Banjo pickers ...
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@chipwithrow Jan 2022
... or strummers, frailers, clawhammerers?
I got my banjo before my first 50/90 in 2009, and I've gone through multiple phases of trying to become a serious bluegrass picker. Now I pick it up a few weeks each year and just play it however I want - still mostly picking.
I'm starting out this FAWM with banjo intent, but I'm sure I'll get to my other instruments, too. (Guitar is my main one, and then I go through ukulele, mandolin, and piano phases.)
Years ago when I was a music journalist, I interviewed two of my banjo heroes (and incredibly nice guys), Tony Trischka and Bela Fleck. And's Bela's awesome bass accomplice, Victor Wooten. But I didn't play banjo yet.
I know there are other FAWMer banjo-ists out there! -
@mandolinda Jan 2022
A former boyfriend(while in college) encouraged me to play his banjo, and then encouraged me to buy my own. We played and learned claw hammer together. But then he dumped me for ??? Reason, and I have had a love hate relationship with my banjo for the last 50 years. I play it a bit, but not well.
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@tseaver Jan 2022
I will be frailing away on mine fershure this year.
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@whispermouse Jan 2022
I play clawhammer and a liiiiiitle bit of 3-finger. Banjo will probably make an appearance on at least one of my songs this year!
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@tuneslayer Jan 2022
Clawhammer represent. In the best of times Scruggs style seems to take more fingers than I can get working together, and I was messing with two finger picking when i got sidelined with a malady I can't pronounce that keeps me from being able to work a fretboard. So while I try to figure out if my hand can be fixed, I'll be using my computer to make music -- but you can bet I'll be dropping a banjo into my songs at least once in a while.
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@dragondreams Jan 2022
I've kind of been challenged to do something on banjo by @johnstaples.
Mine's a banjitar though. Can I still mingle with you cool kids? -
@johnstaples Jan 2022
@dragondreams you are more than welcome here! And if it sounds like a banjo it IS a banjo! Can't wait to hear what awesome banjo stuff you create!
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@regis Jan 2022
I started building cigar box guitars this last year. My third build was a 4-string resonator with banjo tuning. It might make an appearance this year.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ri8ny47tvsd59fa/CBG%20003.HEIC?dl=0 -
@kenmattsson Jan 2022
I have a banjolele, and it's vintage from the 40's or so. I need to bring it in the shop as it needs some adjustments, so maybe I'll have it back for something in the last half of February.
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@chipwithrow Jan 2022
@regis - that's a cool instrument!
I have a 4-string electric instrument (not my banjo) that I use as a slide guitar - the body is a German cookie tin. The friend who made it is also a woodworker, so the wood parts of it look sharp, too. He sells a lot to folks who just hang them up as art.
@tuneslayer - Your mention of two-finger inspired me to dig out my copy of The Complete 5-String Banjo Player by Tony Trischka. No two-finger or clawhammer in it, but a bunch of 3-finger variations.
So I looked up 2-finger on YouTube, watched a bit of a video, and now I'm intrigued.
I used to wear picks on three fingers (plastic on thumb, metal on index and middle) but now I just use the thumb pick. Sounds better for recording, at least for me. -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
@chipwithrow I was following Dr. Josh Turknett's Brainjo courses for a couple of years until I got sidelined by what they think is cubital tunnel syndrome which limits my finger/hand strength. He's a bit expensive ($20+/month) but he seems to know his stuff, and he has courses for two-finger, three-finger and clawhammer styles. And he has a number of videos up on Youtube.
As for picks, I've never worn them, mostly because I've never been able to get used to the feel of them. I'll try for a day or two and always go back to bare fingers. -
@auditasum Jan 2022
@kenmattsson I also have a vintage banjolele! It's constantly going out of tune :/
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@scubed Jan 2022
My Deering Artisan Goodtime open-back banjo will get some clawhammer action on at least a few songs.
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@kenmattsson Jan 2022
@auditasum That's why I need to bring it into the shop. Haven't figured out what I need to do to make it really playable, but hopefully they can fix it up. I'll just have to play one of my other 4 ukuleles then (or the autoharp, or concertina, or Merlin, or recorders, or, or, or....)
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@erbaer Jan 2022
I have a banjo that I like to play now and then. It is a Harmony 5-string from the 70's...it can hold a tune forever. I usually manage to get it into a few songs during FAWM.
