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We played a lot of Stanley Brothers at the jam tonight Ended with Blackberry Blossom which is a fast song with a lot of chord changes but that version on Manzanita (Tony Rice) is so good, its just the best version ever. Listen to it in headphones, his guitar is just perfect. Some guy played Some Old Day off that JD Crowe 0044 album tonight and it was amazing. Someone else played 10 Degrees off that album tonight at the jam too and its the first time I had heard it played at a jam and was stoked to play along I sang this tonight which is one of my go tos as its a crowd pleaser because my voice always breaks on the falsetto but thats part of the fun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp6Tfc5EWak Get out there and jam yall 
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Aug 19, 2022 02:51
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Also FWIW I started a bluegrass thread a while back. It's locked now, but since this here Banjo Mark II thread is more active, maybe people can get some use out of it: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3385681
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Aug 19, 2022 02:53
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This has been bothering me for a while, but I haven't been able to find any info online so I might as well ask here. Is a presto tailpiece being this hosed up and off-center an issue? The screws look like they overlap a ton, so I'm not even sure if it's something I can fix. Until now, it hasn't seemed like an issue, but it's not like I have anything to compare it to.
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Sep 24, 2022 19:38
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Be careful yall this is a rapidly progressive disease  I scored this bakelite reso-tone Harmony for $50 and had the neck shimmed up. It's great. Gotta get a proper sling next month, then plan on adding a geared 5th string tuner and maybe replace this tailpiece. (Also I will string it less like a goof next time, look at this shameful display)  I've been playing it a ton, and since I've got it participated in two beginners bluegrass jams on guitar. This next time I think I'll be confident enough to do some banjo songs. I'm playing more clawhammer than anything but am sure to keep up 3 finger stuff as well. I'm ruined for life.
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Oct 20, 2022 18:00
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I met Josh Turknett the other day.
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Apr 18, 2023 00:26
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I met Josh Turknett the other day. Neat! I've been using Brainjo for a while. What were the circumstances of meeting him? Was it a music thing, or did you just happen to bump into him at like a grocery store or something?
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Apr 23, 2023 02:00
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Bear on the Square festival in Dahlonega, GA. It's not a huge event, but it draws a lot of old-time folks. Maybe next year I'll join a jam circle... maybe next year...
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Apr 23, 2023 22:07
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I just got a Vega Pete Seeger model long neck banjo for father's day and this thing sounds absolutely rad. And I love that I can drop the tuning to play songs in a more comfortable range. I've been playing banjo for years but I bought Pete Seeger's book, How To Play The Five String Banjo, to go along with it.
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Jun 25, 2023 08:35
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Hi goons. I've played banjo briefly in the past - maybe 15 years ago. I recently got back into it and have been really enjoying it. Last time I had a Goodtime 2, this time I picked up a GoldTone CC100R.  Related, I was able to see the Kruger Brothers perform up close in a small venue in Portland yesterday. Goddamn, Jens knows how to play. It was pure joy just watching him. 
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Sep 1, 2023 19:12
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Some maintenance on my used Goldtone. The old stock head was looking beat up. Bought a new head, a drum dial to tension it properly, and a new bridge.   Tensioned to 92 all around which I guess is the correct value for an 11" banjo head. It certainly sounds great!
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Sep 13, 2023 17:55
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I like it. I have a gumby goodtime (like the gold tone) and it stays in my office so that I can pick on it without having to play my super heavy banjo.
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Sep 13, 2023 19:55
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I have just started to learn how to play the 5 string banjo. I have no musical talent - what could possibly go wrong?? seriously, have been playing for a couple of months now and am loving every minute of it. It you all could go back to the beginning of when you first started to play, what would you do differently? Basically I am looking for tips of what mistakes to avoid. Thanks
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Sep 28, 2023 17:03
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Don't practice bad habits. Don't try to go fast before you can go slow-make sure you're playing it the way you want to play when you play slow and that you keep playing it right when you play fast. Muscle memory is a real bitch to unlearn.
