I'm buying a banjo

[mexicanyella]

This thread is rich in people I suspect have never listened to a berimbau.

 

[MikePlaysBass]

Not sure when that "rule" got declared. Do you have documented evidence of this ruling? I ask because I sure see a lot of instruments called banjos that existed well before the first 5 string banjo.

Historically, you are correct. There were banjos in various sizes and configurations. Anything with a stretched skin and some strings could qualify. But, over the last 50 years or so, if you put out a call for a banjo for a band or recording, you expected a five string banjo and not a guitar or ukulele or whatever that kind of sounded like a banjo. So, I was going by what country and bluegrass players expected. In music, they are no firm rules, only guidelines.

 

[Michedelic]

Without the banjo, there might not have been The Beatles, or at least The Beatles as we've known it...
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Add to that the vocal influence of the Everly Brothers on them; Phil and Don came right out of the Bluegrass brother harmony act tradition, the Delmores, the Louvins, etc. That might not have come about without Bill Monroe developing the genre, and banjo was a big part of that. Sure, it's all a lot of what if/causality/Butterfly Effect stuff, but if one piece of the puzzle was missing, things could have turned out differently.

 

[mexicanyella]

Lots of four-string banjo in Dixieland stuff and traditional Irish music, if Ima not mistaken.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Probably been said already, but I know there are some pretty good bass players who love to play with banjo pluckin dudes....

 

[Tom Bomb]

… If you wanna play the banjo but not learn Scruggs rolls, maybe get an open-back banjo and learn to play clawhammer? It's easier than three-finger, and there's a whole world of great music to explore.

I managed this recently — picked up a basic Deering Goodtime open-back five string. Absolutely thrilled with it though an armrest would be nice, maybe a truss-rod.

It's fun to witness the guitarist-brain getting all messed up, in the process of gaining some mastery. It doesn't last long and, before you know it, being realistic and dedicated, you'll be tearing it up, @JimmyM.​

 

[dbsfgyd1]

View attachment 4275996

In an effort to be as cool as my friend, famed Estonian producer and Winny Puhh guitarist/banjoist/singer Silver Lepaste (far left), I am buying a banjo! His is a tenor banjo, but I'll be getting a 6-string.

A couple years ago, I set up a Rogue 6-string banjo for a friend without knowing the first thing about setting up a banjo, and it ended up being a perfectly good cheapo banjo with low action and a decent sound. Always wanted to get one for myself but never did because I didn't have a reason.

Lately I've been writing songs, and some will sound amazing with banjo. Silver's occasional use of banjo in Winny Puhh's music really showed me how great banjo can be in heavier rock settings. And like Silver, while I've always been a sucker for a great banjo player, I'm a bass and guitar player and don't really want to play bluegrass, nor do I think I could learn how to do banjo rolls. But I can flatpick a 6-string and get what I want out of it.

So my plan is getting one of these Dean 6-string banjos...

View attachment 4275997

...and the plans for world domination of retirement villages can commence.

+1 on not playing a 5 string. After all the years of finger picking a guitar, where the thumb 99% played the bass part tonic on the one beat, leading with the index finger for me was a bridge too far. Never could get those rolls down.

That said a tenor banjo 4-6 string is a great voice. Best wishes for you Jimmy.

 

[gmarcus]

This was hanging on the wall in the last studio I was in.
Google Image Result for https://imgc.artprintimages.com/img/print/no-i-m-still-getting-too-much-banjo-new-yorker-cartoon_u-l-pysg0e0.jpg?h=550&p=0&w=550

 

[2tonic]

Wait for it…

Where exactly is the "fail"?
The video appears to be simply karma keeping things in balance between nature and man.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

View attachment 4275996

In an effort to be as cool as my friend, famed Estonian producer and Winny Puhh guitarist/banjoist/singer Silver Lepaste (far left), I am buying a banjo! His is a tenor banjo, but I'll be getting a 6-string.

A couple years ago, I set up a Rogue 6-string banjo for a friend without knowing the first thing about setting up a banjo, and it ended up being a perfectly good cheapo banjo with low action and a decent sound. Always wanted to get one for myself but never did because I didn't have a reason.

Lately I've been writing songs, and some will sound amazing with banjo. Silver's occasional use of banjo in Winny Puhh's music really showed me how great banjo can be in heavier rock settings. And like Silver, while I've always been a sucker for a great banjo player, I'm a bass and guitar player and don't really want to play bluegrass, nor do I think I could learn how to do banjo rolls. But I can flatpick a 6-string and get what I want out of it.

So my plan is getting one of these Dean 6-string banjos...

View attachment 4275997

...and the plans for world domination of retirement villages can commence.

Go to the 1 minute mark.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Deliverance comes to mind...

He ain't far from the Everglades.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

A few days ago I saw a youtube of Jim Stafford playing a guitjo.

I played accordion in the 60's so I got to hear jokes like this...

What's the definition of perfect pitch? When you throw a banjo in the dumpster and it lands on an accordion.

Overhand, or softball?

 

[Yonni]

I wake up to 9 pages of Jimmy's buying a banjo to play in a metal band!

No one has mentioned Hayseed Dixie yet?

ladies and gentlemen, we have finally reached the singularity: the best bass for metal is a banjo.

Would the last person to leave please sweep up the carrots and turn off the servers.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Hmm. Let us know how it sounds through the SVT.

 

[Bonsist]

Banjo is cool. Taake is a black metal project that has banjo. It' kick ass too. Congrats on your new banjo OP.

 

[silvertone]

Truth.....

 

[silvertone]

This thread calls for real - actual banjo jokes:

Q: What's the best kind of pickup to put on a banjo?
A: An F-150

Q: What's the difference between a banjo player and a large pizza?
A: The Pizza can feed a family of 4.

Q: What's the difference between a mutual fund and a banjo player?
A: One eventually matures and earns money.

(This next one I made up myself after having had a very valuable F5 mandolin stolen - and then miraculously recovered within a month out here Northern California....)

Q: How do you keep a mandolin from getting stolen?
A: Keep it in a banjo case.

 

[mongo2]

Overhand, or softball?

I always envisioned it as being like a hammer throw for distance and overhand for accuracy.

 

[Basically Bob]

Ditto. If you don't have the top drone string it's not really a banjo. The resonating body will have a fast attack sound similar to a banjo, but it's still a guitar made to sound similar to one. It's like the Sitar guitars that had sympathetic vibrating strings. They sounded more like a sitar than a guitar, but nothing like the real thing.

Check out this six string Gibson guitar banjo currently listed at the 12fth fret.

Gibson GB-3 Mastertone Guitar Banjo, 1926 | www.12fret.com

Also scroll down and you will see my 1927 Gibson Mastertone 4 string, Plectrum banjo. (Just sold to a guy in Florida for close to $3,500.00).

Gibson PB3 Plectrum Banjo, 1927 | www.12fret.com

 

[FilterFunk]

Geez Jimmy......now all you need is a front porch, a rocking chair, and an old hound dog! Actually that sounds kind of nice!

It does...depending on where all of these things are.

Waaay deep in the backwoods? NNNNNOPE!!!