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@erbaer Jan 2022
I agree with @chipwithrow I don't used picks, either. I play more guitar than anything and picks are difficult to get used to. Anybody know of a good banjo mute? I used to have a stainless one that friction-clipped onto the bridge. Can't seem to find a good one now.
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@improvyssey Jan 2022
I have a 5-string banjo, a tenor banjo, and a couple of banjo ukes, but it's probably fair to say that I've learned nothing about proper technique and just noodle away on the instruments however I like. I find that my cerebral palsy makes it impossible for me to play the banjo as quickly as I really need to, so I've had to develop my own way of doing things.
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@phylo Jan 2022
I have an old nylon string fretless banjo. It's weird, and I know some chords but I just end up playing 'guitar' on it. SO, I bought a six string banjitar. There we go...
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@w1n Jan 2022
I have a weird Turkish cousin of the banjo, a Cümbüş, just like a banjo it has metallic resonator body and a skin soundboard, but it has oud fret less neck with 6 string courses. Hope to find some use for it this year. There is also an old tenor banjo in the studio, it’s not in the best shape, has problems staying in tune, but it works for some short overdubs.
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@chipwithrow Jan 2022
@tseaver - I just knew there was a banjo joke coming related to muting!
One reason I pick with fingers is so I can practice after my wife has gone to bed. Playing with picks easily doubles the volume!
Since a few of us are mentioning kinds of banjos - mine is a Gold Tone, not top of the line but a solid instrument. I'd love to have a carrying-around banjo that's lighter and capable of sustaining some outdoor wear and tear. -
@darcistrutt Jan 2022
I’m hoping to get one banjo song out this FAWM. I haven’t played for awhile. There’s still time to practice before the 1st.
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@timfatchen Jan 2022
@darcistrutt That's what I thought with my fiddle. Um....[arthritis]....no....
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@mikeskliar Jan 2022
so I have an old old tenor banjo in not-great-but still playable shape (the tuning pegs are the old simple ones, so it goes out of tune fairly easily) and a cheap five string with a strange problem- with the fifth string (that short one) the tuning assembly somehow broke, so it's been for the past few years a four string. Funny, i've been playing guitar with a standard flatpick for so long that I got used to it and my banjo playing is usually 'just the flatpick' which of course is not 'correct'... but it is nice and loud! (not sure if thats a good thing!)
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@andygetch Jan 2022
When I began to learn open tunings on guitar and learned that guitar open G is similar enough to five string banjo, my wife found a relatively inexpensive no-name resonator banjo at a local antique mall. Honestly I strum or play arpeggios bare fingered similar to how I play guitar. My brother-in-law has an old Gibson tenor banjo that is fun to play. After a couple of years of occasional looking I was visiting Nashville in 2016 and found an old used Kay tenor banjo. I usually tune it to open something (currently C5) with less tension than the traditional tenor tuning. Both live up to the old banjo tuning jokes and occasionally make an appearance in songwriting. However, I do not consider myself a banjo picker LOL.
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@tan482 Jan 2022
Banjo will def feature for me this year! I am becoming more and more obsessed with it! This year I even did my first gig with my duo exclusively on banjo - a huge moment but not without a huge helping of imposter syndrom haha! Looking foward to hearing all the banjo pickin, folks! :-)
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@sjbatavia Jan 2022
Does banjo uke count? If so I’m sure it will make an appearance.
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@burrsettles Jan 2022
i have a tenor banjo i bought for $50 at an antique store in 1998. i used it for lots of FAWM demos in the early days. maybe i'll break it out again this FAWM... the action is pretty high, though, and i've never had much luck adjusting it down... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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@timfatchen Jan 2022
@regis You HAVE to use that CBG/banjo/resonator now! I have all the bits in my drawers but "never got round to it" and indeed there are now 6 VBG build requests ahead of it...sigh... Inspire Me!
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@regis Jan 2022
I’ll see what I can come up with, @timfatchen!
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@aeye Jan 2022
So when you pick a banjo, how can you tell if it's ripe or not?
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@tseaver Jan 2022
@timfatchen Here is a CBG-inspired banjo I built a long while back in order to have something to teach myself frailing:
https://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/xxx-009-strung-up
The resonator is a plate from what was alleged by the junk shop dealer here in Fredericksburg, Virginia to have been part of a Civil War era mess kit: a dubious claim, at best, as there weren't any standardized kits issued by either side, AFAIK. -
@timfatchen Jan 2022
@tseaver you realise as well as @regis you're now committed to a CBanjoG song too? Nice build BTW, I only got as far as sourcing the round biscuit tin. But I think a dogbowl will do better, the biscuit tin isn't strong enough. (I've got the neck mahogany, the tuning machines, the strings, the fretwire, bridge and nut bone, all I have to do is build the thing...)
