BiC Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Any banjo players present? I think it would be an interesting instrument to learn! Just how hard is it to learn? Peace "Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fendercaster Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Get in touch with NMcGhoul-tar (Neil), he plays and may be able to help you. My gear: http://fendercaster.freeservers.com/guit3.html If you own two Lexus cars, do you have Lexi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiC Posted October 13, 2003 Author Share Posted October 13, 2003 Thanx! I sent him a PM. Hopefully he'll soon bite. Peace "Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 Man, I'd love to get a Deering six-string banjo, or (drool-drool-drool) one of their tweve-strings. I would even try out a banjo style tuning, albeit adapted to use all six strings (or courses, in the case of the twelve-string), I could even hang with a plain, high string part way up the fretboard, with the tuner sticking out of the side of the neck, banjo-style. It's the narrower, pointier-backed necks on banjos that I don't like. Just like how I can't hang with a mandolin, that tiny neck is so weird to me, but a mandocello or octave mandolin or mando-guitar feels O.K. in my hands. I guess one of the reasons that I dig guitars is that their basic size and shape dovetails nicely with my own! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamsa2000 Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 If you can play guitar in open G , your halfway there as far as playing banjo goes.I always avoided banjo because of the YEE-HAW factor, then I heard Bela Fleck and mucked around with one for a year or so. I no longer have a banjo but some very banjoey things have snuck into my guitar playing as a result of playing one.I was reading an article where the guy who played mandolin on the Godfather movie, Tommy Tedesco, said he used guitar tuning for mandolin........but I think it takes away some of the mandoliny-ness. Also, you can cover a lot more notes in the one position if you use mandolin tuning.Same principal applies to banjo.........if you use guitar tuning, you miss all the fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat0124 Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 The main thing that people find difficult is the rhythym, whether its Earl Scruggs style or Clawhammer. However I've seen jazz banjo players, and its mind boggling. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 I plunk a banjo a bit too. Geenard is right in the rhythym being the toughest part for most people. Getting that roll going is the ticket to the banjo, as far as the normal 5 string banjo playing is concerned. I'm working on that while also going with my own style of picking that works for what I need in my recordings. Oh, working on a little slide banjo too. It's a kick. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Originally posted by Geenard Skeenard: The main thing that people find difficult is the rhythym, whether its Earl Scruggs style or Clawhammer. However I've seen jazz banjo players, and its mind boggling.Gene...I've got the clawhammer down...but I don't play banjo (although I'd love to learn). What is the Scruggs style pattern? I think John Fahey applied it to guitar from time to time. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMcGuitar Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 I have a banjo, and am occasionally called upon to play it. I'm not sure I'd ever call myself a "banjo player". Like GitSematery said, if you can play in open "G" tuning on the guitar, you're already on your way. The thing I've found most difficult is switching between a guitar & a banjo because of the slight tuning difference. This summer when I was playing guitar & banjo for a production of "Hello Dolly" I cheated and just tuned the banjo to match the top strings of the guitar. Once you start getting used to the tuning and the different feel of the neck (think "broomstick"), it's not that bad. As with anything, practice is your best way to improve. Are you looking to learn the full-out Earl Scruggs style or are you just interested in more of a "rhythm" style? If you are just looking to keep it simple and do strumming, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly - it's just not that different from a guitar. If you want to be able to do all the "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"-type fingerpicking (etc.), then I'd suggest finding a good teacher who can help you out. I never got much past "The Ballad of Jed Clampett". Sorry I can't be of more help than this. Good luck! May all your thoughts be random! - Neil www.McFaddenArts.com www.MikesGarageRocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Hey, here's a cool 'site that I just found... "The Banjo Hangout". Free lessons and everything but the inbred pinhead (Der-der-DER-der-DER-der-DER-der-deng!) and those redneck bowhuntin' guys that like purty moufs on faaat city slickers... (sorry!) http://www.banjohangout.org/ Enjoy it in good health, BiC! (I'm sure a few others might wanna scope'r out, as well, like Dak'n'Neil, etc. ...) Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiC Posted October 15, 2003 Author Share Posted October 15, 2003 Thanx again fellas for all the info! BTW, what is a good starter banjo? I don't want something cheaply made, but one that is both economical and sounds good. Peace "Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Originally posted by NMcGhoul-tar: I have a banjo, and am occasionally called upon to play it. I'm not sure I'd ever call myself a "banjo player". Like GitSematery said, if you can play in open "G" tuning on the guitar, you're already on your way. The thing I've found most difficult is switching between a guitar & a banjo because of the slight tuning difference. This summer when I was playing guitar & banjo for a production of "Hello Dolly" I cheated and just tuned the banjo to match the top strings of the guitar. Once you start getting used to the tuning and the different feel of the neck (think "broomstick"), it's not that bad. As with anything, practice is your best way to improve. Are you looking to learn the full-out Earl Scruggs style or are you just interested in more of a "rhythm" style? If you are just looking to keep it simple and do strumming, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly - it's just not that different from a guitar. If you want to be able to do all the "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"-type fingerpicking (etc.), then I'd suggest finding a good teacher who can help you out. I never got much past "The Ballad of Jed Clampett". Sorry I can't be of more help than this. Good luck! I really don't have any illusions of becoming good on the banjo, but would like to learn the Scruggs pattern, if only for my own amusement... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 I tell you as sure as the sky is over our heads, GET A DEERING "GOOD TIME" BANJO! Deering has incorporated their extensive knowledge of what does and doesn't make a good sounding (and playing) banjo with Leo Fender's practical (and easily, innexpensively produced) bolt-on neck assembly. Decent price, above average tone, and great playability! Here's a Link: http://www.DeeringBanjos.com/ Their catalogs and literature are very informative, as well. (The reason that serious banjos are so much more expensive than their equivalent guitar-bretheren is the cast bronze tone ring they employ, by the way.) If they made six- and twelve- (or seven- and fourteen-) string "Good Time" models, I'd buy one for myself now! Like I said in my first post here, I don't like the narrower, "broom-handle", pointy-end-of-an-egg profile of a regular banjo's neck. Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Hey, kev, they do make 6 and 12 string models. It's on the pulldown menu up top on the web site. Look for 6 strings. I played one about a year or so ago when Mars Music was still in business. The store was in Springfield, VA, and I tried one while on vacation. I don't know if I'd ever get one, but it's good if you wanna get in your licks if you can't handle a real banjo. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Thanks, Taz, but I meant 6- and 12-string versions of the lower-priced "Good Time" line that they make. I've played their more expensive sixes and the "Good Time" model, and I think that a 6-string Good Time tuned to open-G would be cool. I just can't hang with the skinny, weird (to me) necks! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 Originally posted by BiC: but one that is both economical and sounds good. PeaceNo Such Thing... Do look at Deering though. They build a very good banjo & the prices aren't all that bad. You might also look for a use AIDA, some look like JIDA, in a script lettering. Actually that's what I'm mucking around with, the one that looks like JIDA. They are not a bad sounding or playing banjo either but probably more in tune with the low to low mid Deerings. You can somtimes find them on eBay for under $200.00 US. HERE\'S a sample of slide banjo, not a very good one, but it's my style & it'll give you an idea. Now get picking... Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiC Posted October 16, 2003 Author Share Posted October 16, 2003 That slide banjo is exactly what I'd like to learn. That sounded pretty good! Thanx! Peace "Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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