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Sep 28, 2023 18:46
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Andoman posted:I have just started to learn how to play the 5 string banjo. I have no musical talent - what could possibly go wrong?? I need to pick it up again. Did you follow a regime / course?
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Sep 29, 2023 17:39
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I started over again with Jim Pankey videos and then this: It's worked well for me. I'm about 3 months in
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Sep 29, 2023 18:43
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I used to live like 10 minutes from Jim Pankey and had no idea. He does private lessons! I could have been talented!
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Sep 29, 2023 19:08
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Andoman posted:I have just started to learn how to play the 5 string banjo. I have no musical talent - what could possibly go wrong?? Do you still want some tips? I'll try and think through some things if you want. If you've not played stringed instruments before, (or even if you have), starting slow and making sure your rolls are clean and good habits are formed and kept and practiced through is essential. I have poor form, but make up for it (kind of) in my depth of repetoire. I'd say off the bat learn different rolls and how to apply them, as I've fallen into a rut of using the same old licks and rolls and I need to get myself out of it. Then again, there are so many banjo players at the jam now that I'm instead working on singing and my mandolin playing.
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Oct 5, 2023 00:27
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Planet X posted:Do you still want some tips? I'll try and think through some things if you want. If you've not played stringed instruments before, (or even if you have), starting slow and making sure your rolls are clean and good habits are formed and kept and practiced through is essential. I have poor form, but make up for it (kind of) in my depth of repetoire. All tips gratefully received, thank you
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Oct 7, 2023 21:32
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As someone who also started with with zero musical talent (and has since gotten to 0.5 musical talent), playing the banjo is the easy part. Work on developing your ear -- try to pluck out notes or chords you hear in songs (slowing them down on YT makes it a bit easier), don't rely on tab, maybe download some ear training app. You'll get a lot more out of your instrument if you can learn to play whatever songs you like, and it also goes a long way in playing w/ other people. Music theory isn't strictly necessary for enjoying the banjo but a little does go a long way. e: Also, play along with metronomes for warmups/exercises/songs, playing something super slowly but in rhythm is a lot better for your development than playing faster variable tempos. And if your hands or any part of your body hurt after playing, you're holding it wrong and you need to fix that immediately. At any level of banjo technique you need to focus on economy of motion. For instance, you should keep your fretting fingers low to the fretboard, and don't press very hard when you fret (you don't need to). As you start to incorporate your ring and pinky fingers in your fretting, you should see if you can play a song or a part of a song from the same position (i.e. not moving your hand up or down the fretboard). And finally, you will learn faster with a teacher. Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 01:42
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Pie Colony posted:As someone who also started with with zero musical talent (and has since gotten to 0.5 musical talent), playing the banjo is the easy part. Work on developing your ear -- try to pluck out notes or chords you hear in songs (slowing them down on YT makes it a bit easier), don't rely on tab, maybe download some ear training app. You'll get a lot more out of your instrument if you can learn to play whatever songs you like, and it also goes a long way in playing w/ other people. Music theory isn't strictly necessary for enjoying the banjo but a little does go a long way. Thanks, this is very helpful. I was definitely pressing wat too hard on the frets to start with - enough that the strings where leaving indentations in my fingers! Do you have any recommendations for an ear training app?
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Oct 9, 2023 13:10
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Amazing Slow Downer from https://www.ronimusic.com remains my #1 practice tool for learning by ear from recordings. Isolate and repeat small sections at slow speed, then gradually expand and accelerate.
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Oct 9, 2023 17:20
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Andoman posted:Thanks, this is very helpful. I was definitely pressing wat too hard on the frets to start with - enough that the strings where leaving indentations in my fingers! Do you have any recommendations for an ear training app? I've been using Earpeggio on recommendation from my vocal teacher. It's solid, they have predefined "modules" as well as customized exercises, and some progress tracking. Before that I was using Functional Ear Trainer. If you get started down this path, don't feel bad if you get 95% of the answers wrong or if it doesn't seem like you're improving every day. You're not tone deaf, it just takes a lot of practice.
