The Session >> Discussions >> Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
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Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I've been playing tenor banjo for a few years now. As is common in Irish music, I tune the 4-strings G-D-A-E like a mandolin or fiddle.
I recently realized that a 4-string bass guitar is tuned E-A-D-G, (same number of strings and the same notes, just in reverse order). So I've been reading some bass books and it seems to me that the theory behind bass playing and bass lines is VERY applicable to tenor banjo. For example, when there is a hole in the melody I can fill that with a bass-line or similar concept. Or I could theoretically counter the melody by playing the way a bass player would. Does anyone have experience with applying bass playing concepts to other instruments? Not just in session music, but music in general?
Am I onto something? It seems like mandolin players, and tenor banjo players using the "Irish" tuning, would have a direct connection to the bass because of the similarity of the notes.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'm not sure what you mean by a "hole in the melody". If you mean a rest - a short silence - then that is invariably there for a good reason and is actually part of the structure of the tune. It's not a good idea generally speaking to fill such a rest with another note.
Bass lines aren't necessary with Irish tunes, which stand on their own, but if a bass line or other accompaniment is added then whoever does this has got to be fully aware of the harmonic implications. Most Irish tunes are modal, and standard classical harmonic structures are not always appropriate in the context.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Tannisroot - I think you might find a bit of resistance here to this concept, as the music is melodic and doesn't have any holes in the melody to fill up. I've played tunes for a while on TB and it doesn't seem too inappropriate to suggest occasional harmonies or drones, but basically I stick to the melody as the banjo can be too intrusive (though I have been know to give it some welly if the pub background noise is really bad). I've just acquired an octave mandola and this seems a much better instrument for moving between melody and backing. I'll leave others to enter the debate as to whether a bass line might fit. Probably not if you don't want the music to sound like some other kind of music.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
The only example of bass work in Irish music that comes mind is Lunasa where the bass player is playing the root of the chord the guitar player is playing. However, it's more of a drone affect, not moving or battling for space with the melody instruments. I hate to be a person to rain on a parade, but being both a bass player and a tenor banjo player, I can't see your idea working well in a session. Of course if you have some willing pals to experiment with, what the heck - nothing wrong with a bit of musical experimentation right?
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Thanks for the replies. I guess it's more for musical experimentation, and may not apply as well to Irish trad as to some other musics. I can't think of any specific Irish tunes, but take for example an 8 bar "A" part where the basic melody line ends on the 7th measure, leaving the space of several quarter notes to fill before it begins again or goes to a "B" part or chorus. Some jazz/swing tunes that come to mind like this are Roly Poly, Blue Skies, Chinatown My Chinatown and Minor Swing. I've been filling those gaps with bass-lines rather than play chords or nothing at all. It seems to work. I'm new to playing these types of tunes...I've been playing mostly Irish trade, folk and old-time fiddle tunes for the last couple of years. I don't see a real big difference between genres...I mix n' match them with no real concern for authenticity in any. It seems like the same concept actually of taking a very basic Irish melody and spicing it up with embellishments. I feel like I'm learning a lot about music theory by reading Bass guitar books...I don't know how much I'll be able to apply though.
By the way...when I was traveling through the Orkney Islands in Scotland I saw a great electric bass player sit in with a session in Stromness. He was awesome and added a jazzy element to the sound.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
If you play a bass line on a tenor banjo, its not going to be in the bass range, so the listners' ears/minds are going to interpret it as a counter-melody. Bass instruments are usually playing in a range two or three octaves below the melodic lines, in pretty much any genre of music, and that frequency range, which is generally unoccupied by other instruments, is fundamental to what makes bass lines desirable. My two cents.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Oysterband also has a bass and cello player. I know they are not really trad anymore, but Chopper has been in the band since their early acoustic and trad days.
Maybe Lunesa and Oysterband are the exceptions that prove the rule. Or maybe they show that bass *can* be played tastefully within the tradition. The same rules would apply to bass players. You can't just sit down and start playing root-5th-root-5th. You have to know the music and the tunes.
To echo dsmootz, if you took the counter melodies that many of my favorite bouzouki players play and move them down two octaves, you'd have a pretty interesting bass line.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
If you are in a band, or among friends, experimenting with countermelodies is not a bad thing, when done in moderation. But in this music, countermelodies are like a strong spice, only used very sparingly.
