I play the banjo and I am proud of it

Subject: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 06:42 AM

I am sick of people making jokes about banjos. Or indeed banjoes, opinions differe on that plural point. Anyway, the angels played banjos in heaven, and if your bible says otherwise you've got the wrong translation. So, to redress the balance, I would like to invite all banjo-playing Mudcatters to supply links to shots of themselves playing banjoes. Or indeed, to clips of favourite banjo-playes.
Here is me playing the tenor banjo

Just banjo-players links please. To avoid thread drift, bodhran players can start their own thread in the BS(non-musical) section. Ditto shaky eggs.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 06:57 AM

Yay!

Me losing out to the fiddler, Blind Summat! play some Old Time tunes. on my 5 string.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 07:10 AM

BTW Greg. Love your video..... great stuff.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Will Fly
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 07:19 AM

Banjos yes! Here's another specimen of the tenor banjo:

Will Fly - "The Little Beggarman"

Playing one of these for 40+ years has been invaluable experience now I've got my new tenor guitar - and it got me started on mandolin and, more recently, violin.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 07:57 AM

Great stuff, keep them coming. Now for a real treat here is Eddie Peabody playing St Louis Blues .
I particularly like the rising sense of anticipation, as you wonder what contribution is going to made by the shapely-legged lovelies.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 08:01 AM

Reading the title of this thread,I knew it was posted by someone from England. :-) The banjo is a well-loved instrument in the U.S.
My wife and I were at Sandy Paton's memorial yesterday and a couple from Scotland did a song, with the wife accompanying them on banjo. Apparently playing banjo doesn't make you a second class citizen in Scotland.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Roy Harris again after a lapse of thirty years. I was pretty sure it was him when I saw him, but just to make absolutely sure, I said, "Say something in English." I could have said, "Do you like banjo?" but knowing Roy, I'm sure he'd have said "Yes."

Jerry

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 08:23 AM

well, I havent been playing long but I am enjoying myself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDIs_50cLyU

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 08:26 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa0KBosXB34

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 08:29 AM

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

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: theleveller
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 08:53 AM

I know I make jokes about banjos but it was the first instrument I learned to play. Here's a short clip of one of my favourite banjo players (Eric Wisseberg) playing one of my favourite pieces (Flop Eared Mule). I actually used to play this once upon a time - only much slower!

Flop Eared Mule

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 08:56 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4prAIh_wcU
tenor banjo this time

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 09:37 AM

Greg and all above . Why not also add what make of banjo you are playing if you feel like it ?? Here is a classic Clarence Tom Ashley song :The COO COO . I am using a Mike Ramsey With a Dobson neck . its tuned in a sawmill or G sus 4 tuning gDGCD .I am playing 'clawhammer Banjo "   All the best Guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBs5tp294OM

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 09:41 AM

To leave five-strings for a bit, how about the man who exploded the tenor banjo into life in Ireland and Britain? The legendary Barney McKenna.
It's worth listening to the whole track, Barney takes a long time to come in, but when he does you can see how a master starts a solo, the ould ham. The whole track also gives plenty of opportunities to hear some fine Peter Sellars-style exhortatory shouts.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 10:23 AM

Thanks for contributions, all. A portrait of the inbstrument and its devotess)is starting to coalesce out of the ether. Guy asks what kind we all play. Mine is an old John Grey, with a nice old brass resonator which your can't really see of course.The neck meeds a bit of remedial work I think.
Here it is again, not so manic this time, sitting in my local, the Greyhound in Penkhull, playing

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 10:26 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7D_Ml6OrN0 blarney pilgrim played on a vega little wonder tenor banjo with no resonator.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 10:37 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXnrD-w-5-o

Here is me singing and playing the banjo while wearing a false beard and an aran polo neck.

I grant you, that doesn't exactly do much to further the 'Take Banjoists Seriously' campaign. Still, it was a fun night...

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 10:40 AM

bah, I never seem to be able to make hyperlinks clickable on here... guess you'll have to cut'n'paste...

