Ever emulate a banjo on a keyboard?

[shniggens]

My band is working on a song that is very "West Virginia", so to speak. It's some upbeat, hillbilly, bluegrass stuff.

 

It needs banjo. Have you ever played banjo on your keyboard? How do you get that banjo feel? What do banjo players usually play, arpeggios?

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[ITGITC]

shniggens,

 

This reminds me of the time I got a tour of the factory that made RMI Electra-Pianos (RMI stands for Rocky Mount Instruments. I'm from Rocky Mount, NC.) Their parent company was the ALLEN ORGAN company.

 

In a particular model organ that was being built for home or theater use (I can't remember), they had a banjo patch. The unusual thing about it was that they had a mechanical mechanism that closed and open and closed the contacts repeatedly to sound 'realistic'. I put that in quotes because it really didn't sound too realistic. But it was another pioneering effort by Allen Organ to try for realistic-sounding programs within their instruments.

 

You may have to try for the same effect & this could probably best be done with an arpegiator or a sequencer. I don't know for sure.

 

Of course, if you sequenced the part, you'd have to play to backing tracks. That may not be your style, I dunno. MikeT156 does this all the time. Maybe he'll chime in with some inspiratonal thoughts this Sunday morning.

 

Good luck,

 

Tom

[David Loving]

no

[opp]

We do a version of Folsom Prison Blues. I started doing some "picking" on a GM banjo sound for a joke. It ended up sounding really cool, for a brief moment we don't sound like a pop band trying to do authentic country.. almost.

I play broken triads or arpeggios in an 8th note patttern sort of triplet feel, accenting the first note of each figure.

Hope this helps

[MikeT156]

I never tried to put a banjo part in any of my sequences. I have spent a considerable amount of time getting pedal steel guitar sounds on patches, but no banjo.

 

My Motif ES8 has some nice acoustic guitar finger pickin' patches that I use. I'd say that one of most important things to keep in mind is the tuning you use for the banjo part. The most popular banjo tuning is "G" tuning, but for blue grass, "D" tuning is the most common.

 

"D" tuning is from top to bottom: D A F# D A (or F# depending on what you want it to sound like). If you have an arp on your synth, you could alternately play a "finger pickin" chord change on your patch, then double or triple the tempo of the arp to get a fast finger pickin" chord. Making it sound like a plucked string takes some experimenting with the ADSR, and you need a fair amount of reverb to make it sound more like an acoustic instrument. You'll probably have to slightly detune some of the string sounds to get a houkie sound, but it could be fun. Opp's suggestion to use the GM banjo sound is a good one.

 

Here's a link that might be helpful:

 

http://www.ezfolk.com/banjo/Tutorials/G_Tuning/g_tuning.html

 

Good luck. If all else fails, you could always get a banjo player.

 

Mike T.

[Jabbe]

We played Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge" a week ago. I played a S90 banjo sound in the middle section where the midgets come to dance around the 18" Stonehenge...

[Nordude]

Yes, I did. I gigged once with a dixieland jazz band and to the dislike of their manager, I played the intro of Shine on my old Roland E-70 keyboard

 

Hey, I stepped in because of the absence of their guitar/banjo player, so they shouldn't bother

[ksoper]

I've done this from time to time, much to the chagrin of my bandmates. Getting it to sound better involves copying the "rolls", or picking patterns of the banjo. Earl Scruggs was the master of the 3-finger roll, and much of his technique may be found in books, as well as on line, I imagine. One pattern I used extensively was this: In D, sixteenth notes, G#-A-G#-A-D-G#-A-D, with the D being on the top of the voicing. See what that sounds like to you, and see if you can find some authentic rolls.

 

k.

[Mark Zeger]

Yes

 

Many years ago, I did a jingle for a furniture store that specialized in natural pine, country style pieces. So, I gave them a bluegrass jingle. Very Flatt and Scruggs. I used Twiddly Bits MIDI files for the banjo picking and guitar strums. Worked great.

[Botch.]

I actually played a banjo for several years, but no I've never been able to duplicate it on a keyboard (I have seen it done, successfully, once). What ksoper said about rolls is the key, banjo players are constantly playing eight-note "rolls" with three fingers (actually two fingers and a thumb).

I gave up on the instrument as it took an inordinate amount of practice just to stay somewhat proficient, and it still ended up sounding like, well, a banjo...

[ITGITC]

Originally posted by Botch.:

I gave up on the instrument as it took an inordinate amount of practice just to stay somewhat proficient, and it still ended up sounding like, well, a banjo...

Botch wins the 'Quote of the Day' award.

[shniggens]

Interesting advice, thanks. I'll see what I can do.

 

Maybe just some honky-tonkin piana is all it needs.

[MikeT156]

I played around with the GM banjo patch on my Motif ES8 just now. Not to shabby. I was able to use a couple of different finger pickin ARPS on the patch, changed the tempo, and away it went. Not bad. The "rolls" that everyone mentioned is key. All you have to do is play the chords you want and it works pretty well.

 

Mike T.

[Garrafon]

Believe it or not, we fool around with duelin' banjos and I use my 700sx's banjo. It's fun, if not funny. It's passable and crowds get a hoot out of it.

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by MikeT156:

I played around with the GM banjo patch on my Motif ES8 just now. Not to shabby.

I use that GM Banjo patch on my MoES7 for my New Country house gig, and it does the job just fine... it's absolutely more to do with the note selection, understanding how the real instrument is structured, and what note combinations/patterns are (and aren't) possible.

 

Cheers,

SG

[Steve Force]

Originally posted by Botch.:

...

I gave up on the instrument as it took an inordinate amount of practice just to stay somewhat proficient, and it still ended up sounding like, well, a banjo...