davidcava - Posted - 06/19/2013:  19:10:55

I'm sending this out to all of you who have many years under your tenor belt.......how did you learn? what schooling did you have? what is the most important thing you've learned in your progression as a musician/tenorplayer.? I love the tenor.......tell us some of your secrets? are there any secrets? please lay it on the line.......live is short.......lets play..

David

CGDA - Posted - 06/19/2013:  22:42:04

That's a very important question! I'm an instinctive player and I can't read music. But I like to hear the technical conversations among jazzmen: they say that often nice and original harmonies are created not  by adding notes to a chord, but by removing. That always seemed a  bit incomprehensible to me, especially regarding a 4 string instrument. Since I knew Paolo and his modern/sophisticated chords I've understood that too many notes are not  automatically equivalent to a rich effect. The matter is that a good knowledge of the harmonic rules is necessary to do it and, sadly, I'm out of this game:

Marco 

Dogface - Posted - 06/20/2013:  06:48:56

Most, but not all, professional players I know have an extensive music education. I'm not a pro by anyone's definition but I found it necessary for me to learn some basics of music theory and harmony. That's because, unlike Marco, I'm not an instinctive player. Quite the opposite, actually. I would say that most important for a beginner is to get instruction and learn/practice good habits of strums, single string picking and left hand position so that chord formation is easier and cleaner. All the theory and harmony you can learn in the process will help you for ever. By all means, though, have fun along the way...learn to play some tunes even if by rote... That will keep you interested and 'jazzed up' to play... :)

Great question and topic, BTW...

spoonfed - Posted - 06/20/2013:  06:51:23

Well, with only four strings you cannot take many notes away and still have a chord or a harmony of any sort ! obviously at least two strings ,at a minimum, are required to produce a harmony ,three at least,is better. I think that often when people talk of taking notes out they mean substituting another in its place to give interesting inversions/variations this, I think has become an essential part of jazz playing and is employed a lot by guitarists like Django and George Benson. playing around with chords, adding and subtracting notes is what results in some of the scarier sounding chords like "diminished,augmented" and some of the other types that used to send me running for cover when they were asked for but, I eventually discovered that for the most part they are just chords you already know with the odd note changed ! It is also my belief that one of the best forms of practice is to listen to recordings and try to play along by ear, as long as you are in tune with the recording it can be most instructional and you often find yourself playing stuff you may never have been tempted to try before, As a young lad I remember buying the sheet music to "The Teddy Bears Picnic" just for the chords that were printed on it, I still use some of those chord progressions to this day and, other players think I am doing something clever ! If only they knew !

majesty - Posted - 06/20/2013:  09:13:16

What I have learned over the years, and works for me .

Take music lessons to start. Stay away from jam sessions with many banjos. I avoid egotistical brass/reed players, unless I am getting paid. Treat your clients who hire you with respect and courtesy, and your paying jobs can last years and years. Dress like a professional. ( remember Frank Sinatra). Buy a great banjo, and spare no expense making it sound and look good. Have a spare banjo, Fill the case pockets with back-up strings, picks, parts, small wrench, screwdriver, small pliers, tuner, extra battery for tuner, several types of bridges for different atmosphere playing. If you want to play as a duo, find a good bass player, acoustic or electric. He or she is the first one to hire. If you need a trio, add a clarinet ( you can stroll). Learn to sing. People like vocals, even if they you do not have a great voice, ( remember Louis Armstrong) Don't be late for playing gigs. Don't be demanding of your clients. Learn to play all kinds of music, not just jazz. Learn to read your audiences. They may like folk music, or pop, Italian, British, Irish, waltzes, Stephen Foster, Bach, country, etc. Have your music repertoire in books, because your memory sometimes is lacking. Also, have National Anthems in your music books, such as British, French, Italian, U.S.A., Denmark, China, Japan, Russia, etc. You can make instant friends that way. If you want good gigs, go to good locations seeking work. Don't go to your local Legion, go to your State's biggest attractions. They are just as easy to deal with. Work your way down. Many times I have gone to the office of big attractions, and was hired without an audition.  ( I don't know why, and I don't ask.) Of course, you have to be a polished tenor player to feel confident in yourself.. Talk to the audience, and engage them to participate in your conversation. They will love the attention. A musician who just keeps playing is boring, and if he does not acknowledge the audience he might as well stay home and play for himself. This is what I have learned over the years, and it works for me, (maybe me only!)

