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The Mighty Ant - Posted - 01/23/2011: 16:50:35
I've been experimenting with playing blues songs on the banjo. Just wanted to get some input from those further along than I am
When I 1st started trying, I couldnd get it to sound right. The banjo just naturally has such a "jangly" and "joyous" ring to it. Even playing way down in open G or capo A, it still sounded too "happy" for the blues.
So I tried simply taking the fingerpicks off, which I usually wear of course.
And I was very pleased to discover that all of a sudden it sounded like "blues banjo"! It worked! I even went way up the neck and put some electric guitar "two finger" style blues runs in there.
A couple that I did were Jimmie Rogers "I was a Stranger" and also Frank Huchisons "The worried blues". (Got em both from Doc Watson recordings)
Anyone else play blues on the banjo sometimes?
Mike
Edited by - The Mighty Ant on 01/23/2011 17:23:31
Banjophobic - Posted - 01/23/2011: 17:13:38
Ant
Are you making use of the blues scale? If not, you will get 'happy' sounds from most of what youre trying to play. Try adding the b3,b5 andb7 notes to what you are doing, as a building block for the blues...
steve davis - Posted - 01/23/2011: 17:28:46
I like playing the blues on the banjo.
When I play in E I like the simplicity of the E A B chords all available in the
first 2 frets.
You can play an E7 by just fretting the 3rd string on the 1st fret.
The 0-1 hammer is cool.
The Mighty Ant - Posted - 01/23/2011: 17:32:23
quote:
Originally posted by Banjophobic
Ant
Are you making use of the blues scale? If not, you will get 'happy' sounds from most of what youre trying to play. Try adding the b3,b5 andb7 notes to what you are doing, as a building block for the blues...
I'm not playing blues scales, no. But I am hitting *in between* notes (the "blue notes") when and where it sounds right. Also employing some slides and bended notes.
Mike
Edited by - The Mighty Ant on 01/23/2011 17:39:07
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/23/2011: 17:32:34
Try this old tuning, get a slide, and think Son House:
gCGCE
The Mighty Ant - Posted - 01/23/2011: 17:42:10
Tom,
Play slide?
...on the BANJO???
Are you serious? I play slide sometimes on electric guitar, and of course
the bar on dobro...but slide on banjo? Ha ha! I may have to get out my coricidin bottle slide and give it a try.
Mike
Edited by - The Mighty Ant on 01/23/2011 17:48:55
1four5 - Posted - 01/23/2011: 17:54:55
Absolutely play slide on banjo, it's about as sweet and nasty as you can get. Banjo and blues were made for eachother, we do a lot of it.
Banjophobic - Posted - 01/23/2011: 18:08:21
quote:
Originally posted by The Mighty Ant
quote:
Originally posted by Banjophobic
Ant
Are you making use of the blues scale? If not, you will get 'happy' sounds from most of what youre trying to play. Try adding the b3,b5 andb7 notes to what you are doing, as a building block for the blues...
I'm not playing blues scales, no. But I am hitting *in between* notes (the "blue notes") when and where it sounds right. Also employing some slides and bended notes.
Well, if you are hitting 'blue notes' then yes, you are playing notes from a blues scale, for the most part. This is what gives you a bluesy sound. It has much less to do with any particular key,capoed or not, and more to do with these blues notes. I was just checking to make sure you knew that. This is the difference between 'happy' and 'sad/blues'. You can always 'grease' the blues up with other notes, but the main building blocks are the notes I mentioned before.
Edited by - Banjophobic on 01/23/2011 18:11:47
R Buck - Posted - 01/23/2011: 19:09:53
Banjo is tuned to an open chord, that is an invitation to play slide if I ever saw one.
Jim Yates - Posted - 01/23/2011: 19:14:25
Didn't Bruce Cockburn play slide banjo on the Night Vision album?
