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jfrebel - Posted - 10/19/2009: 22:30:22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPZYwk5cymA
(cleaner version see end of video)
what is that banjo sound? it has like a weird drone to it like a dulcimer. is that standard G tuning? it sure doesn't sound like my banjo but wow I love that sound, even just strumming it open, those ringing sweet sounds. wow.
any books on how to play like this?
and what tuning is he using? (if this question sounds stupid bare in mind I'm a novice. LOL!)
Edited by - jfrebel on 10/19/2009 22:32:37
Bill Rogers - Posted - 10/19/2009: 23:20:24
He plays "Shout Little Lulie" in Double-C I think. That's where the drone sound comes from. Learning to play like Ralph isn't hard. It's mostly regular frailing with a few drop thumbs thrown in. Singing like Ralph--that's another story.
Bill
jfrebel - Posted - 10/19/2009: 23:35:29
is he doing a double C here? also it sounds rather hight pitched. I've put my banjo in double C and love its sound, but its kinda low and spooky. thats bright and higher pitched sounding.
chip arnold - Posted - 10/20/2009: 05:51:51
The sound you're hearing is coming from a very bright, resonated, tone rung, bluegrass style banjo which is not at all what most people today use for old time down picking styles. And he's playing over the head which brightens the tone even more. What he's doing is the most basic bum-ditty strum over the chords. The "dit" is a heavy brush each time and there's virtually no melody being played.
If you like this sound, listen to Grandpa Jones for the same basic style but with some melody.
**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken
Chip Arnold
R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 10/20/2009: 10:23:28
I looked at the video and my first impression was maybe f#DF#AD,
but then I looked at the chord position the guitar-player was holding through most of the tune and it looked like an E.
The truth was I really couldn't tell.......either the res wasn't high enough or I need glasses.
See how it works in f#DF#AD.
R.D. Lunceford- "Missourian in Exile"
Model 1865 Bowlin Fretless Banjo
****************************************************
"Drink from the Musselfork once, and you'll
always come back." -Dr. Bondurant Hughes, 1917
Edited by - R.D. Lunceford on 10/20/2009 10:24:13
tfaux - Posted - 10/20/2009: 11:50:40
He's in C. And doesn't budge.
mandocaster - Posted - 10/20/2009: 12:53:26
I was at a Ralph Stanley concert recently. It was just awesome. I have to say, however that when he did that frailing song it was like an icepick in my ears. REALLY overbearing.
When I make music I feel God's pleasure
WGE - Posted - 10/20/2009: 14:59:13
I saw Ralph Stanley and his group at the Ryman back in the summer. They handed Ralph his banjo to do a tune late in their set, I can't even remember the name of it now, and Ralph starts flailing (not frailing) away on that thing to beat the band. I agree with mandocaster, I found it a very painful experience. The worst thing is that he could'nt even seem to keep time on the tune, the band had to try to follow his timing variations. Nonetheless, the crowd went wild and all I could do was shake my head. Jim Lauderdale was also on the show and I thought he and his band were great. However, Ralph and the Clinch Mt. boys were quite a let-down.
tfaux - Posted - 10/20/2009: 15:55:24
Man, I love seeing him up there on stage in his easy chair. He's one of the last eagles of that first bluegrass generation and I don't really mind if he misses the beat a bit, I just like seeing him still out there (hell, I hope I'm just a little behind the beat when I'm 82.)
But I admit, I don't really get the Ralph Stanley clawhammer thing. He's such a nuanced BG banjo player and singer. Was that really the way his mom taught him to play?
gailg64 - Posted - 10/20/2009: 16:17:13
Ralph favors banjos with the older archtop style tone ring. These have a different sound from a flathead-- ususally described as having a more penetrating, cutting tone & favoring the mid - high range.
GG
quote:
Originally posted by jfrebel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPZYwk5cymA
(cleaner version see end of video)
what is that banjo sound? it has like a weird drone to it like a dulcimer. is that standard G tuning? it sure doesn't sound like my banjo but wow I love that sound, even just strumming it open, those ringing sweet sounds. wow.
any books on how to play like this?
and what tuning is he using? (if this question sounds stupid bare in mind I'm a novice. LOL!)
"Time is music" - Paul Sutphiin
gailg64 - Posted - 10/20/2009: 16:27:58
Here's a video that shows Ralph playing his archtop banjo (and also features the late, great Art Stamper on fiddle). The "Stanley Tone" banjos he plays are made by Frank Neat, based on a 20s Gibson design.
He's dead on the money with his timing in this old clip.
GG
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s2K...ature=related
quote:
Originally posted by gailg64
Ralph favors banjos with the older archtop style tone ring. These have a different sound from a flathead-- ususally described as having a more penetrating, cutting tone & favoring the mid - high range.
GG
quote:
Originally posted by jfrebel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPZYwk5cymA
(cleaner version see end of video)
what is that banjo sound? it has like a weird drone to it like a dulcimer. is that standard G tuning? it sure doesn't sound like my banjo but wow I love that sound, even just strumming it open, those ringing sweet sounds. wow.
any books on how to play like this?
and what tuning is he using? (if this question sounds stupid bare in mind I'm a novice. LOL!)
"Time is music" - Paul Sutphiin
"Time is music" - Paul Sutphiin
tfaux - Posted - 10/20/2009: 16:49:26
quote:
Originally posted by Chris Via
I always liked Ralphs' playing. A true passed down style. His style is very typical to most of SWVA. If it gets folks dancing, its right.
