ive just bought my self a tenor banjo and i was wondering what should i start learning? ive played guitar for a while so my picking and fretting should be ok, so im looking for begginer tunes to learn.
also whats the difference between a Reel and a Jig?
Reels are in 4/4, jigs are in 6/8, polkas are in 2/4.
As for beginner tunes, some people suggest you learn the Kesh Jig. Those people are wrong. If I were you, I would not suggest any of the common 'beginner tunes', simply because most people cringe when someone strikes up The Kesh or The Butterfly or Drowsy Maggie. But there are a few good tunes that are tolerable. Jimmy Ward's, John Ryan's, The Britches Full of Stitches (a remarkably good tune when played properly), The Mountain Road, and the Old Maid. All remarkably good tunes, easy, and not overdone to death. (Except the Mountain Road, but I've never heard people object to it as virulently as to, say, The Silver Spear).
The lilting banshee, the rambling pitchfork, saddle the pony
are good starter jigs.
There are ofcourse some tutors available from Gerry O'Connor (the greatest tenor banjoist of all time)
He have (as far as I know) A book/cd tutor and
Two dvd's (beginner and intermediate/advanced)
All these products from waltons.
And a cd - rom tutorial avaiable from Madfortrad
Start with mandolin tabs.
Same tuning and very easy to find books and web resources. Different technique for banjo eventually but you'll figure that out yourself as you listen.
A great tune to start with is Egan's polka, here is simple notated and tabbed version. http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab3/egan.gif
Nigel Gatherer has many more tabbed tunes on his mandolin site
You might want to check out www.irish-banjo.com it has some good general info as well as some transcriptions with EZ tabs if you don’t read music yet. I also have the Gerry O’Connor stuff, but I personally did not find it as helpful as the website above, plus it's free. The session.org’s own cayotebanjo has some useful tutorial info, his way of describing a how hold a pick to play a triplet is really good stuff.
As for tunes-I am not inclined to agree with the above comments and the alleged disdain for so called beginner tunes. I play in slow, regular and advanced session on a regular basis and as a rule beginners who are clearly committed and respectful of the tradition and aware of basic common sense etiquette are welcomed regardless of tune selections.
My feeling is you want to learn tunes that are regularly played in your area, ask fiddlers and other banjoists what they recommend for not so tricky starter tunes and learn the ones YOU LIKE without concern about snobbish attitudes or trying to impress with some obscure tune nobody knows. If you’ve been picking awhile already on guitar you’ll have a big leg up and you’ll be blazin’ away in no time.
Janek, are you quite sure about the origin of "Dorian" as applied to the scale ? You're not winding up Paul by any chance, are you?
I've always understood that Dorian was one of the modal scales of the music of ancient Greece but was accidentally re-allocated to a different modal scale by a confused monk in the early centuries of the Christian era. We've been stuck with that mis-allocation ever since.
The best answer to that was provided by a man in Wexford. "A reel reels, and a jig jigs". And he was right. Great help for keeping time, especially if you don't know 4-2-4 from 4-3-3.
Like the question asked of the same guy from Wexford when he applied for a job on a building site: what's the difference between a girder and a joist? That's easy, answers the fellow, Goethe wrote Faust and Joyce wrote Ulysses. Well not really like it at all, but never mind...
Thanks for all the advice!
and sorry Zazzaliss i read this too late, ive learned The Kesh And Drowsy Maggie now! oh well there fun to learn. im going to try somthing more differcult know.
Don't be too influenced by some of the advice given about tunes to learn - difficult does not equate to best! The Silver Spear has always been a great reel and will continue to be so irrespective of the number of times it's played. The same goes for tunes like Drowsie Maggie and the Kesh not to mention Miss McCleod's, Joe Cooley's, the Wise Maid, Sligo Maid, etc. There's nothing wrong with the old ones!
For jigs in the Dorian mode, two that are good standards are The Tenpenny Bit ( one sharp, in A minor) and Morrison's Jig (two sharps, in E minor). The last especially gets played to death, but it generally pops up in a session at some stage and if you're not entirely confident with it you can play along behind everyone else - pretty well everyone will be playing the tune.
I did Classics but only as little Plato as I could get away with. He and Aristotle would have commented on these ancient Greek modes. They are called after different people-groups in the Greek and surrounding world; maybe they were held to indicate something about the nature of each of these groups; certainly they were held to have differing effects on the listener, over a period of time being character-forming or the reverse. The Dorian mode was regarded as serious and warlike and therefore a good one to play or be exposed to.
I can't believe that each of the "Mode" peoples or the strangers among them played music only in the mode associated with them by the Athenian philosophers! But I'll have to read up on this one.
Where should i start?
Where should i start?
ive just bought my self a tenor banjo and i was wondering what should i start learning? ive played guitar for a while so my picking and fretting should be ok, so im looking for begginer tunes to learn.
also whats the difference between a Reel and a Jig?
thanks
# Posted on August 17th 2006 by Maher
Re: Where should i start?
Reels are in 4/4, jigs are in 6/8, polkas are in 2/4.
As for beginner tunes, some people suggest you learn the Kesh Jig. Those people are wrong. If I were you, I would not suggest any of the common 'beginner tunes', simply because most people cringe when someone strikes up The Kesh or The Butterfly or Drowsy Maggie. But there are a few good tunes that are tolerable. Jimmy Ward's, John Ryan's, The Britches Full of Stitches (a remarkably good tune when played properly), The Mountain Road, and the Old Maid. All remarkably good tunes, easy, and not overdone to death. (Except the Mountain Road, but I've never heard people object to it as virulently as to, say, The Silver Spear).
# Posted on August 17th 2006 by Zazzaliss
Re: Where should i start?
