BanjoBelle - Posted - 12/22/2015:  10:23:25

Been working with the book "Blues Banjo" and having a ball with it. Any other bluesey banjoists here? 

steve davis - Posted - 12/22/2015:  10:33:06

I play blues with my neighbor a few times a week.
Look into jug band blues,too.

Lew H - Posted - 12/22/2015:  10:52:23

 There is a a blues banjo group on BHO, you know.  I try to do clawhammer blues and some singing with blues shuffle on banjo.  I've uploaded a couple of Muddy Waters tunes to BHO, if you are interested. 

Is that the Fred Sokolov book you are using?  I bought it and downloaded the mp3 files, but haven't gotten into it yet.

crisscross - Posted - 12/23/2015:  06:51:44

Lately my pets started jamming on "Deep Ellum Blues". My brother's dog, who was visiting, grabbed my banjo and joined the session Pawhmmering.

youtube.com/watch?v=Rsi6D4t-pqs

Will1717 - Posted - 01/05/2016:  02:48:19

BanjoBelle: If your into blues this just may be the ticket. Have a look at this new resophonic banjo that we just built over on the Builders forum listed under the topic "A Totally Different Banjo Design" It's basically a resophonic banjo built up on a biscuit cone as used in Steel resophonic guitars similar to National Guitars. The following link has a video / sound clip of the instrument being played as an acoustic instrument, not plugged into an amp.

youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">youtube.com/watch?youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">v=youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">UDoiXsPEAgyoutube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">s

youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">As I said totally different!

youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">Bill Rickard 

annapaws - Posted - 01/06/2016:  01:16:40

Love to be there.... So much still to learn.... What would be a great blues song to start off with? Thanks

JeremyR - Posted - 01/06/2016:  12:30:05

quote:

---

Originally posted by Will1717

 

BanjoBelle: If your into blues this just may be the ticket. Have a look at this new resophonic banjo that we just built over on the Builders forum listed under the topic "A Totally Different Banjo Design" It's basically a resophonic banjo built up on a biscuit cone as used in Steel resophonic guitars similar to National Guitars. The following link has a video / sound clip of the instrument being played as an acoustic instrument, not plugged into an amp.

youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">youtube.com/watch?youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">v=youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">UDoiXsPEAgyoutube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">s

youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">As I said totally different!

youtube.com/watch?v=UDoiXsPEAgs">Bill Rickard 

---

That's really cool! Are you planning to offer them for sale?

Will1717 - Posted - 01/06/2016:  20:44:47

Jeremy:

Yes this style of banjo will definitely be offered in the near future. This particular banjo will be shown at the coming NAMM shoe in a couple of weeks, and then shipped back to our shop. There are a couple of small changes or additions that I'd like to add to the coming models, that I'm certain will further enhance the overall sound of the instrument. Thanks for your positive response!.

Bill Rickard 

BanjoBelle - Posted - 01/08/2016:  13:46:18

Sorry I didn't get back sooner- after holidays had me busy & I've been making mandolin/banjo straps to sell.

Bill- that resophonic banjo is amazing! Really like that. Are you upcycling metal parts in making them?

Lew: yes,it's the book by Fred that I have.....only book for blues banjo that I know of. I belong to the blues group here,but not much seems to happen there. In saying this I haven't checked it yet as of this writing. I can fingerpick blues on guitar,would love to do the same with the banjo. 

(I have a resonator round neck guitar)  Promise to check this thread more often! 

Lew H - Posted - 01/08/2016:  15:12:29

Sherrie,  Check the clawhammer version of Muddy Waters "Mojo Workin'" on my homepage.  I stumbled upon a riff that I eventually put to use in that song.  I'll try o post a frailing version of his "Rolling' and Tumblin" pretty soon.

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/09/2016:  09:23:45

I play blues about Every chance I get. One of the bands I'm in does a healthy does of blues every set. If you remove blues from American music as a whole, you won't have Anything much to play.

Edited by - Banjophobic on 01/09/2016 09:24:36

Lew H - Posted - 01/09/2016:  13:28:46

John,  An observation and a confession. When I read your line, "I play blues about Every chance I get,"  I looked at your BHO page and found little if any blues there. There's some wonderfully fine, diverse tunes and great picking, on the other hand. Since I seemed to be speaking about also playing blues a bunch, I looked at my own homepage here. My confession is that there's only two blues songs there. I must apologize for being momentarily irked at you, for I should be POed at myself:  I spoke here as if I really did a lot of blues stuff, but it really doesn't show, and is really only a small part of my picking anyway. I did gain an appreciation of the scope and diversity of your banjo picking, and I'm glad of that.  Maybe we can all try to post more banjo blues on BHO?!?!

chuckv97 - Posted - 01/09/2016:  16:34:25

Check out Tony Trischka's "Bloozinee" from his Hill Country album. An uptempo blues in the key of E ,,standard G tuning.

