banjoholic - Posted - 12/18/2010:  14:06:07

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Hey folks. Just wanted to let you know I recently put up a site that some of you might have some use for. Here's the link:



oldtimejam.com



Its main feature is a music player that contains backup tracks for old-time tunes - each tune has a slow and normal speed guitar backup, a fiddle and guitar backup, and banjo and guitar backup. I figured most banjoists would like to play along with either the guitar backups or the fiddle and guitar backups. For those of you who don't get a chance to play with a fiddler too often, this is your opportunity! And for those of you who might feel intimidated by the jam experience, this might be a nice way to get your feet wet and build your confidence.



There are presently a little over 100 tunes in the player (oldtimejam.com/Tunes.html), but this will be an ongoing/indefinite project. So feel free to suggest tunes you'd like to see added (there's a contact page on the site). I intend to update it often.



The idea for this all started when I began learning how to fiddle - I started making backup guitar tracks to practice along with, and thought it'd be nice to have a place I could share them since I often see requests for such around here. Then I started making banjo tracks to practice fiddle with which was a lot of fun, so I thought that might be nice to have as well. And things kind of grew from there... Anyhow, I think practicing along with backup tracks is a great learning tool, and it's also a lot of fun. Enjoy!

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1/24/11 update - the chord changes for each tune now appear in a left hand box on the side of the player.

6/26/11 update - If you'd like banjo tablature for all of the tunes on Volume 1 ("the old-time top 20") in tabledit and pdf format, contact me through the contact page and I'll email it to you.

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Edited by - banjoholic on 02/25/2012 05:43:16

ramjo - Posted - 12/18/2010:  14:49:17

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This is really a treasure trove! Thanks for your work and for sharing.

biscuit joiner - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:02:54

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That's about the coolest thing I've ever seen. Thanks so much!

Also--tried to send a message through the contact link, but didn't see a 'send' button...

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Edited by - biscuit joiner on 12/18/2010 15:11:38

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:05:25

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Excellent work Banjoholic,

ALpal - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:12:05

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That's real cool! Thanks.

Ernest M - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:15:31

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This is really great for us noobs. Many many thanks.

cfs1 - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:23:39

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fantastic idea. thank you for putting this up and all your effort.

Colinski - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:24:52

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So awesome! Thanks for sharing this!

mrphysics55 - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:32:25

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Thanks a lot!

MrP

xomcat - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:33:23

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Fantastic! Many "Thank You's".

w. rogers - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:44:24

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Thanks alot will be very usefull.

MountainBanjo - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:51:34

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Cool. Any way to make a low speed version for dialup?

EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:52:38

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What a great idea, and a great resource! Just what I need at this point in my playing, and something that I kept finding myself wishing was out there somewhere. Thanks for taking the time to create the site.

ttax - Posted - 12/18/2010:  15:54:47

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This is wonderful and very much appreciated. I expect I will use your site often. Tom

bournio - Posted - 12/18/2010:  16:17:54

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Oh Wow! Thank you, that's a great resource :)

argybarg - Posted - 12/18/2010:  16:37:18

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Excellent. Any thoughts to making it an iPhone app? It already looks like one.

Miguel MC Dowell - Posted - 12/18/2010:  17:05:45

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As a beginner I want to say WOW WOW WOW thank you for all your hard work so people like me can enjoy a site like this. Thanks for sharing it with others.
Miguel

banjoholic - Posted - 12/18/2010:  17:57:05

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It's good to hear you guys are excited about it! That'll keep me motivated to keep adding tunes.

MountainBanjo - I assume that you're accessing through dialup? If so, is it too slow for it to be usable?

Argybarg - an iphone app had definitely occurred to me, in part because as you say it kind of seems like an app :) Just wasn't sure if there'd be an audience for it, or if the old-time police would throw me in jail for it :) There is of course the other problem that I have no idea how to write an iphone app! (though I do have a brother who does...)

EggerRidgeBoy - I changed the spelling on "Darling Nelly Gray" in the player thanks to your wonderfully researched TOTW post!