My Darlin's Asleep is a great starter jig. So is Out on the Ocean.
# Posted on August 17th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: Where should i start?
The lilting banshee, the rambling pitchfork, saddle the pony
are good starter jigs.
There are ofcourse some tutors available from Gerry O'Connor (the greatest tenor banjoist of all time)
He have (as far as I know) A book/cd tutor and
Two dvd's (beginner and intermediate/advanced)
All these products from waltons.
And a cd - rom tutorial avaiable from Madfortrad
# Posted on August 17th 2006 by TradLad
Re: Where should i start?
Start with mandolin tabs.
Same tuning and very easy to find books and web resources. Different technique for banjo eventually but you'll figure that out yourself as you listen.
A great tune to start with is Egan's polka, here is simple notated and tabbed version. http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab3/egan.gif
Nigel Gatherer has many more tabbed tunes on his mandolin site
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by Bren
Re: Where should i start?
They're all good tunes. I personally can't stand most major (Ionian) jigs but lots of people love them so I keep my mouth shut and play along.
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by wormdiet
Re: Where should i start?
What's an Ionian jig? From Iona? I must Staffa look at a dictionary while I Mull that one Oban an over again
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by Bren
Re: Where should i start?
Ionian *mode,* silly. In other words, the scale taught as "major" in western music theory.,
Mixolydian and Dorian jigs rock.
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by wormdiet
Re: Where should i start?
Hiya Maher
You might want to check out www.irish-banjo.com it has some good general info as well as some transcriptions with EZ tabs if you don’t read music yet. I also have the Gerry O’Connor stuff, but I personally did not find it as helpful as the website above, plus it's free. The session.org’s own cayotebanjo has some useful tutorial info, his way of describing a how hold a pick to play a triplet is really good stuff.
As for tunes-I am not inclined to agree with the above comments and the alleged disdain for so called beginner tunes. I play in slow, regular and advanced session on a regular basis and as a rule beginners who are clearly committed and respectful of the tradition and aware of basic common sense etiquette are welcomed regardless of tune selections.
My feeling is you want to learn tunes that are regularly played in your area, ask fiddlers and other banjoists what they recommend for not so tricky starter tunes and learn the ones YOU LIKE without concern about snobbish attitudes or trying to impress with some obscure tune nobody knows. If you’ve been picking awhile already on guitar you’ll have a big leg up and you’ll be blazin’ away in no time.
Paul
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by Chef Paul
Re: Where should i start?
Ionian mode? Wouldn't know it if I tripped over it. Is it related to Mick O'Lydian's mode? Hippo Friggin' mode? Durian?
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by LastToFinish
Re: Where should i start?
Paul, it's written "Dorian". The name for the scale was taken from the protagonist of Oscar Wilde's novel, to commemorate the great Irishman.
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by Janek
Re: Where should i start?
Janek, are you quite sure about the origin of "Dorian" as applied to the scale
? You're not winding up Paul by any chance, are you?
I've always understood that Dorian was one of the modal scales of the music of ancient Greece but was accidentally re-allocated to a different modal scale by a confused monk in the early centuries of the Christian era. We've been stuck with that mis-allocation ever since.
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Where should i start?
It's a bit of a Gray area. The "Durian" theory smells a bit off to me as well.
With all due respect to everyone's preferences, I think some brisk polkas would make ideal learning material and soun dgood on the banjo too.
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by Bren
Re: Where should i start?
whats the difference between a Reel and a Jig?
The best answer to that was provided by a man in Wexford. "A reel reels, and a jig jigs". And he was right. Great help for keeping time, especially if you don't know 4-2-4 from 4-3-3.
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by bodhran bliss
Re: Where should i start?
Like the question asked of the same guy from Wexford when he applied for a job on a building site: what's the difference between a girder and a joist? That's easy, answers the fellow, Goethe wrote Faust and Joyce wrote Ulysses. Well not really like it at all, but never mind...
# Posted on August 18th 2006 by RichardB
Re: Where should i start?
Thanks for all the advice!
and sorry Zazzaliss i read this too late, ive learned The Kesh And Drowsy Maggie now! oh well there fun to learn. im going to try somthing more differcult know.
# Posted on August 19th 2006 by Maher
Re: Where should i start?
Don't be too influenced by some of the advice given about tunes to learn - difficult does not equate to best! The Silver Spear has always been a great reel and will continue to be so irrespective of the number of times it's played. The same goes for tunes like Drowsie Maggie and the Kesh not to mention Miss McCleod's, Joe Cooley's, the Wise Maid, Sligo Maid, etc. There's nothing wrong with the old ones!
# Posted on August 20th 2006 by Bannerman
Re: Where should i start?
For jigs in the Dorian mode, two that are good standards are The Tenpenny Bit ( one sharp, in A minor) and Morrison's Jig (two sharps, in E minor). The last especially gets played to death, but it generally pops up in a session at some stage and if you're not entirely confident with it you can play along behind everyone else - pretty well everyone will be playing the tune.
I did Classics but only as little Plato as I could get away with. He and Aristotle would have commented on these ancient Greek modes. They are called after different people-groups in the Greek and surrounding world; maybe they were held to indicate something about the nature of each of these groups; certainly they were held to have differing effects on the listener, over a period of time being character-forming or the reverse. The Dorian mode was regarded as serious and warlike and therefore a good one to play or be exposed to.
I can't believe that each of the "Mode" peoples or the strangers among them played music only in the mode associated with them by the Athenian philosophers! But I'll have to read up on this one.
# Posted on August 20th 2006 by nicholas
Re: Where should i start?
Bren, 2 days later and no one's got the picture. ( of "Durian" Gray) Or maybe they thought your word-play stinks. I liked it though..
# Posted on August 21st 2006 by cabers