I certainly wouldn't walk into a strange sessions and start plucking away on your banjo with your fingers, as if were some sort of midget Fender bass guitar!
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Just because something is a counter melody doesn't mean it should be improvised on the spot. You have to know the tune and have a pretty good idea of what you are going to play and that it works within the tune. Or else don't play. Anything less would be out of place. But again, the bouzouki players that I admire all have that part down pat.
If one were bold enough to bring a (acoustic) bass to a season, I'd expect him/her to be pretty darn steeped in the tradition already and not just sitting in because it might be "fun".
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Awesome responses. I'm glad this is actually getting some serious replies and some interesting ones - like how bouzouki counter melodies would make interesting bass lines if moved down two octaves, as well as the comment about bass being desirable because of it residing in an octave or two lower than the other instruments. And how if moved up a couple octaves the bass lines become counter melodies and are interpreted differently. All things to consider going forward. I can see that I have a long way to go before I can contribute to a session in a positive way. It may be that my approach is too individualized and goofy to actually sound good to anyone but myself.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
>> Maybe Lunesa (sic) and Oysterband are the exceptions that prove the rule. Or maybe they show that bass *can* be played tastefully within the tradition.
I find the reference to "Lúnasa being within the tradition" to be interesting as well. Granted, they are all fantastic traditional musicians, but they would probably be the first to tell you that what they do on their recordings isn't "traditional", at least in the ummmm, traditional sense.
They touch on so many different traditions with what they play. Combine that with slick production, that brings to mind Rock and Roll production, the introduction of the bass, polished arrangements, and commercialism, I don't see it as really fitting within the tradition. (I'm not slamming Lúnasa here, I rather like their music, and like them personally. Nor do I begrudge them for being what they are, or doing things that make them "successful").
But in my mind, the tradition doesn't encompass most of what they do, nor does it include running "bass lines" on tenor banjo.
Instead of thinking about this music the same way that you would think of jazz, swing, folk, rock, country, or anything else, maybe you can discover the complexities of this music by thinking about musical expression, phrasing, and variation. Which is a rather different approach than embellishment by strict improvisation and harmonizing...
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
@tannisroot - the way the music is played isn't written in "tablets of stone" but there is a common consensus between experience traditional musicians about what is acceptable.
Occasionally, some talented musician(s) with a deep understanding of the music will push out the boundaries and introduce something new which gains common acceptance., but this quite rare.
You say in your profile that you are "just starting out". After you've been with the music for (say) 20 or 30 years you might then perhaps give some thought to ways of improving it. But if you stick with it that long, you will probably won't want to!
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
It's notoriously difficult to define traditional music. The best you can really come up with are a few broad statements that are open to a number of caveats. However, there are plenty of things that aren't traditional. And an approach that is too individualized and goofy to actually sound good to anyone but yourself is certainly one of them. (This, of course, has no relavance to your right to do anything you want.)
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
@llig I'm utterly bewildered that "Playing bass lines on tenor banjo" has had so many serious replies
I second that comment from llig. I thought this was a wind-up but now I see the O/P seems to be genuine in his enquiry..
My two cents: rather than trying to impose on the music what you at this point in time think should be imposed, do a lot of listening to recordings and sessions. Then the music itself will probably tell what will work and what won't work. If you still can't hear the music tell you what works then keep listening.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Llig - I'm trying a new approach to this forum. When I sense a person is asking a genuine question, regardless of how odd it may sound, I'm actually going to try and answer it in a polite and helpful manner, with broad strokes that leave room for many caveats.
Don't worry - I'm sure it's just a phase I'm going through.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
ok, I'll bite...I play ocatave mandolin, and when I am cross picking, I am aware that I am not really playing chords, just 2 note intervals and one of those notes is a drone. If I was careless in my thinking, I might start getting the idea that as I move the intervals around that I was playing a counter melody, but I am really not.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
This is the sort of thing that you try with a couple of mates in your own place, when everyone's on the same page.
In a session, no.
Any other questions?
Nate's point is worth addressing - cross-picking, and "broken" or reduced chords, ie playing the 3rd and 5th or 3rd and 7th of a V chord to heighten the resolve to the I, are not technically chords, but they do not introduce a separate melodic movement to the tune. There's a fuzzy boundary there, and a guitarist who does not understand where he is with respect to that boundary and cannot make it clear that he is on the correct side of that boundary is a guitarist (or zoukist) who will annoy a lot of musicians. A guitarist who can ride that line will be regarded by most musicians as a fine and subtle player.