XXXris - Posted - 12/18/2010:  19:50:01

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neat, thank you!

nbanta - Posted - 12/18/2010:  22:17:23

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Excellent! Thank you! I'll be adding a link to your jam page on the page I maintain tomorrow.

derwood400 - Posted - 12/19/2010:  04:22:08

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Hey, I haven't gone and checked out the site yet, but, this is a wonderful idea, and I will thank you in advance. I live in a very old-time deprived area, and I have been searching for people to play with for 4 years now, without success. There are lots of musicians, but no one interested in playing old-time, so I will get a great deal of enjoyment out of this. Once again, thank you for taking on such a project.

Darren

Jet Travis - Posted - 12/19/2010:  04:55:49

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Treasure trove indeed! Woweee.

derwood400 - Posted - 12/19/2010:  05:04:04

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Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. I just spent the last half an hour over there, and it is fantastic. I will probably be over there jamming for the better part of day. Really well put together site.

banjoholic - Posted - 12/19/2010:  05:23:42

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Darren that's great! I thought there were probably a lot of folks out there who didn't have much access to a jam or other people to play with, so I'm really glad someone in your situation enjoys it. I too don't get to jam as much as I'd like thanks to work, family, etc., so the site helps me as well when I need a fix (part of the reason I built it)!

Adirondack Bill - Posted - 12/19/2010:  06:17:23

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I'd like to reiterate how great this would be as an app for iPhone and/or iPad. To be able to dock the iPhone/iPad and play this thru a sound system would be outstanding (yeah, I know, buy the CD....but who buys CD's anymore??). If you could make this come to fruition, I would bet you could make some ok money and make some people very happy. Apple has a 70/30 payout for apps.

Please at least think about it.

So much simpler than Band-in-a-Box.

banjoholic - Posted - 12/19/2010:  06:34:40

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So Bill, I take it that you have a way of playing your iphone through a decent sound system, but don't have a good way to hook your computer into it? I have a laptop I just plug into a set of speakers. Though I also have an mp3 CD of the tunes that I put into my DVD player and play over my home theater...I must say it is a heck of a lot of fun to stand in the middle of the room and jam in surround sound :)

I will talk to my brother today just to see how hard/easy it'd be to turn it into an app. For the time being, you could also transfer the mp3s from CD to your iphone/ipad.

It's funny, when I was working on the site I thought I was crazy for entertaining the idea of an iphone app! But maybe not so crazy, eh? Of course, this wouldn't be an issue of the iphone/pad ran flash...

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Edited by - banjoholic on 12/19/2010 06:35:45

dewbanjo - Posted - 12/19/2010:  07:48:59

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Just what I needed!! Now I can practice tunes with other instruments so I can do better at the monthly jam!!

abbey - Posted - 12/19/2010:  08:27:05

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Wow!!

Adirondack Bill - Posted - 12/19/2010:  08:41:26

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quote:

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Originally posted by banjoholic

So Bill, I take it that you have a way of playing your iphone through a decent sound system, but don't have a good way to hook your computer into it? I have a laptop I just plug into a set of speakers. Though I also have an mp3 CD of the tunes that I put into my DVD player and play over my home theater...I must say it is a heck of a lot of fun to stand in the middle of the room and jam in surround sound :)

I will talk to my brother today just to see how hard/easy it'd be to turn it into an app. For the time being, you could also transfer the mp3s from CD to your iphone/ipad.

It's funny, when I was working on the site I thought I was crazy for entertaining the idea of an iphone app! But maybe not so crazy, eh? Of course, this wouldn't be an issue of the iphone/pad ran flash...

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Yeah, I could easily hook-up the iMac or laptop to the Home Theater system. Heck, I could just add it to my iTunes collection and network it to the Sonos that's already connected to stream music....but to have a slick interface like you got going as an app would still be killer. Plus, as you added to the catalog of music, app updates would include this. (assumption of course)

Yes, buying the CD is not a bad idea at all in reality.

Def see what your brother says...but either way, thanks for your generosity.

jamesd - Posted - 12/19/2010:  08:49:48

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Well, this is just great....... Many thanks for doing this. This is exactly what I need. Thanks, James

raybob - Posted - 12/19/2010:  09:02:41

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Thanks Banjoholic. Great idea and a great Christmas gift for us all :)

tomberghan - Posted - 12/19/2010:  09:57:26

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Very fine Josh! I don't know how you find time for this between your medical practice and your music practice, but it is excellent. I hope you will continue to add many more tunes and sell lots of CDs!
Best Wishes,
Merry Christmas friend,
Ton

banjoholic - Posted - 12/19/2010:  10:55:19

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Thanks Tom, I appreciate that. I wake up most mornings cursing myself for staying up so late the night before. But so it goes. There just aren't enough hours in the day! This is also why I've made a study of how to practice efficiently :-D

And you're welcome to all who've expressed thanks. Feel free to contact me with ideas to make it even better if you have them.

