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suburbancowboy - Posted - 10/06/2009: 08:47:50
Now, I strive to be the guy who's making the most ridiculous face in family photo's so I should be ok with this... but I've discovered that my mouth and eye balls are often playing along with me, about 3 notes ahead... it kind of looks like I'm having a stroke!
If I'm scanning tab or know the song really well its easier to control... does this happen to anyone else? It's so strange there isn't even an html smiley for it.
I assume it will pass with some more time and focus?
mrphysics55 - Posted - 10/06/2009: 09:11:43
quote:
does this happen to anyone else?
Yes ... My wife laughs at what she calls my "Banjo Playin' Face".  MrP You NEED a new Banjer! Go To http://www.burnsrepair.com/Home.html
Edited by - mrphysics55 on 10/06/2009 09:12:30
MarkRough - Posted - 10/06/2009: 09:32:35
Oh thank god. I thought I was just weird.
Some days you're the dog. . . other days you're the hydrant.
suburbancowboy - Posted - 10/06/2009: 09:42:00
... my wife asked if she should call the paramedics.
darryl k. - Posted - 10/06/2009: 10:13:54
I scowl when I'm concentrating on a tune. Hate it, try to smile, and that feels terribly artificial. If you find the answer, let me know.
Knowing the tune REALLY REALLY well, to the point that I can play it without thinking about it, seems to help.
You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use duct tape. If neither works, try beer.
J.D. Miner Trio www.jdminer.com
fretlessinfortwayne - Posted - 10/06/2009: 10:22:03
New breakthrough study soon to be released in the New England Journal of Medicine on banjoface. Scientists now believe that only those who actually pick up a banjo and play it are susceptible.
Dean
"Each one's got to have his own style. It's all creamed potatoes, just fixed a little different." -- Benton Flippen
mrbook - Posted - 10/06/2009: 10:23:57
People say I should smile more while playing. I tell them that playing the banjo is serious business.
Bill
George Flink - Posted - 10/06/2009: 10:50:00
I chew my tongue and(sometimes)drool. Please no jokes about level floors and banjo players.
vega long neck - Posted - 10/06/2009: 10:53:47
Not just us, folks. My wife has been laughing for years at what she call "fiddle mouth" and "mando mouth". She absolutely delights in watching players who have pronounced cases of it. I sometimes wonder if she's even listening to the music.
Scott
Ron Ortegel - Posted - 10/06/2009: 11:30:58
I used to stick my tongue out when I played.
I stopped that but it still moves a lot and I can't seem to stop it.
Mark Johnson - Posted - 10/06/2009: 11:52:33
I had started a thread a year or so ago looking for some camaraderie on this issue... My face generally maintains a look somewhere between angry/upset and robot/bump-on-a-log. Attempts at looking genial and even just human/alive have not gone well. I think any future videos I put out might just be my playing with a slideshow of baby kittens or something.
Mark
Jami108 - Posted - 10/06/2009: 15:22:53
I recently video recorded myself playing the banjo. I was absolutely mortified. I was certain after viewing that I had to be the most unintelligent-lookiing person on the planet.
Jami
"When you want genuine music—music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whiskey…ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pin-feather pimples on a picked goose—when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!" - Mark Twain
banjophysics - Posted - 10/06/2009: 18:10:35
A friend is a classical violinist. I was playing for her the other day and I'm pretty sure she didn't hear a note what with all the snickering and guffawing going on. She was polite and tried to be gracious when I was done though. That was nice. I guess it's true that banjo playing brings joy...
Jim
"Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death" ---Auntie Mame
suburbancowboy - Posted - 10/06/2009: 19:10:40
I'm glad to know I'm not alone... It appears this is a common affliction associated with exposure to banjo's, there is no cure, we'll just have to live with it.
As for Bootsie Collin's... that dude's from a different planet who know's what he's got!
Groove IS in the heart. - Bootsie
Bisbonian - Posted - 10/06/2009: 20:30:09
You're in really good company...John Hartford made some weird mouth movements when he played....didn't seem to hurt his playing any. I puff out my lips in a weird way. Can't stand to see video of me playing. I'll spare you..but here's some John Hartford: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zaxg05VwCI
"When Banjos are Outlawed, only Outlaws will have Banjos."
bluemule_77 - Posted - 10/06/2009: 21:12:02
Not sure what I do when playing banjo. One of the local musician's wives once said a few years back when I knew just a few fiddle tunes (on fiddle), "You're not ever going to make a fiddler -- your face doesn't contort enough."