Here are some ideas that I put together for a student who wanted to learn some blues banjo:
Edited by - Jim Yates on 01/23/2011 20:21:08
caleb150 - Posted - 01/23/2011: 21:31:36
Otis Taylor does some great banjo blues, so does alvin youngblood hart, also check out Keb' mo'
this is one of those songs i would love to learn when i get good enough
youtube.com/watch?v=dEF7vH1fG7I
Jim Yates - Posted - 01/24/2011: 12:10:31
Tony Thomas, whose Hangout name is writerrad, is very knowledgable about blues banjo. You also might want to check out this previous thread: banjohangout.org/archive/75427
minstrelmike - Posted - 01/24/2011: 12:20:44
I do blues in E out the open-G tuning also with the 5th string spiked up to B (9th)
I like the hammers that sound just like the guitar and the easy choke you can do on the little finger 7th of the full E7: 2132
E: 2102 (Try hammering on the 1 and also with all three fingers)
E7: 0100 2100 0102 2132
A7: 2022 or x022 and 2225
B7: 1204 4201 1201 4204 (and the A7s moved up 2 frets).
Lots of kewl stuff donw there in the most common blues key.
wris - Posted - 01/25/2011: 06:40:51
i have been using renos "chuckberry lick" from jason skinner dvd to play a couple of blues songs,
reno uses it in the kick off to i know your married
its worth giving it a listen on youtube
steve davis - Posted - 01/25/2011: 11:14:15
If you get a chance,sit in with some blues players.
Be a sponge.
LGriff6250 - Posted - 01/25/2011: 13:26:00
Slide banjo is way fun. Try it on a day when you're bored, uninspired, or maybe just have the blues............
fred davis - Posted - 01/25/2011: 16:44:45
I usema piece of PVE pipe for a slide a coupling or and end what ever fits the pinke best and play a lot of blue slide on both my 5 string and 6 string tuned DGDDBD.
dhergert - Posted - 01/25/2011: 18:40:16
Blues is great on the banjo. As has been mentioned, it's the notes that count...
Here's a bluesy CW version of Until Then that my band just recorded...
Lots of fun...
Best,
-- Don Hergert
Sweet Tidings Gospel Jam
sweettidingsgospeljam.com
"If you must use your banjo as a snow shovel, do so:
only don't wonder if it sounds dull afterwards."
-- S.S. Stewart catalog, 1896
Dan Sparkman - Posted - 01/26/2011: 04:34:10
I think blues banjo is entirely appropriate; African instrument playing Afro-American music. I suggest one listen a lot to Dock Boggs, who did it all, and well. "Country Blues" and "Sugar Baby"--can't get any bluesier than those. Also, "Make me a Pallet on your Floor" by the folk group, The Journeymen. Lots of blues influence in bluegrass music.
Pay attention to blues scales, as others above have mentioned. I think the banjo's tight enveloped sound works well with the blues. Don't forget to bend notes, either.
fuzzyacg - Posted - 01/27/2011: 10:32:58
I just heard "Travelin' Riv'side Blue's" on the clawhammer top 100 in the media archive. Fretless clawhammer with a bottleneck. What an amazing blues sound
steve davis - Posted - 01/28/2011: 12:07:05
A buddy of mine was influenced by a Larry Johnson.
We do things like Mama-less blues
Blood Red River
Pick Poor Robin Clean(sans minstrel show lyrics)
Nobody's Business
Walking Blues.
He does a bunch of others that I don't know the names of
but I sure like the way they play out on a banjo.
It helps to have a singer with the right energy.
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 01/28/2011: 12:54:12
For those that may be interested, I just started a Blues Banjo Players group, in the Group section of the hangout. Let's find each other that way!
Z Daniels - Posted - 02/17/2011: 17:26:54
Get that pentatonic down! Transpose guitar licks to banjo. Or, just tune that high D up to an E and let 'er rip! (If you do that, you might want to tune your 5th string to and A)
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/17/2011: 18:33:46
quote:
Originally posted by The Mighty Ant
Tom,
Play slide?...on the BANJO???