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Oct 10, 2023 15:19
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Pie Colony posted:Work on developing your ear --Music theory isn't strictly necessary for enjoying the banjo but a little does go a long way. Dukes Mayo Clinic posted:Amazing Slow Downer from https://www.ronimusic.com remains my #1 practice tool for learning by ear from recordings. Isolate and repeat small sections at slow speed, then gradually expand and accelerate. What they said. Get the Earl Scruggs book, its good. Figure out what songs you like, and learn how to play them. They dont have to be bluegrass songs, but if you're playing scruggs style banjo , it helps. If you're playing Clawhammer, listen to Old Time. Reasoning here is if you already have the song in your head, its easier to match your playing to it rather than play something cold that you've never heard before via tab. Find Bluegrass or Old Time Jams in your area. As someone said earlier, learning by ear and osmosis is favorable, and bluegrass and old time jam communities can be wonderful (but sometimes cliquey) places. Peghead Nation and Banjo Ben are good online places to learn. If you get tired of practicing, just play. If you get into a rut of playing too much, start practicing. Make sure you're giving your brain time to rest between learning things so it can pick them up. Learn how to play or teach yourself fun stuff (examples for me are Pink Floyd's Brain Damage / Eclipse, Here Comes The Sun and Kashmir) and have fun. If you're playing scruggs style, shift your right hand so that you 'lead' with your thumb and your index and middle fingers follow behind it. . Keep your other two fingers on the head of the banjo for stability. If you want a crackier, bluegrassier sound, play towards the bridge. If you want a softer, more melodic sound, play more towards the neck. This is why you see a worn line on some banjo players banjo heads, its not necessarily from the picks striking it, its from their two anchor fingers sliding up towards the neck and back to the bridge for a variety of sounds. You generally play breaks (solos / leads we call them in bluegrass) near the bridge and backup / melodic is played up by the neck Get a snark tuner, just get one and clip it to the headstock Go to banjo camp if you can afford it or if there's one in your area attached to a bluegrass festival, it's super fun, you meet great people and many A listers in the bluegrass community make a living by teaching clinics and camps. Bluegrass celebrities are generally warm, generous and real people and it's a pleasure to speak with and learn from them, in my experience. Ron Stewart says play clean, it should sound like angels peeing in a bucket lol Absorb that and let us know if you have more questions. Sorry if thats too much I love banjo and bluegrass and music is a huge part of my life and I love it so much.
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Oct 14, 2023 23:02
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I was at banjo camp in Dallas when I lived in Texas and Ned (this guy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeJQEaAOls0 taught us the value of just sitting around in front of the TV and playing and therefore I learned this through him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsJXwE73QU That reminds me, get a mute. A mute clips to the bridge and it makes it much more tolerable to those around you if youre practicing and learning as the banjo can be loud and abrupt sometimes. Banjos also have very little sustain. That means if you pick a note, it doesnt last. Planet X fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Oct 15, 2023 |
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Oct 14, 2023 23:05
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Planet X posted:What they said. To add to this, if you want to play bluegrass, I found the Murphy Method DVD's really helpful. I very much play by ear and had a hard time with tab and the way she teaches is basically completely by ear. She has some good videos on different styles too-her one on Stanley-style is great. I'm sure that's all streaming somewhere now. Banjo Ben is good too. I really bounced off tab hard so if you find that difficult, there are definitely other ways, but if you can get used to playing from tab, that will really help down the line if you are trying to learn new stuff, especially 3 finger. I was lucky that I have a pretty good ear and that was always much easier for me. Playing stuff at half or quarter speed off youtube is suuuuper helpful when you can't quite figure out that lick or for practice, amazing slowdowner is good too. One issue with banjo is that when you play it slow like you need to when you're first learning, it really doesn't sound like anything? It can be hard to find the melody, timing, and emphasis when you play that slow because banjo sort of relies on a certain amount of speed to make a bunch of very staccato notes with little sustain sound like a melody, and that gets even more confusing when you add in the extra notes in a roll that aren't necessarily part of the melody. The temptation is therefore to speed up before you're really playing clean to make it sound like something but that can lead to bad habits, so try to resist it! Playing with slowed down music helped me with this as working off tab I could play all the notes in the right order but could never quite grasp how to make that sound like a melody when I sped up. anyway here's some fine picking and singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI5UWtzKe-0
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Oct 15, 2023 16:19
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:One issue with banjo is that when you play it slow like you need to when you're first learning, it really doesn't sound like anything? This made learning songs so difficult for me at first.
