Banjo.com

Alan Bibey

2012-01-22T18:36:00.001-08:00

The name Alan Bibey is well known to bluegrass music fans. Since the early 1980s, Alan Bibey has made a name for himself as an incredibly talented mandolinist. In fact, he has been named Mandolin Player of the Year by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America in 2007, 2009, and 2010.

Nowadays Bibey lends his mandolin and vocal skills to the band Grasstowne. The rest of the group includes Dustin Pyrtle on guitar/vocals, Justin Jenkins on banjo, Kameron Keller on bass, and Adam Haynes on fiddle. Grasstowne’s first two projects, ‘The Road Headin’ Home’ and ‘The Other Side of Towne,’ went to number one and two on the National Bluegrass charts.

What is Crowe Spacing?

2012-01-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of the term “Crowe spacing”? It refers to a banjo which has strings that are equally spaced, except at the bridge where they are one eighth of an inch further apart. Each string is therefore 1/32-inch further apart than standard banjo string spacing.

There is debate as to whether Crowe spacing is better or worse than standard spacing. Some musicians argue that the wider spacing improves overall tone and is slightly easier to play. Others contend that the wider spacing slows them down and is thus more difficult to play. What do you think? Have you ever played a banjo with Crowe spacing?

The Joy of Being Left-Handed

2012-01-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

Did you know that some cultures back in early history considered being left handed was a negative thing? It’s hard to imagine the stereo types that have come into play. There is no way that I could even fathom a world were such stereotypes exist in that nature when it comes to being a “lefty” or a “righty.” I always found it fascinating when I would notice someone being able to write left handed, let alone play in instrument left handed.|

One particular instrument that has always fascinated me was the harp. To know that there are musicians that can play the harp is amazing in itself, but to find out that there are left handed harps is even more intriguing. I believe it takes a certain amount of skill to be able to learn how to work with particular instruments and just every day tools in a world that is solely based on the misconception that everyone is a “righty.”

The Acoustic Guitar

2012-01-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

There are many types of guitars. Musicians have been playing the guitar for centuries. Not only musicians but people that just love the art of music as a whole enjoy the sound that guitars make. You can do many different sounds with a guitar.

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. As with everything else that evolves so does the guitar. You can even make an acoustic guitar into an electric sounding guitar with the right wiring connected to it. The guitar is one of the many instruments that will stand the test of time.

Lee Oskar and His Harmonica

2012-01-22T18:25:00.000-08:00

Lee Oskar was six years of age when he was given his first harmonica. One of his biggest influences was Ray Charles growing up. When he moved to the states he would play on the streets with his harmonica for money. With the sax from another member and his harmonica they started a horn section of the band War.

Lee Oskar is known not only for his group War, but also as the manufacturer of Lee Oskar harmonica. Oskar is fundamental in the contributions of rock-funk fusion primarily for his harmonica playing. His improve with the harmonica is one that people remember to this day. It is a big part on why War is still a popular rock-funk group.

Banjo History

2012-01-22T18:24:00.001-08:00

Banjo plating is synonymous with country, folk, Irish tradition music and blue grass. But the interesting thing is that it started manifesting in Africa. As enslaved Africans, they adapted other instruments with the same basic design. The influences that Africans had in the development of the music that we hear today are phenomenal.

Through the introduction of the banjo and other musical techniques the banjo with the fiddle is a mainstay. Banjos and fiddles have various strings and some form of drone. Banjos have evolved in style and you can even find electric banjos as well.

Easy Travel With A Guitar

2012-01-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

When you think of a travel guitar it is not what you think. It is not just the traveling with your guitar. When it comes to guitars a few come to mind. You have your acoustic guitar and then there’s the electric guitar.

A travel guitar is a small guitar with a full or nearly full scale length. It is different then the regular normally proportioned half and three quarter scale length guitars intended for children. Travel guitars are airline friendly. This makes it easier to travel with.

Learning to Play Banjo

2012-01-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

If you’re looking to learn a skill that is entertaining, soothing, and expands your mind, you can learn to play banjo. Learning to play banjo stimulates your mind and encourages you to come up with new songs, fostering endless creativity. Banjos for kids are the perfect way to get your child interested in the arts and develop valuable math skills. All you really need is a banjo and a way to learn. You can try to teach yourself, but you’ll learn much more quickly and efficiently if you use one of the following methods.

A banjo teacher is the best way for many people to learn to play banjo. A trained teacher has an organized way to teach the skill, and they can help you avoid bad playing habits before they form. You can also have a friend or family member teach you, and this is even more beneficial if they have learned from a teacher or if they have taught before. You can also learn from banjo books or banjo instructions online, but you really need to focus on this self-driven method. You also lack the advantage of getting personalized feedback and correction from a real person. The final method is to learn from a DVD, which can almost be like having a real teacher with you, without the real-time mistake correction. This is a great option for those who are visual learners.

Electric Banjers

2012-01-22T18:18:00.000-08:00

You can find just about every musical instrument in some kind of electrical fashion. The most common are electric guitars. You can even find an electric violin. Every musical instrument nowadays has a rock type of feel to it.

The use of electric banjos is most common with blue grass and country music. It has a distinctive sound to it. You can point it out in any song that it used in. It is amazing the different techniques that are used for playing instruments.

What is Mother-Of-Pearl?

2012-01-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

For hundreds of years, mother-of-pearl has been used to decorate clothing, knives, guns, watch faces and turquoise jewelry. Many musical instruments include mother-of-pearl accents, including acoustic guitars, saxophones, banjos, violins, and trumpets. Natural mother-of-pearl has the capability of being tinted to almost any color that will complement the piece it accents.

Another name for mother-of-pearl is nacre. Freshwater pearl mussels and pearl oysters as well as other mollusks produce nacre as an iridescent inner shell layer. The majority of mother-of-pearl is produced by abalone native to California and Japan and the pearl oysters of Asia.

Left-Handed Musicians

2012-01-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

Whether you are a lefty or a righty, truth be told lefties have a little bit harder time when it comes to supplies. It’s not as easy to find things like scissors, left handed school supplies, and left handed computer accessories just to name a few. Most of the common things you have to go to a specialty store or order it online.

My mother is a lefty and she told me that she would take trips to Pier 39 and go to the Everything Lefty Shop. That way she could stock up on what she needed. When I went to visit her she took me to the store and because I wanted to show people back home that you can get anything left handed I purchased two left handed banjos. It is quit a conversation piece.

The Duke of Drive

2012-01-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

We’ve heard of the “King of Pop.” We know about the “King of Soul.” We are aware of who the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” is. Have you ever heard of “The Duke of Drive?”

Terry Baucom, is the “The Duke Of Drive.” He has a hard driving traditional style, hence the phrase “The Duke Of Drive.” He’s been a professional banjo player for forty years. He has been the founding member of more bands then most other banjo players. It’s amazing that after forty years he is still going strong and loves it just as much today as he did forty years ago.

The Uke Family

2012-01-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

Ukuleles are traditionally made out of wood, although varieties have been made entirely of plastic. Cheaper ukuleles are made from ply or laminate woods. Some cases, it can come with a soundboard made out of spruce, which is an acoustically superior wood.

There are multiple sizes of a ukulele. The most common are the soprano ukulele, concert ukulele, tenor ukulele, and the baritone ukulele. The standard ukulele is the soprano. This type is the smallest, which is the standard size. In 1920 is when the concert size was developed, which is the soprano. The largest is the baritone, which was created in 1940.