Are you serious? I play slide sometimes on electric guitar, and of course
the bar on dobro...but slide on banjo? Ha ha! I may have to get out my coricidin bottle slide and give it a try.
Mike
Okay, I don't use a slide on this, a Robert Johnson tune. This was my very first time in a professional recording studio, in NYC. It took a while. Talk about a learning curve!
steve davis - Posted - 02/19/2011: 12:28:19
Hot stuff,Tom!
JoeDownes - Posted - 02/20/2011: 04:45:43
Awesome Tom! I love it. How did you approach those melodic licks? What kinds of 'positions' or 'pathways' did you use to get those sounds (ca. 2.30 min)?
The backup is amazing, too. Inspiring stuff. So much still to learn. Thanks for sharing.
Z Daniels - Posted - 02/20/2011: 16:49:20
Nice Tom.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/22/2011: 17:58:26
quote:
Originally posted by JoeDownes
Awesome Tom! I love it. How did you approach those melodic licks? What kinds of 'positions' or 'pathways' did you use to get those sounds (ca. 2.30 min)?
The backup is amazing, too. Inspiring stuff. So much still to learn. Thanks for sharing.
Well, I was trying to play more in a Scruggs/Reno/Trischka fashion, so you got me! Haha!
I've been searching myself for an answer to your question, and I come up blank! That's weird for me, but I suppose it's because I never tabbed this because I was working so hard on playing the banjo.
And therein lies the key: play what you know, play the tune, and let ideas evolve and get them under your fingers.
It's more a process of playing and listening than trying to tab it. I hear a lot of Scruggs in my playing, in retrospect. Scruggs plays great blues banjo.
I want to go back and tab these breaks for you, so give me time, and thanks for asking.
I don't play it this way anymore; in fact, I wouldn't even attempt it!
I'm a country blues guitarist, and that always informs my banjo improvisations, so maybe a good answer is to listen to blues guitarists and keep borrowing ideas from them.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/22/2011: 19:33:45
Okay, learn from this great bluesman. Get a lick or two. Don't do stupid drugs; get the inspiration from inside, what the Universe gave ye, God love Him, Peter Green!
You got everything you need!
Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac)
youtube.com/watch?v=ivS5wjwGbn8
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/23/2011: 03:48:29
I'll explain my last post. I am a huge Peter Green fan, one of the most creative blues-rock guitarists of all time. Legend. I know that there are some very usable blues licks for banjo in the above video.
I played the Orkney Blues Festival (guitar) a few years back, and Peter headlined, but it was very sad because he wasn't himself. He was chaperoned, couldn't remember things, and his amp would be turned way down on stage and another guitarist would cover for him on the solos. Tragic. Somebody would say hey, 'Black Magic Woman' (Fleetwood Mac) and he'd say, "Great, how does that go?" (Santana had the hit, Peter wrote it.) Some people don't come back from the proverbial long weekend. Peter has suffered terribly. So, that's what my last post was about. I'd never seen so many grown men cry and be so visibly upset before, but that was a general reaction for many seeing their fallen Guitar Hero.
God bless Peter Green. He has made a huge comeback and is doing much better, I'm happy to report. He's been down, but he's not out.
Read about him here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gr...sician%29
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 02/23/2011 04:00:33
pearcemusic - Posted - 02/25/2011: 12:22:58
great stuff Tom .. thanks ...
I'm late on this thread, but ran across these 2 vids that give some linear ideas for any blues tune ... improv-soloing ideas from my videos. ... key of "G" but easily adaptable to any blues key.
I also played a lot of guitar "travis" style blues grooves on the 5 string ... fun to jam over with ideas from these videos.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/25/2011: 12:56:08
Beautiful.
granderman - Posted - 02/27/2011: 03:48:09
Doub , very fluid also helpful to realize perfect practice pays off. thanks for sharing T
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/28/2011: 05:47:48
I love that, granderman: "perfect practice pays off." I'm digging around for a 12-bar blues exercise using single-string. I have it in standard and tab, probably tab for here.
