maxmax - Posted - 09/28/2008:  05:24:42

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Polls are fun because everyone can participate! Now lets see…

Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

maxmax - Posted - 09/28/2008:  06:19:57

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Me personally…

Q1: B

Q2: A. But I thought I was going to be a C when I started. But old-time grew on me and now I love it! But there is a lot of other good music out there that can benefit from some nice old-timey banjo as well.

Q3: B. But only with a very few standards. And I spend just enough time with them so I can play a super simple arrangement of them.

Best,
Max

ZenPickin - Posted - 09/28/2008:  06:42:45

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
I tried twice in my life to play bluegrass. Then I came here, really got a taste of OT, and never looked back.

Question: 2
Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?
A: Yes


Question: 3
Do you only learn tunes you like?
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
This is an interesting question for a poll. I'm looking forward to what other folks say. I can't seem to get interested in learning tunes just for the sake of having a big repetoire. The ones I do learn are tunes that have really grabbed me, and I can't put 'em down. I expect that if I were playing with other OT players a lot, I'd want to learn what they were playing - but again, because the tunes grab me.

Thanks, Max! This will be fun!
Linda

SpazMan - Posted - 09/28/2008:  07:14:28

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A, A, A.

I also play folk stuff, like Pete Seeger, and I think that folk and old-time can go hand in hand.

Ari

Open G is only the beginning..

Loo P. - Posted - 09/28/2008:  07:45:39

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Max,

Pretty much the same answers as you gave.

Bird Dog - Posted - 09/28/2008:  08:03:50

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A.
A - a little bit.
A.

Robin

BANJOJUDY - Posted - 09/28/2008:  08:28:53

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.None of the above. I began playing clawhammer banjo simply because my arthritic fingers could not hold a pick, there was an old Vega White Laydie in the closet gathering dust, and I wanted to play an instrument - any instrument - this was the most likely one we owned that might have some degree of success for me.

Question: 2
Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.
Although I love the old-time music style, I don't think it fits into all musical forms. I would love to play old-time style music when acceptable, but there are times when it just doesn't work well for me.

Question: 3
Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.
B,C & a qualified A because although I start out playing tunes I like, I don't know every tune I hear and like everyone of them the first time I try them. I get to love them as I get more accomplished as I play them.

Now I know why I always hated multiple choice tests. Too much to say and not enough answers!!!


+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_
Have you visited the Tune of The Week area
for clawhammer players? Check it out on The
Banjo Hangout! Volunteer to do a tune for
October by emailing me at inquiry@siliconheights.com.

---

Edited by - BANJOJUDY on 09/28/2008 08:31:55

divingsailingdoug - Posted - 09/28/2008:  09:07:15

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I'll make this short and sweet
1) B
2) A
3) A
What are you going to use all this IMPORTANT data for?
Cheers,
Doug
"too soon old and too late smart!"

fretlessinfortwayne - Posted - 09/28/2008:  09:25:11

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Question 1: Did you start playing old-time banjo because: I wanted to play the banjo and contribute to music around the campfire. It started some 20 years ago while attending Civil War reenactments.

Question 2: Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well? Yes, I also play minstrel banjo tunes on a minstrel banjo in a two-finger downstroke style.

Question 3: Do you only learn tunes you like? Well, sometimes I have to learn tunes that the fiddle player likes. LOL. But I love learning new tunes, primarily from fiddle players. Learned two last night from a fiddle player from Kentucky -- Uncle Henry and Bacon Rind. Now let me think how they went.







Dean

"Hooray Jake, Hooray John, Breakin'' up Christmas all night long."

janolov - Posted - 09/28/2008:  11:12:42

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A
A
A



Jan-Olov

maxmax - Posted - 09/28/2008:  11:26:30

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quote:

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Originally posted by divingsailingdoug
What are you going to use all this IMPORTANT data for?

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Just for the sake of conversation. Always fun to hear other folks stories.

banjo_brad - Posted - 09/28/2008:  14:00:28

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quote:

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Originally posted by maxmax

Polls are fun because everyone can participate! Now lets see…

Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

C: But, it was because I heard my brother playing clawhammer banjo in an OT string band (sibling rivalry?)! Took another 20+ years before I started, however/

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

C: You mean there are other kinds of music?!?

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.

A & B: Tunes I like, but also those that are repeat calls at our monthly music circle (of course, you might say that the B tunes are also A tunes).

C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

---

Brad
------------------
www.PricklyPearMusic.net
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/5/ My ezFolk page
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/3371/ Tucson Old Time Music Circle page on ezFolk
http://www.totmc.org Tucson Old Time Music Circle Homepage

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 09/28/2008:  14:56:56

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1 C & A
2 B
3 A Because I happen to be a solo act at this point in time.