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Oct 16, 2023 00:51
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if you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere with a sufficiently dense concentration of bluegrass players, you might find advertisements for “slow jams” which are instructor-led, newbie-focused events where everyone plays common tunes together, v e r y s l o w l y. no matter your level of playing, it is good exercise. some brave souls have tried to replicate this online, which usually ends up with a bunch of people silently strumming along with an instructor on zoom. better than nothing! (but not by a lot)
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Oct 16, 2023 01:16
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I'm gonna shop for a used 5 string banjo in a local store tomorrow. I know nothing about how to pick out good used instruments -- is there anything I should watch out for so I don't bring home a piece of junk? I'm very clueless about such things.
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Oct 18, 2023 05:36
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What is your price range? Play a bunch of them, of course, regardless of your ability. Report bzck here if you want and we can help you. Recording king, gold tone and Deering are good values for the quality. Personally I wouldn't spend less than 300.
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Oct 18, 2023 12:47
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Plastic Pal posted:I'm gonna shop for a used 5 string banjo in a local store tomorrow. I know nothing about how to pick out good used instruments -- is there anything I should watch out for so I don't bring home a piece of junk? I'm very clueless about such things. A curved/bowed neck that bends up towards the strings would be the big unfixable, unplayable death thing. Make sure the hoop tensioners work and the head will get tight and stay tight. Make sure the tuning pegs all basically work and will keep tension and not slip. These are replaceable, but they're not super cheap. Make sure the 5th string tuner on top of the neck isn't loose and doesn't wobble or anything. Look across the strings up by the nut-they should all be the same height above the fretboard. If the bridge is hosed up that is fairly easily replaceable and learning to set the bridge is a good skill anyway since you'll probably knock it out of place sometime. Deering is definitely the best of the bunch for beginner banjos imo, Recording King and Gold Tone are both reliably decent too. I have no idea what a used decent banjo goes for these days. I think I paid $200 new for my Goodtime but that was 15 years go. e: if you want to play 3 finger/bluegrass you should be a little more picky imo. You can clawhammer away just fine on a meh banjo, and alot of the tiny things that make a big difference in bluegrass don't matter as much for clawhammer. For example a nice consistent and low action (height of the strings over the frets) is something bluegrass players really want and need, but alot of clawhammer players prefer a higher action and don't hardly play below the 7th or 9th fret anyway so the distortion in intonation you get up the neck from a high action doesn't matter. If you have a teacher that would be willing to spend your lesson time looking at banjos with you, that would be a lesson well spent. They'll probably have a much better idea of what feels good and sounds good and will give you room to grow. Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Oct 18, 2023 |
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Oct 18, 2023 18:36
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Oh drat, thanks SO much for the posts; those pointers will be super useful. I am very poor so will see what I end up with! It probably will be something made in China which tbh isn't terrible since I probably will fail out on learning it anyway -- but if I succeed, I'll reward myself later with a quality made-in-USA piece. I figure that's fair. Should be interesting at least; I'm an utter musical novice, guitars were too painful on my fingers when I tried as a kid; I can't read music but have sounded out songs by ear on a keyboard before. I have everything to learn. If I make any real progress, I'll pipe up again here, maybe. 