The Most Dulcimer

2012-01-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

The Mother of Folk, , is truly an inspiration. Jean was the youngest of 14 children and slept in one room with her nine sisters in the family’s farm house in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky. As a child she memorized many of the songs that would be influential during her recording career. After graduating from Cumberland College she moved to New York and began to sing her family songs on albums.

The singer and scholar (she was awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship) sang primarily unaccompanied folk songs. Occasionally she would play guitar or lap dulcimer. It wound up being the use of dulcimers that distinguished Ritchie from other musicians in her genre. In fact, she got the name for her 1992 album, “The Most Dulcimer,” after fans would repeatedly ask her, “Which album has the most dulcimer?”

Gifts for Musicians

2012-01-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

You still haven’t gotten the right gift for your friend’s birthday? They also happen to be a musician? Here are some great gift ideas.

~Electric Guitar – Who can resist the electric power and energy that channel through the wiring of this amped music machine? They’ll feel like Slash in no time.

~IPod – These awesome music and media devices are the heart’s desire of musicians and everywhere; rest assured if they don’t have one they want one.

~Gibson Banjos – A unique and magical instrument for any musician; it’s an amazing present, especially if they can already play the guitar.

Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole

2012-01-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

Whenever I travel, I like to learn about the native music. Naturally, when I visited Hawaii I decided to investigate ukulele music. The friends I was staying with during my break recommended listening to the work of the late great Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo‘ole.

The first song they played for me was the ukulele medley of “Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World.” I instantly recognized the song from a variety of movies and television commercials. Intrigued, I started listening to all of his albums chronologically. I particularly enjoyed how he blended other musical genres, like jazz and reggae, into his songs. Kamakawiwo‘ole died in 1997 from weight-related respiratory illness. Ten thousand people attended his funeral and he was only the third person in Hawaiian history to lie in state at the Capitol building.

The Ukulele's New-Found Popularity

2012-01-22T16:57:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret that the ukulele is most commonly associated with Hawaiian music. But, did you know that the instrument was derived from a combination of two Portuguese instruments? Two very different instruments in deed: the braguinha and the cavaquinho. There’s speculation as to how this hybrid-style instrument came to be exactly, but rumor has it that a Portuguese traveler arrived in Hawaii carrying a similar instrument, which caught the eye of the locals.

In Hawaiian, the name ukulele can be defined as “jumping flea.” There are many theories about how this instrument’s name came to be. Some include the idea that it was a trait of the traveling passenger’s demeanor or the way a players fingers jump around from string to string while playing the ukulele. Even if the origination of the ukulele and its name are still a mystery, one thing is certain – ukuleles became popular, and fast, within the Hawaiian culture.

Irish Harp Revival

2012-01-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

Harps have always had a strong presence in Irish society. Even today that is evidenced by the harp being present on the Irish Euro coins. Though the old Gaelic harp tradition has mostly died out, a new harp tradition has been carried through from the 19th century.

John Egan, a Dublin pedal harp maker, created an Irish harp with gut strings and semitone mechanisms like an orchestral pedal harp. The strings and soundbox were modern, though the overall shape mimicked that of its predecessor. These harps are referred to as clarsach in English, though in Ireland they are called Irish harp or clairseach. Scotland, too, experienced a revival in cultural Gaelic that resulted in a new harp design.

Spotlight on David Holt

2012-01-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

David Holt is a four-time Grammy Award winner is not only a musician; he is also a storyteller, historian, television host and entertainer. He has dedicated his adult life to preserving traditional American music and stories through performance on the ten acoustic instruments he plays. He has been a guest on Hee Haw, Nashville Now, at the Grand Ole Opry, and you can even see him playing in the popular film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” starring George Clooney.

In 1968, David Holt started his musical journey in the Appalachian Mountains. He wanted to become an old-time banjo player, so he visited remote mountain communities in Kentucky and North Carolina to learn with traditional musicians. He met hundreds of mountaineers with folk music knowledge including banjoist Wade Mainer and washboard player Susie Brunson. In his career David has performed and recorded with many of his mentors such as, Grandpa Jones, Bill Monroe, and Earl Scruggs. Today he tours solo, with Doc Watson, and with his band The Lightning Bolts.

Some Bluegrass Trivia

2012-01-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

Can you recall the controversial cinema to debut in 1972? If you guessed “Deliverance,” then your memory serves you correct. Directed by John Boorman, this regrettable film debuted the first recording of a the popular Dueling Banjos, or what is commonly referred to as ‘Feuding Banjos’ or ‘Battle of the Banjos.’ Composed by Arthur Smith, the song was became a chart-topper in 1973. The movie soundtrack featured the talents of Eric Weissberg.

Prior to this blockbuster, both parts were played with banjos at the same speed for the entirety of the tune. But since this bluegrass banjo duet came to life in “Deliverance,” most modern-age bluegrass bands mimic the song in the key of G. However, in the movie both the guitarist and banjo players have capos on the second fret, denoting that it’s in the key of A.

The Bass Fiddle

2012-01-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

The bass fiddle, also known as the double bass, string bass, upright bass, bass violin or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The bass fiddle is a staple of Western classical music. Jazz, blues, bluegrass, country, and folk music genres also utilize the deep sound of the bass fiddle. Though many people are familiar with seeing a bass fiddle plucked, usually as part of a walking bass line in jazz music, the bass fiddle is built for bowing.

It is unclear if bass fiddles are descended from the viola de gamba or the violin, but traditionally are associated with the violin family. If you think that a bass fiddle looks like an oversized violin, you would be correct. Bass fiddle construction is nearly identical in construction to other violin family instruments. The bass has a bridge, f-holes, tailpiece, scroll, and a sound post just like a traditional violin. Despite the similarities to a violin, there is no set standard way to construct a bass fiddle, so the sound and look can vary instrument to instrument.

Holiday Seasons: Don't Miss A Note!

2012-01-22T16:31:00.000-08:00

With the holidays come a time of camaraderie and kinship with our family, friends and loved ones. No matter who you are or where you are, we all experience the holiday spirit at its best when we’re sharing it with the people we care about. And if your home is anything like mine there will be plenty of celebrating. With celebration comes music and that means singing and instruments. So this year, before you start playing, make sure your instrument is in top condition so you can avoid those unsavory notes or off-key tones.

Top-quality banjo strings are more affordable than what you might think. And since the holidays have finally arrived there’s no better time to get some new ones. New strings can make a world of difference when you’re playing for your friends and family this year. They can even keep you from having to worry about broken strings. There’s nothing quite so frustrating as truly enjoying the music and having a string break. So do yourself a favor this year and don’t subject yourself to the pitfalls of an out-of-shape instrument.

The Gift of Music

2012-01-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

The holidays are here and that means it’s time to head out and get our shopping done. If you’re like me then you’ve probably got a long list of friends and family to shop for. And you’re probably not looking forward to sitting in traffic, fighting crowds and standing in long lines. I know I’m not. That’s why I’ll be doing more online shopping this year. With lower shipping costs and faster delivery times, it’s easier than ever before to do our holiday gift shopping online.

Music is no exception. Young or old, everyone loves good music. When you give the gift of a musical instrument you’re helping the people you care about find self-expression and satisfaction through music. Therapeutic, rewarding and fun, learning how to play a 5 string banjo could be just what the music-lover in your life is looking for. Be a gifting superstar this year and give the gift of music. You’ll be glad you did!