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

KE - Posted - 09/28/2008:  15:25:16

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B C A

ScottK - Posted - 09/28/2008:  15:30:06

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1. D: You saw someone play clawhammer banjo and had this
immediate reaction, "I wanna/gotta do that!"

I didn't know what old time music was the first time I heard a friend
play clawhammer banjo back in high school over thirty years ago. I
didn't know what bluegrass was either. I just watched and listened
to my buddy play clawhammer and was instantly attracted. More
recently when I took up clawhammer in a more serious way (not
really serious, just more dedicated), it was a combination of A & C,
I love the old-time music and the I wanted to join the fun in the old-
time community here in Portland, Oregon.

It was the same way with Gorge (Columbia River Gorge)
windsurfing for me. My wife and I went to a Gorge ProAm event
and watched guys ripping it at 20 knots on the water and I just
thought "I gotta do that!".

2. A

I do this less today than I did a couple years ago. When I was
learning clawhammer out of books at home and had no one to play
with, I would mess around with songs from modern singer-
songwriters late at night after I got tired of "practicing". Then I
started getting out into jams. That led to getting invited to old time
music parties and joining an old time string band. Now I'm so busy
with playing with others in the band or in jams, dances, and parties
that I don't have much time for messing around with songs/tunes
other than old-time repertoire. But I still enjoy trying to work out
arrangements for singer-songwriter stuff, so will probably get
back to that as time permits.

3. B

Most of the tunes I learn right now are because one of the fiddlers
I play with plays them. I play with three fiddlers pretty regularly and
a dozen more less regularly. With all the tunes they are throwing
out, I always have one or two dozen tunes on my active to-learn
list. They are mostly great tunes, so I don't mind. But there are
other great tunes that none of the fiddlers I play with play (like Sweet
Susan or Sweet Milk and Peaches). I've started thinking that I just
need to learn these tunes on fiddle and introduce these tunes to
the local scene myself (harder to do on banjo).

Scott

JohnJ - Posted - 09/28/2008:  18:53:49

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1. A: I've loved old time music for more than 40 years - - Leadbelly was one of my first records (you know, those big old black things)

2. C: I bought my first banjo this year and old time clawhammer has pretty much become an obsession .

3. C: with a qualified A. The first five months I took private lessons and played only what my teacher told me to - - I've taken no lessons for the past four months and have started playing tunes that I like. Will go back to the lessons in a couple of months then I'll be back to C again...

JohnJ

If you practice, tune, make a sound check, and sit down to play, its Folk music - - otherwise its Bluegrass.

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Edited by - JohnJ on 09/28/2008 18:54:31

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/28/2008:  19:50:42

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1. B
2. A, but I have other instruments up my sleeve, and some of them lend themselves more naturally to non-OT (guitar, harp)
3. A primarily, but some B, just in case I get to / got to play with someone else

Sometimes I pick out melodies on the banjo just for the heckuvit. Let's say for ear training. There's no BG or OT about it. These can be anything from 16th-century lute and vihuela pieces to Greek folk songs. Last night, in tribute to Paul Newman, it was "Plastic Jesus." Sometimes I'll tinker around experimentally with ways to accompany Greek songs in 5/8, 7/8 and 9/8 time on the banjo. These don't fit into any particular mode.

Not so long ago I might have answered differently; but then I remember how effectively Peggy Seeger accompanied Ewan McColl on Jacobite ballads and how good Pete Seeger's versions of Spanish Civil War ballads sound on the banjo. That tells me not to limit the banjo.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/28/2008:  19:54:23

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P.S. I've been practicing umpteen hundred versions of "Old Joe Clark" because I understand they take away your banjo license otherwise.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

Bill Rogers - Posted - 09/28/2008:  21:32:05

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1) It's just where I started out. Called "folk music" in those days.
2) No--but I don't play other kinds of music. The bluegrass I play is so old-timey it's hard to differentiate.
3) Generally yes, but if I'm playing a lot with someone who likes certain tunes, I'll learn them even if they're not my favorites.

Bill

vernob - Posted - 09/29/2008:  06:41:33

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1) A. I'm with Bill. It was all "folk" music then. It still is, but we like categories so we've sorted it some more.
2) A. I like the bluegrass songs because they're often done in vocal harmonies, which I just love. I also like new songs that are written in an old timey style.
3) A. I mostly play alone so I play what I like.

