Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 06:57 AM

Well guys I must thank you. I finally took the price tag off that strap I bought and attached it to my banjo last night. I'm glad I did. You have helped me be much more open to getting use to it and to start getting use to feeling more comfortable playing standing up. I have this feeling down the road I will be really, really thankful that I did.

Little Neo

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 10:42 PM

Yes, and a scrum cap, if you're going to be a prop. . . PB

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: bill\sables
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 06:55 AM

Geoff the Duck was telling me last night about taking the nude photos for the Mudcat Calandar. He plays banjo and usually uses a strap but on this ocasion had to disregard the strap. It was either that or turn mudcat into a porn site.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 07:52 PM

But geez Nancy, what an act she could have........Lois and her Bouncing Banjo Boobs"...........have to be the right venue though.............

Spaw

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Nancy King
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 07:41 PM

My college roommate and still best friend, Lois Lyman, once tried a big wide elastic strap on her banjo. "This is gonna be great," she said, and it was, until she pushed down on the banjo a bit. It bounced back vigorously and painfully. Bracket burn!

--Nancy

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Margo
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 06:32 PM

-Sky Hook!

'Spaw, no way! You played bassoon? No way! ,br>
I guess you would have to hang it around your neck if you wanted to stand. Hey how about that? Instead of a millstone around your neck, a bassoon! "She was a bassoon to him..." Oh well. Not quite the same. :o) Margo

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Clifton53
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 06:20 PM

Bassoonists go both ways????? Yikes!!!!

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 04:51 PM

I suppose you could hang it from the ceiling, with counterweights? The damn things are almost always so heavy... I have come across a few really nice light frailing type banjos which aren't, but most of them...It must be like carrying an anvil around with you. I can understand anyone being reluctant to hang one from their neck.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: annamill
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 04:29 PM

This is a really Mudcat type thread, filled with humor, music, knowledge, and 'spaw! (I'm amazed it took so long for him to get in here with this thread name)

I always use a guitar strap and I don't even play yet. You should see my strap!

Love, annamill

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 01:48 PM

If you want to be able to play sitting or standing, practice with a strap, and attach the two ends at brackets that allow the banjo to hang at the right angle for playing and at the right height so that, when sitting, the banjo rests on the lap but the strap takes some of the weight and keeps the instrument at that angle I just mentioned. Then sitting or standing it'll be the same.

I've often noticed rock guitarists who have the instrument really low and parallel to the ground. How they avoid CTS with all those barre chords and difficult wrist positions, I'll never know. The "Buddy Holly" position is the best for avoiding wrist problems, I'd say.

Use the strap to get the angle you want. On banjo, I've noticed that the weight of the neck makes it want to rotate downward, and the strap helps check that inclination (pun alert).

However, I have been known to play without the strap many a time, and to even remove strap if I'm sitting in a chair where I slump. When that happens, the now-loose strap falls down around my back and is in the way, so I must either take it off or find a better chair, and the circumstances often require taking it off.

But I recommend using them at most times.

Bob C.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 01:08 PM

Actually Margo, even great concert bassoonists go both ways..............that'd be seat or neck strap. Sherman Walt, possibly the greatest of all time, often wore a neck strap and suggested that bassoonists should be able to accomodate either. As a soloist, he often stood.

Spaw--former bassoonist

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Margo
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:45 PM

Bassoonists sit on a strap to "suspend" the bassoon...

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 04:21 PM

Joe. I used to use an elastic strap under my legs for holding the dulcimer down, but it felt weird. It looked even weirder the one time I stood up and forgot I was "strapped". The dulcimer fell down my legs and crashed to the floor (sounds like a banjo joke). What I use now is a sheet of that weird rubbery material (the "sticky non-stic" stuff) under the instrument. Works fine.

Rick

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 03:41 PM

Well, so what about dulcimer straps, like I asked above? Is that the usual thing, that people put the strap under their legs to hold the dulcimer on their lap? I'd never noticed a strap on a dulcimer before, but it seemed like a good idea.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:25 PM

NURD NEWS FLASH!!

Kirk McGee (of Sam and Kirk McGee...from Sunny Tennessee) used a (sort of) "Willie" or "Sax" strap for his banjo! He attached it with a hook to one of his brackets (on top).

Geez, I guess I still Love Mudcat. Where else would anyone care about Sax straps for banjos?

Rick

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Jon W.
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:16 PM

Actually they're called bracket hooks or tension hooks, bracket shoes or lugs, if they are the hexagonal type.

Anyhoo, what about the issue with open back banjos of the sound being muffled by the player's body if the banjo pot is held right up against the body? Wouldn't a strap cause this? I've got to admit I don't use one. I do use a seatbelt though.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 07:31 AM

Seamus a back crossing strap seems like a great idea for heavy instruments. That is a design they use for infant carriers too. But I find a harness for my banjo would feel so unatural.