MountainBanjo - Posted - 12/19/2010:  14:28:25

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quote:

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Originally posted by banjoholic

MountainBanjo - I assume that you're accessing through dialup? If so, is it too slow for it to be usable?

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Yup...its interrupted, more silence than sound.

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 12/19/2010:  15:02:03

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Very inventive, very useful. Thanks.

jduke - Posted - 12/19/2010:  15:49:58

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Great! Thanks for sharing it with us

wbheilmann - Posted - 12/19/2010:  15:51:23

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Outstanding idea...musical "company" whenever I need it! It is now bookmarked.

Thanks -- WB

banjoholic - Posted - 12/20/2010:  06:30:21

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MountainBanjo - Yeah, I'm afraid the bandwidth required is a little much for dialup. I'll start brainstorming some possible solutions for the dialup folks, though.

WB - Musical "company", I like that. In fact, I do often forget I'm all by myself when I'm playing along with it!

FYI - fiddle versions of Shortnin Bread, Nail that Catfish to a Tree, and Bill Cheatham have been added.

DaveS - Posted - 12/20/2010:  08:24:18

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Hi,

What an amazing resource. I ran through a few of the tunes and I like the speed it's at. Great for a beginner like me to get started. Looks like an incredible amount of work. Are you planning to keep adding tunes? Taking requests?

thanks,

Dave


[quote]Originally posted by banjoholic

Hey folks. Just wanted to let you know I recently put up a site that some of you might have some use for. Here's the link:

oldtimejam.com

banjoholic - Posted - 12/20/2010:  09:55:57

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Hey Dave - yeah, I tried not to get too carried away with the tempos. Some of them I initially recorded faster, but upon listening back thought they were too fast and didn't sound as good. So I tried to keep them at a comfortable pace, and just go with a tempo I thought sounded best...

And yes I plan to keep adding tunes indefinitely. Please feel free to make tune requests - you can either post them here or use the contact page on the site. I presently have around 80 to 100 tunes on my list to add, but stuff folks request will get bumped towards the top.

Viper - Posted - 12/20/2010:  10:15:39

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Awesome idea. Great job! I just bookmarked it. Cheers ...

UNYBP - Posted - 12/20/2010:  14:38:06

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That really is very cool and generous of you. Thanks a ton!

pernicketylad - Posted - 12/20/2010:  16:15:05

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Great idea well executed....thanks for the effort.

madkelt2004 - Posted - 12/21/2010:  04:10:55

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Wow! Excellent work!
Thank you!

Don Borchelt - Posted - 12/21/2010:  05:07:27

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A great site. Really fine picking, too. When I think of all the work that must have gone into this, I am awestruck. It's going to be a great resource for me.

- Don B.

jorta - Posted - 12/21/2010:  05:29:10

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Another quick bump - WOW! Thank you, great resource. Another comment in support of an iPhone/iPad app. A useful feature to consider may be a tempo scale ala Amazing Slow Downer - then you just need one speed and let the user slow it down. Even without that - really great resource. Thanks!

muzzlehatch - Posted - 12/21/2010:  06:43:03

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Thats brilliant - thanks so much!

majikgator - Posted - 12/21/2010:  06:51:52

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Thanks much

banjoholic - Posted - 12/21/2010:  12:27:17

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quote:

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Originally posted by Don Borchelt

A great site. Really fine picking, too. When I think of all the work that must have gone into this, I am awestruck. It's going to be a great resource for me.

- Don B.

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Thanks, Don. I have put a lot of time into it, but I enjoy it. And the great feedback and enthusiasm from folks so far certainly makes it worth it. I also like the thought of you fingerpickin along with me, even if it isn't in realtime

jorta - yes, a little slider for tempo control would be extra cool, and on the wish list right now. perhaps for version 2.0 (or more like 5.0 - my wife still insists I keep my day job ;)

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Edited by - banjoholic on 12/21/2010 12:27:44