Bruce Vernon

"A gentleman is a man who knows how to play the banjo, but chooses not to." - Mark Twain

"Don''t worry about mistakes. There aren''t any." - Miles Davis

RedZinger - Posted - 09/29/2008:  09:04:22

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Ok, I'll play...

Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

Non of the above: I started with BG and discovered CH and fell in love with the sound.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes, for rock n roll, but I prefer guitar for non-OT.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes. The common stock of the local OT scene is not to my taste, so I gave up on it and play what I like. There are a lot of OT tunes that I really don't like at all.

Best wishes,
Rob

Cathy Moore - Posted - 09/29/2008:  10:07:51

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

I liked folk music, not specifically old-time. Mostly I liked the folk banjo's sound, and its spot on the spectrum between rhythm and melody.


Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A. I play old-time music socially. For solo stuff or progressive bands, I tend to play outside the OT repertoire.


Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

B. For old-time, I learned the repertoires of local fiddlers because that's what's played at jams.

Cathy



Lessons and subversive clawhammering: http://www.youtube.com/user/BanjoMeetsWorld
Illinois and European tunes and tab: http://www.banjomeetsworld.com

Mark Johnson - Posted - 09/29/2008:  10:17:42

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1) I guess a mix of A and B? I heard a guy playing solo clawhammer and was mesmerized. I wanted to do that. So I did.

2) Yup. I'll jam with anyone, and frequently find myself playing clawhammer to very non-oldtimey tunes.

3) I learn tunes I want, tunes I need to learn to play with others, some just get stuck in my head...

Mark

ZEPP - Posted - 09/29/2008:  10:41:44

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(I'm repeating the questions, as I had to keep looking up there somewhere to answer and being old, I am easily confused. )

Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

Cheers,
ZEPP

trapdoor2 - Posted - 09/29/2008:  11:23:42

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

Answer: A.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Answer: A. I play OT banjo for lots of stuff. Not appropriate for everything...so I play other styles for that.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

Answer: A qualified "A". I learn tunes I like by heart and other tunes (like playing with a fiddler occasionally) to "backup".

===Marc

"If banjos needed tone rings, S.S. Stewart would have made them that way."

bluemule_77 - Posted - 09/29/2008:  11:53:31

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.
I was already playing fiddle. My wife as well. Since we inhabit remote cow camps, it seemed I oughta learn banjo so we'd be a self-contained symbiotic sorta musical creature.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

BM

Banjo Bobcat - Posted - 09/29/2008:  14:20:52

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

Answer: A but only after buying a banjo and then putting out an electronic message at work askin if anyone could help me learn one guy got in touch and the rest is history.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Answer: C I only concentrate on the old time stuff that is hard enough, although I got a scottish tune from UKSandra. (Many thanks).

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

Answer: A. but then I like a lot of tunes but ability holds me back at present, need more hours in the day.

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/29/2008:  18:07:36

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Hmm, I should add that I came from folk song, like some of the others; but in those days I just played guitar and had no interest in the banjo. When I did get interested in the banjo, however, there was never any question that OT was the way to go.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

carlb - Posted - 09/30/2008:  08:09:29

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quote:

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Originally posted by maxmax

Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.
A yes and B sort of. I was playing guitar in an old time band but was having a hard time remembering the melodies to tunes. I started playing the banjo as an aid to help me remember the tunes.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.
My main reason is that I play other instruments for other styles of music: penny whistle for Irish and clarinet for jug band, blues, classical, klezmer, international dance.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

---

Carl

"Just around the corner is someone who plays better than you....." "There will always be someone who likes your music and someone who dislikes your music. Get over it......." [Dan Haerle, former music prof at University of North Texas]

John D - Posted - 09/30/2008:  14:01:47

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

Answer: None of the above. One main reason I started to play old-time banjo is because when I was a kid I wanted to emulate cool folks like Roscoe Holcomb that I saw on Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest TV show. I can't play like Roscoe Holcomb, but I kind of look like him now.

Question: 2
Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

Answer: Maybe "C." I play OT banjo with a hip-hop band.
Playing out I see that some people like hearing rap with CH. and some people sit there and have these scary homicidal stares on their faces.


Question: 3
Do you only learn tunes you like?

Answer: Yes.

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/30/2008:  20:43:55

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So, Max, are you keeping track?

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

maxmax - Posted - 10/01/2008:  02:16:25

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I wonder how many people would have missed out on old-time, if there was a good well known instructional book/DVD that taught playing the banjo in general and not diving in to one genre in particularly. Like a “Banjo for Folk/Rock & Country Music” book/DVD.

Then again, wonder how many people want to learn how to play the banjo, but have no interest in old-time or bluegrass, so they never get into it.

