From: au462@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Robert Drake)
Subject: Re: information on banjos
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 15:44:03 GMT


steve sed:
>I have a friend interested in purchasing a banjo.
>Currently he's a guitar player interested in expanding
> into other stringedinstruments.  Does anyone out there in
> Netland have information I can pass onto him regarding 
>various five string banjo models, price ranges, differences,
>etc. ?

steve-
        the first distinction to make is between 4-string (tenor)
and 5-string banjos.  tenors are typically played in dixie-land
jazz bands (primarily chorded or picking out a melody line) and
increasingly in Irish music; 5-strings are the folk-music/blue-
grass flavor.  the 5th string has a peg partway down the neck--
this string is played as a drone, and seldom fretted.

(oops--you only asked about 5-stings, didn't ya...)

        if it's a 5-string yr friend is after, there are 2 main
types depending on the musical styles to be played.  blue-grass
style typically is played very fast and bright, with a 3-finger
picking style usually called Scruggs style (after the great Earl).
for this kind of playing, a very bright sound is needed, with
fast low action on the strings--bluegrass banjos have large heavy
rims and large resonators on the back of the "pot" (body) to
brighten and amplify the sound.  these instruments typicaly start
at $400 or so for a servicable instrument; very good ones up to
$1000 or more.          the other main musical style is "old-
timey" or appalachian style folk music.  scratchy, thuddlike,
dissonant, it is usually played in the company of at least a
fiddle and often a full string-band of guitar, fiddle, mandolin,
etc.  dance tunes and ballads.  best stuff in the universe (have
you guess yet that this is what i play? :) ).  the instrument is
typically cruder and more individual, also cheaper--($100, maybe
$300 for a real old collectors piece).  the playing style is
called "frailing" or clawhammer, and consists of hitting at the
strings in a semi-controlled fashion, striking the strings with
the back of the fingers and then plucking upwards with the thumb.
because of the forcefulness of play, the action needs to be pretty
high, and the prefered tone (by most) is pretty raucus and rough.
        besides these 2 main catagories, there are many sub-species.
pete seegar plays a 5-string with an extra-long neck (to allow him
to capo into more key signatures) in a style that purist folk-revival
types disdain, mostly strumming rather than hitting individual notes.
the predecessor to most 5-string styles is the old minstral-show/
vaudville styles, which were very fancy and mostly lost in oral
tradition--some folks are trying to re-creates some of that stuff.
other folks play a "melodic clawhammer", a refined version of frailing
borrowing riffs & licks from bluegrass and fiddle style... and on
and on...
        sure this was more than you cared to know, and sure also
that other players would disagree, condemn, and curse my uninformed
bones for claiming to know beans.  otherhand, had 250 folks dancing
last night at the wingding, piano, hammerdulcimer, & my banjar...

best o luck

luigi--
frumious bandersnatch

From: mjs@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 20:44:47 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: acoustic pianos versus digital pianos/keyboards
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA