I play the banjo and I am proud of it

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: BanjoRay
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 11:17 AM

Well here's my contribution from a session in 2003 at the Ship Inn, Gainsbvorough, on the Sunday night following the Old Time Festival. A bunch of good musicians playing Hell Among The Yearlings. I'm the nearest banjo player to the camera.
Forgive the grammar and spelling in the credits - the guy who took the film is from Amsterdam.
Ray

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 18 Oct 09 - 01:25 PM

See what you make of this. My attempt to prove that banjos can be subtle backing for beautiful songs (and singers of course, in case the Mrs reads this!)


Wendy & Paul Arrowsmith- The Southern Girls Reply (+ a tune)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 03:50 PM

AND make the banjo roar. There's no finer instrument, sez I. Bob

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 02:15 PM

AAAAAAAhhhh the thought of Mrs Sooz playing Kazoo and Banjo - spare me :-)

Only kidding Sue :-)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 01:36 PM

About a decade ago I had the chance to hear Robert Murch and the Pixies over here at CDSS's Pinewoods Folk Music Week, in Plymouth, Mass. Great fun those folks were.

~ Becky in Long Beach this week

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Sean Mc
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 11:29 AM

Greg,
It's all done with smoke & mirrors - I'm not really ambidextrous.
Sean

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Acorn4
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 07:33 AM

Here's the link again in case the anon post gets deleted:-



Banjos 'r Sexy!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Acorn4
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 07:31 AM

...sorry, the above was me - on my laptop which doesn't put in the cookie automatically!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 07:29 AM

Finally managed to get my PC to work again due to application of "impact technology" (see BS thread) enough to post up an effort at banjo playing to youtube.

Tend to use the cross-pick a lot which as a guitarist I'm used to but gradually trying to include the other rolls and trying to learn a bit of frailing as well:-



Banjos 'r Sexy!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 07:11 AM

Well I live by the Trent and Mersey canal and I'd hate to tell you what I do with any narrow boat holiday makers that I catch.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 07:06 AM

We've just received the latest Rosie Nieper T-shirt catalogue (www.rosienieper.co.uk) and one of the new lines bears the clogan "paddle faster I hear banjos".

I couldn't possibly comment!

RtS

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 06:58 AM

I have manged to track down a clip of the absolutely stupendous Robert Murch playing Whistling Rufus with the Moor Music Trio from Dartmoor. It is only very short, but it gives the style OK. If you get a chance to hear him, seek him out. In the Moor Music trio, the Dartmoor Pixie Band, or the Watch(with Dan Quinn)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 05:59 AM

But why do you play the banjo and bazouki right-handed, and the guitar left-handed?

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Sean Mc
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 05:47 AM

The banjo starts about a minute in . . . . honest !!

Lilting Banshee

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 15 Oct 09 - 04:15 AM

Bruce you can always find something nice to say.
Even about............

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Peace
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 07:02 PM

I admire banjo players (when all the slagging of banjos is put to rest at the end of the day) because they have to work their fingers off to make them sound so good. Congratulations and sincere appreciation to you all.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 06:55 PM

Just came on this by accident: picky clicky. Wish they had an enlarged picture or video!

The Murtogh D. Guinness (yes, of the beverage family) collection of "700 historic mechanical musical instruments and automata (mechanical figures) and more than 5,000 programmed media, ranging from player piano rolls to pinned cylinders" was donated to the Morris Museum, the museum "where I grew up". I worked and volunteered there from junior high into high school; my mother volunteered there, too, and then worked in the exhibits department for many years. The donation was in recent times (2003), though, so I haven't seen this or any of the other gadgets in person.

~ Becky in Long Beach this week

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Acorn4
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 06:29 PM

I think this is still my favourite banjo tune, although perhaps it has become a bit of a cliche:-

David Holt/Doc Watson/Shady Grove

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Mavis Enderby
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 03:49 PM

Or 9/4... Rampi Rampi

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 01:26 PM

cathy moore is intersting,but surely its only a question of playing in 6/8 to break away from bum ditty?.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 12:28 PM

PHJim: great stuff that Maggie duet. Very relaxed, enjoyed it a lot.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Sooz
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 12:15 PM

Thanks Paul - I'll bear that in mind!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 11:55 AM

Come to ours instead..... you'll be welcomed with open arms (by me anyway!)

Paul

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Sooz
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 11:52 AM

Ha 100!!
I'm thinking of buying one - will I be ostracised from the folk club?

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: PHJim
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 11:50 AM

Sorry, I forgot to make the blue clicky.

http://www.myspace.com/kirbyandyates

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: PHJim
Date: 14 Oct 09 - 11:46 AM

I play clawhammer and my buddy Al plays three finger style. The soecond song on our myspace page is When You And I Were Young Maggie. It's a banjo duet with our friend Zeke Mazurek playing the fiddle. I'm the one playing the banjo in the picture.

www.myspace.com/kirbyandyates

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Songbob
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:25 PM

If anyone wants a banjo instruction & songbook, I still have about 100+ of my 1976 "Old-Timey Banjo Book," which I'll send for $10 ppd.

Bob Clayton
8401 Cedar St.
Silver Spring, MD 20910

OR Paypal to [e-mail] with your mailing address.

And I'll post some playing clips one of these days, once I get around to using the video camera, although you can get an idea of my playing on I-Tunes by looking for Douglas Jimerson and Civil War Comrades ("A Lincoln Portrait" is the best CD for the banjo parts). That's the band I'm in, where I play banjo, mandolin, and some guitar. I do both modern and minstrel style banjos, mostly stroke (clawhammer) style.

