This exists, apparently.
Ergo -
Was the fretless banjo pioneered by Jethro Pastorius?
Too easy?
Ergo -
Was the fretless banjo pioneered by Jethro Pastorius?
Too easy?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Fretless Banjo???
- Thread starter Don Kasper
- Start date
I've seen a lot of old banjos w/no frets. Many were home built. Not to be a downer on your Jethro joke (which was pretty funny), but if I understand correctly the banjo is of African origin and many early American banjos were made by slaves working with whatever they could get their hands on.
Yes - It is African in origin, as I understand it.
Thanks!
Rhiannon Giddens plays one frequently (maybe exclusively, not sure).
Ha! I was just posting this, just missed chuck3's post...
I've seen fretless gourd banjos before, but if you want to get weird...
I give you the Electric Banjo. (which sounds like a good name for a 60s acid rock band)
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Just wait 'til they put a magnetic pickup on that thing! Yum! Hold my beer, bagpipes!
Early banjos in the USA, post Revolutionary to pre Civil wars, were primarly fretless instruments with skin heads and gut strings. Many were gourd bodied tack-head or similar instruments, originally 2 or 3 strings, but closer to the Civil War many were made with a rim / tension hoop / hook and nut / 4 and 5-string setup, more technically similar to what we see in today's banjos.
Frets primarly became popular in post Civil War 1800s and were the norm by the "classic banjo" period starting around 1870. There has been a lot of banjo evolution in the USA and in England over the last few centuries.
Plastic banjo heads came out in the early 1950s, btw.
Historically, banjos -- skin head over some sort of a body / neck and string instruments -- pre-date double basses by a long time, btw. There are ancient history (3600 BC to 500 AD) indications of them in Asia and in Africa as well as in early Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations.
Frets primarly became popular in post Civil War 1800s and were the norm by the "classic banjo" period starting around 1870. There has been a lot of banjo evolution in the USA and in England over the last few centuries.
Plastic banjo heads came out in the early 1950s, btw.
Historically, banjos -- skin head over some sort of a body / neck and string instruments -- pre-date double basses by a long time, btw. There are ancient history (3600 BC to 500 AD) indications of them in Asia and in Africa as well as in early Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations.
Looks like you've been quarantined too long, Don. Walk out into your backyard and take some deep breaths.
Last edited:
Banjos were traditionally fretless. Lots of people still use a fretless when playing old time, especially if they're into the history side of things
Exactly.
...because no one has ever said, "I can't hear the banjo. Can you turn it up some?".
Re the tone of the fretless banjo - I've never heard one that didn't have nylon strings. I'm no banjo expert but I understand that this is because, without frets to press against, the steel strings are harder to get a clean tone with (because they're harder to press against the fingerboard). I actually like the tone of the fretless with nylon - not as in your face as regular banjos.
Yup!!!
I don't have a fretless, but I've got an old fretted 1889 S.S.Stewart classic banjo wearing nylon strings, and I agree, it's a much more subtle tone than steel strings, much like the difference between classical guitar and steel string guitar. I've recorded a number of times with this banjo, and for some music it's the best.
I have heard steel strings on a fretless banjo, it's do-able for claw-hammer style, but personally I prefer nylon strings on this kind of instrument.
I don't have a fretless, but I've got an old fretted 1889 S.S.Stewart classic banjo wearing nylon strings, and I agree, it's a much more subtle tone than steel strings, much like the difference between classical guitar and steel string guitar. I've recorded a number of times with this banjo, and for some music it's the best.
I have heard steel strings on a fretless banjo, it's do-able for claw-hammer style, but personally I prefer nylon strings on this kind of instrument.
I got talking to Lu Edmonds after a Les Triaboliques gig and got to ask him what the hell he had been playing. He said it was a cümbüş (he pronounced it a bit like zhumbush), effectively a 12 string fretless banjo. Apparently (years ago) the president of Turkey got drunk with a luthier friend and they decided Turkey needed a national instrument, and the cümbüş was what they came up with.
Was gonna say, (1) African in origin and (2) Ms. Giddens does quite well with one.
Loved the Jethro comment.
Loved the Jethro comment.
now I've got ZHAS (zhumbush acquisition syndrome)
Clawhammer and Jethro, I mean Scruggs-style, are as different as a baroque string quartet and Weather Report. The former works well on its own, the latter best with a band imo.
