Banjitar recommendation?

[Cone Head]

I'm obsessed with the recordings of Papa Charlie Jackson, playing his songs on the same model Gibson that he recorded with is a real blast...that tone just gushes out of the GB-4 with no effort whatsoever.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlZGIHvzLzA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn2WBUdkpjg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I65pCreE1rA

[jjordan47]

Nice videos, I just got a Deering D-6 and find it is very hard to put down.

[cheeksmiller]

I would suggest with a banjitar you still tune it open similar to a banjo if you can. I have noticed that when folks tune them to standard guitar they often don;t sound banjoish... you can hear the difference..IF that is what you are going for awesome...but recently a friends band put on in a song cause they "wanted some banjo" and it just did not sound right.

But it is correct in that it certainly occupys its OWN sonic space

[Doubleneck]

Originally Posted by cheeksmiller

I would suggest with a banjitar you still tune it open similar to a banjo if you can. I have noticed that when folks tune them to standard guitar they often don;t sound banjoish... you can hear the difference..IF that is what you are going for awesome...but recently a friends band put on in a song cause they "wanted some banjo" and it just did not sound right.

But it is correct in that it certainly occupys its OWN sonic space

Did they pick or strum their Banjitars?

[Cone Head]

Why do people always assume that folks who play banjitar are seeking a "guitarist's shortcut" to the 5-string/bluegrass sound? The banjitar was a common instrument in 1920s jazz and ragtime, it definitely has its own niche.
Listen to some Papa Charlie Jackson or Johnny St Cyr...the last thing these guys wanted to do was sound like 5-string bluegrass banjo (which seems to be the yardstick for sounding "banjo-ish" these days).
They played in standard (guitar) tuning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBdgNOPiAY

[Doubleneck]

http://youtu.be/_mODWPxmfRM

Try this on a five string

The worst thing that happened to the banjo is that bluegrass (a fairly recent style really) took it over and seemed to make its style the norm. Thank god for Pete Seeger, Bela Flack, and my current favorite Munford and Sons.

[Cone Head]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

http://youtu.be/_mODWPxmfRM

Try this on a five string

That just happens to be one of my favorites - REALLY fun to play, too.

Five-string wasn't always a bluegrass instrument, either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdGR9duRZ78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7FVbKN3i6g

Check out some Fred Van Eps (George's father) and Vess Ossman to hear 5-string in an early ragtime context!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJvohQlpTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_YgGfoiJNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rW0fmFjyI8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47zCQ_95mI

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

The worst thing that happened to the banjo is that bluegrass (a fairly recent style really) took it over and seemed to make its style the norm. Thank god for Pete Seeger, Bela Flack, and my current favorite Munford and Sons.

Well, if you look at the history of the banjo there have ALWAYS been trends that became very popular and swept most other banjo styles away before them. In the 1880's the previous fretless minstrel show fretless banjos were basically swept aside by the fretted and highly industrial-looking "elevated banjos" which were quite literally extolled as "elevating" the banjo from its "primitive" African origins.

In the 1920's production of five string banjos almost ceased as the market became totally dominated by four string banjos, mostly tenors but also plectrum banjos, which retained the long scale and a version of the then-current five string banjo tuning that most five string players used prior to bluegrass music.

Bluegrass music came along and most players switched to the open G tuning, but older styles never completely died out, whether mountain clawhammer or jazz four string styles.

And now we are on the brink of another era. It's nice to see. Nothing ever stays the same for very long....

Cone Head wrote:

Originally Posted by Cone Head

Why do people always assume that folks who play banjitar are seeking a "guitarist's shortcut" to the 5-string/bluegrass sound? The banjitar was a common instrument in 1920s jazz and ragtime, it definitely has its own niche.

Oh, I agree with you there. But my experience is that many - perhaps even most - guitarists never even realize that there's such a thing as a guitar-banjo, or spare a thought towards it if they do.

And there IS a significant percentage of guitar-banjo owners who do, in fact, use the guitar-banjo as a way to get a banjo sound without bothering to learn five string. So there is some foundation in truth to justify that particular stereotype.

But as you and I and hopefully most of the people reading this thread now realize, the guitar-banjo has its own charms and is, in fact, its own unique instrument.

Anyway, anyone who buys or borrows a guitar-banjo is going to use it for his or her own purposes, and more power to them.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Dan Carey]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

http://youtu.be/_mODWPxmfRM

Try this on a five string

The worst thing that happened to the banjo is that bluegrass (a fairly recent style really) took it over and seemed to make its style the norm. Thank god for Pete Seeger, Bela Flack, and my current favorite Munford and Sons.

And don't forget John Hartford. His music ranged from Civil War tunes, to steamboat, to what someone once called 'newgrass'.

http://www.johnhartford.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXPP66ImrgA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCVQ3w3sKxA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aICsD4C-pC8

[Cone Head]

http://playbanjitarnow.wordpress.com...out-banjitars/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcTHz1Yr7NU

[Doubleneck]

Originally Posted by Cone Head

http://playbanjitarnow.wordpress.com...out-banjitars/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcTHz1Yr7NU

Priceless article and song

[guitar_goob]

Read this thread and was surprised - never heard of the instrument, but immediately intrigued.

Went perusing eBay & Amazon and ordered this:http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009FK...&pi=SY200_QL40

Positive reviews and people consistently said the build quality surpassed the price.
Excited - if it fizzles I'm sure I can recover the cost, but doubt I'll need too!

Oh boy. = )

[Wade Hampton]

Well, that's a no-name and is probably Korean-made. It looks identical to the one I had for several years before I stepped up to the Deering B-6.

Those have lots of intonation problems and you're also likely to find that there's generally just one "sweet spot" on each string where you can get a decent tone out of it. The weird thing about the one I had is that the "sweet spot" was in a slightly different spot on each string - I actually had to hit the strings on a diagonal to get the best sound. If I remember correctly, the sweet spot on the low E string was about four inches away from the bridge, while it was about three inches from the bridge on the high E, with the sweet spots on all the other strings on the diagonal between those two.

Or it might have been four inches away on the high E and three on the low E - I've had the Deering now for about 15 years, and immediately sold off the no-name once I got it, and am not sure I remember exactly. In any event, it took some accommodation to get the best sound out of it, that's for sure.

But at that price you might as well get it and dink around on it, and if you find that you still like the instrument, then save up for a Gold Tone or a Deering.


whm

[banjoski]

Definitely the most versatile one to go with would be the Deering Boston 6-String Acoustic/Electric banjo

[banjoski]

If you need strings for a 6-string banjo, these are the best:
http://www.banjostudio.com/products/...-banjo-strings