I've played octave mandolins and mandocellos(Irish Bouzouki) for some time now and have no problems with volume when playing chords or backing at gigs or sessions. However in all the instruments I've had (ranging from dirt cheap to very expensive custom made) I've yet to find one that I can play melody on in public that provides a decent bit of volume. Even doing a solo on most instruments would leave most people over 3 feet away not being able to hear things clearly. I enjoy playing tunes on these type instruments but will only ever bother to do this at home now. I've tried heavier picks and banging harder on the strings but that make things sound blunt while only making it a bit louder. Shouldn't have to whack strings to get a loud tone anyhow no matter what the instrument.
Most mandolins don't have this problem because they have a nice high pitched sound that cuts through. So is this the solution... high pitched tuning? but that will throw all the keys out if I'm playing with others.
If the mandolin hasn't got a big body then a large body shouldn't be the answer either. Most times, a large body equals a low bassy sound that gets lost in the background.
So, Is there such thing as a half decent octave mandolin type instrument that can be audible in public!!! after years of searching I've yet to find one. I've heard melody being played on everything from Abnetts to Foleys and it's all pretty mouse like when put beside any other standard instrument.
Fishmonger may be a bit flippant, but he's got a point. I play mandolin and will eventually pick up a banjo. OMs and Bouzoukis are even harder to hear than mando because of the lower octave. As mandos go, an archtop is generally a bit louder, but it's not enough to cut through. Since I am still a fledgling, this is not a problem because for now I would rather stay a bit buried in the mix. Certain designs and woods will be louder than others, but you're never going to find a mando/OM/bouzouki that will get anywhere near a banjo. If you don't care for banjo, then best of luck. Otherwise, I would consider it.
I love flatpicking tunes on the guitar and octave mandolin. Don't do it at sessions, though, for just that reason. It's hardly worth the bother to bring a mandolin, anything bigger's useless.
In a smaller setting, though, the bouzouki or the guitar can be great. Have a house session some time, and do your inviting carefully - you'll be able to pick the tunes if you're not surrounded by a stack of fiddles and a couple of box players.
Didn't mean to be flippant. No disrespect intended. It's just that was how the tenor banjo came into being.
"The tenor banjo has the loudest and clearest tone of all the banjos, allowing it to cut through even the noisiest surroundings. It was designed to be a solo instrument in the pre-war banjo bands, and was originally called a "tango-banjo."
The early jazz bands in New Orleans and Chicago needed a portable yet loud chord instrument and for them the tenor banjo was perfect. Thus it also became known as the "jazz banjo.""
But seriously, I have tried mandolin-banjos, resonator mandolins, and tenor banjos. There is nothing like a tenor banjo for striking fear in the hearts of accordion players and the like. I also pack a woody mandolin for whenever it can be heard.
Some players can make mandolin heard ok (not myself though I'm a wimp ) , and it is sometimes surprisingly clear away from the session. I wouldn't entirely write of the little fellers.
But melody on OM or zouk is a problem in a noisy environment. I like to hear melody played on those instruments, but it can get soul destroying for the player to try and lead more than a couple of sets on them. On the plus side, they make for great accompaniment if that catches your fancy, really quite versatile.
Tenor banjo is the best of the bunch though for playing melody in a session as it doesn't completely disappear. Banjo doesn't have to overpower a session though it is possible to play quielty.
My own difficulty is in playing the banjo loudly when necessary (*very* noisy pub at end of night so the fiddle at the other end of the session can know what you've started). I taught myself to play in places where I was very conscious of trying to play quietly so as not to disturb others and I'm pretty quiet for a banjo player. Mostly I'm quite happy playing at the volume I do, I have no wish to lie on top of the session, but I do struggle to play at a louder volume.
I think there are two distinct problems here - one is how much you can hear yourself, and the other is how much you can be heard by others.
There are some bouzoukis and such, that are built with a small soundhole on the upper ribs/side, so that some of the sound comes directly up to the player, so that they themselves are satisfied that they are audible. There is also maximising the volume out of the instrument, so that it can compete with other instruments ( hey, this is why competition in ITM is not a good thing ); my personal approach, which I have mentioned here many times before, is to fit both a heavier tailpiece, a brass one, so that the string energy takes the line of least resistance, that is through the lighter bridge to energize the soundboard, and also to use the most efficient bridge, for which I follow the work pioneered by Red Henry, the US mandolin player, and use a one-piece maple bridge designed to transmit the vibrations to the soundboard in the most effective manner. Red Henry achieved his designs by experiment, and a number of other people have taken up his work and run with it, myself included. The result is that my daughter will not stay in the same room as me when I practice, saying I am too loud !
