|
|
Post by calv on Apr 17, 2013 16:45:56 GMT
I've just been looking through the Gretch videos (seriously tempted by those G220 bobtail round necks), and i see they also do a 6 string banjo. Now i know that to some banjo purists, it's the five string or nothing, for some it's the tenor and so on. Mention Taylor Swift on stage strumming her six string and i swear you can hear some banjo players veins pop!  I just thought it might be a nice addition for anyone who wanted to have that banjo sound but didn't want the hassle of learning the banjo, which is pretty hard if you want results quick. My kids love the sound of my banjo, and know a few chords or sit there finger picking it like a guitar, i might even get one for them. (Of course it's for them  Calv. |
|
Martin
Administrator
Posts: 11,994 
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"http://mandocello.org/lytebox/images/adirondack.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0a530b
Mini-Profile Text Color: 4f3517
|
Post by Martin on Apr 17, 2013 17:18:19 GMT
A lot of the cadence of the banjo sound comes from the way it is played and the rhythm that involves. Some of this will be lost with a guitjo strummed like a guitar, but other than that, yes you can get lotsa jingle jangle that way.  No snobbery here, I mean how can a banjo player be a snob?? Of course you could be super cool and get a six string banjo that is still strung and tuned like a banjo, making it even harder to play! |
|
Wild Violet
Artist / Performer
Posts: 3,642 
My main instrument is: Symonds OM-14
|
Post by Wild Violet on Apr 17, 2013 18:52:31 GMT
Possibly. Or I might get a 4-string tuned to DGBE |
|
leoroberts
C.O.G. 
Posts: 26,136
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
Member is Online
|
Post by leoroberts on Apr 17, 2013 21:44:43 GMT
yup, I'd get one... very nearly did but bottled out at the last moment. Now Sara is keeping a close eye on what I've got as she thinks they breed as it is...
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2013 23:53:01 GMT
I had one for a while in lieu of a tenor, using it for comping on familiar chord shapes when the band I was in required a more Dixieland feel. Beyond that it seemed to me to be well-suited to light jugband blues stuff and to some, but not all, ragtime - you might play something like The Entertainer on it, but not anything as delicate as, say, Heliotrope Bouquet. The lack of sustain's a bit problematic. That said, Norman Blake flatpicked some tunes on one to interesting effect, something I never thought of doing.
|
|
|
|
Post by scripsit on Apr 18, 2013 3:24:03 GMT
Harry Manx seems to make good use of one.
Banjo and Hendrix is probably not an obvious combination.
Kym
|
|
|
|
Post by calv on Apr 19, 2013 13:53:08 GMT
Thanks for the vid Kym, i've not heard of Harry Manx before. Bit handy on the strings isn't he? Doesn't sound much like a banjo sound though. I need the backwoods front porch plunk in my life. Calv. |
|
Martin
Administrator
Posts: 11,994
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"http://mandocello.org/lytebox/images/adirondack.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0a530b
Mini-Profile Text Color: 4f3517
|
Post by Martin on Apr 19, 2013 14:15:24 GMT
I think slidingwolf on here is a Harry Manx fan, and I can see why - he really gets an unusual and haunting sound in that video! |
|
|
|
Post by scripsit on Apr 19, 2013 14:42:55 GMT
I've seen him live (he tours a lot, and comes to Australia often), and he can really get some unusual blends of music happening. I'm most definitely not a country fan, but his version of 'good time Charlie's got the blues' gets me a bit teary.
His blues slide stuff on Mohan Veeha (sp?), with sitar like sympathetic strings, is quite astonishing, sort of Muddy Waters with drone. His albums are worth checking out. He's a pom, originally, too, although he lives in Canada.
Kym
|
|
Jo whoever he is.