It's true that some of the local fiddlers appear to be gagging, choking, chewing an enormous piece of gum, etc.
So, while I think my face is static, I also have trouble being Guy Smiley while playing. I catch myself when playing in public and try to fix it, but, like was said above, it feels artificial.
BM
stringbeaner - Posted - 10/06/2009: 22:28:09
An old and good friend of mine (who had a major hit in the 60's) who has spent the better part of his life on stage gave me his banjo. He had quit playing it years before because he couldn't play it without looking like a fish gasping for air. He had no face problems while playing the guitar but his kisser would just go all wonky when he played the banjo. He could manage to sing without doing his fish act, but when he stopped singing, his mouth and jaw would go nuts. He played Pete Seegar style.
Stringbeaner
clawhammermike - Posted - 10/06/2009: 23:56:36
quote:
I used to stick my tongue out when I played.
I stopped that but it still moves a lot and I can't seem to stop it.
same problem my guitarist has. i like the people who look like they are talking during a tune. makes no sense.
Bob E - Posted - 10/07/2009: 05:47:52
I helped to create a monster...
rinemb - Posted - 10/07/2009: 05:53:53
My wife says I pucker my lips when playing. I guess thats a sign of being tense. I am trying to quit it. If she is watching from the audience and she catches my eye, she will pucker her lips if I am doing it.
Brad
You may be man enough to take my woman, but you'll never get my banjo.
May not the incidence of success, nor the pretense of retirement-
Lessen the want of enlightenment.
abbey - Posted - 10/07/2009: 07:15:35
I'm glad I'm not the only one! My daughter is always making fun of me for moving my lips when I play. I saw someone online who plays banjo with his head down, and thought maybe I should try it, then no one can see what my face looks like. 
pete hobbie - Posted - 10/07/2009: 17:16:36
I always have this beautific and intelligent smile on my face when I play.....no , wait that was somebody else. I'm have more of a stroke victim look.
Pete
Things are more the way they are now than they've ever been.
Life is tough, it's even tougher if your stupid.
John Wayne
XXXris - Posted - 10/07/2009: 17:36:20
yes: roy clark!
vrteach - Posted - 10/07/2009: 20:09:29
I don't have too much problem when playing the banjo (outside of gritting my teeth pretty hard). But when I recorded myself on fiddle I was disappointed to learn that I make slight grunting sounds. Not exactly a grunt, but I hold my breath and then do a little "uhh" when I exhale. I can neither hear it or feel it when I'm playing but there it is for the microphone.
Great, one more thing to think about.
Erich --
http://vrteach.org/banjo/
http://prairiegrapevine.org/
U of Illinois-Springfield Old Time Music
The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
Bertrand Russell
sirspanky - Posted - 10/08/2009: 05:05:40
lol my girlfriend says i grunt along with what im playing glad im not the only one looking silly out there lol
oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 10/08/2009: 14:55:39
a whole lot of musicians have a playing face.
I have a friend who's concert guitar career was cut short by his habit of gradually tilting his head to the right and flaring his nostrils, until eventually the audience was staring directly down his HUGE flared left nostril. He went into teaching since he would rarely have to play any piece longer than 2 or 3 minutes.
I stare, and at jams I now try to make sure I'm not looking at anyone in particular - it can make people nervous. I wonder if that's why I didn't get groupies. I'm sure it wasn't the banjo - I mean we had a jawbone player in the group and HE got groupies. Why didn't I get ANY groupies?
Not that it would have mattered. My wife was the fiddler. She stood right next to me.
http://www.rocketsciencebanjo.com
Rocket Science Banjo - Advanced Clawhammer Techniques for beginners and long time players alike. Plus videos and 25-40 EZ Clawhammer Tunes.
& check out "How To Mold A Mighty Pinky" at:
http://www.pricklypearmusic.net
banjo brad's great banjo site
Edited by - oldwoodchuckb on 10/10/2009 15:19:05
Banjowik - Posted - 10/08/2009: 16:00:26
My mouth moves when I play like I'm chewing. Dad says I look like a Cat licking S%@t off a thistle. Wife says It's more like a Bulldog chewing on a wasp.
Who cares I'm having fun.
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