It might be worthwhile to listen to someone else playing your instrument within a session, to see how loud and audible it actually is - I sometimes find that the balance of a session varies considerably depending on where in a room you hear it from, and that other people's perceptions of how loud you are might differ considerably from your own.
As to tenor banjos - I prefer them in trad jazz bands, and find that they overwhelm most other instruments in acoustic sessions and are best left at home.
Most people are either too polite or too shy to ask someone to play more quietly. To the general detriment of the ensemble, of course.
I remember hearing an interview with Liz Carroll once where she was explaining why she recently got a new fiddle. She said that for years he previous fiddle was perfect, she loved it, but that gradually it seemed to be getting quieter. Except it wasn't her, it was the rest of the session getting louder. She said she had no choice but to get a louder fiddle. Desperately sad.
As for banjos, it's often not just their volume that overwhelms other instruments. It's that kind of slice they have, they are all attack. It just cuts through a session like a hot knife through butter. It's hard to play with, you usually end up having to following it. Good banjo players have to be extra extra attentive to other musicians to make sure they are not, by default of the sound of the instrument, dictating all the time. A good banjo player has to learn to be able to balance a knob of butter on the flat side of their hot knife.
Can have its uses though. A good fiddle playing friend of mine sometimes takes her banjo to the learners session where a few of her fiddle students play. It works very well
It is an arms race. How do you think the poor bloody harmonica player gets on? A quiet instrument with all the sound going out in front of you and not to your ears, unlike with fiddle players, so you can hardly hear yourself at all in many circumstances. I sometimes play with one hand over my ear like Ewan MacColl. The worst thing is sitting anywhere near an accordion or melodeon. It's axiomatic that anything you do to make yourself louder will make everyone else play louder and everyone in the pub talk/shout louder. Unfortunately.
I would agree with Llig on this if you look at the wave form of the sound made by a banjo it is all attack no sustain . Have you thought of a tenor guitar some of the newer ones have the volume and a mellow sustain missing on the banjo.
See John Carty albums for wht I mean
>Most people are either too polite or too shy to ask someone >to play more quietly. To the general detriment of the >ensemble, of course.
<...>
>Resist the volume arms race.
Actually I agree with this. I base the fact that I'm not over loud on the basis of being asked many times over the years to play louder, rather than on never having been asked to play more quietly.
But I have no real wish to play louder, I don't like the sound to be dominated by any one instrument, particularly by myself.
OTOH It would be handy on those occasions when a session gets overwhelmed with noisy drunk punters labouring under the belief that a pub is somewhere you go to to drink alcohol .
Howevre, I re-iterate that banjo doesn't have to dominate though, and isn't the only example (or in my experience the worst example) of an instrument that *can* have a problem with being too loud or dominant. I think the worst offenders I've come across down the years have been various free reed instruments, accordeons and concertinas, and some sets of pipes. But again I've heard many moderate and quiet versions of those instruments too, and like to listen to those instruments.
It is true that many people have a problem with the sound of the banjo, and just don't like it (Pete for example ) , which is not the same thing as the question of volume. It is a valid opinion, but at the end of the day merely a personal preference. There are plenty of folk that dislike the sound of other instruments.
For what it is worth, played solo, the banjo is far from my favourite instrument for listening to Irish music. I much prefer it in combination with other instruments.
- chris
PS. Personally I hate the sound of jazz strummed banjo, it reallys ets my teeth on edge, although I can admire the skill of many proponents.
Seriously, though, it's much easier to play a fiddle hard and aggressively within company and not dominate than it is with a banjo. And it's not the volume, it's just that the instrument itself is all attack. If you like to play hard and aggressively sometimes, then the banjo is not for you.
I have a not-too-bad tenor guitar - an old Gibson. Just doesn't cut it at a session with background noise. I've been taking the tenor banjo lately because it provides just what's needed where there's a hubbub going on - punctuation. It helps stop different ends of the table losing step because they can't hear across the room. All in all I'd rather hear fiddles than tenor banjos most of the time but the t.b. most definitely delivers the goods.
