Grateful Dead Music Forum

Is anybody on here playing any banjo, or getting into listening to some banjo music? I have been starting to play a little five string, just wondering what is anybody's favorite stuff?

I have a 70s "no name" jap banjo that seems to impress alot of more seasoned players.
I love tooling around with it. just dont know enough of the music

I have a Deering GoodTime Special - I play mainly traditional bluegrass on it (i.e. scruggs)

Stuff like fireball mail, foggy mountain breakdown, little darling pal of mine, little maggie, etc.

It is an amazing instrument and I love the sound but the discipline required to become a truly capable bluegrass player is pretty phenomenal. I love listening to it and messing around but playing it is far more rigid than anything in the "jam scene" - bluegrass jams are pretty strictly structured. All IMHO of course.

I play guitar in a bluegrass band but I love banjo music. I would also check out J.D. Crowe - especially the first "New South" CD - he's still out there playing and is worth a listen.

love the 70's look

Our banjo player is the real deal too:

Great video! @ 2:17 does your banjo player have scrugg tuners on that banjo or is he detuning/tuning by ear? Foot stompin' good time man!

TCSNED with his RAMONES shirt on at a bluegrass show

JonnyBoy wrote:TCSNED with his RAMONES shirt on at a bluegrass show

lol - I used to do a bluegrass version of I Wanna Be Sedated

Great video! I really like that kind of bluegrass thing, and that kind of singing always is something I like. I initially started out picking with three fingers, but quickly changed to clawhammer which seems to be the one for old men with their hands crippled up from a lifetime of manual labor (such as me). Gonna leave the bluegrass for the virtuosos. You can find videos of little kids today playing like Tony Rice; it's kind of spooky. Like a friend of mine said, so you can play like that by the time you're 13, what do you do then? Become a brain surgeon?

Does anybody know: is a resonator something which is removable from a banjo, or is it a different instrument from an open back banjo?

javalina wrote:Great video! I really like that kind of bluegrass thing, and that kind of singing always is something I like. I initially started out picking with three fingers, but quickly changed to clawhammer which seems to be the one for old men with their hands crippled up from a lifetime of manual labor (such as me). Gonna leave the bluegrass for the virtuosos. You can find videos of little kids today playing like Tony Rice; it's kind of spooky. Like a friend of mine said, so you can play like that by the time you're 13, what do you do then? Become a brain surgeon?

Does anybody know: is a resonator something which is removable from a banjo, or is it a different instrument from an open back banjo?

They're generally different instruments I don't think they'll work too well with the resonator removed but I'll ask our banjoist to see what he says. I play with another really great bluegrass guitar player who plays a mean clawhammer style banjo - I love that stuff.

I play Banjo, mostly into OAITW style and related bluegrass.
I do a cool version of the Allman Bros tune Mellissa in the key of D. It's a good workout for banjo chords and a few licks.
I play a Dean Backwoods-6, tuned 6-string bluegrass style to g,e,D,G,B,D (the lowercase are high strings, both .010's), I have a 5th fret capo for the high g.
The only difference from 5 string banjo is the addition of the e-string in the 5th string position. The high-g moves up to the string 6 position, and is capo'd at the 5th fret.

I took the low E off my squier strat today and put a high e on there and a spike at the 5th fret so I had high G, low G, D, G, B, D. It actually worked, but I took it all apart again and returned it to guitar tuning. I'm going back on the tugs again after a brief attempt to make a living ashore, and I was looking for something indestructible to bring with me instead of my long neck Pete Seeger 5 string (which I'm afraid of wrecking).

The thing I like about banjo (to bring this around to something Dead related) is that I can imagine making some kind of arrangements of the more traditional Dead songs for solo banjo. On guitar I feel like I have to have the rest of the band, and bass with no drums is like one hand clapping.

I have put my 6 sting banjo tuning on a Tele I have here.
Makes a good practice instrument for late night quiet playing.
You know what's a good banjo tune and a good workout musically?... Looks Like Rain.
There is a 5th string capo device called "The Suspender" that is a cool/handy thing to have (it replaces the spike, but sometimes will go flying across the room).
I've used it to get the high-g note on 6-string banjo and 6-string electric and acoustic guitars.


Check the How To Use It page:
http://www.thesuspendercapo.com/index.htm

javalina wrote: Does anybody know: is a resonator something which is removable from a banjo, or is it a different instrument from an open back banjo?

The resonator is the wooden back of a traditional (aptly named - Resonator banjo). Generally these are your standard 5 string banjos. Generally speaking resonator banjos are used in the Scruggs style 3 finger roll playing style.....what most consider traditional bluegrass.

Open back banjo's are an older instrument and have been played claw hammer style back to (and past) the civil war period. My understanding is as with resonator guitars it was born out of necessity (group arrangements and a need for greater volume).

For lots of excellent info check out the book 'Earl Scruggs and the 5-string banjo" - history lesson and banjo playing guide in one

Pete, you should bring your banjo to the 3rd-Thursday-of-the-month unplugged bar floor jam at Biddy McGraw's...( oh crap I just realized my next gig is 3rd Thurs of next month ).

Anyway, due to the un-miked kitchen jam nature, it's mostly fiddles and mandos taking the solos, and banjos are welcomed. Last time it was me on guitar, Mark Robarge of 4 on the Floor on washtub/upright bass, Josh Collum on mandolin, Ellie Holzemeyer doing wicked fiddle, and Biggs on brushed snare. Oh, and wicked bassist Tyler Strauss with his banjo that he's just starting to learn. It's relaxing fun for me to just sit in the background and help drive stuff forward with chords, and sing when needed. nice to not have anything to plug in but a tuner!

Pete, I would love to hear you play "Looks Like Rain" (or anything Dead) on the banjo.