Compass56 - Posted - 06/20/2013:  10:54:00

I started tenor banjo pretty late in life (about 30). I had been working as a guitarist for about ten years at the time. My mentor, the great Irvin Payne, urged me to take up banjo. (I suspect he knew I would never keep my datebook filled with guitar gigs. My skills just were that good compared to some of the amazing guitar players in this town.)

The most important thing I learned along the way was to explore the instrument and not get bogged down by the most obvious and immediate way to approach the 4-string banjo. When I started, the red vest/straw boater Dixieland banjo was, in my mind, the only way to approach the instrument. After being introduced to the music of Cynthia Sayer, Don Vappie, & Eddy Davis, my eyes were opened! Their music taught me that actual jazz could be played beautifully on banjo. Those three taught me to not be limited by what I thought the banjo sounded like and what could by done on it.

Tony L.

bjango53 - Posted - 06/20/2013:  23:40:24

David, as a great 5 string player and teacher ( AKA The Moose ) that you are, what drew you to the 4 string and how have you approached
learning this instrument ?
Best to you and yours
Brian

davidcava - Posted - 06/21/2013:  07:02:45

Hey thanks Brian, and everyone for their thoughts. I got interested in the tenor banjo through my girlfriend and dad, who both play. The first time I picked one up and messed with it for a couple hours, it just seemed the first lines I came up with sounded Jazzy......I dont know why. I've always loved Jazz, most all of it, not really the hard stuff, but the earlier stuff, and always played some on the five string. I have no schooling, I've been self taught through listening closely and through books. Sometimes it sounds good, sometimes not. I'm in the process now of just learning the fretboard. I'm trying to link the chords with the lines I'm trying to improvise, but I'm in the very early stages of that. I love the sounds of chord melody and the whole nine yards. I've recently turned my interest into the tenor guitar which is basically the same right, but still has its own flavor which I'm leaning towards. I'm studying the recorded stuff of Tiny Grimes and Charlie Christian right now. I've only got a couple of Christian breaks under my belt note for note. I'm also learning to read music right now, which is VERY helpful. I bought a book of Christian transcriptions and his timing is mad! I love it. So thats where I'm at now. I asked the question to hear the thoughts of all the players because I like to hear how different people approach what they are playing. I know everyone plays and thinks differently about the fretboard, and thats a cool thing.

Thanks all,
David

yellowdog - Posted - 06/23/2013:  10:20:55

Hi David,

Good question, but I hope you are not expecting one or even a few answers to it because everyone has a different approach to playing a tenor banjo. I got my first tenor banjo for Christmas when I was 12. When I finally figured out how to pick out a tune on it several days after Christmas my older sister said, "Why don't you play more than one note at the same time?" I said, "Because I don't know how to do that!" I still didn't two decades later but somewhere toward the end of the third decade I began to figure it out.

The answer is actually simple: Chords have "formulas", so you just play the "formula" for the chord. For example, the formula for all major chords 1,3,5 so if you want to play a C major chord, you simply play C, 3, 5, because the "1" is always the note named in the chord. You can count up from the letter C to determine that the 3 is an "E" and that the 5 is a "G" - or you can skip that step and locate the 3 and 5 knowing where they are on the tenor fingerboard in relation to the position of the 1, which is what I do - or did before things began to happen automatically. Or you can look up C major chords in a chord book until the pages are worn out.

I wrote a 30-page book for tenor banjo/guitar players about this approach which I named, "Build Any Chord, Anywhere". You can read it on line at this Calgary Uke address: calgaryuke.com/ukerichard/teno...ments.pdf

The first part of the book deals with chord theory so is applicable to anyone starting out on tenor. The rest of the book essentially explains why black and white chord diagrams look the way that they do, which helps remember them.

I suggest that you decide how you want to play your banjo initially, based on the sound of a good banjo superimposed (in your mind) on arrangements you've heard and that you admire - which might be from any instrument such as a piano, electric guitar, clarinet or whatever. You seem to be doing right now based on your question. That approach will give you a "show stopper", or "party piece" as the Irish say. Which is all some people want to do.

I always wanted to be able to play solo style tenor banjo and quickly learned when I arrived in Atlanta in 1980 that there was a market for solo banjo players who could stroll with the banjo, sing while playing it (using a vocal mic and small speaker), play background music for parties and convention audiences and put on an interesting, one-hour show at senior group residences in the area. All of these things require a lot more than playing "show stoppers", and involve good eye contact with the audience, learning to smile and play at the same time, planning the "show" with interesting anecdotes, etc. So add another decade, what the heck. (But it didn't take that long.)

So your question really can't be known yet. I think the ideas in my book will save some time in getting to the point when you can answer it yourself.

Have fun along the way!

Frank