I’ve been playing the banjo since 1989, and it took me SIX YEARS to get presentable. Not that I’m bitter. I play bluegrass, jazz, classical, with a little Irish thrown in for good measure.
My favourite banjo players are Bela Fleck, Tony Trischka, Tony Furtado, Alison Brown, and Earl Scruggs.
My father bought a banjo when he was young, learned to play it, and after a couple of years found other ways of occupying his time that were more annoying to the neighbours. He still played it, albeit infrequently, and it was on one of these annual sojourns that I became hooked.
I was working in the same room, reading a book or something, and my attention was caught by his fingers. I asked how the fingers moved to make the sounds, what the patterns were. He showed me the basic unit of bluegrass banjo playing (the “roll”) and I said “well, that looks easy”.
It took me four or five years to get that roll down. I’ve experimented with other styles besides bluegrass since then – Jazz, Blues, Classical and Meaningless Screams Of Frustration – but I still enjoy picking bluegrass with friends. Unfortunately most of my learning took place by myself, and as a result I have a useless sense of rhythm (imagine a guy with two left feet waltzing. Now make him need to urinate. Now let his epilepsy take over. I got rhythm, mon).
Here are some audio clips of my playing …
Fooling Around (136k, .au format)
Just me, fooling around one day. Recorded January 13 1995. This is part of a fifteen minute gigantic noodle that I recorded and promptly lost the rest of. Such are the trials and tribulations of being a musical genius and technological idiot. (136k .au file)
For j.j (355k, .wav format)
A tune I wrote and dedicated to the woman who became my wife.
For j.j, on my electric banjo (554k, .wav format)
The same song, recorded ten days after our wedding using the electric head on my Nechville banjo.
I once made a banjo tablature archive.
Blackberry Blossom (867k)
Blackberry Blossom is a traditional fiddle tune. I give it some spice. Unfortunately, I also give it some goofs. Hey, it was late, my thumb hurt from playing the mandolin and I’m congenitally brain damaged. What do you expect on the web, anyway? Itzak Perlman?
Blackberry Blossom (917k)
A slower version of Blackberry Blossom, but still with goofs. If you would like to see music with less errors appear on these web pages, please send your cash donations to …
When typeset, banjo tablature looks like:
+3+
+-------0---0-----4-+
+-----0----------5--+
+---3p2-----0-x-7---+
+-------------------+
+-0-------0---------+
but this isn’t an economical way of writing it on a computer. There is a need for a concise abstract representation of tablature, suitable for input to a type-setting program.
The first instinct is to say “let’s treat it like music,” but this isn’t helpful. Tablature isn’t music, and that’s an important thing to remember — tablature is a handy way of showing the finger-movements needed to create music. Bluegrass banjo isn’t a stream of 16th notes, because of sustain of the strings ensure notes are still ringing when the next are played.
| Letters | Word |
|---|---|
| A B C D | Foggy |
| E F G H | Dixie |
| I J K L | Red |
| M N O P | Hot |
| Q R S T | Grey |
| U V W X Y Z | Dear |
| Month | Word |
|---|---|
| Jan Feb Mar | Mountain |
| Apr May Jun | Valley |
| Jul Aug Sep | Your birth state |
| Oct Nov Dec | Your favourite food |
| Age | Word |
|---|---|
| <20 | Rag |
| 21-39 | Blues |
| 40-59 | Hoedown |
| 60+ | Breakdown |
So my tune is the Grey Mountain Hoedown. Grey because my surname starts with ‘T’, Mountain because I was born in January, and Hoedown because I’m SOOOO OOOOLD.
(information for this comes from Masters of the Five String Banjo by Tony Trischka and Pete Wernick, Oak Publications 1988, a truly wonderful book, go and buy it NOW)
If anyone can claim to be the founder of avant-garde banjo playing, it is Tony Trischka. With a strong footing in traditional styles (he takes inspiration from Earl Scruggs, avidly studies the minstrel style of banjo playing, and has written several excellent books on the various aspects of playing bluegrass banjo) he also has an eye to the future. He has played with the Violent Femmes, an alternative rock band, paved the way for newgrass music with his ground-breaking work in Breakfast Special, Country Cooking and Skyline, and has been the teacher and mentor for such banjo exemplaries as Bela Fleck and Tony Furtado.