>(I like an olive based spread too ... but since when do you >shout towards the bathroom, "your toast is done, do you want >it olive based spreaded?")
OTOH it isn't uncommon in our house to hear: "Your toast is done, if you want it spreaded mind and bring the olive-based spread with you when your finished in the bathroom"
>Seriously, though, it's much easier to play a fiddle hard and >aggressively within company and not dominate than it is with >a banjo. And it's not the volume, it's just that the instrument >itself is all attack. If you like to play hard and aggressively >sometimes, then the banjo is not for you.
I love my National Resophonic RM-1 mandolin. It sits nicely in the mix and I can hear myself quite comfortably. Sadly for the OP they don't make an OM version. However, a resophonic guitar strung in fifths with a strategically placed capo might be interesting. Anyone tried that?
If I had to wait until I got out of the bathroom to apply the olive-based spread to my toast, it would be cold, if anyone else had toasted it for me, that is.
On the other hand, and horror of horrors, I find myself agreeing with llig, at least slightly. Olive-based spread, yummy !
Also, see my earlier question re zither-pattern tenor banjos. That's where the future should lie; that, and sticking a sock in them.
I was a long-term owner of a zither banjo and they're designed so you can't stick a sock in them. It's now owned by a lady down the road from me who bought it from the charity shop I donated it to. I used to play it as a plectrum banjo for trad jazz, and played regularly with a trumpet player and a sousaphone player. Now they definitely need socks shoved down them!
I'm loving the tenor banjo I just traded for. Played softly it has a warm, rich, almost guitar like quality to the tone. Lots of sustain to it. When played loudly, you can hear it out on the street!
I'm gonna have to watch the volume when playing out on my back deck though. Yesterday I was out back and finished playing a tune I had been practicing... a lot... and the neighbor was whistling it.
I once reached across and put my hand on the strings of a banjo which was being played too loud. That stopped it very suddenly.
The player learned to live with it after a few seconds of solemn reflection on the fact that I'm a lot bigger that he is.
Sitting close on the left of a fiddler who is about a foot taller than yourself is the place to find just how loud a fiddle really is. In that position you've got the soundboard of the fiddle putting maximum volume straight down your right ear.
Yeah, but it's nothing to sitting to left side of a piano accordion in full oompah mode. Drowned out my banjo, that one did - and the rest of the musicians, from where I was sitting. All I could hear was root and five.
A zither banjo does not need a sock in it, but an ordiniary tenor banjo definitely does, and/or have the resonator taken off.
Or just let the banjos and accordions go in another room.
Volume
Volume
I've played octave mandolins and mandocellos(Irish Bouzouki) for some time now and have no problems with volume when playing chords or backing at gigs or sessions. However in all the instruments I've had (ranging from dirt cheap to very expensive custom made) I've yet to find one that I can play melody on in public that provides a decent bit of volume. Even doing a solo on most instruments would leave most people over 3 feet away not being able to hear things clearly. I enjoy playing tunes on these type instruments but will only ever bother to do this at home now. I've tried heavier picks and banging harder on the strings but that make things sound blunt while only making it a bit louder. Shouldn't have to whack strings to get a loud tone anyhow no matter what the instrument.
Most mandolins don't have this problem because they have a nice high pitched sound that cuts through. So is this the solution... high pitched tuning? but that will throw all the keys out if I'm playing with others.
If the mandolin hasn't got a big body then a large body shouldn't be the answer either. Most times, a large body equals a low bassy sound that gets lost in the background.
So, Is there such thing as a half decent octave mandolin type instrument that can be audible in public!!! after years of searching I've yet to find one. I've heard melody being played on everything from Abnetts to Foleys and it's all pretty mouse like when put beside any other standard instrument.
Any thoughts on the matter?
# Posted on January 12th 2010 by Zouk2003
Re: Volume
Play tenor banjo.