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 10:47 AM

(my last post went wrong. Hope a kindly clone will remove it, plus this bit in brackets)

Thanks for contributions, all. A portrait of God's own instrument (and its devotess)is starting to coalesce out of the ether.
Guy Woolf asks what kind we all play. Mine is an old John Grey, with a nice old brass resonator which your can't really see of course.The neck needs a bit of remedial work I think.
Here it is again, not so manic this time, relaxing in my local, the Greyhound in Penkhull, playing the Jenny Lind Polka.
(For the benefit of Guy Woolf, Penkhull is in Stoke-on-Trent, home of pottery!).

You may notice that things are slightly out of focus. This tends to happen in English pubs during the latter part of the evening. The three musicians in the middle are the Boat Band; the bearded and pony-tailed fiddler who occasionally appears on the right is Flos Headford, who was passing through that night.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Mavis Enderby
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 10:57 AM

OK - here's mine: Scarborough Fair on an old Savana 5 string.

Pete.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 11:08 AM

Here, I hope, is Matt Milton's link .
Are you sure that's you, Matt? It looks more like Barney McKenna, or possibly Dick Miles.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 11:13 AM

Don't do youtube but I've been playing banjo since '71. All old time all the time. Banjo playing carries no stigma in WV.

Russ (Permanent GUEST and banjo player)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 11:17 AM

Can't believe I have to say this again: "Banjo players are sexier."
Think John Hartford.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:00 PM

It may please you to know that secretly I like the banjo as long as its played well and this is the master.
Banjiman is a bit too young to remember him :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzqiLf503qQ&feature=related

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Mooh
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:08 PM

Greg...Haven't read the thread yet, just watched your first posted YouTube link. I love your band, absolutely love it, and the first thing that came to mind was how am I going to put one like it together?

You must have so much fun!

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:10 PM

Villan, it's OK my great grandparents told me about him......

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:11 PM

Now you just be careful young man, or I may have to come over there and banjo you :-)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:16 PM

Here's something a bit more subtle, just to prove that the 5 string banjo can work to accompany british folky style music.

I'm playing with the Mrs and the much too talented Rebekah Findlay (the fiddler who gave me a good whooping above).

One Stone (+ banjo player) The Visito(e)r

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:17 PM

...... on my Goldtone Bob Carlin 350 special.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:24 PM

A banjo should lead Paul (just like Lonnie Donegan). Those women have you under their thumb. :-)

Goo plug though :-)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:25 PM

Just watched the clip. That is very jolly! Listening to that has just got to put you in a good frame of mind!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:28 PM

"Those women have you under their thumb. :-)"

You're only jealous Les.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:37 PM

>>Just watched the clip. That is very jolly! Listening to that has just got to put you in a good frame of mind!<<

Which one. there are 2

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:42 PM

I just love this one. I think thats the tenor banjo. Just love te sound. A guy called John Bastable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpA5vxAEYUQ&feature=related

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 12:45 PM

This one seems quite appropriate for the men and women who deliver letters in the UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL7FpOAOoMQ&feature=related

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 01:05 PM

Who was the banjo player in the last video?

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: stallion
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 01:20 PM

mmmmmmmm Paulo two wonderful thumbs to be under! Lucky bugger!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 01:37 PM

Me and me mates used to do "Banjo"
We would gather in darkened rooms
Wear bib fronted overalls and arm bands and play with each other.
In those days it was illegal even between consenting adults.
Today there is still a certain stigma attached to the practice but it does me old heart good to know that there are younger better players out there. Who are not ashamed,will not hide their predilections away,
And are prepared to be proud and LOUD!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 01:40 PM

You naughty little boy Timmy :-) You will go blind :-)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 02:11 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgmceZoM1Y8&feature=related check out all the ROSCOE HOLCOMB,THERE IS AGREAT VERSION OF LITLE GRAY MULE

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 02:20 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wGgvbHcgyc&feature=related

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 02:38 PM

http://www.keithpearson.co.uk/

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 03:20 PM

I have a banjo and I'm not afraid to use it!
             --Tom Rawson, local (Seattle area) singer/banjoist

Don Firth

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 03:23 PM

I've never understood where this prejudice against banjos comes from. As a non-player it's always been one of my favourites for listening to.

