raharris - Posted - 03/27/2015:  06:28:02

banjohangout.org/group/slidebanjo

Over the past few months I've been goofing around with slide banjo.  Like slide guitar it starts with an opening tuning and a slide, that's it  As I hear more people talking about it and see any number of examples on the facebook or UTube I felt there might be enough interested parties to give it a go.

There's lots of ways to use a side with a banjo and most of what I see is adopted directly from slide guitar: hold the guitar upright and slide along the first string.  All you need to get started is the idea of the melody, and you've got a full octave to work it out on the one string, two octaves when you start using the second string as well.

Me, I have some physical issues so I usually lie that banjo on my lap in the manner of lap-style blues.  I've tried using a nut extender to get the squareneck vibe going, but that hasn't worked out well for me.

Gear -- Some people might use fingerpicks but I like the sound of bare fingers and fingernails.  For strings I use a nickel-wound (Pearse) or stainless (GHS) but again that's a matter of what sounds right to you.  I use a second string (ca .14) in the place of the first string.  I prefer brass slides (Rock Slide ball tip or antiquated brass) or heavy glass (an actual bottle neck, in my case!).



The group is new -- so far it has one member.  I expect membership will grow slowly but when YOU join it'll really get going!

Cheers -- 

aulddawg - Posted - 03/28/2015:  03:46:49

Ian Craft of The Howlin' Brothers is pretty good at this. Their Sun Sessions show on PBS is worth searching out.

Who else have you been watching/listening to?

Also I was wondering if that new Blues Banjo book by Fred Sokolow gets into slide playing.

raharris - Posted - 03/28/2015:  09:18:14

I love Sokolow but I don't see any evidence that his book includes any slide content.  I did find a book of Robert Johnson tunes arranged for banjo. I'm not clear that there's any slide content in that book either, but I'll probably get it!

Brian T - Posted - 03/28/2015:  09:24:13

Time to ask Sokolow what he thinks, methinks.  If he's up for it, ask him for a a beta re-write of some piece in the book.

Crusty - Posted - 03/28/2015:  11:15:05

Patrick Costello says he's going to finish a CD of bottleneck banjo tunes (but he's been saying that for a while so who knows when it will happen).

I'm a member of the Reso Hangout too and you might enjoy this video of RHO member Robin Sidwell playing Moondance on his squareneck.