# Posted on January 12th 2010 by Fishmonger
Re: Volume
Fishmonger may be a bit flippant, but he's got a point. I play mandolin and will eventually pick up a banjo. OMs and Bouzoukis are even harder to hear than mando because of the lower octave. As mandos go, an archtop is generally a bit louder, but it's not enough to cut through. Since I am still a fledgling, this is not a problem because for now I would rather stay a bit buried in the mix. Certain designs and woods will be louder than others, but you're never going to find a mando/OM/bouzouki that will get anywhere near a banjo. If you don't care for banjo, then best of luck. Otherwise, I would consider it.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Jimmy B
Re: Volume
i gave up taking a BZ to sessions. i couldnt hear it myself.
my guess is the solution is an octave banjolin. i dont know whether they exist.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by rumpole
Re: Volume
I love flatpicking tunes on the guitar and octave mandolin. Don't do it at sessions, though, for just that reason. It's hardly worth the bother to bring a mandolin, anything bigger's useless.
In a smaller setting, though, the bouzouki or the guitar can be great. Have a house session some time, and do your inviting carefully - you'll be able to pick the tunes if you're not surrounded by a stack of fiddles and a couple of box players.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Volume
Didn't mean to be flippant. No disrespect intended. It's just that was how the tenor banjo came into being.
"The tenor banjo has the loudest and clearest tone of all the banjos, allowing it to cut through even the noisiest surroundings. It was designed to be a solo instrument in the pre-war banjo bands, and was originally called a "tango-banjo."
The early jazz bands in New Orleans and Chicago needed a portable yet loud chord instrument and for them the tenor banjo was perfect. Thus it also became known as the "jazz banjo.""
http://www.irish-banjo.com/instruments/tenor-banjo/index.html
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Fishmonger
Re: Volume
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rare-octave-guitar-mandolin-1930s--resonator--Art-Deco_W0QQitemZ170412595670QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20091128?IMSfp=TL091128192002r3341#ht_1529wt_956
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by oldstrings
Re: Volume
But seriously, I have tried mandolin-banjos, resonator mandolins, and tenor banjos. There is nothing like a tenor banjo for striking fear in the hearts of accordion players and the like. I also pack a woody mandolin for whenever it can be heard.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by oldstrings
Re: Volume
Some players can make mandolin heard ok (not myself though I'm a wimp
) , and it is sometimes surprisingly clear away from the session. I wouldn't entirely write of the little fellers.
But melody on OM or zouk is a problem in a noisy environment. I like to hear melody played on those instruments, but it can get soul destroying for the player to try and lead more than a couple of sets on them. On the plus side, they make for great accompaniment if that catches your fancy, really quite versatile.
Tenor banjo is the best of the bunch though for playing melody in a session as it doesn't completely disappear. Banjo doesn't have to overpower a session though it is possible to play quielty.
My own difficulty is in playing the banjo loudly when necessary (*very* noisy pub at end of night so the fiddle at the other end of the session can know what you've started). I taught myself to play in places where I was very conscious of trying to play quietly so as not to disturb others and I'm pretty quiet for a banjo player. Mostly I'm quite happy playing at the volume I do, I have no wish to lie on top of the session, but I do struggle to play at a louder volume.
- chris
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
I think there are two distinct problems here - one is how much you can hear yourself, and the other is how much you can be heard by others.
There are some bouzoukis and such, that are built with a small soundhole on the upper ribs/side, so that some of the sound comes directly up to the player, so that they themselves are satisfied that they are audible. There is also maximising the volume out of the instrument, so that it can compete with other instruments ( hey, this is why competition in ITM is not a good thing ); my personal approach, which I have mentioned here many times before, is to fit both a heavier tailpiece, a brass one, so that the string energy takes the line of least resistance, that is through the lighter bridge to energize the soundboard, and also to use the most efficient bridge, for which I follow the work pioneered by Red Henry, the US mandolin player, and use a one-piece maple bridge designed to transmit the vibrations to the soundboard in the most effective manner. Red Henry achieved his designs by experiment, and a number of other people have taken up his work and run with it, myself included. The result is that my daughter will not stay in the same room as me when I practice, saying I am too loud !
It might be worthwhile to listen to someone else playing your instrument within a session, to see how loud and audible it actually is - I sometimes find that the balance of a session varies considerably depending on where in a room you hear it from, and that other people's perceptions of how loud you are might differ considerably from your own.
As to tenor banjos - I prefer them in trad jazz bands, and find that they overwhelm most other instruments in acoustic sessions and are best left at home.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Volume
Banjos don't have to overwhelm other instruments. Over the years I've frequently been asked to play louder, but never asked to tone it down.