After reading these postings I do plan to take the price tag off the strap I bought, put it on and start getting us to playing standing up once in awhile. Seems like the wise thing to do.

Margo as for 'the screw things that hold the head on dig into my leg. (Sorry about not knowing the proper terminology - someone correct me'.......The right terminology is.....Those 'fricken' screw things 'kill' my leg.

Pat have you come across any of those magnetic undies designed in thong style? I guess I could reverse the panties above and wear them front to back, but those leg straps are so unattractive.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST,Seamus Kennedy
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 05:11 AM

Elderly Instruments carries an X-style strap that crosses over the back, and spreads the weight of the instrument more evenly. Might want to check it out. I always wear a strap with all my instruments - mandolin, banjo and guitar, and I wear them sitting or standing. You never know what could cause you to drop your instrument.

All the best

Seamus

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Poo-Twa
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:50 AM

Margo- Why Not? You could then clip the banjo directly to the "banjo bra". No strap involved at all. BlueJay, (at Poo-Twa's house).

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:43 AM

Watch out for the venue set-up. If the stage faces south, you'll wind up playing with your rear end pointing toward the audience.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Margo
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:27 AM

Oh goood, 'Spaw! Do I need a negative field next to my body? Positivly not! :0) I prefer a plus, not a minus. Something...uplifting! Hey, you know those "Brunhilde" type brassiers, with the copper cups? Why not a "banjo bra"! Hah! Two heads are better than one?

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:25 AM

And then again, maybe Bonnie is used to holding her banjo down lower than Margo, so she could use some of these jobbies. I like the crotchless design....very sexy! You could wear both so you had the freedom to sit or stand with the banjo low or high, but I'd be worried about forks flying off the tables toward you.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Jan 01 - 12:06 AM

Well hell Margo, I got just the thing for ya'!!!! Get yourself a good size magnet, or a chunk of steel even, and mount it in your banjo and then get yourself one of these suckers, and you'll be all set to go! Watch out you don't get snagged on a passing Peterbilt................

Spaw

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Margo
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 11:51 PM

Ah Bonnie! Yes, it must be a highly personal thing. For me, the banjo is much like a BRA! My right breast rests on the head by the arm rest. I gotta have a strap! But also, I find that if I don't use the strap, the screw things that hold the head on dig into my leg. (Sorry about not knowing the proper terminology - someone correct me!)

So here's a rich moment I had last week: I'm at my yearly check-up when my gynecologist is examining my breasts and suddenly says, "Oh, you play banjo?". I first thought "Woah! Where did that come from?" Then I realized she was looking at the banjo charm on my necklace. I thought I had "banjo breasts" or some such syndrome... Haha, I guess I do! Margo

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 07:51 PM

Bonnie, when I stopped "playing out" ten years ago, I put my strap away and played sitting down{big martin guitty}.Now as I try to brush up, I'm having a devil of a time gettin' used to the differnt angle when standing. Get used to the strap and you'll be ready no matter what. Mike

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 07:30 PM

Peter dear, when I am laid down to rest, I am going to have all my banjos buried with me. The Rabbi at our synagogue has no qualms about what goes down with us as long as we pay our annual membership fees.

Little Neo

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Midchuck
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 07:21 PM

I always use a strap with the guitar, even sitting down. It's a little more stable.

I would advise, however, not using a strap with the banjo.

If you should suddenly be struck dead while playing - heart attack, meteor strike, whatever - and the banjo is not on a strap, there's a chance it will fall away from you. If it's on a strap, it will remain with you when you go down.

And the Church has ordained that a person found dead with a banjo on their person may not be buried in consecrated ground.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Matt_R
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 06:42 PM

Oh, I know many things, Amergin.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 06:28 PM

Dear Abby,

I have to admit that I am very inexperienced with Women with Dulcimers. I came across a very attractive woman with a dulcimer yesterday. This woman had the dulcimer on her lap, with the strap under her thighs. Is this normal?

-Joe O-

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Amergin
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 06:11 PM

And you know that how, Matt?

I wear straps to keep my britches from falling around my ankles....

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Matt_R
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 06:05 PM

You can get some nice sex straps at your local Adult Toy Store.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: mousethief
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 05:58 PM

Yeah, but there are sax straps and there are sax straps. I don't imagine a baritone sax is much lighter than a banjo; aren't bari sax straps heavier and thicker than straps for a tenor sax?

Alex

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: bill\sables
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 05:56 PM

The problem with using a sax type strap on a banjo is they are a very heavy instrument as opposed to a clasical guitar or sax hanging on your neck and would probably give you neck problems in the end. I once played a ceileidh for about 4 hours standing with a banjo and melodeon, next day my right shoulder ached from the melodeon and my left with the banjo and I could hardly move that evening. Since then I have always sat while playing for a ceilidh.
Bill

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 05:24 PM

The one that Rick is going to whack over your head for that joke Bert.