How to do this? Sorry, if anyone can tell you that, it isn't me.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'm quite sure we are all still shocked, shocked, by this Bach fellow and his blasphemous insistence on mucking up the purity of melody lines with annoying counter melodies.
Thankfully, a consensus has formed that he was simply a freak whose ideas are now rightfully shunned. Every good boy avoids Bach's laughable contrapuntal cul de sac!
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
If you play Bach at any session I've been to, you might be appreciated, but you'll be asked to stop after a short time. If you play Bach while we're playing tunes, you'll be asked to stop after a much shorter time.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Jon K—
You're absolutely right—a session is, and should be about orthodoxy. Unorthodox exploration you do in your ktichen with other escapees (an immensely richer experience, for me anyway).
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
What happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen, eh? Sounds good to me. I've been known to experiment with tunes in the privacy of my own home myself. I even played tunes on flatpicked guitar with an upright bassist for a while. Sounded great, I thought, but not for a session.
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'll tell you what does work on the tenor banjo - surf tunes! I dropped The Ventures "Walk Don't Run" in between a set of reels the other day. Killer ride, that. Miserlou is also brilliant on the banjar, freshly rubbed with Mr. Zoggs Sexwax for added traction on the stick.
Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I've been playing tenor banjo for a few years now. As is common in Irish music, I tune the 4-strings G-D-A-E like a mandolin or fiddle.
I recently realized that a 4-string bass guitar is tuned E-A-D-G, (same number of strings and the same notes, just in reverse order). So I've been reading some bass books and it seems to me that the theory behind bass playing and bass lines is VERY applicable to tenor banjo. For example, when there is a hole in the melody I can fill that with a bass-line or similar concept. Or I could theoretically counter the melody by playing the way a bass player would. Does anyone have experience with applying bass playing concepts to other instruments? Not just in session music, but music in general?
Am I onto something? It seems like mandolin players, and tenor banjo players using the "Irish" tuning, would have a direct connection to the bass because of the similarity of the notes.
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by tannisroot
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'm not sure what you mean by a "hole in the melody". If you mean a rest - a short silence - then that is invariably there for a good reason and is actually part of the structure of the tune. It's not a good idea generally speaking to fill such a rest with another note.
Bass lines aren't necessary with Irish tunes, which stand on their own, but if a bass line or other accompaniment is added then whoever does this has got to be fully aware of the harmonic implications. Most Irish tunes are modal, and standard classical harmonic structures are not always appropriate in the context.
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Tannisroot - I think you might find a bit of resistance here to this concept, as the music is melodic and doesn't have any holes in the melody to fill up. I've played tunes for a while on TB and it doesn't seem too inappropriate to suggest occasional harmonies or drones, but basically I stick to the melody as the banjo can be too intrusive (though I have been know to give it some welly if the pub background noise is really bad). I've just acquired an octave mandola and this seems a much better instrument for moving between melody and backing. I'll leave others to enter the debate as to whether a bass line might fit. Probably not if you don't want the music to sound like some other kind of music.
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by RichardB
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
The only example of bass work in Irish music that comes mind is Lunasa where the bass player is playing the root of the chord the guitar player is playing. However, it's more of a drone affect, not moving or battling for space with the melody instruments. I hate to be a person to rain on a parade, but being both a bass player and a tenor banjo player, I can't see your idea working well in a session. Of course if you have some willing pals to experiment with, what the heck - nothing wrong with a bit of musical experimentation right?
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Thanks for the replies. I guess it's more for musical experimentation, and may not apply as well to Irish trad as to some other musics. I can't think of any specific Irish tunes, but take for example an 8 bar "A" part where the basic melody line ends on the 7th measure, leaving the space of several quarter notes to fill before it begins again or goes to a "B" part or chorus. Some jazz/swing tunes that come to mind like this are Roly Poly, Blue Skies, Chinatown My Chinatown and Minor Swing. I've been filling those gaps with bass-lines rather than play chords or nothing at all. It seems to work. I'm new to playing these types of tunes...I've been playing mostly Irish trade, folk and old-time fiddle tunes for the last couple of years. I don't see a real big difference between genres...I mix n' match them with no real concern for authenticity in any. It seems like the same concept actually of taking a very basic Irish melody and spicing it up with embellishments. I feel like I'm learning a lot about music theory by reading Bass guitar books...I don't know how much I'll be able to apply though.
