string would not be the best choice if that new banjo player's intention is to play those certain styles. Saying that though is not saying that a 6-string banjo is not a valid, useful instrument in its own right. With more and more of these high quality 6-string banjos being sold, I'm eager to hear what sorts of creative and unique ways 6-string players use these instruments. There are some well-established 5-string banjo styles, and tenor banjo styles, and some virtuoso-level players who specialize in 5-strings and have taken the instrument in many different directions. I'd like to see what the likes of players of the caliber of Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, or Tommy Emmanuel, for example, would do with the instrument if they specialized on 6-string banjo. And I'd be thrilled if Wade would post some recordings of his beach music played on 6-string banjo! If I could justify the expenditure, I'd love to go out and buy one, but my time with my instruments is already stretched thin (and I have this hankering for a 12 string guitar, not to mention a bouzouki.....).
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A few of my early attempts at recording: https://www.youtube.com/user/wcap07/featured Last edited by wcap; 01-13-2013 at 04:03 PM. |
#35
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Wcap. Very thoughtful post. Steve
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#36
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Doubleneck (and others),
Please post some recordings of your music with your 6-string sometime. It would be fun to hear. There are a lot of amazing role models for aspiring 5-string players to emulate. Not so many (unless I am unaware of them) for 6 string banjo. We need more. I have to say, that YouTube video of the High Kings with their 6 string banjo was an eye opener (or should I say ear opener?) for me! It was one of those random finds on YouTube - a link that popped up on the right side of the page for a different video. When I first listened to it I could tell there was something different about that banjo. At first I thought maybe it was some sort of alternative tuning (which I suppose in a way it is!), and then finally figured out what was going on. It is a powerfully effective sound in that performance!
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A few of my early attempts at recording: https://www.youtube.com/user/wcap07/featured |
#37
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Harvey Reid
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwht238bT6g
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#38
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#39
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#40
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#41
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But banjos were explosively popular across the world long before the 20th Century: minstrel shows captivated audiences in Europe well before the American Civil War. You can think of minstrel show-era banjos as being the electric guitars of their day: manufacturers in England (especially) and France (to a lesser extent) started cranking them out for export and for their own domestic markets. There are a few mentions of banjos being owned and used in British-ruled India in some of Rudyard Kipling's short stories, usually being played by young officers in their off-duty hours. I've also seen references to banjos being present at the gold mining camps during Australia's gold rush in the mid-19th Century. John Pearse once told me that the single largest category of inventions granted patents in the US Patent Office records is for banjo parts, designs and accessories. Banjos have always mutated rapidly and changed with the changing musical trends of the day, at least until the preferences and prejudices of bluegrass banjo players stopped most banjo-related innovations dead in their tracks with an overwhelming preference for the late 1920's Gibson Mastertone design. This preference didn't start totally dominating the banjo market until the 1960's, so we have an ironic state of affairs where - despite the vast changes in materials science and instrument construction technology in that time - the last fifty years have been the most static and least innovative in all the banjo's generally feverish history. That's not true in every particular, but it's most definitely true when considering the overall picture. whm |
#42
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#43
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The first and last really nicely illustrate how a 6 string banjo can transform a fingerstyle guitar-type arrangement. I would really enjoy playing one of these. Though I enjoy playing fast things on banjo sometimes, I have always thought that the banjo sound is most beautiful for slower pieces like in these two clips. And Harvey Reid gets a nice clawhammer sound in the second clip. The third clip is of a 6 string with a short 6th string like the 5th string of a 5-string banjo. I thought the comments following that clip were interesting: "I got it from England on Ebay. 6 and 7-string banjos were fairly common there in the late 1800s. Some have made there way to the US, so you see them for sale every once in a while...." So I guess my idea earlier in this thread of a 7 string banjo was not so crazy after all! This also relates to Wade's interesting comments about all the innovation that went on with banjos in the past. This has been an interesting thread.
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A few of my early attempts at recording: https://www.youtube.com/user/wcap07/featured Last edited by wcap; 01-13-2013 at 10:01 PM. |
#44
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It has been fascinating for me to let the 6 string transform the song I would play on guitar. It transforms it and it also transforms the approach and technique you have to use. The result can be so cool. Examples for me "Here Comes The Sun". Dylan "Just Like A Woman". Only been at it a month! Seems like all I want to play. Just wonderful really.
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Steve 2020 McKnight Grand Recording - Cedar Top 2005 McKnight SS Dred 2001 Michael Keller Koa Baby 2014 Godin Inuk 2012 Deering B6 Openback Banjo 2012 Emerald Acoustic Doubleneck 2012 Rainsong JM1000 Black Ice 2009 Wechter Pathmaker 9600 LTD 1982 Yairi D-87 Doubleneck 1987 Ovation Collectors 1993 Ovation Collectors 1967 J-45 Gibson 1974 20th Annivers. Les Paul Custom |
#45
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A few of my early attempts at recording: https://www.youtube.com/user/wcap07/featured |