Chris Via
Thanks for the comment Chris. SW Va. is the land of of excellent banjo players (you should know!) and Ralph Stanley was one of the best. Still, that frailing style that he's been doing in recent years seems surprisingly unsubtle to me. Sure, there are plenty of porch pickers who play like that, and his mom was surely one, but he's a longtime pro player and definitely not someone who would say that it's just about getting folks dancing (I've never noticed much dancing at a Clinch Mtn Boys show in any case.) I'm thinking there is something I'm missing here. Tom
oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 10/20/2009: 16:55:02
Great video Gail.
One of those things I've completely forgotten about is Stanley's half-time drag across the strings. A lot of players do something similar but Dr. Ralph has that completely tight hard rhythm that makes the drag surprise you each time it comes up. It doesn't hurt that even his drags are so precise you seem to hear each note in slow motion. It has thrilled me for more than 50 years - even back when I had no idea what he was doing to the banjo. He was also my role model for singing - which might be the reason I can't hardly sing today. I didn't know I was a baritone, and I pretty much blew out the vocal chords over time.
For you RSB people -- watch Dr. Ralph's thumb. No lost motion there. No air thumb. Those drags call for a solid thumb plant on the 5th too. The thumb is the support that allows the fingers to drag across the strings so evenly.
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
whyteman - Posted - 10/20/2009: 16:59:08
I admire Ralph for carrying on without Carter, but I pretty much only listen to the old Stanley Bros. material.
Mainly because I've always felt that Carter was the greatest pure country style singer of his generation, hands down, and Ralph's music just sounds hollow to me without Carter singing lead. It's not Ralph's fault, it's mine. I admire Ralph for moving on and making such a huge success of himself, but I'm not into the Clinch Mtn format.
Don.
Haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve.
brokenstrings - Posted - 10/20/2009: 18:59:28
"Penetrating" and "cutting" are the right words for that banjo.
Jessy
Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!
jfrebel - Posted - 10/20/2009: 20:26:21
I can see why folka into the soft mellow olde tyme stuff would recoil at stanley's banjo but me I love it. its raw and and has a beat. I bet this is rock before rock was invented.. it sure as heck makes me want to jump up and do a jig. I want to play like him and grandpa jones.
oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 10/20/2009: 20:54:26
I suppose it can be pretty harsh sounding if you are new to the style, but remember back in the 1950s this was a whole wild new sound to most of us. Ralph is an amazing bluegrass player, and he brings that same precision to his clawhammer playing. I never saw the Stanley Brothers except on TV and the like but I don't think the clawhammer portion of the show was all that important then. He explained about his mother teaching him how to play, did a few numbers, and went back to bluegrass - where the money was. I doubt Ralph spent a lot of time practicing clawhammer when he had to come up with new bluegrass chops all the time. It isn't like learning a bunch of tunes and playing them as well as you can at jams. This is a stage show and it has to be right.
I haven't watched most of the videos linked today,because some I watched a year or so ago indicated to me that Ralph is losing the battle with age. I suggest before everyone says he's playing sloppy they think about how they will be doing in their 80s.
I used to play guitar - classical, flamenco, rock, country, and blues. I was a 4 finger picker and a 2 finger picker, and even could do some 3 finger pickin on banjo and guitar. I don't limit myself to clawhammer banjo out of some devotion to the style. Athritus has stopped many a player cold. If I can halfway keep up with Dr. Ralph when I hit 70 I will consider myself to be darn lucky --- mostly to have even made 70, actually.
have some respect for the man - He's been a road musician for longer than most of us have been alive. It is no life for the faint hearted.
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
Bill Rogers - Posted - 10/21/2009: 08:14:29
That's what it should sound like--on a banjo set up for clawhammer. Nice, clean straight-ahead frailing. It's clearly double-c tuning, too. That was videoed in 2008; Ralph was 81. As Tony the woodchuck said, we should all hope we play so well at that age.
Bill
strokestyle - Posted - 10/21/2009: 09:36:59
Thanks for posting video's - I guess I never search you tube so I only see these things when people post them. I really like the way Ralph has the horse and buggy ride down in his stroke style.
majikgator - Posted - 10/27/2009: 07:23:46
the man isn't getting any younger and doesn't play a lot of banjo anymore. i don't care for that kind of frailing sound but don't recoil from it either a lot of people prefer and spend a whole lot of money on those banjos to get that sound. i sure am not going to jump on any Ralph Stanley bashing wagon, he has paid his dues and a good chunk of ours.
jk
Banjo75 - Posted - 10/28/2009: 10:46:16
that's funny.... I kinda prefer the tail... drenched in butter!
sorry, I am a New Englander and couldn't resist.
............................................................
I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody. - Pete Seeger
fwpicker - Posted - 10/28/2009: 19:00:40
Does anyone know if tabs exist for Ralph Stanley songs such as this one, and if so where you can get them?
Couchie - Posted - 10/28/2009: 20:40:22
Ralph Stanley has always been my banjo mentor. Both his bluegrass and clawhammer playing are decisive and effective. I have to agree with Bill and others that Ralph's singing is in a league of his own, the epitomy of mountain music. He's given his life to this music and has all my respect.
Don.
O=='=(::}
http://www.doncouchie.com
clawhammermike - Posted - 10/28/2009: 21:50:04
I don't know why but I have a very strong inclination to defend ralph stanley. even on this video his singing of angel band is untouchable. simply brilliant- holding on to the words and all. he is the man. If he had a solo show of him frailing and singing I would be right there front row no matter how his playing might be decreased. heck he wouldn't even have to frail. It is obvious that the technical skill has declined but there is a lot of technically perfect music that I find to be complete rubbish.
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