Banjos certainly can be loud, it is a myth that they have to be.
- chris
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
Most people are either too polite or too shy to ask someone to play more quietly. To the general detriment of the ensemble, of course.
I remember hearing an interview with Liz Carroll once where she was explaining why she recently got a new fiddle. She said that for years he previous fiddle was perfect, she loved it, but that gradually it seemed to be getting quieter. Except it wasn't her, it was the rest of the session getting louder. She said she had no choice but to get a louder fiddle. Desperately sad.
Resist the volume arms race.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
As for banjos, it's often not just their volume that overwhelms other instruments. It's that kind of slice they have, they are all attack. It just cuts through a session like a hot knife through butter. It's hard to play with, you usually end up having to following it. Good banjo players have to be extra extra attentive to other musicians to make sure they are not, by default of the sound of the instrument, dictating all the time. A good banjo player has to learn to be able to balance a knob of butter on the flat side of their hot knife.
Can have its uses though. A good fiddle playing friend of mine sometimes takes her banjo to the learners session where a few of her fiddle students play. It works very well
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
It is an arms race. How do you think the poor bloody harmonica player gets on? A quiet instrument with all the sound going out in front of you and not to your ears, unlike with fiddle players, so you can hardly hear yourself at all in many circumstances. I sometimes play with one hand over my ear like Ewan MacColl. The worst thing is sitting anywhere near an accordion or melodeon. It's axiomatic that anything you do to make yourself louder will make everyone else play louder and everyone in the pub talk/shout louder. Unfortunately.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Steve Shaw
Re: Volume
I would agree with Llig on this if you look at the wave form of the sound made by a banjo it is all attack no sustain . Have you thought of a tenor guitar some of the newer ones have the volume and a mellow sustain missing on the banjo.
See John Carty albums for wht I mean
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by bazouki dave
Re: Volume
Llig,
.
) , which is not the same thing as the question of volume. It is a valid opinion, but at the end of the day merely a personal preference. There are plenty of folk that dislike the sound of other instruments.
>Most people are either too polite or too shy to ask someone >to play more quietly. To the general detriment of the >ensemble, of course.
<...>
>Resist the volume arms race.
Actually I agree with this. I base the fact that I'm not over loud on the basis of being asked many times over the years to play louder, rather than on never having been asked to play more quietly.
But I have no real wish to play louder, I don't like the sound to be dominated by any one instrument, particularly by myself.
OTOH It would be handy on those occasions when a session gets overwhelmed with noisy drunk punters labouring under the belief that a pub is somewhere you go to to drink alcohol
Howevre, I re-iterate that banjo doesn't have to dominate though, and isn't the only example (or in my experience the worst example) of an instrument that *can* have a problem with being too loud or dominant. I think the worst offenders I've come across down the years have been various free reed instruments, accordeons and concertinas, and some sets of pipes. But again I've heard many moderate and quiet versions of those instruments too, and like to listen to those instruments.
It is true that many people have a problem with the sound of the banjo, and just don't like it (Pete for example
For what it is worth, played solo, the banjo is far from my favourite instrument for listening to Irish music. I much prefer it in combination with other instruments.
- chris
PS. Personally I hate the sound of jazz strummed banjo, it reallys ets my teeth on edge, although I can admire the skill of many proponents.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
I'm loving this. I bought a tenor banjo recently, and it is my stated ambition to be able to play without dominating the session.
It's partly in the set up of the instrument, of course. You don't have to set it up so it makes peoples teeth rattle.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by showaddydadito
Re: Volume
Get practicing with that knob of butter on your hot knife then.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
I'm beginning to get a warm fuzzy glow.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by showaddydadito
Re: Volume
Don't get too warm, it's easier with a cool knife.
Don't make the mistake I do every morning and try to butter my toast with the knife I've just squeezed the tea bag out of my mug of tea with.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
I use an olive based spread myself
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
Seriously, though, it's much easier to play a fiddle hard and aggressively within company and not dominate than it is with a banjo. And it's not the volume, it's just that the instrument itself is all attack. If you like to play hard and aggressively sometimes, then the banjo is not for you.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
I have a not-too-bad tenor guitar - an old Gibson. Just doesn't cut it at a session with background noise. I've been taking the tenor banjo lately because it provides just what's needed where there's a hubbub going on - punctuation. It helps stop different ends of the table losing step because they can't hear across the room. All in all I'd rather hear fiddles than tenor banjos most of the time but the t.b. most definitely delivers the goods.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by RichardB
Re: Volume
(I like an olive based spread too ... but since when do you shout towards the bathroom, "your toast is done, do you want it olive based spreaded?")