By the way...when I was traveling through the Orkney Islands in Scotland I saw a great electric bass player sit in with a session in Stromness. He was awesome and added a jazzy element to the sound.
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by tannisroot
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
"I mix n' match them with no real concern for authenticity in any." Maybe a little concern would improve your understanding of the music.
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by gam
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
If you play a bass line on a tenor banjo, its not going to be in the bass range, so the listners' ears/minds are going to interpret it as a counter-melody. Bass instruments are usually playing in a range two or three octaves below the melodic lines, in pretty much any genre of music, and that frequency range, which is generally unoccupied by other instruments, is fundamental to what makes bass lines desirable. My two cents.
# Posted on June 29th 2010 by dereksmootz
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Oysterband also has a bass and cello player. I know they are not really trad anymore, but Chopper has been in the band since their early acoustic and trad days.
Maybe Lunesa and Oysterband are the exceptions that prove the rule. Or maybe they show that bass *can* be played tastefully within the tradition. The same rules would apply to bass players. You can't just sit down and start playing root-5th-root-5th. You have to know the music and the tunes.
To echo dsmootz, if you took the counter melodies that many of my favorite bouzouki players play and move them down two octaves, you'd have a pretty interesting bass line.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Craymcla
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
If you are in a band, or among friends, experimenting with countermelodies is not a bad thing, when done in moderation. But in this music, countermelodies are like a strong spice, only used very sparingly.
I certainly wouldn't walk into a strange sessions and start plucking away on your banjo with your fingers, as if were some sort of midget Fender bass guitar!
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by AlBrown
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Just because something is a counter melody doesn't mean it should be improvised on the spot. You have to know the tune and have a pretty good idea of what you are going to play and that it works within the tune. Or else don't play. Anything less would be out of place. But again, the bouzouki players that I admire all have that part down pat.
If one were bold enough to bring a (acoustic) bass to a season, I'd expect him/her to be pretty darn steeped in the tradition already and not just sitting in because it might be "fun".
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Craymcla
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'm utterly bewildered that "Playing bass lines on tenor banjo" has had so many serious replies
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by ...
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Awesome responses. I'm glad this is actually getting some serious replies and some interesting ones - like how bouzouki counter melodies would make interesting bass lines if moved down two octaves, as well as the comment about bass being desirable because of it residing in an octave or two lower than the other instruments. And how if moved up a couple octaves the bass lines become counter melodies and are interpreted differently. All things to consider going forward. I can see that I have a long way to go before I can contribute to a session in a positive way. It may be that my approach is too individualized and goofy to actually sound good to anyone but myself.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by tannisroot
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
>> Maybe Lunesa (sic) and Oysterband are the exceptions that prove the rule. Or maybe they show that bass *can* be played tastefully within the tradition.
I find the reference to "Lúnasa being within the tradition" to be interesting as well. Granted, they are all fantastic traditional musicians, but they would probably be the first to tell you that what they do on their recordings isn't "traditional", at least in the ummmm, traditional sense.
They touch on so many different traditions with what they play. Combine that with slick production, that brings to mind Rock and Roll production, the introduction of the bass, polished arrangements, and commercialism, I don't see it as really fitting within the tradition. (I'm not slamming Lúnasa here, I rather like their music, and like them personally. Nor do I begrudge them for being what they are, or doing things that make them "successful").
But in my mind, the tradition doesn't encompass most of what they do, nor does it include running "bass lines" on tenor banjo.
Instead of thinking about this music the same way that you would think of jazz, swing, folk, rock, country, or anything else, maybe you can discover the complexities of this music by thinking about musical expression, phrasing, and variation. Which is a rather different approach than embellishment by strict improvisation and harmonizing...
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Reverend
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
@tannisroot - the way the music is played isn't written in "tablets of stone" but there is a common consensus between experience traditional musicians about what is acceptable.
Occasionally, some talented musician(s) with a deep understanding of the music will push out the boundaries and introduce something new which gains common acceptance., but this quite rare.
