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Kitt - Posted - 03/02/2012: 16:37:38
I have to start off this post with a quote for an explanation from Hunter Robertson: (that is, banjos with 5 or 6 long strings and a short drone sting – not guitar-banjos/guitjos/banjitars etc.)
hunterrobertson.com/blog/?p=13...ent-22176
At that link you can watch and hear Hunter playing Tater Patch on a 6 string banjo.
What got me wondering about the 6 string was when I watched a video of Sarah Jarosz playing clawhammer on a six string banjo to Annabelle Lee.
youtube.com/watch?v=pIEC9DSc3a...lpp_video
I had been previously ignorant that there are 6 string banjos that aren't guitojos/banjitars or guitar-banjos. Sarah makes it sound great, as does Hunter in the video I've linked to of him.
I asked Hunter at his website about the the advantages of the 6 string. My question to him is number 8 at the link; number 9 is his answer to me.
So I'm curious if any of you have much experience with the 6 string banjos played clawhammer style, and what remarks you might have about them. I'm also interested in any comments by others who have not played one, too.
Edited by - Kitt on 03/02/2012 17:16:26
George Flink - Posted - 03/02/2012: 16:56:15
That's what I play. 6 string clawhammer is great fun. You can do melodies in the bass which is helpful when playing with a fiddle player and when there is more than one banjo. Even if you don't hit the low string, it is there resonating in the background which gives a depth and richness that I love. You can also use the extra bass as an extra drone string. When I started playing a 6, I stopped playing my 5 string for 6 months so I would force myself to focus on the 6. I also learned not to look at the fingerboard and my fretting hand because it was too confusing. 6's can be addicting. I have 4. 3 made by Brooks Masten and an original Stewart 6 from 1895. Good luck.
omiimii - Posted - 03/02/2012: 21:31:49
if i remember correctly, hunter's banjo started it's life as a seven string and he changed it to a six
string to get a little more space between the strings. i just bought a seven string banjo
(guitaremporium.com/Ajax-banjo got it for $500). sadly, i broke two bones is my
left hand about 2 weeks before i bought it, so haven't had the chance to play it much yet.
once the hand recovers from the 11 screws and plate that are now in it, i'll be excited
to get playing!
i'd also like to add that that video of hunter playing tater patch is one of my favorite banjo
performances ever!
banjoes - Posted - 03/03/2012: 04:46:46
Six and seven string banjos were common in England around the turn of the century before last. There are plenty still around - many of them fret-less. They are not much in demand by British players who seem to value modern American badged banjos over such antiques. Over the years I've been given two unwanted old English banjos; one of them is a very nice 7 string fret-less., which I've strung with mixed set Nylgut.
So, you English players grab yourself a local bargain!
ChuckJo - Posted - 03/03/2012: 04:47:01
I really like a 6-string banjo, especially for clawhammer accompaniment to fiddle tunes. I typically tune the bass string to a low A or G. It allows me to get the same melodic range as the fiddle (the standard fiddle tuning is GDAE. The 6-string tuned in double D yields aGDADE. I have underlined the "GDAE" in the banjo tuning). This means you can go wherever the fiddle goes. The 6-string can make it easier to play with another banjo, since you can find options on the low end.
That said, in group settings with a guitar or guitar and bass, the low string can overlap the others' territory, and be more difficult to hear.
for certain songs, the 6-string is great.
I had the opportunity to help develop the Gold Tone 6-string
goldtone.com/products/details/.../373/OT-6
I have attached some videos that illustrate the point
Kitt - Posted - 03/03/2012: 17:35:47
Thank you all for the interesting and informative replies, also for the videos. I still have more than enough to do becoming adept on five strings, but now I know much more about the six string. That will forever add to and enhance my listening pleasure, even if I never take it on as a challenge to play it myself.
jojo25 - Posted - 03/06/2012: 10:43:25
I have no experience playing a 6 string, but manys the time when I wish I had one...the extra range would be nice...no more of that d**ned octave jumping!
ZEPP - Posted - 03/07/2012: 05:13:54
I don't play one often--only when one comes through the store--but here's a demo I did of the first Gold Tone OT-6 that came through the store (sorry, I didn't realize that the contrast was FUBAR until I got around to editing the video, and by then, the instrument was sold). It was fun playing the B part an octave below where I usually play it! I probably should play one more often, as they do open some great possibilities.
(The MP3 is the same tune with a high B part, and played on a used Gold Tone EBT, an electric banjo with a solid, Telecaster-style body, and thought that something like this needs an old-time, clawhammer tune played acoustically on it! Capoed to aEAC#E. August 2004.)
Cheers,
ZEPP
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 03/07/2012: 07:08:03
I play a mid 1920's Vega six string strung with the highest string on the thumb side, so that, despite its guitar-like neck, it plays like a five string.
It's low tuned with a combination of minstrel nylgut and classical nylon guitar strings.
I find that I rarely go to that extra low string for fretted notes, but use it as a low drone at the same note of the scale but two octaves lower than the high thumb string. It gives real bottom to the sound.
Here's are a couple of examples:
Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 03/07/2012 07:16:54
omiimii - Posted - 04/01/2012: 13:39:41
If anyone is looking to buy a banjo with extra strings, I am willing to sell the really great
7 string i just got for the price i paid for it. it's a really amazing and beautiful banjo but
having recently broken my hand, i realized i should be spending my money on getting
my bills paid rather than purchasing new banjos. it's an ajax from the late 1800's
and most of the parts are original. there are pictures in my above post.
majikgator - Posted - 04/01/2012: 14:42:42
I thought of ChuckJo as soon as i saw the topic of this thread, glad you chimed in Chuck. Chuck, wasn't that a fretless 6 string you were playing in your duet with Tony Trishka this year at SBC?
Great job on Georgii Railroad Zepp. Amazing tone you are getting out of that Gold Tone Zepp, did you fiddle with the setup?
Being able to keep up with a fiddler in the first position (get two octaves) is a great reason by itself but maybe a bass line could be kept somehow as well fingerpicking, don't know how you would handle that and the drone string though. So frequently it would be nice to have that one low note you can't reach.
J-Walk - Posted - 04/01/2012: 17:08:19
Speaking of 6-string banjos, the one on the bench will be in my house in a week or so. It's a 12" silverspun, with a Dobson tone ring. I thank Geroge Flink for turning me on to the possibilities of an extra string.