If I thought that playing any sort of instrument was remotely possible (which I'm sure it isn't - people who do play must be projecting some sort of complex illusion) I would like to play a banjo.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 03:29 PM

Hmm! I don't think I've ever encountered this. I know that miscellaneous smart remarks are made about just about every musical instrument there is ("An oboe is an ill wind that nobody blows good!"}, but is actual predudice against the banjo a real issue?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 04:17 PM

Shimrod,

For a detailed analyis of the transformation of the image of banjos, banjo players,and banjo playing during the 19th and 20th centuries, see See Karen Linn's "That Half-Barbaric Twang: THE BANJO IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE".

Russ (Permanent GUEST and banjo player)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 04:22 PM

Well I think that Banjo players are less disliked than bodhran players :-)

I don't think people dislike banjo players, but maybe banjo players can't take the jokes as easily as other instrument players

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 05:39 PM

Rob Murch - wonderful banjo player, plays with the Dartmoor Pixies, who will be playing for the Haddenham ceilidh next month on 7 November!

Kitty

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Acorn4
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 05:42 PM

I didn't realise this thread was coming up otherwise I would have recorded this and stuck it on Youtube -may well do that if the thread is still up and running in a couple of day's time:-

My humble offering:-

Banjos 'R' Sexy.

1.Well I'm driving down the highway,
Kinda surveying the scene
Giving all the chicks the eye
If yo all know what I mean
A trail of dust and broken hearts
But I don't give a damn.
I love em and I leave em,
That's the kinda guy I am.

2.It ain't my fifty gallon hat
Or my designer stubble,
My hairy chest,
That bulge in my Levis
Girls find irresistible
It ain't my daddy's millions
Or my open top Ford Mustang
My animal magnetism, my infinite modesty, or my all over suntan.

3.Now them good ole boys they envy me
I always get the girl
You either got it or you ain't
I tell them as my lip curls
You all cain't do what I can do
They all knew what I meant
As I leapt into the backseat
And produced my instrument.

Now I know some folks will disagree
But Its so plain for everyone to see:-

Chorus:-

Banjos are sexy, Banjos are cool,
All joking aside, those banjos rule OK
As I go round from town to town
I hear the folks all sing
Who's that guy with the banjo
He pulls the women and the strings.

4.Now John Wayne and Clint Eastwood,
Were both real megadudes,
But me , I put them in the shade,
Picking my good ole banjo tunes,
With it strapped around my shoulders
I'm feeling so well hung,
Let my fingers do the walking,
As it rattles like a machine gun.


My banjo makes me feel like I'm a King
At least it would if I could play the sodding thing.

Chorus:-

Banjos are sexy...

5.Mothers lock up their daughters
Slap asbos on my head,
But they all scream and wet themselves
As I hit that G spot dead ,
Then they'll throw their knickers on the stage,
I'll throw them back at them,.
or use then to wipe
The sweat from off my good ole
Five string friend.

Old banjos never die, you'll hear me croon
They just go slowly out of tune.

Chorus

Lers banjos sont sexy
Les banjos sont cool
Cen'est pas un badinage
Les banjos regnesur le monde OK
Et comme je roule de ville on ville
On dit "Orgh, c'est rock and roll
Et donnez moi un home avec le sexy banjo.

The song was actually written because I'm trying seriously to learn the five string, and I wanted a song to do where the cock-ups don't matter too much.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 05:46 PM

On a banjo should be written: This machine kills blue devils.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Oct 09 - 06:05 PM

Robert Murch, the current superstar of the banjo firmament, was mentioned earlier. Anyone know how to find some video? Forget bluegrass, old time. Murch picking is where it's at. When I heard him I pretty nearly smashed my banjo.