Irish Folk Music

2012-01-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

Let the familiar sounds of pennywhistles, fiddle strings, bodrans and Gaelic words bring you back to your Celtic roots even if it’s just in your imagination. Traditional Irish music will soothe your senses and evoke wonderful memories of growing up in, or maybe visiting your beloved Ireland. You have much to choose from with the varied artists of Celtic music.

Listen to the hauntingly beautiful voices of Enya and Loreena McKennitt. Jam with the wonderful sounds of the most popular Irish band made up of the Corrs siblings. Dance to the merry tunes of The Chieftains, and tap your feet to the popular Irish jigs courtesy of Lunasa. Irish music is a blend of wonderful melodies created by talented artists. You will be glad to bring home one or more albums to listen to.

Setting The Stage

2012-01-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

For the last 15 years I’ve worked in customer service for the phone company-by day at least. But my true passion is music. And although I’ve conceded the fact that I will never achieve mainstream notoriety, I enjoy playing small shows at local coffeehouses, open mics and farmer’s markets.

My music centers on acoustic Gallagher guitars and subtle keyboard backing, with an overarching minimalist theme. Since there is a serene, tranquil quality to my music, I like to have a small stage show to enhance the effect. I always set up a couple of glass incense burners before the show and have a couple of muted stage lights that I utilize during my nighttime gigs.

How Did The Banjo Get Its Name?

2012-01-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

There are a number of theories about the origins of the word banjo. Some folks believe it’s derived from the Kimbundu language. Kimbundu, also known as North Mbundu, is a language spoken largely in the south-central region of Africa. In Kimbundu the banjo, in its older incarnations, may have been called “mbanza.” Other people believe it derives from the Portuguese word “bandore.”

Other theories include such Americanized words as “banjar,” “banjil” and “banza.” Regardless of where they got their name, however, banjos have a remarkably distinct sound. With an unmistakable musical character these unique instruments represent a rich cultural history, both in the United States and around the world. From Africa, to Europe and even Asia and the Middle East, banjos are a truly global instrument with derivations existing in almost every known human culture. Not many modern instruments can say that.

Washburn 12-String Guitar

2012-01-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

Washburn guitars are well known for their reproductions of iconic American guitars, but now they get to be known for a little something extra. With the release of their new 12-string, Washburn has reinvented themselves, opening up a whole new opportunity for the company to continue exploring the limits and defining itself.

Acoustic Guitar recommends the 12-string as a great way to pull yourself out of a musical rut, or to just work on something new. Charles Saufley, an Acoustic Guitar columnist says, “In the past, inexpensive 12-strings often developed playability issues. But modern manufacturing techniques have improved build quality at all price levels." Washburn offers a strong contender in their J28S12 model.

Help For The Songwriter

2012-01-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Before the computer age, upstart songwriters had it tough. Options for laying their music down on tape were extremely limited. They had to scrimp and save just to afford some studio time to lay down a few tracks. Alternatively, they could utilize a four-track recorder to capture their work in grainy low fidelity. The rise of songwriting software programs has turned that entire paradigm on its ear.

These days, songwriters can record professional-quality material from the comfort of their own home. But recording isn’t quite the right word. They can tweak their sonic creations to a tremendous degree, making them sound as sparse or layered as desired. Such software programs make the life of a struggling musician a bit easier; the only thing they can’t do is guarantee a big record deal. And although some people enjoy the sterile sound of these recordings, many people still desire the raw nature of Deering banjos and traditional folk and bluegrass tunes.

Beautiful Sounds of Old Ireland

2012-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

One thing you will find that is popular in the Irish capital is traditional folk music. By going around the streets of Dublin like the Whelan’s in Camden Street, you will surely find traditional and folk music. This is one exciting spot has the best of Ireland’s talented folk performers.

A vast array of instruments are utilized in Irish folk music; and while fiddles and flutes are the first that come to mind, the banjo and guitar are now commonly used as well. Some famous Irish bands who have been very successful in taking traditional Irish folk music to the world are the Clancy brothers, The Dubliners and The Chieftans, Tommy Makem and Altan. These bands were even given tribute by the Irish post office by means of coming up with stamps of these iconic bands. Because of the distinct and mesmerizing sound of traditional Irish folk music, The Chieftans music, as well as The Dubliners’ and Clancy Brothers’ has been very popular all over the world.

Traditional Banjoist Pete Seeger

2012-01-22T15:55:00.000-08:00

Pete Seeger once said that “all songwriters are links in a chain,” and his body of work defends that statement. Known as a legendary folk singer, Seeger turned to roots music and storytelling tradition as sources for inspiration. He helped bring classic American spirituals back into the public consciousness during the 1960s. Along with fellow folk musician Joan Baez, Seeger ushered in an era of musical activism by reviving “We Shall Overcome.”

Seeger’s statement suggests an understanding and appreciation of musical history. Listeners can hear evidence of his dramatic influence on the radio today. Baby boomer troubadours like Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen continued in Seeger’s songwriting tradition by penning tales of the less fortunate. Songwriting tips can’t be etched in stone because each artist taps into creativity in his or her own way. Take a lesson from Pete Seeger, however, and you won’t go far wrong.

A Brief Overview of the Dulcimer

2012-01-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

For those unacquainted with the dulcimer, the first line of business is to point out that two distinct instruments carry the moniker. An Appalachian dulcimer, also referred to as a mountain dulcimer, is a stringed instrument that was highly popularized in American music during the 1800s. Typically, the instrument is played by placing it on your lap, allowing for strumming and fretting from that position. While the instrument experienced a resurgence in the 1950s thanks to folk music, it has never been able to garner mainstream acclaim.

The other type of dulcimer is the hammered dulcimer, and it bares little resemblance to its counterpart. While also being a stringed instrument, the hammered dulcimer is a trapezoidal board and played by striking the individual strings with small mallets. Although the origins of the instrument remain obscure, it is believed to be a relative of the santur from Persia.

Practice, Practice, Practice

2012-01-22T15:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is how you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice (or “time on board” to the fretted instrument player–the fingerboard) is necessary if you’re to reach any of your goals as a musician, whether you’ve taken up banjo, guitar or any instrument. The discipline of practice when playing an instrument should be fun rather than a chore; approaching it with at least a general plan will make your practice time both more enjoyable and more productive.

Start each practice session by getting in tune with a good electronic tuner. Other tools you should have at the ready include a metronome and some kind of recording device. The metronome is particularly important for guarding against bad timing; that can easily crop up when playing alone. Listening to a playback of your practice will make areas of needed improvement only too apparent.

Remember to repeat material you’ve already learned, but keep in mind that one of the most important principles is to “practice what you can’t play.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of simply playing what you’ve already mastered, since it’s naturally more enjoyable. But put in time practicing the tunes and licks you’re having trouble with, at whatever tempo is slow enough for you to play cleanly and in time (again, the metronome is essential here). Proficiency is more important than speed. Worry about speed last, only bumping up the metronome a few beats per minute once you feel confident at a given tempo. If you can play as well at the new tempo as you did at the old, great; if not, dial it back and practice again at the slower speed.

Practice, and learning how to practice, is a lifelong challenge! More later.

Do You Really Need That Capo?