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Oct 19, 2023 06:47
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Plastic Pal posted:Oh drat, thanks SO much for the posts; those pointers will be super useful. If money is an issue, or even if it's not, you might end up with a Chinese instrument, and that's fine and here's why: With the exception (and I could be wrong here) of Deering, domestically produced stringed instruments are going to be very expensive. When I started playing banjo about 15 years ago, I started off with a Deering Goodtime. It was, at the time, maybe $500 or so. Cheap enough to get started, but a nice instrument that would be a good stepping stone if I stuck with it. They're $800 now, I think. When it came time for me to go up to a higher quality instrument with a metal tone ring, better tone and volume about 5 years later , I essentially had no choice but to go with a Chinese copy of a Gibson RB-250. Most bluegrass banjos are copies of the Gibson prewar (WW2) model. Gibsons go for thousands of dollars. Hubers, Omes, Stellings, and even Deerings are (well) north of $2000, even used. In 2010, I bought a Gold Star for roughly $1300, and I've had it ever since. It is a nice Chinese copy of a prewar Gibson, and I have it set up well and I take care of it. Same goes with guitars. You can buy a Martin D 28 and it'll be amazing, but you can also buy a Blue Ridge (chinese copy) for half the price of a Martin and it'll essentially get you to where you need to go. Same with Banjos. If I were you, I'd hunt for a used Recording King or Gold Tone banjo to start off with, maybe even a used Goodtime. You can poke around your local bluegrass and old time facebook / communities / jams and see if anyone has anything used if the shop can't help you. See if the shop has a layaway plan or something. While I have been giving heavy advice in the thread, the other posters are absolutely spot on. If you end up with too cheap of an instrument, its just not easy to play and will diminish your enjoyment of the instrument, which is ultimately the goal. I keep my Goodtime in the office here to pick around on, it stays in the rack. Its lightweight, easy to play, and I don't have to baby it. The Gold Star generally stays in its case in the closet, and I take it to the weekly bluegrass jam where I play with sometimes 8 other banjos. Last night at the jam there were too many banjos so I hung back and played mandolin. The Gold Start is heavy so despite me having a nice proper bluegrass banjo, I play the goodtime most of the time. Edit: Thats the other thing, a bluegrass banjo with a metal tone ring will be around 15 lbs, so be ready for that. Planet X fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Oct 19, 2023 |
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Oct 19, 2023 13:59
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I'm supposed to have a handbuilt replica of Fred Cockerham's fretless formica neck open back. He asked for $1,200 and a $100 deposit. It's been almost 2 years now. When I questioned him he said "genius can't be rushed." It's passion project at the price point. I bought a Cello Banjo from Goldtone. I'd sell it. I don't like how heavy it is. I'd rather play a feather light tackhead with violin pegs.
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Oct 19, 2023 15:16
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I have broken my finger - this is not helping my playing!
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Oct 31, 2023 13:00
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Mate of mine has a new paramount tenor and it's a beauty to play. Super spenny though, maybe one day...
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Nov 10, 2023 20:14
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Planet X posted:If money is an issue, or even if it's not, you might end up with a Chinese instrument, and that's fine... I definitely gave all those brands you mentioned the covetous once-over. I definitely want an American-made quality banjo...eventually but who knows when. As you predicted, I ended up with a Chinese 5-string from the loving arms of Amazon. It's clawhammer-style but I'm still pickin' on it.  Sounds beautiful to my untrained ear, so good enough. It's been so fun & I'm taking to it much better than I thought I would. My left hand fingertips hurt so bad though.
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Nov 11, 2023 06:43
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I've been practicing 5 days a week since late August and it feels so good. E: for content, does anyone play a Deering goodtime open back? I played one at the shop the other day and I'm thinking of treating myself for Xmas. It sounded really nice compared to my 15yr old Fender. Another Bill fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Nov 13, 2023 |
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Nov 13, 2023 20:47
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Another Bill posted:E: for content, does anyone play a Deering goodtime open back? I played one at the shop the other day and I'm thinking of treating myself for Xmas. It sounded really nice compared to my 15yr old Fender.
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Nov 13, 2023 21:06
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I had a Good time 2 over a decade ago. It was a good instrument. I've been playing 30-90 minutes daily as much as work allows, since summer. The work is paying off! But I also completely cut out my guitar time and I've severely curtailed drum set time.
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Nov 13, 2023 21:11
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| # ? May 2, 2024 18:18 |
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My wife is gonna buy me a banjo for my birthday. We'll go to town tomorrow and take a look at what we can find for a thick-skulled non-musician like myself. Wish us luck!
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Nov 25, 2023 02:02
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