Simpler than Willies would be a modified sax strap and simply hook it onto the best center of gravity around the head.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Bert
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 04:50 PM

Rick, what kind of banjo has a sound hole? Or have you been busy with the Dremel tool again?

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Peter T.
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 04:28 PM

Aaaaaarrrggghhhh. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Troll
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 03:27 PM

Great one Rick! Really funny. Ha Ha Ha Ha.

troll (sheesh)

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 02:41 PM

Peter T asked:

"What about guitars, Rick? You and I have never talked about the pros and cons of using them." yours, Peter T.

Peter I'm hugely in favour of using guitars!

Sincerely

Yours

Rick

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 01:23 PM

McGrath, yes I tend to sit like that with the chair. I have one leg raised on a chair leg in front of me leaning on that attachment part between two legs of the chair. My banjo is straddled on an angle and it seems to suit me fine. In fact I am doing it right now, hands free, typing to you guys with the banjo staying stable & stationary.

Oy Rick, does this mean we will be designing two take-down chairs? Maybe a foot stool would work fine for this set-up. Or maybe designing a take-down chair with a pull out foot stool. What a gismo that would be.

I'm quite sure some day a dog will pass me by and show me the right way to relieve my water works on the chair leg.
Last time I wore a skirt I think I was in public school.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 01:09 PM

I was going to suggest you might try the classical type of device, as used by Willie Nelson and Segovia. Dunnio if it's work with a banjo, because the centre of gravity is at a different place. Putting your leg up on a chair might be the right way for you. Depends what you're wearing...

soccer ("football" east of the Atlantic). Also South of the Rio Grande, West of the Pacific... - in fact just about anywhere outside the USA (and I suppose Canada).

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 01:07 PM

I use a strap when I play standing up. I don't use it when I am sitting down. I mostly play sitting down.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:51 PM

JAB, you play your banjo at work??

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:49 PM

Bonnie:

We seem to think alike. They say you should wear a strap so you don't have to support the banjo with the left hand. Like you, I have one but can't seem to get it adjusted where it is comfortable. However, most of the time when I practice I'm laying back in my office chair with my feet up on the desk. My left are rests on one of the chair arms, and the banjo sits in my lap, and I frail away with my right arm. So, the banjo is pretty stationary when I take my left hand away. It's a bad habit I know, but it sure is comfortable :-). This may be a problem when I ever get good enough to be able to perform.

One advantage of open backs is that they are light enough that you don't get back trouble with/without a strap. Those BG banjos are HEAVY!

JAB

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Peter T.
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:46 PM

What about guitars, Rick? You and I have never talked about the pros and cons of using them.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:38 PM

What's the deal with the chairs? I just sit on the floor!

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: mousethief
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:29 PM

Oh. BANJO strap. I thought this was about soccer ("football" east of the Atlantic).

Alex

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:19 PM

And Bonnie. If I were as little as you, I'd just get three screw-on stool legs for the old banjo case. Yup. Use stick-on Velcro to add a little nylon sleeve onto the neck part of the case to hold the legs when not in use. Add a flip-up backrest on a little piano hinge and there ya go. No arms to get in your way!

You do have a hardshell case, right?

Hardi has a nice lightweight nylon camp chair with a space-age frame that folds like an umbrella into a little nylon case about the size of an arrow quiver. Like a director's chair in proportion and size, but no arms, and weather-proof. Shoulder strap on the bag too, to carry easy. Good stability on uneven ground.

Then there's inflatables, but I fear what people would say if you go that route.

~S~

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:10 PM

Hey Rick. For my portable autoharp stand? I use a shortened aluminum walker with a plywood board that rests one edge on it and the other on my lap to get the right tilt angle! SO popular at the nursing home gigs.

If I put a nonskid pad on it with a neck rest, I'll be able to slide the same way!

My plan has been to put wheels on the walker so it is also a little pull cart, with a canvas sling bag in attached! (In pstchedelic colors of course.) It won't quite hold the big Crate amp though.... I know, I'll put wheels and a motor on that and ride it as I tow the walker!

Hey. It's MUSIC.... whatever it takes, it's gotta be done.

~S~

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 12:09 PM

Yep Rick, I'm notorious for hanging over the side of the bed, playing guitar upside down.

Subject: RE: Do I Really Need To Wear A Strap?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 11:56 AM

I like Matt's idea of playing flat on your back. Done that a million times (never on stage thank god). Love lookin' up at the ceiling!

Bonnie. Great idea!!!

You've got some carpentry skill don't you? You know I made that combination music stand (desk) carry-all. Why don't you make yourself a little take-down chair (stool) that fits in your bag. If you want some help in a design, remember I'm a closet inventor!!

keep on pickin'

Rick