2012-01-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

A capo is an essential tool for the bluegrass banjoist, but don’t automatically reach for it just because a song isn’t in the key of G. Remember that a capo is there not to make it possible to play in a given key, but to make it possible to play in a given key in a certain way. On the bluegrass banjo, the capo’s real purpose is to preserve the sound of open-string rolls in keys other than open G. These rolls on open strings are indispensable to the driving, traditional bluegrass banjo sound and some material just won’t sound right any other way; I’d be the last one to advocate playing “Train 45” in open B. But on slower songs, or any material where the hard-driving roll in not necessary, give a thought to tackling other keys without the capo.

Open C is the most common first step for banjo players learning to venture out of the key of G without a capo. I never capo at the fifth fret to play in C, unless somebody I’m playing with specifically requests it; here I’m thinking of a particular song and my mandolin-playing friend (yes, Joel, I’m talking about you and “If I Lose”!) Otherwise, the beautiful ring of the first-position C chord, with its rich possibilities for hammers and pulloffs, is the way to go.

Don Reno is the most obvious model for the player seeking freedom from the capo (although, contrary to popular belief, Reno did use a capo at times), but another fine example in this regard (as in so many others) is Earl Scruggs; on the original Flatt and Scruggs recording of “Why Don’t You Tell Me So” in the key of F, Scruggs capoed his fifth string up two frets to A, left the other strings open, and played one of his all-time classic breaks.

Woody Guthrie's Legacy

2012-01-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

Although there are many folk heroes of the American music scene, Woody Guthrie was a true titan among men. He grew up in dire poverty on the Oklahoma prairie and began collecting the regional songs he heard older people performing. This marked the beginning of Guthrie’s legacy as both a songwriter and a musical historian. He kept many traditional songs from dying out completely over time, using everything from mandolins to harmonicas.

In 1940, he wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” a song that’s still identified with American civic pride. During his later years, Guthrie focused on writing protest songs in response to the social injustices he perceived in the world around him. He also inspired and mentored the young Bob Dylan. Woody Guthrie will forever be remembered for his ability to capture the spirit of the times in his folk music.

The Versatile Instrument

2012-01-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

I think at one point or another, we’ve all thought about learning to play the guitar. But no matter who you are, when you start playing the guitar you’re terrible, and it takes a lot of time, dedication, and practice to get better. When I was about 13, I told my parents I wanted to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, and of course they gave me that sort of parental sideways glance. I knew acoustic guitars weren’t cheap, nor were the lessons, and since I hadn’t played before, there was no guarantee I’d continue. My parents made a deal with me; they said they’d pay for half of the guitar if I paid for the other.

I worked for a whole summer as a part time paperboy, and earned my half of the guitar. My parents were true to their word, and covered the other half after I had thoroughly examined all of the Johnson guitars the local shop had to offer. I think that because I worked for it, the guitar was a lot more important to me. I played it all through junior high and high school, and when I was 18, a few friends of mine formed a band and played together all throughout college. While I’m not a professional musician now, it was a whole lot of fun!

The 5th-String Capo

2012-01-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

The five-string banjo presents a unique problem when using a capo. Since the fifth string doesn’t start until the fifth fret, capoing the four long strings at the most common frets (two, three, or four) leaves the fifth string unaltered. A number of solutions have been devised over the years. Simply re-tuning the fifth string is always an option, but tightening and stretching the string beyond its intended range repeatedly can cause it to break. Plus, the fifth string won’t note correctly when fretted. Fifth-string capos are available; some attach permanently to the side of the neck and some clip temporarily onto the string.

Earl Scruggs solved this problem by hammering a couple of his wife’s bobby pins into the fingerboard at the desired frets, leaving a small length of pin sticking out of the fingerboard and bent over so that the fifth string could be slipped under it. Pete Seeger illustrated the same idea in his pioneering book “How to Play the 5-String Banjo”, using a screw placed in the fingerboard. In more recent years, players have turned to less-obtrusive HO-gauge model railroad spikes to provide a simple and reliable way to capo the fifth string.

Allen Shelton: 1936-2009

2012-01-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

Of all those in contention for the title “The Banjo Player’s Banjo Player”, Allen Shelton is generally considered among the favorites. The Reidsville, North Carolina native, who died of leukemia last November, was noted for his “bouncy” rhythmic feel and integration of a more sophisticated jazz- and pop-flavored chord voicings into a generally “straight-ahead” bluegrass approach. Shelton wrote and recorded one of the all-time banjo “D-tuner” classics, Bending the Strings, while performing with Jim Eanes during the 1950s. Also during his stint with Eanes, Shelton’s musically experimental bent led him to devise a banjo with foot-operated string-bending pedals, used with great effect on Eanes’ recording of Your Old Standby.

One of the most notable proponents of the archtop rather than the flathead tone ring, Shelton performed virtually his entire career with a 1950s Gibson “bowtie” RB-250. In 1960 Shelton joined Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, who became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. After leaving Jim and Jesse in 1966 and retiring from music for a time, Shelton recorded the 1976 album “Shelton Special”, featuring his tasteful, elegant treatment of standards such as Birth of the Blues and Sweet Georgia Brown, as well as original tunes like the title cut and Banjo Bounce. The 1980s found Shelton back with Jim and Jesse, playing five-string Dobro™ as well as conventional bluegrass banjo. He spent the last years of his life quietly with his family and friends, his landmark recordings continuing to influence new generations of banjo players.

Teach Yourself Guitar

2012-01-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

When people make resolutions or set goals for themselves, a common thread is that they would like to learn how to play a musical instrument. And for many people, there is a strong desire to learn how to play the guitar. Guitar is a great starter instrument because once you learn some of the basics, you can already sound halfway decent. Of course, learning the finer points and the complicated picking patterns can take you years to master, but it really only takes a few weeks to master some of those basic chords.

This is why so many people opt for acoustic guitars. If you want to learn how to play this instrument, just pick yourself up a guitar, a tuner, and a few how-to beginner books. These will offer the basics of reading music along with a chord list. Once you feel you have a handle on these very basic elements, hop onto YouTube for step-by-step tutorials on how to play all your favorite songs.

Musical Genres on the Banjo

2012-01-22T15:24:00.000-08:00

Banjos have a long history dating back to ancient Egypt, and they’ve evolved today into four basic genres. Folk or Traditional music features a clawhammer (also called a frailing) open-back five-string banjo. It’s usually played with the index finger and the thumb, and produces a melodious sound. It grew in popularity during the American Civil War as soldiers strummed and plucked it around the evening campfires. The standard strings of the day were made from purified cattle entrails, and the banjo head was made from calfskin, giving the instrument a mellow and relaxing tone. Though most clawhammer banjos use steel strings today, many nostalgic players prefer a modern synthetic string set that emulates the old sound. Notable clawhammer banjo artists include Grandpa Jones and Pete Seeger, and Dave Guard (The Kingston Trio).

Dixieland Jazz music came of age in southern Louisiana in the early 1900s and found its home in New Orleans. Four-string banjos became prominent in Dixieland bands due to their volume and percussive rhythm sound. They were strummed with a single flat-pick, and accomplished players such as Eddie Peabody and Perry Bechtel would also pick out the melody notes. The two standard four-string Dixieland banjos are the 19-fret tenor model and the 22-fret plectrum model. Their popularity exploded during the early jazz age; some call it the electric guitar of its day. By the late 1920s, Gibson, Vega and other instrument makers had added a resonator on the back that projected the banjo sound toward the audience, and a bell-bronze tone ring that gave the banjo more depth and clarity of sound.

