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Subject: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: wilco Date: 14 Aug 02 - 02:34 PM Several weeks ago, several Catters made some sugestions for an open-backed banjo. I bought a Bart Rieter Standard Open Back, which I can't put down. I used to think that most banjo players were just loud, inconsiderate, dominating, musically opinionated, strange, and living alone. We're just misunderstood. I can't put it down. All of my friends have abandoned me. My family moved out. My dog's run away. No one will jam with me anymore. I don't like being a banjo player. Can a good personality, precise grammer, a liberal arts education, and adequate personal hygiene compensate for this evil banjo? I need some advice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: NicoleC Date: 14 Aug 02 - 02:43 PM Some personal habits are best kept private. Close the door, pull the blinds, and the neighbors need be none the wiser ;D I have some friends for whom the banjo player normally does the mix. A couple of weeks ago, I surprised myself after their sound check by volunteering the comment, "More banjo." Said friend got the most astonished and delighted look on his face. I don't think he'd ever heard that phrase before. (I know I've never used it!) Needless to say, we got a LOT more banjo that evening... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Steve Latimer Date: 14 Aug 02 - 09:28 PM Welcome to the Dark Side. It gets worse, but who needs a life other than with a banjo. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: artbrooks Date: 14 Aug 02 - 09:43 PM MY GOD-GET MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY!!!! Next thing you know you will be knocking the long skinny part off and hitting the skin with a little stick! :>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: SINSULL Date: 14 Aug 02 - 09:57 PM For the last time: Banjo players are sexier than guitar players! If you don't believe me, check the threads. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 14 Aug 02 - 10:20 PM Look on the bright side. All this misery from a relatively quiet Bart Reiter Standard open-back played, I presume, with naked fingers. Just think of what would happen with a Stelling Staghorn and some heavy picks. There would probably be a quarantine zone stretching a mile from your house in all directions. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,Anahootz Date: 15 Aug 02 - 01:54 AM Wiiiiiilco...uuuuuuuuuse the fooooooooooooorce... Actually, The banjo is a heck of a lot of fun to play. Sucks to learn, tho. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Sorcha Date: 15 Aug 02 - 02:04 AM Actually, in spite of all the banjo jokes and picking on banjo player, I really do like banjo. I much prefer and open back mountain tenor to a huge resonator that blows my eardrums out but if the player can learn to "back out" a little I really like the fiddle/banjo mix. Those huge, heavy resonator Omes etc. can really take over a session/gig if the player doesn't have some sense, though. They weigh a ton too. I'm glad I don't have to pack them in and hold them while playing! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: X Date: 15 Aug 02 - 02:37 AM True, my Mastertone has made me a deaf hunchback. Good night, or morning. I have to catch a plane. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST Date: 15 Aug 02 - 04:28 AM What do you use for bait Banjoest? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Larkin Date: 15 Aug 02 - 04:35 AM I bought a case for my Cittern at Sidmouth and it's very banjoish- you should see the looks I'm getting! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,Foe Date: 15 Aug 02 - 09:00 AM I took a violin mute and shaved it down to fit my banjo (openback) bridge and get a nice soft sound like an old-timey banjo - pre plastic head. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 15 Aug 02 - 10:16 PM I like the sound of the banjo. It's so friendly. Be true to yourself, Wilco48, and keep playing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Coyote Breath Date: 16 Aug 02 - 01:37 AM Ah yes, Wilco48, the dark side of the banjo, how well I remember my first stumblings, trying to "get" the correct frailing rythym. Alas I just couldn't figure it out until Bill Ross (once a Capucine monk) strolled by and whispered "bump titty". From that moment on it was "banjo forever, forever banjo". And still is. I have a METAL mute that I bought at Lundberg's in 1968. It makes my banjo sound like... a dulcimer! I have two banjos, one tuned a step lower than standard G and the other tuned to open C. I am seeking a fretless banjo (which I will tune to open D, just to play "Wild Bill Jones" well maybe Dixie also. Keep at it boy (I'm 64 next month and get to call younger folks, "boy" or "little lady") and let the force be with you! CB |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,Russ Date: 16 Aug 02 - 10:08 AM For me the magical mystery mantra was "Diddy BUM". |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,noddy Date: 16 Aug 02 - 10:30 AM Hang on here we are getting to much into the fantasy side of things . Who ever heard of a banjo being tuned???? Lets keep it serious and truthful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,banjo player annon Date: 16 Aug 02 - 10:34 AM I was given a banjo when I was a yougster(about 6 or 7) but soon realised that was because I did not understand music at all. Even that did not help however after some therapy and the gift of a pen knife I recovered.Much to the relief of the rest of my family who were musical. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: X Date: 16 Aug 02 - 12:18 PM If we're discussing mantras mine is :TIMTIMTMTIMTIMTM: |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: NH Dave Date: 16 Aug 02 - 10:22 PM Pete Seeger used to advise stuffing a diaper or folded up handkerchief between the head where the bridge depresses it, and the rod that extends through the banjo from the end of the neck. I have always found that this "mute"s the sound better than any hardware modification. Dave |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,fox4zero Date: 17 Aug 02 - 03:11 AM I agree with you, NH Dave. I started using a rolled up piece of under-carpet foam instead of the diapers after my kids were grown-up. I can't handle the sound of an non-muted banjo in close quarters. Banjos are an addiction...I have acquired about 8 great sounding open backs, and I still get THAT LOOK in my eye when I see one that I covet. Guitars are boring to look at, compared to a Gryphon, Chubby Dragon, Flower pot or Man-in-the-Moon. Larry |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,Gurney Date: 17 Aug 02 - 07:07 AM Hey, Banjoest, just read your early morning post about the banjo making you into a deaf hunchback. Heard of a soul-brother of yours, named Quasimodo. Liked percussion. Gurney |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: X Date: 17 Aug 02 - 02:16 PM Yea, old Quassie was a bell man but he had a problem. After a broken love affair all he wanted was to be "stoned." ("Why can I not be made "stoned?") |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Hippie Chick Date: 17 Aug 02 - 02:22 PM "Banjoes are an addiction...." B.anjo A.ddiction S.yndrome? |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Steve Latimer Date: 18 Aug 02 - 07:49 AM It's time to plug the Rick Fielding Banjo Mute again. Rick & Dave Cutler designed these, had several prototypes before they felt it was "right". It installs in seconds and not only mutes the banjo but gives it a tone almost like a harp. I haven't tried other brands, but some big time pickers at the 'Cat have and have said that this is the best one they've seen. I tried the diaper (actually towel), I've tried wedging something under the tailpiece, this is far easier to use on a resonator type banjo and also mutes it better. PM Rick for more information. |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: JedMarum Date: 18 Aug 02 - 10:57 AM Funny to come across this thread today. I was just laughing to myself last night during a gig - several pub gigs this week and a couple of daytime shows and I just keep turning to my banjo (I'm primarily a guitar player) and thinking, "boy I love playing this thing." What a great instrument! I really don;t work at it much, I hate to admit. It's a secondary instrument for me, but I just love it! I too use an open back (Vega long neck by Deering, real nice banjo) and bare fingers - or finger nails, to be more accurate. I do play at home - and use the Fielding mute when I play for any length of time. The mute itself gives a really pretty pretty sound to the banjo. It doesn't just mute the sound. Anyway - I am just amazed at how much a banjo junkie I've become, and how very different an instrument it is to guitar. People LOVE banjo. They joke, but they LOVE it. I play my Arnie Naiman & Chris Coole, 5 Strings Attached - Volume 2 CD all the time, and listen to the whole thing from start to finish on a regular basis. Here is a great album by a couple of really fine folkie banjo players with lots to interest banjo junkies and normal human beings too. If you ever want to tell the uninformed about why banjo is such a fine instrument - just pay 'em this record. They'll get its beauty right away, without you havin' t say a word! |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Coyote Breath Date: 18 Aug 02 - 11:06 AM Well as for quieting down the banjo's admittedly intrusive volume, I use a very old sock. It wasn't old when I first placed it in the back of the banjo between brace and head but that was decades ago. I find a sock useful for three reasons: It tones the banjo down, it can be moved towards the tailpiece and back towards the neck to change volume and when somebody yells (as they always do) "stuff a sock in it!" I can say; I already did! I use the mute to change the sound of the banjo. People tell me that, in the dark, no one would know it was a banjo at all. There seems to be a better attitude towards dulcimers but after a couple of hours of "Go Tell Aunt Roadkill" I can't stand it any longer and give it all away by breaking into "Bile them Cabbage Down" which I play so vigorously the mute usually falls off. Quite an interesting effect, actually. CB |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: X Date: 18 Aug 02 - 01:16 PM I don't get you guys. LOUD son, pick that banjo LOUD! Scare the crap out of them guitar players. LOL |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Steve Latimer Date: 18 Aug 02 - 05:58 PM Banjoest, I'm with you, but a lot of my practice time is when others are sleeping or doing something else. I've tried practicing without picks, I've tried playing quietly, but it just isn't the same as playing with mute where I can pick as hard as I want and not bother anyone else. |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Charley Noble Date: 18 Aug 02 - 06:15 PM As part of a sea shanty group,I use a natural sponge in the back of my old banjo. Much better than the rolled up cheesecloth I used to use and easier to reposition. But if you're jamming with fiddles and guitars, you'll want to be loud! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: X Date: 18 Aug 02 - 06:55 PM LOL: Steve, didn't you just buy a pick-up and a Marshall stack for that 5-string of yours. I know you're going to be playing Helter Skelter in a few days! ;o) |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: truer sound Date: 18 Aug 02 - 06:57 PM Frail loud too!! If yer gonna play Wild Bill Jones and the like its gotta be loud.
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Steve Latimer Date: 18 Aug 02 - 09:24 PM Banjoest, That's for when I'm alone in the house, although I've already had my wrist slapped by the Fire Department for rehearsing the pyrotechnics that I expect to accompany my eventual live performance of Helter Skelter. I'm not sure that Earl would approve. |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Auxiris Date: 19 Aug 02 - 09:23 AM Sorcha, Ome makes open-back banjos, too. cheers, Aux
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: Jim Krause Date: 19 Aug 02 - 10:49 AM Wilco: Learn to play clawhammer. Find an old-time fiddler. Make some new friends. Worked for me. Jim |
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Subject: RE: Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos From: GUEST,rob Date: 20 Aug 02 - 05:18 AM clawhammer now your talking if you are going to do a job use a proper tool not only can it rip the skin it can break the neck as well. much better than a knife. |
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