The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #46306 Message #2917241
Posted By: Stringsinger
30-May-10 - 12:43 PM
Thread Name: What Banjo Do You Play?
Subject: RE: What Banjo Do You Play?
Pete Seeger is one of my favorite players because he brings to the banjo a musical harmonic sophistication probably acquired from his earlier days as a tenor banjo player doing popular songs of the twenties and thirties. The main thing about his banjo playing is that it's the greatest for generic singing of folk songs. You can run counter-lines, bass runs and fills with it that complements almost every song in gCGBD or gGDBD or retuning to gDBbD for g minor tuning. Also, the "Little Birdie" tuning works well for some pieces: gCGAD.
I have two long neck banjos that I'm not really happy with. Gibson RB175 and a PS style knockoff from Taka. Someday, I hope to have a Vega Tuba-fone pot with a great long neck or even standard size neck for that Seeger ring.
I have this B and D #1 tenor nineteen fret which when I play standard dixieland tenor either CGDA or GCGE (dropped tenor) just doesn't cut it. When I bring the fourth string up, it sounds great as a five-string style open back (I took the resonator off) which leads me to believe I need a great five-string neck of the Fawley quality.
I've come around to going back to what I started with, the Pete Seeger style of picking.
I love the other styles too, but I like to sing.
BTW, Pete had a terrific range in his singing. It was by no means limited. It was different than the "high lonesome" Bill Monroe style but he called himself a "split tenor" with the Weavers which did different parts, some baritone, some tenor and some with falsetto in a pseudo-soprano style.
The problem was that he may have blown out his cords singing at top volume a lot of the time.