how many are there here?
what sort of stuff do you play?
do you play melodic style finger picking or frail? i love the sound of the frailed 5 string, has a drone like the pipes. cant wait till i learn how to frail.
"I love the sound of the frailed 5 string, has a drone like the pipes." ? ! ?
Hey Tom, what sort of Banjo have you been listening to?
Tell me, does your Banjo actually have Drones attached .... & maybe bellows too?
But seriously, yes I play too & I am learning to Frail right now, on an old 1891-ish S S Stewart 5 String Banjo on which I play a little Old Time Music.
""I love the sound of the frailed 5 string, has a drone like the pipes." ? ! ?
Hey Tom, what sort of Banjo have you been listening to?
Tell me, does your Banjo actually have Drones attached .... & maybe bellows too? "
lol. a drone doesnt have to be a pipe though, just a constant monophonic ntoe throughout the tune. As in the effect the fifth string gives. Maybe i should have mentioned i was talking about the term, not the part of an instrument :D
My other half plays a 5 string banjo, and while he does a bit of Scruggs, we play mostly ITM and he's mostly playing melodic finger-picking ITM. The biggest drawback is that he's literally finger-picking - no picks, just fingertips - so it's not particularly loud. That short 5th string at the top tends to be the easiest-broken, but if it pops it's no great deal if you're playing ITM as most of the melody is in the other strings.
I've played bluegrass and clawhammer, and have added Irish, flatpicked on a 5-string. In a workshop with Grey Larsen some time back, in answer to why he played a D/A concertina instead of the traditional C/G, he stated that "the Irish will play whatever you hand them" and, since the C/G was what was available they never questioned that a D/A might be more appropriate for most Irish tunes, whichfollow pipe tunings, i.e. "D".
I carried this thinking to the banjo, which entered ITM as the tenor banjo, a C-friendly instrument more accustomed to playing in "horn-keys". I tried imitating the style that Barney Mckenna and Mick Maloney brought to ITM by flatpicking the 5-string (ignoring the 5th string), and found the tuning fit Irish keys nicely. Flatpicking is not all new, historically, since that tuning was used on "plectrum banjos" in the early part of the last century.
Try it, you'll like it, and you won't have to buy another banjo just for ITM.
Béla Fleck does a pretty darn good ITM on the 5-string, on the evidence of a couple of tracks on a cd I bought in a charity shop recently (this one: http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1535 )
I’ve played clawhammer (semi-melodic drop-thumb) off and on for thirty-mumble years. I remember an album long ago by Bob Carlin, Ken Perlman and others called Melodic Clawhammer Banjo, where they played several Irish tunes. They were very skillfully executed, but not satisfying – especially the jigs. I would never argue that it’s inappropriate, just not likely to satisfy listeners familiar with Irish tenor banjo.
Harp tunes can sound very nice on banjo (not clawhammer). A friend was in my living room just yesterday playing some lovely bare-finger tunes (including Carolan) on an open-back banjo
5 string banjoists
5 string banjoists
how many are there here?
what sort of stuff do you play?
do you play melodic style finger picking or frail? i love the sound of the frailed 5 string, has a drone like the pipes. cant wait till i learn how to frail.
plz share
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by tom1992
Re: 5 string banjoists
"I love the sound of the frailed 5 string, has a drone like the pipes." ? ! ?
Hey Tom, what sort of Banjo have you been listening to?
Tell me, does your Banjo actually have Drones attached .... & maybe bellows too?
But seriously, yes I play too & I am learning to Frail right now, on an old 1891-ish S S Stewart 5 String Banjo on which I play a little Old Time Music.
My 'Stewart':
< http://community.webshots.com/album/563035839xODJiH >
Cheers
Dick
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by Ptarmigan
Re: 5 string banjoists
I enjoy Bluegrass. I play Scruggs-style and some melodic. I have a Washburn B19 - nothing to drool over I guess - but I like it.
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by jamascc
Re: 5 string banjoists
""I love the sound of the frailed 5 string, has a drone like the pipes." ? ! ?
Hey Tom, what sort of Banjo have you been listening to?
Tell me, does your Banjo actually have Drones attached .... & maybe bellows too? "
lol. a drone doesnt have to be a pipe though, just a constant monophonic ntoe throughout the tune. As in the effect the fifth string gives. Maybe i should have mentioned i was talking about the term, not the part of an instrument :D
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by tom1992
Re: 5 string banjoists
Hmmm ... I always thought it was "flailing", not "frailing", but I've just Googled it, and it appears that it can be either.
Forgive me for the sidetrack.
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: 5 string banjoists
My other half plays a 5 string banjo, and while he does a bit of Scruggs, we play mostly ITM and he's mostly playing melodic finger-picking ITM. The biggest drawback is that he's literally finger-picking - no picks, just fingertips - so it's not particularly loud. That short 5th string at the top tends to be the easiest-broken, but if it pops it's no great deal if you're playing ITM as most of the melody is in the other strings.
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by bindicat
Re: 5 string banjoists
i play clawhammer banjo, and have taken up the tenor mandola for jigs and such. As far as the 5 string goes, been playing for 30 some years.
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by clawhammerbanjo
Re: 5 string banjoists
I've played bluegrass and clawhammer, and have added Irish, flatpicked on a 5-string. In a workshop with Grey Larsen some time back, in answer to why he played a D/A concertina instead of the traditional C/G, he stated that "the Irish will play whatever you hand them" and, since the C/G was what was available they never questioned that a D/A might be more appropriate for most Irish tunes, whichfollow pipe tunings, i.e. "D".
I carried this thinking to the banjo, which entered ITM as the tenor banjo, a C-friendly instrument more accustomed to playing in "horn-keys". I tried imitating the style that Barney Mckenna and Mick Maloney brought to ITM by flatpicking the 5-string (ignoring the 5th string), and found the tuning fit Irish keys nicely. Flatpicking is not all new, historically, since that tuning was used on "plectrum banjos" in the early part of the last century.
Try it, you'll like it, and you won't have to buy another banjo just for ITM.
# Posted on April 20th 2008 by BurtDaBard
Re: 5 string banjoists
Béla Fleck does a pretty darn good ITM on the 5-string, on the evidence of a couple of tracks on a cd I bought in a charity shop recently (this one: http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1535 )
# Posted on April 21st 2008 by RichardB
Re: 5 string banjoists
Ken Perlman is quite good too, perhaps preeminent. very pretty stuff.
# Posted on April 21st 2008 by 'tinamatt
Re: 5 string banjoists
I’ve played clawhammer (semi-melodic drop-thumb) off and on for thirty-mumble years. I remember an album long ago by Bob Carlin, Ken Perlman and others called Melodic Clawhammer Banjo, where they played several Irish tunes. They were very skillfully executed, but not satisfying – especially the jigs. I would never argue that it’s inappropriate, just not likely to satisfy listeners familiar with Irish tenor banjo.
Harp tunes can sound very nice on banjo (not clawhammer). A friend was in my living room just yesterday playing some lovely bare-finger tunes (including Carolan) on an open-back banjo
# Posted on April 21st 2008 by Bob himself