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:56 PM

Becky thanks for the full clip .. 9 count them 9 accordions ! And they are proud as well !! Is the bass bull fiddle player playing a Bass bassoon on that cool solo ?? . They are amazing . My father was in his last year at Yale in 1927. I wonder if he saw this review in New York ??.. All the best , Guy      I will go luck for Lilly May ledford on YT now ..

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 06:05 PM

The best thing that could happen to me would be for a banjo player and Gnu expert to be enslaved to me by insatiable lust.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: TopcatBanjo
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 05:58 PM

My name is TopCat and I play the banjo!

Having taken up the 5-string 18 months ago, as I hit middle age, I absolutely love it and it has opened up a whole new world for me - in my case listening to and playing bluegrass music. I want to learn clawhammer/old-time style once I have the picking down a bit better, and in the future I may even tackle Irish tenor playing.

No videos of me as yet, but here are just a few of my favourite 5-string pickers, I hope you enjoy them:

The fabulous Ron Block. You may have seen/heard him with Alison Krauss but this clip shows off his banjo playing a little closer. My tutor at Sore Fingers bluegrass camp this year. A scholar and a gentleman!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaXqrnoRG0Y

Tony Trischka, with a fun Beatles arrangement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i0lFJWaHWg

Jens Kruger, Swiss-born maker of some of the most exquisite live music I have ever heard!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5qHkxnLtiw

Jim Mills (can't find a good enough "proper" video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFus3OaVtGE

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 04:26 PM

Grow yer own? Nah its not the same if you aint gonna haggle.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 03:21 PM

You've never really heard "The William Tell Overture" until you've heard it played on a hammered dulcimer!

Don Firth

(Especially if the dulcimer player is a little bit hammered also.)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 01:46 PM

You're right about the Dowling/Dowland mistake. Dunno where I got that from. I've seen the guy's name written down many many times, listened to his music on myspace and cdbaby, and every time had it in my head that he was Dowland (ie exactly the same as the composer). Bit of minor dyslexia there... That's almost a shame... would be nice if a Brit banjo fiend shared the same name as a Renaissence-era lutenist.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 01:07 PM

I've never really managed to play a banjo, or anything else except a phonograph or cd player, but I made a banjo once ....well, sorta...

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 12:57 PM

oh yes, the hammered dulcimer,very useful for a picnic,for slicing the hard boiled eggs.
the problem with the HD,is that everything is legato,its opposite is the bowed psaltery,Iam surprised there have been no duos with this combination.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: SharonA
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 12:54 PM

I would like to invite all banjo-playing Mudcatters to supply links to shots of themselves playing banjoes...

How about a pic of me playing my mandobanjo -- would that do?

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Mavis Enderby
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 12:19 PM

Tim - Gourds are just waiting for the first frost to be harvested from the allotment. This is going to be an organic banjo!

Pete.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,Goodnight Gracie
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 12:01 PM

Well maybe us banjo players do get a bad rap. But I don't think it is so bad as say hammered dulcimer players or bagpipe players. I think it helps to maintain a sense of humor. One of my favorite sayings is what the old time string band Roustabout used to have plastered on some lovely orange baseball caps, "old time music, it is better than it sounds."

Gracie

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Rasener
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 11:40 AM

LOL BF

>>Posted by Banjiman
OK I'm wrong, I'll go eat my banjo.<<

Don't forget the salt and vinegar and let us know how it tasted. :-)

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:31 AM

I love my banjo and I love the jokes

"After 25 years the rest of the band realised the banjo player had been miming to a Tape"

Gerry

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:30 AM

How much for the Gourd?????

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Mavis Enderby
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:11 AM

One of my favourites:

rollin' and tumblin'

I'm planning to make a gourd banjo after seeing this!

I'm also a big fan of pretty much anything Cathy Moore does too.

So much good banjo stuff out there. Go look!

Pete.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: olddude
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 09:03 AM

My friends Barry and Cathead doing "The old Spinning Wheel"
The old Spinning Wheel

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: GUEST,BanjoRay
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:53 AM

Guest Matt Milton got his wires slightly crossed, I think. The past winner of the Winfield banjo competition was John Dowling, not John Dowland.
Ray

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Acorn4
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:49 AM

I think all the links have shown what a versatile instrument it can be -

Here's our local man:-

Banjo Dez

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:05 AM

LOL
No don't do that Paul,I "LIKE" hearing you play!

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 06:28 AM

Nowadays, you get a banjo out of its case and people start demanding "Duelling Banjoes" (or "that squeal like a pig" tune, or some such).
But I come from the era when the sight of a banjo provoked cries for this

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 06:22 AM

Great clips. Keep them coming. Audio is fine, doesn't have to be video.
Guy Wolff's harem of banjo players was particularly good I thought.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Banjiman
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 05:50 AM

"Posting someone or something as "The Best" is a bit American teen chaps."


Awesome dude!!!




OK I'm wrong, I'll go eat my banjo.

Subject: RE: I play the banjo and I am proud of it
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 02:40 AM

Wow Patrick Costello.
Posting someone or something as "The Best" is a bit American teen chaps.
All the clips are of people who can play better than I ever will.
But to say they are the best,even if you do qualify that in some way is a bit "Naff"?
Anyway I have enjoyed this thread so far and so to Bed....
Goodnight All
Now where did I put that warming pan.......