/Max

Banjo75 - Posted - 10/01/2008:  03:07:26

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Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
Playing folk on my banjo since 2008.

pete hobbie - Posted - 10/01/2008:  17:20:08

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Well..
A
A, Ilike to fool around with oldtime versions of new tunes
b
B
Pete

brokenstrings - Posted - 10/01/2008:  18:50:55

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quote:

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Originally posted by maxmax

I wonder how many people would have missed out on old-time, if there was a good well known instructional book/DVD that taught playing the banjo in general and not diving in to one genre in particularly. Like a “Banjo for Folk/Rock & Country Music” book/DVD.

Then again, wonder how many people want to learn how to play the banjo, but have no interest in old-time or bluegrass, so they never get into it.

/Max

---

Actually, there is such a book, written by one of our own. One of those yellow-&-black "for Dummies" type books.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

banjopogo - Posted - 10/01/2008:  22:59:33

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B, A, A,
he answered sheepishly!


I bought a banjo, and started in on Bluegrass because that was popular
and I did like it, but when someone said my banjo was better for frailing
and showed me how, I totally fell in love with the sound and dropped my
Scruggs lessons immediately.

I play minstrel songs (mostly Stephen Foster)
and old gospel songs like "I'll Fly Away" on banjo.
Some people would consider those Old Time and others wouldn't-
it depends on how you define it.

I usually only learn songs or tunes I like.
If I don't like them, I won't put my heart into them
when I perform them, and so I won't play them well-
so why bother.

Sometimes I think I don't like a song or tune, and then eventually
I hear a version of that tune that just grabs me, that just seems like
the right way to play that song or tune.
Then it's easy.

quote:

---

Originally posted by maxmax

Polls are fun because everyone can participate! Now lets see…

Question: 1
Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

A: You loved old-time music.
B: You wanted to play the banjo / Beats bluegrass.
C: A friend or family member played old-time music and you wanted to join in on the fun.

Question: 2

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?

A: Yes / I would like to, but don’t know how yet.
B: No. I have no interest in it.
C: That’s all I do / That’s all I am going to do when I know how to.

Question: 3

Do you only learn tunes you like?

A: Yes.
B: Some I learn only because a lot of other people play them.
C: I learn what my teacher/book tells me to learn.

---

Michael

mp3 page: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1088/
click on "our stations" for
Michael''s Old Time Fiddle and Banjo Hour (Hi-Fi and Lo-Fi streams)

boomchucker - Posted - 10/02/2008:  09:56:07

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1. A & B (started with bluegrass, but had no one to play it with. I can play solo. duets whatever with clawhammer. Switched to clawhammer when I saw a someone playing up close.)

2. A ( I play Irish music, folk music, whatever works for the song.)

3. A (mostly, but when I was learning I would try anything I could manage, melodic stuff, minstrel, show tunes, whatever tab was in front of my face.)

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Famous fiddler, Albert Einstein

jojo25 - Posted - 10/06/2008:  18:52:54

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1. A
2. A
3. A

Drop thumbs, not bombs

Joe

Jonnycake White - Posted - 10/07/2008:  09:01:02

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Did you start playing old-time banjo because:

Mostly A: I loved old-time music. & B: I wanted to play the banjo. I'm not sure if it beats bluegrass or if bluegrass beat me - I think probably the latter.

Do you play an old-timey style of banjo outside of old-time music as well?
I play some Minstrel songs in a clawhammer style, because I haven't learned the more advanced Minstel techniques yet (and maybe never will). I'd like to adapt some old or ancient ballads to banjo that I have done on guitar before, because I never mastered guitar and banjo is so much easier. Maybe I should build a guitar with a banjo neck.

I've also learned/played some hymns on banjo.

Do you only learn tunes you like?
Yes. I have no teacher, and when I learn from a book+audio, I'll only learn the tunes I like anyway. Mostly I learn by ear, and only listen to tunes I like enough to get them in my head.

Our local acoustic community is probably 75% Bluegrass, 23% Celtic, and 1.99% old-time, and .01% Minstrel (me). So who can I jam with, even if I had time to dedicate to jammng?

Jon W.
"I build better than I play"

Jonnycake White - Posted - 10/07/2008:  09:06:17

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quote:

---

Originally posted by maxmax

Then again, wonder how many people want to learn how to play the banjo, but have no interest in old-time or bluegrass, so they never get into it.

/Max

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Those guys play tenor banjo.

Jon W.
"I build better than I play"

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Edited by - Jonnycake White on 10/07/2008 09:07:03