Irish Folk music has been around for centuries; today the 4-string, 17-fret banjo is the standard for the genre. It’s tuned the same as a fiddle and mandolin, making it easier for musicians to play multiple instruments. Artists who helped popularize Irish Folk music include Gerry O’Connor and Seamus Egan. Listen closely to the style of music, and you’ll discover where bluegrass music got its roots.

The most popular banjo music today is bluegrass, which got its name from Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. Monroe hailed from the bluegrass state of Kentucky. Though he was billed as a country artist during most of his career, his unique style of music developed into a category all its own. Banjo legend Earl Scruggs joined Monroe’s band in 1945 and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry stage for the first time. His unique style of picking electrified audiences. He played a five-string resonator banjo with a thumbpick and two fingerpicks, often at breakneck speed, with a clarity and precision that constituted an entirely new and exciting sound. By 1948 Scruggs left Monroe to form his own band with singer Lester Flatt. Foggy Mountain Breakdown and The Ballad of Jed Clampett became two of their most popular songs. Scruggs, who turned 86 in January 2010, is still touring with his banjo.

Good Songwriters Listen Carefully

2012-01-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

Certain songwriters take months to write and rewrite the lyrics for an album’s worth of songs. They serve as their own scrupulous editors and critics, and the bar is set very high. Others operate in an entirely different way, improvising their lyrics and even some of the music right on the spot when they get to the recording studio. As a beginner, you should focus on the rehearsed style of writing.

Listen to a few of your favorite pop songs over and over, dissecting the parts that make them tuneful. Are there multiple-part harmonies, guitar solos or obscure instrumentation? Does the song sound “produced” or sonically sparse? These are the questioned that should be asked by a beginner songwriting for the first time—whether you’re preparing music for an orchestra or the 6 string banjo. Don’t be afraid to use music production software, but don’t rely on a computer to come up with the ideas for you.

Harmonica Basics

2012-01-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

I remember going to Dairy Queen when I was only five or six years old and getting a cheap harmonica as the prize in my kid’s meal. While harmonicas are often given out as prizes and considered a basic instrument, refining the art takes a great deal of skill. As anyone who has ever tried one can attest, it may be simple to make noise, but making it sound good is another story.

The harmonica is a staple in blues and folk music and features a distinct sound. As a reed instrument, the sound from a harmonica is created by the reeds vibrating when you blow. With one little instrument, you can play a vast range of notes without painstaking tuning.

Fiddle 101

2012-01-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

The term fiddle is used to describe a wide range of bowed instruments. While the definition of fiddles is somewhat ambiguous, it now usually refers to a violin-type instrument. The earliest versions of the fiddle (bowed instruments) appeared in Asia in roughly 3000 BC.

Today the fiddle is a staple in bluegrass music. Although it closely resembles the violin, the two have a vastly different price range. Typically, the fiddle produces a more twangy and rustic sound than the classical violin.

Banjo Starter Packs

2012-01-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

When my youngest son endeavored to learn the banjo last year, I honestly knew nothing about the instrument. After going to a local music shop, I decided that purchasing the various components individually would be much too costly and time consuming. After doing some research online, I found a site that carried comprehensive banjo starter packs.

Not only did they come with a quality banjo, but the packs also included a case, strap, beginner’s books and picks. When my son got the package, he was overwhelmed and quickly began learning the instrument.. Although the music was atrocious at first, he rapidly developed his skill and can now play several classic tunes

Bluegrass Legend Alan Munde

2012-01-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

...by Greg Earnest

Few bluegrass banjo players can combine the flexibility and harmonic intricacy of the melodic style with the propulsive drive of Scruggs style, as Alan Munde does. Born in Norman, Oklahoma in 1946, Munde’s early influences included local player Ed Shelton and fiddler Byron Berline, whom he met at the University of Oklahoma. By 1969, Munde was a partner in a brief collaboration with soon-to-be newgrass pioneer Sam Bush in the band Poor Richard’s Almanac; in his next stint as a member of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, Munde was schooled in the hard-driving style required by that uncompromising bandleader, while his creativity and unique musical turn of mind showed through in gems like his solo on “I’d Like to Be Sixteen Again” in un-capoed F.

Following his tenure as a Sunny Mountain Boy, Munde joined The Flying Burrito Brothers, a group that had been at the heart of the L.A. country-rock revolution a few years before. Shortly thereafter, he rejoined college buddy Byron Berline in Country Gazette, which was to be Munde’s regular band through the 1980s. Along the way Munde recorded a series of solo banjo albums which combined his consummate interpretations of fiddle tunes along with innovative originals. Starting in 1986, Munde helped pioneer bluegrass instruction at the college level in his position at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. His arrangement of the old pop standard “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” was one of the highlights of AcuTab’s “Knee Deep in Bluegrass” recording project in the year 2000, and he continues to inspire new generations of banjoists.

Haircut, shave and bluegrass at a North Carolina barbershop

2012-01-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sit a spell and enjoy this 20-minute film by Matt Morris.

http://vimeo.com/mattmorrisfilms/pickin

D-Tuners

2012-01-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

Earl Scruggs learned to play the 5-string banjo on an instrument that belonged to his older brother Junie. The banjo did not always stay in tune well, and the young virtuoso found himself having to retune mid-song. Scruggs’s musical inventiveness took it from there, and he soon adapted that mid-song tuning sound into his developing style. After recording his first tuner instrumental Earl’s Breakdown in 1951, Scruggs decided a little mechanical help would make playing a lot easier. He installed a pair of cams onto his banjo peghead that raised and lowered the second and third strings to preset pitches. The most common settings are for the second string to lower from B to A and the third string to lower from G to F#, moving the banjo from G tuning to D tuning and giving the devices the common name “D-tuners”.

Scruggs’s new innovation was soon featured in such instrumentals as Flint Hill Special, Foggy Mountain Chimes, and Randy Lynn Rag. D-tuners soon became required equipment for any aspiring bluegrass banjoist. Melodic banjo pioneer Bill Keith took things the next step with a design that incorporated conventional second- and third-string tuners and the stop-setting mechanism in one unit, making it no longer necessary to drill extra holes in the peghead. Keith tuners became the standard in the banjo world with over 30,000 sold to date and are still manufactured by Bill Keith in Woodstock, New York. Players seeking the unique feel and sound of traditional cam-type tuners now have another option available in a new product called Cheat-A-Keys, which use the cam mechanism but are easily interchangeable between banjos and don’t require alteration of the peghead.

Banjo Tunings

2012-01-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

There are lots of banjo-player jokes. One goes “You can drop a shoe on the banjo and make music,” due to the “open G” tuning that is standard among bluegrass banjoists. Unlike a guitar or mandolin, which must be fretted to make a proper chord, merely strumming the open strings of a banjo (or dropping a shoe on it) will produce a G major chord. This tuning of D-B-G-D-g (from first to fifth string) provides two G notes an octave apart, two D notes an octave apart, and one B note, thus filling in the three notes of a G major triad. While the vast majority of bluegrass banjo work is performed with this tuning, alternate tunings are sometimes employed. The “drop C” tuning of D-B-G-C-g was considered the standard tuning in the classical banjo era around 1900 and is sometimes used by bluegrass players to provide a low root note when playing in the C position. Bluegrass banjo standards traditionally performed in C tuning include Home Sweet Home and Farewell Blues as recorded by Earl Scruggs.