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
You joined the arms race then Richard?
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by llig leahcim
Re: Volume
>(I like an olive based spread too ... but since when do you >shout towards the bathroom, "your toast is done, do you want >it olive based spreaded?")
OTOH it isn't uncommon in our house to hear: "Your toast is done, if you want it spreaded mind and bring the olive-based spread with you when your finished in the bathroom"
- chris
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
showaddydadito , I hope you don't mind me contacting you off list.
As one banjo player to another my advice is play the fekker as loud as you fekking can: stomp over everyone.
You can always deny it on-line, no-one will ever know.
- Chris
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
>Seriously, though, it's much easier to play a fiddle hard and >aggressively within company and not dominate than it is with >a banjo. And it's not the volume, it's just that the instrument >itself is all attack. If you like to play hard and aggressively >sometimes, then the banjo is not for you.
leave the banjo to powder puff types like myself
- chris
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
"you're"
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
"arms race": when walking home at an ungodly hour I'd rather have a banjo to fend off any assailants than a fiddle - what good would that be?
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by RichardB
Re: Volume
I love my National Resophonic RM-1 mandolin. It sits nicely in the mix and I can hear myself quite comfortably. Sadly for the OP they don't make an OM version. However, a resophonic guitar strung in fifths with a strategically placed capo might be interesting. Anyone tried that?
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by johndsamuels
Re: Volume
Arms race? Time to go nuclear!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroh_violin
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Volume
If I had to wait until I got out of the bathroom to apply the olive-based spread to my toast, it would be cold, if anyone else had toasted it for me, that is.
On the other hand, and horror of horrors, I find myself agreeing with llig, at least slightly. Olive-based spread, yummy !
Also, see my earlier question re zither-pattern tenor banjos. That's where the future should lie; that, and sticking a sock in them.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Volume
"no buts, it's got to be butter" (and unsalted to boot!)
p.s. this 'catch phrase' may be familiar to those of a certain era.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by domnull
Re: Volume
I was a long-term owner of a zither banjo and they're designed so you can't stick a sock in them. It's now owned by a lady down the road from me who bought it from the charity shop I donated it to. I used to play it as a plectrum banjo for trad jazz, and played regularly with a trumpet player and a sousaphone player. Now they definitely need socks shoved down them!
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by RichardB
Re: Volume
actually it was a cornet not a trumpet, now I think back.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by RichardB
Re: Volume
I'm loving the tenor banjo I just traded for. Played softly it has a warm, rich, almost guitar like quality to the tone. Lots of sustain to it. When played loudly, you can hear it out on the street!
I'm gonna have to watch the volume when playing out on my back deck though. Yesterday I was out back and finished playing a tune I had been practicing... a lot... and the neighbor was whistling it.
Thanks again for making the trade with me, Mike.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Fishmonger
Re: Volume
I once reached across and put my hand on the strings of a banjo which was being played too loud. That stopped it very suddenly.
The player learned to live with it after a few seconds of solemn reflection on the fact that I'm a lot bigger that he is.
Sitting close on the left of a fiddler who is about a foot taller than yourself is the place to find just how loud a fiddle really is. In that position you've got the soundboard of the fiddle putting maximum volume straight down your right ear.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by showaddydadito
Re: Volume
Yeah, but it's nothing to sitting to left side of a piano accordion in full oompah mode. Drowned out my banjo, that one did - and the rest of the musicians, from where I was sitting. All I could hear was root and five.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Volume
Evil things, those.
http://www.concertinamusic.com/sbox/images/AccordionBandit.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2874/accordionfarsidecartoon.gif
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Volume
A zither banjo does not need a sock in it, but an ordiniary tenor banjo definitely does, and/or have the resonator taken off.
Or just let the banjos and accordions go in another room.
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Volume
banjo and accordeon: my ideal, dream session
# Posted on January 13th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Volume
Well, as Pete Seeger once said, it's differences of opinions that make horse races.
# Posted on January 14th 2010 by Guernsey Pete