You say in your profile that you are "just starting out". After you've been with the music for (say) 20 or 30 years you might then perhaps give some thought to ways of improving it. But if you stick with it that long, you will probably won't want to!
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
It's notoriously difficult to define traditional music. The best you can really come up with are a few broad statements that are open to a number of caveats. However, there are plenty of things that aren't traditional. And an approach that is too individualized and goofy to actually sound good to anyone but yourself is certainly one of them. (This, of course, has no relavance to your right to do anything you want.)
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by ...
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
@llig I'm utterly bewildered that "Playing bass lines on tenor banjo" has had so many serious replies
I second that comment from llig. I thought this was a wind-up but now I see the O/P seems to be genuine in his enquiry..
My two cents: rather than trying to impose on the music what you at this point in time think should be imposed, do a lot of listening to recordings and sessions. Then the music itself will probably tell what will work and what won't work. If you still can't hear the music tell you what works then keep listening.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by SteelPlayer
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Or to put it another way: would you go to, say, China or Malaya, and join in one of their traditional sessions by adding a jazzy bass-line?
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by gam
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Huge red flag: "...I don't see a real big difference between genres..."
tannisroot, please listen more. Like Steelplayer says, if you listen enough the music will tell you what works.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Llig - I'm trying a new approach to this forum. When I sense a person is asking a genuine question, regardless of how odd it may sound, I'm actually going to try and answer it in a polite and helpful manner, with broad strokes that leave room for many caveats.
Don't worry - I'm sure it's just a phase I'm going through.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Are you feeling OK? Running a fever?
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
ain't no
room for
subtlety,
ever
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by ...
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Careful -- people might think you have a sense of humour.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by gam
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
ok, I'll bite...I play ocatave mandolin, and when I am cross picking, I am aware that I am not really playing chords, just 2 note intervals and one of those notes is a drone. If I was careless in my thinking, I might start getting the idea that as I move the intervals around that I was playing a counter melody, but I am really not.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Nate Ryan
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
With all due respect to good guitarists, bodhranists etc, if you're not playing the melody, it's better to just keep quiet.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by E
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
This is the sort of thing that you try with a couple of mates in your own place, when everyone's on the same page.
In a session, no.
Any other questions?
Nate's point is worth addressing - cross-picking, and "broken" or reduced chords, ie playing the 3rd and 5th or 3rd and 7th of a V chord to heighten the resolve to the I, are not technically chords, but they do not introduce a separate melodic movement to the tune. There's a fuzzy boundary there, and a guitarist who does not understand where he is with respect to that boundary and cannot make it clear that he is on the correct side of that boundary is a guitarist (or zoukist) who will annoy a lot of musicians. A guitarist who can ride that line will be regarded by most musicians as a fine and subtle player.
How to do this? Sorry, if anyone can tell you that, it isn't me.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'm quite sure we are all still shocked, shocked, by this Bach fellow and his blasphemous insistence on mucking up the purity of melody lines with annoying counter melodies.
Thankfully, a consensus has formed that he was simply a freak whose ideas are now rightfully shunned. Every good boy avoids Bach's laughable contrapuntal cul de sac!
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
If you play Bach at any session I've been to, you might be appreciated, but you'll be asked to stop after a short time. If you play Bach while we're playing tunes, you'll be asked to stop after a much shorter time.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Jon K—
You're absolutely right—a session is, and should be about orthodoxy. Unorthodox exploration you do in your ktichen with other escapees (an immensely richer experience, for me anyway).
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
What happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen, eh?
Sounds good to me. I've been known to experiment with tunes in the privacy of my own home myself. I even played tunes on flatpicked guitar with an upright bassist for a while. Sounded great, I thought, but not for a session.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Was Bach Irish, then?
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by gam
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
I'll tell you what does work on the tenor banjo - surf tunes! I dropped The Ventures "Walk Don't Run" in between a set of reels the other day. Killer ride, that. Miserlou is also brilliant on the banjar, freshly rubbed with Mr. Zoggs Sexwax for added traction on the stick.
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
Careful there, JNE, you're outing yourself as "The Jokester" (http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/24955/comments#comment523201)
Next thing you know, it's burp-singing, and hitting on waitresses...
# Posted on June 30th 2010 by Reverend
Re: Playing bass lines on tenor banjo, OM, or other instruments
mmmm......waitresses......
# Posted on July 3rd 2010 by Mark Harmer