The next most-common tuning for bluegrass banjo is open D, either D-A-F#-D-F# or D-A-F#-D-a (the fifth string can either be tuned down one fret from G to provide the third note of the D major triad, or tuned up two frets to provide the fifth note). Reuben and John Henry are traditionally played in this tuning, and Ron Block has used it to great advantage in his work with Alison Krauss and Union Station. Rare alternate tunings include G minor (D-Bb-G-D-g) as used by Ben Eldridge in his original instrumental Appalachian Rain recorded with The Seldom Scene, and D minor (aDFAD) as featured by Earl Scruggs in Nashville Blues.

The world of old-time clawhammer banjo makes use of a much greater variety of tunings including “double C” (D-C-D-Cg) and open C (E-C-D-C-g), to name just two. . . but that’s a subject for another post!

Electric Banjos

2012-01-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

Many people—myself included—think of the banjo as being a traditional instrument that has seen little modification over the years. Just as with guitars, there are several different options for the number of strings that are on your instrument, but this is usually where the deviation in banjo designs ceases. While it is true that the basic design has changed little in recent decades, there have been significant advances in banjo technology.

One of the most revolutionary renovations has been the advent of the electric banjo. These models may feature a slightly more modern design, but, obviously, the main development is the addition of electricity to amplify the sound. This allows you to get the power of an electric guitar while preserving the distinct banjo sound.

Gibson Musical Instruments - A Brief History

2012-01-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

No brand name looms larger in the bluegrass banjo world than Gibson. The company’s story goes back to the late 1800s when a young man named Orville Gibson, son of an English immigrant, moved from his native New York to the rapidly-growing industrial town of Kalamazoo, Michigan (“Yes”, said the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce in a 1980s publicity campaign, “There Really Is a Kalamazoo”). Although Orville worked a variety of odd jobs to support himself, he was a musician and luthier with radical ideas about instrument construction. The mandolin was the most popular fretted instrument of the day, and Orville’s vision was to apply the same principles of carving and top graduation to the mandolin that Stradivarius and his contemporaries had employed in building their legendary violins.

Orville’s creations were a dramatic departure from the round-back “tater bug” mandolin, with its flat top and its back formed out of narrow strips of bent wood. A group of Kalamazoo investors saw money to be made in marketing Orville’s designs to the mandolin-buying public and the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company was formed in 1902. Always an enigmatic figure, Orville appears to have had limited involvement with the Gibson company after its first few years. The Gibson company refined and built on Orville’s ideas and responded to the increasing popularity of the tenor banjo by producing its first banjo in 1918—the same year that Orville died back home in New York.

After some initial stumbling in search of the right design, by the late 1920s Gibson was a dominant force in the 4-string tenor banjo market. The company also made a precious few “old-timey” 5-string banjos, primarily for the rural Southern market; it was one of these banjos that Earl Scruggs would use in the years immediately following World War II to develop a new style of picking for bluegrass music. Despite changes in ownership and a relocation from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tennessee, Gibson banjo production has continued to the current day. Since the late 1980s, the company’s banjo output has consisted largely of reissues of its classic models of the 1920s and 1930s.

The Foundation of Bluegrass

2012-01-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

Few people have left as indelible of a mark on their craft as Earl Scruggs. The three-finger playing style was in use before Scruggs, but he is the one who perfected the art and made it the predominant style in bluegrass music. Today the style is referred to as “Scruggs style,” as homage to its originator.

Although many people are unfamiliar with Scruggs’ music, his influence is widespread. Over the course of his career, Scruggs has earned to Grammy Awards, most recently in 2002. He also earned the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Grammy ceremonies.

Don't Be Afraid To Improvise

2012-01-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

As the parent of a beginning banjo player, I have to try especially hard not to seem overbearing. After all, I started playing the instrument when I was precisely my son’s age, and it’s tempting to help him avoid making all the same mistakes I made. But I’ve found through experience that harping on him to practice will only serve to drive him away from the banjo – something he loves for now.

I’ve also learned that it’s important to allow the child to deviate from his practice routine every now and then. At least once a week I encourage my son to throw out everything he’s learned about tenor banjos for a solid half-hour. During that time, I tell him to try whatever improvisational technique he wants. The way I see it, the best banjo players broke the rules and created their own unique style.

Eddie Adcock

2012-01-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

Virginia native Eddie Adcock first came to prominence as the banjo player with the groundbreaking Washington-D.C.-based Country Gentlemen during the 1960s. His overwhelming technical ability and blending of Scruggs, single-string, and Travis style were essential ingredients in the Gentlemen’s sound, and seminal recordings such as Sunrise and Pallet on the Floor earned the Country Gentlemen the reputation of being the first progressive bluegrass band, the progenitor of “newgrass” and “jamgrass” bands such as New Grass Revival, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers.

Since the 1970s Adcock has been performing and recording with his wife Martha and has recently performed a series of Country Gentlemen reunion concerts with fellow alums Jimmy Gaudreau and Tom Gray. An endorser of Deering banjos, Adcock became known as the “bionic banjo player” in 2008 when he underwent deep brain stimulation surgery to correct a tremor that had developed in his right hand. Adcock not only remained conscious during the procedure at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, but actually played the banjo as surgeons worked so that the placement of the brain implant could be adjusted for maximum effectiveness. A week later, he was back on stage at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s yearly convention in Nashville.

Guitarists Welcome Calluses

2012-01-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

When kids pick up a guitar for the first time, the learning curve can be rather steep. Once children learn a basic song or two on the instrument, they are generally well on their way to a lifelong love of playing. Early on, though, before they can grasp such techniques as stringing chords together in sequence, playing the guitar can feel like work. This perception is only magnified by the development of calluses.

Before the fingers grow accustomed to pressing guitar strings tight to the fretboard, they are susceptible to some minor pain. It’s important for parents to emphasize the value of developing calluses as they will make playing a guitar much simpler and more enjoyable. In time, a young guitarist’s fingers will begin to look and feel like that of a manual laborer. That’s how you know you’re on the right track.

Keeping the Acoustic Tradition

2012-01-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

While electric guitar may be at the forefront of most mainstream music today, many artists will still occasionally go back to the classic acoustic guitar. There is still a love for acoustic music in the mainstream, and there are efforts to assure that the tradition doesn’t die. Although MTV has done a lot to “kill the radio star,” their popular series Unplugged has helped revive the mainstream appreciation of acoustic music.

In the last few years there has been an increase of bands exclusively performing acoustic music. Sub Pop Records is home to some of the most notable of these bands, including Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine. The Seattle radio station KNDD features a full three hour radio show each week devoted exclusively to acoustic mainstream music.

Melodic Style

2012-01-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

When Earl Scruggs introduced his three-finger banjo picking technique to Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1945, the new musical genre now known as bluegrass took flight. Scruggs’ hard-driving approach was supremely well-suited to rendering the melodies of vocal songs, with the relatively simple melody notes embedded in showers of “filler” notes, and executed with three-finger “rolls”. Traditional fiddle tunes were more difficult to render in this style, since their denser melodies left little space for the filler notes characteristic of the Scruggs approach.