Doub, it's one of the joys in coming to the HO to find and practice along with your well-explained exercises and videos.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/28/2011: 06:09:46
This is a 12-bar blues in G, one of those Casey-Jones-railroad-boogie things, very chromatic! It's three different exercises, getting gradually more complex, using jazz chord substitutions, but it's still blues. I use Reno-style TITI patterns, but it's also good to use TITM (as Doub tends to do) and TIMI patterns, a more radical approach that can lead to very fluid playing, once you get used to it.
It's in tab, followed by standard (for other instruments). Notice that I put in left-hand fingerings for the tab. I got the basic "run" for this from the tenor banjo, one of my dads's old Dixieland records. Hope this helps.
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 02/28/2011 06:15:00
pearcemusic - Posted - 02/28/2011: 06:11:25
thanks much to both of you ....
I've been working really hard for a few years now ... trying to become a decent SS player.
granderman - "very fluid also helpful to realize perfect practice pays off. thanks for sharing"
Still a work in progress, but you're right T ... the hard work is starting to payoff. I enjoy putting up videos that show a work in progress, because I think it helps to see someone working out the bugs in his playing. and I'm ALWAYS trying to work out the infestation of bugs in my playing.
and Tom, that means a lot coming from you ...
I watch my vids and think I'm a bit scattered and pointless sometimes ... but i always hope they can be helpful to someone who is looking to dig in to what I'm attempting to show. YOU are the one who shares so much good stuff here. Thanks ... and i'll look forward to the 12 bar .... :)
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/28/2011: 06:17:15
Back atcha! :)
Westvon - Posted - 03/01/2011: 10:24:56
Really good stuff Doub. I have been trying to work on perfecting SS blues licks as well. Thanks for sharing, you are an inspiration.
pearcemusic - Posted - 03/01/2011: 12:38:47
thanks David ... I appreciate the comments .... we'll get this banjo thing down if we work hard, huh ? ...
(I have a hard time staying inspired myself ... )
Tom Hanway - Posted - 03/03/2011: 00:17:08
No way, she will!
Tom Hanway - Posted - 03/05/2011: 13:33:00
Hope you guys like this one. I wrote it. It's weird, kinda swampy, Scruggsy at times, also using a lot of blue notes and jazzy triplets. That's Kenny Kosek on triple fiddles, also using an octave divider, and from Tony Trischka's Skyline: Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, Danny Weiss on guitar, Larry Cohen on bass, oh, and Kevin Maul from the Provincetown Jug Band on dobro.
pearcemusic - Posted - 03/05/2011: 16:50:35
yeah tom ... very cool tune ... thanks for sharing with us
Tom Hanway - Posted - 03/07/2011: 16:23:33
quote:
Originally posted by pearcemusic
yeah tom ... very cool tune ... thanks for sharing with us
Hey, thanks Doub ... I appreciate that coming from you.
Thanks Doub. I was just surfing, listening to Louis Jordan (Jump Blues/R&B), Miles Davis, etc., and I stumbled across 'Blue Monk' (Thelonious Monk), a 12-bar blues, in Bb. So, capo up three frets and go for it! But listen first, listen to all of it.
Banjo players can learn volumes from jazz phrasing, laying out, not playing so rigidly and incessantly in terms of eighth note patterns, haha, also playing tone clusters, chromatic lines, and just plain weirdness, if that's not an oxymoron. Anyway, here's Monk:
Blue Monk
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 03/07/2011 16:30:00
Coonskin - Posted - 03/22/2011: 20:23:12
"Ruben" tuning, f# D F# A D is also open D...what blues players call VESTAPOL. There are millions of blues licks sitting right there in major key, the pentatonic, and even mountain blues, like Ruben and darling cory.
Any Vestapol chrod chart will show you the I-IV-V, and from there, it's easy riding!
Z Daniels - Posted - 03/27/2011: 12:39:50
Get your minor pentatonic scales down and pick the strings close to the neck and away from the bridge.