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@chipwithrow Jan 2022
@aeye - I just added "My Banjo's Ripe For Pickin'" to my possible song title list.
Good looking instrument with an interesting story, @tseaver. You inspired me to tune my cigar box (well, cookie tin) guitar to a banjo tuning, but I think the action is too high - I play it with a slide.
It occurred to me today that my banjo should have a name, although it's gone 12 years without one. I'm not going to force one - it will come to me. -
@carleybaer Jan 2022
On a lark I was looking up banjo building kits because I really want a banjo and I somehow feel more justified if I have to work for it, you know? Then someone in a different thread mentioned license plate guitars and now I want to build one of those too. Probably too ambitious for the weekend before FAWM though…. right?
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@tseaver Jan 2022
@carleybaer If you have familial / spousal "brownie point" budget to spare (given the upcoming FAWM drain), I'd say go for it. From my experience, given that you have the tools and shop space available, the time from a cold start to plugging in (you *really* want to use some kind of pickup for your early builds IMO) can be as little as an hour or two. Check out these links from Cigar Box Nation:
- https://www.cigarboxnation.com/page/free-plans
- https://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/class101 -
@tuneslayer Jan 2022
@aeye Thump it, and if doesn't have that nice banjo ring to it, leave it on the banjo tree a while longer.
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@tuneslayer Jan 2022
@carleybaer Back in the day most people made their own banjos, either because nobody nearby sold them or because they wouldn't have been able to afford one if someone did. Here's a modern recreation of a typical gourd banjo, made out of a hollowed out gourd, carpet tacks, a goat skin or similar head, and a neck with fiddle style tuning pegs and strings. I can't tell if this one has a fifth string by looking. although it sounds like it does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea9GzQ7331w
These days if you want to build a banjo there are kits out there, or the banjo is unique in that you can choose a pot (or pot parts like rims and tone rings), a neck, a bridge and strings and assemble your own if you know what you're doing or have guidance. Although speaking only for myself, I think I'd do better to have a competent luthier build one to my design and stick to things I know how to build, like computer programs. -
@coolparadiso Jan 2022
Would be an odd Fawm if my Banjo didn't appear. I am sure a banjo song is in the ether!
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@aeye Jan 2022
@tuneslayer thanks for the tip! I should go check my banjo tree to see if they are ready. @chipwithrow cant wait to hear it
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@tseaver Feb 2022
I thought this one was going somewhere else, but it turned into a fiddle tune instrumental (w/ frailing banjo). Who am I to argue?
https://fawm.org/songs/129747/ -
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@regis Feb 2022
It's not the focal point of the song, but I think the CBanjoG (as @timfatchen referred to it) pairs nicely with some synthy nerdy nonsense.
https://fawm.org/songs/131541/ -
@max Feb 2022
https://fawm.org/songs/search/?q=banjo
49 banjo tagged songs so far. -
@scubed Feb 2022
I did a banjo song the other day:
https://fawm.org/songs/131104/ -
@chipwithrow Feb 2022
11 of my 19 songs so far have banjo, with at least one more on the way, so banjo mission accomplished.
If I had to choose one of my instruments to focus on - like the only instrument I'd take to a secluded place to practice - it would be banjo. -
@timfatchen Mar 2022
Hiho...found a banjo with a split in the neck at the local pawnshop. Took it away for $25 because I reckon i can fix the neck, then clean the rest up, restring and lo...I have a Beginner's Banjo (Karrera) for about $40. I've already threatened the neighbourhood with it. For once the cars stopped dead at the pedestrian crossing as I walked it home. See what you lot are responsible for?? OTOH it's much less work than building a 5-string biscuit tin banjo...for which I've had all the bits for ?4 years....
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@chipwithrow Mar 2022
@timfatchen - I have a 4-string cookie tin guitar that I play with a slide. I tried tuning it like a banjo but the action seemed too high. But now I'm looking at it with renewed interest in banjo-ing it.
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
CBGs & cookie tins & numberplates etc intended for slides have the action way too high for picking with frets fingered (indeed, many leave frets off altogether!)
. Me, I'm fretful, so my CBG is fretted and has low action (electric guitar low)