Fiddle-tune melodies could be played on the banjo using a “single-string” approach in which the thumb and index finger of the right hand played up- and down-strokes similar to a guitar or mandolin player using a flatpick, but this technique was decidedly choppy compared to Scruggs’ smooth-flowing lines. The next great leap in bluegrass banjo styles would have to wait until the early 1960s, when South Carolinian Bobby Thompson (playing with Jim and Jesse and The Virginia Boys) and New Englander Bill Keith (occupying Scruggs’ old slot in the Monroe band) independently developed what became known as the “melodic” style.

The technique of playing melodic-style banjo retained the basic three-finger approach but opened up the fingerboard; Thompson and Keith combined open notes and fretted notes, with higher-pitched notes often being played counterintuitively by fretting higher up on lower-pitched strings. Suddenly, complex fiddle-tune melodies could be rendered note-for-note without sacrificing the smooth flow of the three-finger style, and banjo players everywhere began assimilating the new technique by studying landmark recordings of instrumentals such as “Dixie Hoedown” (by Bobby Thompson with Jim and Jesse) and “Sailor’s Hornpipe” (by Bill Keith with Bill Monroe).

Top-Tension Banjos

2012-01-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

Gibson’s now-legendary Mastertone banjo line was introduced in 1925 and quickly became an industry standard, but by the late 1930s the banjo had fallen in popularity. Anxious to kick-start flagging sales, Gibson announced a new product that fixed an old problem. The new “top-tension” Mastertone design, introduced in 1937, was intended to make life easier for banjoists contending with the fickle calfskin heads. Calfskin heads were the standard before World War II (Remo Belli would later develop mylar heads) and calfskin needed frequent attention. Changes in the climate, especially in levels of humidity, dramatically changed the tension on a calfskin head and changed the banjo sound. Retensioning the calfskin head was common, and by moving the tension hook adjustment to the front (or top) without removing the resonator, Gibson made the tensioning process much easier.

While they were at it, Gibson introduced other changes such as carved solid-wood resonators, radiused fingerboards, and bold Art Deco cosmetics. Most important to modern players, flathead tone rings were also standard on the top-tension models. The three new top-tension Mastertone styles 7, 12, and 18 were, according to company literature, the “alarm clock” that was going to “wake up new possibilities in banjo playing”. The banjo’s time as America’s favorite fretted instrument had passed, however, and the top-tension line faded away when Gibson suspended banjo production during World War II.

The top-tension banjo had no real champions among the first generation of bluegrass banjo players (although Don Reno did occasionally use a style 18), but as the decades passed, Gibson’s prediction of top-tension-fueled banjo innovation seemed accurate, though delayed. A young Bill Keith used a converted TB-12 for his groundbreaking performances and recordings in the new melodic style when he joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the 1960s. A Style 18 has been in Bela Fleck’s arsenal since the 1980s, and a Style 7 is the favored banjo of Noam Pikelny of Punch Brothers fame. Although Gibson top-tensions are once again out of production following a revival in the 1990s and early 2000s, the banner has been taken up by other companies including Ome, one of whose top-tension models has found favor with virtuoso Matt Menefee of Cadillac Sky.

Ukulele Journey - Europe to Hawaii

2012-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

Until a few years ago, I had always associated the ukulele with traditional Hawaiian music – and for good reason. The instrument is actually a minor variation on stringed lutes that were played in Europe for centuries. Eventually, some Portuguese immigrants introduced that lute to natives of Hawaii, and the craze spread throughout the islands. Now I have a much more sophisticated view of the instrument’s potential, however, after hearing the song “Postcards from Italy” by Beirut.

The song is sung as a lamentation for lost people and places, and it perfectly utilizes the ukulele’s versatility. It can be used to strum mournful lullabies or uplifting chants. Baritone ukuleles feature an entirely unique tone, especially those made from the wood of Hawaiian koa trees. In recent years, the electric ukulele has become almost as popular as its acoustic counterpart.

The Dulcimer's Distinctive Tones

2012-01-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

There are two distinct types of dulcimers in existence, but only one of them has a distinctly American history and sound. The hammered dulcimer is popular in many corners of the world including China, Southwest Asia and Central Europe. It’s seen somewhat of a revival in the domestic folk music scene in recent years. Unlike its worldly counterpart, the Appalachian dulcimer played a large part in the development of American roots music.

The instrument is picked in the manner of a guitar rather than hit with metal mallets like a hammered dulcimer. There may be as many as 12 dulcimer strings on a given instrument, and they are played in a variety of manners. Most players lay the dulcimer flat on their lap or place them on a table. One hand takes care of the fretwork while the other stays occupied with strumming.

How Many Strings Does A Banjo Have?

2012-01-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

That’s a frequent question, and not one with a single answer since the banjo is actually a family of instruments. The five-string banjo was the original, featuring a gourd body (later modified into a drum) and a short drone string. It was brought to what is now the United States by African slaves. The finger-picked five-string banjo enjoyed immense popularity in the nineteenth century, finding acceptance in the parlors of the urban middle class. It was used to play material from the classical repertoire, and rural musicians of the southeast adapted it to the Irish-style music they enjoyed.

Shortly after the turn of the century, the prominence of new music forms such as ragtime and syncopated dances, like the tango, led to the creation of the four-string , or plectrum, banjo. The sharp, percussive sound of the instrument was preserved but the quirky short drone string was eliminated. That made the instrument more user-friendly for musicians who preferred to strum chords with a flat pick, or plectrum. The next step was the tenor banjo, with a shorter scale and tuned in fifths to make it more familiar to players of other popular instruments such as the mandolin. Banjo bands were all the rage by the 1920s and other variations included the mandolin-banjo, the guitar-banjo, and the uke-banjo, but the tenor banjo was by far the most popular, leaving its original five-string cousin to be regarded as a quaint relic. Four-string banjos remain popular in traditional Dixieland jazz as well as Irish music, but the five-string was revived in the years following World War II with the arrival of Earl Scruggs and a new musical style-bluegrass.

J. D. Crowe

2012-01-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

Considered one of the pioneers in bluegrass banjo picking, J.D. Crowe first came to prominence as a member of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys. His personal twist on the three-finger style of Earl Scruggs during the 1950s helped define the traditional bluegrass canon on over thirty recordings with Martin. The 1960s saw the formation of Crowe’s own band, The Kentucky Mountain Boys (with whom Doyle Lawson made his recording debut); by the early 1970s The Kentucky Mountain Boys had morphed into The New South and with a stellar lineup including Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas. Crowe artfully blended traditional bluegrass with material from such diverse sources as Fats Domino, Gordon Lightfoot, and Gram Parsons.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky on August 27, 1937, Crowe began picking the banjo at age 13. He continues to tour and record to this day with the current edition of The New South. His contribution to bluegrass music has been recognized by Gibson Musical Instruments with a signature-model Gibson banjo, the “Black Jack”, named after one of his original banjo tunes. Crowe also has his own model of the increasingly popular Blue Chip Thumbpick, and has left his mark on the world of banjo bridges with his preferred slightly-wider string spacing, now known as “Crowe spacing” and offered as an option by most bridge makers.

What Defines Bluegrass?

2012-01-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

For many years I have used the term bluegrass to describe music when I really didn’t know what the exact definition was. Bluegrass originated during the 1940′s in the US and is actually of sub-genre of country music. Many countries have influenced the bluegrass sound, including places as diverse as Ireland and West Africa.

Bluegrass has a distinct string sound, as its most common instruments are the fiddle, banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. During the music, each instrument will take a term improvising or soloing while the others play the accompaniment. While bluegrass may not have a large mainstream following today, many of the world’s biggest bands will dabble in the genre. The most notable recent addition to mainstream bluegrass was with the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers movie Brother Where Art Thou.

Fiddle Cliches

2012-01-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

While it is commonly believed to be a specific instrument, fiddles can be any bowed string instrument. A violin, viola and cello, all a part of the violin family, may sometimes be referred to by their players as a fiddle.

Over the years, there have been a number of clichés used to describe the differences between a fiddle and a violin. Three of those clichés include: “When you are buying it, it’s a fiddle. When you are selling it, it’s a violin.” “What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle? About $10,000.” “A violin uses strings and a fiddle uses strangs.”

That Old Bluegrass Sound

2012-01-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

Even though I grew up in the north, my family always admired musicians from the hill country of Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia. Not a weekend would go by when my dad didn’t bring out an Earl Scruggs or Bill Monroe record and encourage his kids to dance around the living room. As I got a bit older, I learned to appreciate the intricate finger-picking style that was such an inherent part of bluegrass.

It wasn’t long before I saved up enough money to go shopping for a beginner banjo. In those days the pickings were slim in my part of the country, so I went to a secondhand store and found a beat-up but still functioning model. Kids today are lucky in that they can find a banjo for any skill level without even leaving the comfort of home. Luckily it’s not too late for me to indulge in a little online instrument shopping myself.

Wood Choice...It's Not Just About Looks

2012-01-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

The choice of wood type for your banjo may seem to be solely a cosmetic consideration, but it can have a big impact on the sound of your instrument as well. While it may seem counterintuitive, wood choice can have the biggest effect on tone through the neck. While bluegrass banjo rims are almost always made of maple and the veneers on the resonator have little impact on tone, the neck of your banjo is usually a solid chunk of mahogany, walnut, or maple and represents a significant proportion of the banjo’s vibrating mass.

Conventional wisdom is that mahogany, being a less-dense wood, is the warmest of the three woods and tends to accentuate the bass response of a banjo. Maple, a very dense hardwood, is considered to be at the opposite end of the scale with more “bite” and “edge” and enhanced treble response. Walnut is generally thought to fall somewhere in between mahogany and maple tonally. Keep in mind, however, that variations in setup and in individual instruments can make for a brighter mahogany banjo or a deeper-sounding maple one.

What About Plating?

2012-01-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

There’s a lot of metal in a quality bluegrass banjo. Plating type should be a consideration when deciding what banjo is the right one for you. The most common type of plating is nickel. Nickel looks great when new and oxidizes as it ages, taking on a slightly softer, warmer look. Gold plating is common on high-end banjos and provides plenty of visual flash, but even the best gold plating will show wear after years of heavy use. Chrome plating is less common than nickel or gold and will stay looking new with practically no maintenance, but the super-bright “in your face” look of chrome is not for everyone.

What about differences in sound? That’s a question sure to set off endless debate among banjo folks. Some maintain that the amount of metal applied in plating banjo parts is so minimal that there is no impact on tone. Others claim they hear a difference. Since nickel is most popular, that is understood to be the baseline. The most common opinion being that gold plating imparts a somewhat warmer, mellower tone to the instrument. With so many other variables involved in the construction and setup of a bluegrass banjo, this question will probably never be answered for sure.

The Tenor Banjo Returns to Prominence

2012-01-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

While the precise origins of jazz music are still contested to this day, we can at least pinpoint the earliest jazz recordings, which came out of the burgeoning scene in New Orleans during the 1910s. This unique style, known as Dixieland, combined a number of popular genres of the day including ragtime, blues, and brass band dirges. Unlike most forms of jazz music, Dixieland incorporated 4 string banjo in addition to string bass, piano, drums and other more familiar instruments.

The tenor banjo, which is meant to be played with a thumb pick as opposed to finger picks or with bare fingers, maintained its popularity through the 1920s and ’30s, long after Dixieland had run its course. However, because musical styles are cyclical in nature, the instrument has seen a recent resurgence. Tenor banjos were once considered curios that fetched exorbitant prices, but no longer; they’re back in the mainstream now, and the prices reflect that fact.

Getting Your Head Right

2012-01-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

We banjo players have a luxury unknown to players of other stringed instruments-the sounding board of our instrument is a drum head that can be replaced easily and inexpensively. That enables us to experiment with different sounds. Once upon a time, all banjo heads were made of animal hide (usually calfskin). The warm tone of a real calfskin head is hard to beat, but their susceptibility to changes in humidity makes them very high-maintenance.

Plastic or mylar heads have been the standard since their introduction in the early 1960s. They are available with a white frosted coating which gives a traditional appearance and sound for bluegrass banjo, or in a clear, uncoated version for extra brightness and response. Synthetic calfskin heads more closely mimic the look and sound of real animal hide and are especially popular with open-back (clawhammer) banjo players. Recent years have seen more options in banjo heads with eye-catching colors now available, and even heavy mesh heads for quiet practice

Flathead or Archtop?

2012-01-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

Why are bluegrass banjos so heavy? That’s what everyone wants to know when they pick one up. The reason is that higher-end bluegrass banjos are equipped with a metal tone ring-a casting of a brass alloy weighing around three pounds. It rests between the wooden rim and the drum head. A quality tone ring can greatly increase the volume and power of a banjo.

Tone rings are available in two major configurations-an arch-top tone ring provides a somewhat smaller vibrating surface on the head (usually around 9 inches measured side-to-side) for a quicker, brighter sound. A flathead tone ring leaves the entire head (usually 11 inches) free to vibrate, generating more depth and richness of sound. Flathead tone rings are associated with the classic sound of such bluegrass greats as Sonny Osborne, J.D. Crowe, and Earl Scruggs; legendary players who have relied on the brighter sound of an arch-top tone ring include Ralph Stanley, Allen Shelton, Doug Dillard and Steve Martin.

Banjos: Beyond Bluegrass

2012-01-03T19:24:00.000-08:00

The banjo is conventionally associated with bluegrass musical styles, and it’s really no wonder. Along with the fiddle, acoustic guitar and fiddle, the banjo is a mainstay in that storied musical tradition. A bluegrass picking style is accomplished by using the fingers in an up-picking motion and the thumb to pick downward. But you can throw those rules out the window if you’re playing in a clawhammer style.

The clawhammer style is much slower and more rhythmic than bluegrass, and it requires a unique grip and picking style. So named because the player must shape his hand into a claw to play correctly, this style is employed by such famous musicians as Neil Young and Eric Clapton. Interestingly, a clawhammer banjo player will sometimes finger and pick with the left hand by pulling off and picking at the top of the neck.

What Is A Hammered Dulcimer?

2011-12-28T07:55:00.000-08:00

When you think of instruments one that doesn’t come to mind is the Hammered Dulcimer. We have probably seen one but never knew what it was called. It has primarily been played by great classical composers throughout Eastern Europe. It has become even more popular and noticeable in thanks to the “Blue Man Group.”

So what is a Hammered Dulcimer? The hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Typically, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings. The hammer portion of its name is used because of the mallets that are used to play the instrument. Traditionally the hammers are hard but in other regions of the world the material is made a little softer.