Rick McKeon - Posted - 01/09/2016:  18:06:32

I have just started a "Banjo Blues" section on my website. Not much content yet, but much more to follow. First I'm posting some nice diagrams for the Pentatonic (blues) boxes. This is box #1 rickmckeon.com/banjolessons/Ba...x%201.pdf Check back now and then because I hope to post a lot more interesting stuff soon. Visit rickmckeon.com/banjolessons.html and scroll all the way down to the bottom to "Banjo 1100: Banjo Blues"

Rick

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 01/09/2016:  21:29:21

Most blues can simply be accomplished by adding a note that is 3 frets higher or 2 frets lower than the root, of course this works no matter what tuning you are in.

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 01/09/2016:  22:30:49

If you think that playing the blues ls just a matter of what scale you use...well there's a lot more to it as I think you'll agree.

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 01/10/2016:  06:12:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by Laurence Diehl



If you think that playing the blues ls just a matter of what scale you use...well there's a lot more to it as I think you'll agree.

---

Between the 12 bar blues and the pentatonic scales it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Lew H - Posted - 01/10/2016:  07:45:00

Rick, I hope Muddy, Howlin', John Lee, and BB can't hear that remark up in blues heaven! They would vote to keep you out, I'm afraid.

BanjoBelle - Posted - 01/10/2016:  10:16:56

Rick McKeon,I just printed up the two PDFs that you provided a link for here. Thank you! 

Rick McKeon - Posted - 01/10/2016:  15:02:00

Hi Sherrie,

I'll have the other three boxes up soon. Of course the blues scale is just a starting point for blues improvisation, but it is a good place to start. 

Rick

Jody Hughes - Posted - 01/10/2016:  16:20:42

First and Foremost Blues is about Rhythm. To learn the depths of that it only comes by lot of listening.

I think someone who wants to get into blues should focus more on rhythm and learning the innate call and response patterns within the common forms. The motif and repetitive structures especially.



There is also A LOT of blues that is not 12 bars. There is a lot of people out there running a minor pentatonic over the top of a MAJOR blues when if you dig into the history you find that's actually not what the earliest players did.....There are blues songs that are shorter than 12 bars and those that have uneven amounts of measures...just like BLUEgrass.



12 bars+pentatonics+flatted third....Unfortunately it goes much deeper than that, good luck recreating the nuances and expression of somebody like Robert Johnson, Leadbelly or Blind Lemon with a "formula."

Edited by - Jody Hughes on 01/10/2016 16:22:22

steve davis - Posted - 01/10/2016:  16:26:03

We had a good blues player at our weekly jam this afternoon at the Sail Power and Steam Museum.

Got a lot of turns on a lengthy 12 bar.

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/10/2016:  20:41:41

Lew

I play lots of blues music, along with country, reggae,,some swing,hard rock,etc, regardless of what's on my music pages. I have changed the music on my soon files page many times since joining the BHO there has a been a shuffling of stuff. I don't try to cover everything I play in the real world as a sound file on BHO. should I post a blues tune on banjo to prove I play blues? 

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/10/2016:  20:43:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by mmuussiiccaall

 

 

---

Between the 12 bar blues and the pentatonic scales it's like shooting fish in a barrel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

you might think of blues as just that, from one egghead viewpoint (theory only), but you'd be building a very small barrel and shooting some guppies. There's more to the blues than just that and being great at the blues goes way beyond it. 

Edited by - Banjophobic on 01/10/2016 20:45:55

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 01/10/2016:  21:02:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by Banjophobic

 

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by mmuussiiccaall

 

 

---

Between the 12 bar blues and the pentatonic scales it's like shooting fish in a barrel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

you might think of blues as just that, from one egghead viewpoint (theory only), but you'd be building a very small barrel and shooting some guppies. There's more to the blues than just that and being great at the blues goes way beyond it. 

---

Hey how 'bout someone picks a tuning and we both put up an mp3 of blues

Lew H - Posted - 01/10/2016:  21:06:03

John-- No offense meant!  I was much impressed by the music you have posted.  

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/10/2016:  21:56:57

quote:

---

Originally posted by mmuussiiccaall

 

Originally posted mmuussiccaall

 

Hey how 'bout someone picks a tuning and we both put up an mp3 of blues

 

 

 

 

---

Are you inferring a blues 'contest' ? I'm glad you can play blues like shooting 'fish in a barrel'. Unfortunately I've never achieved that level of greatness. I don't think the thread is served by turning the  blues into a contest, so I'll pass. But you should post some files anyway. 

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/10/2016:  21:59:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lew H

 

John-- No offense meant!  I was much impressed by the music you have posted.  

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None taken Lew, I was honestly making a real query about it. All is cool...😎

chuckv97 - Posted - 01/10/2016:  22:01:53

Yeah,,bluegrass banjo is like shooting fish in a barrel too. All you need is a few rolls ,slides, hammers and pulloffs. As Doc said, "Nothing To It". (actually he played that). 😉

Paul R - Posted - 01/11/2016:  00:42:57

If you want to find out what shooting fish in a barrel is all about, watch the interview with Son House in the film Festival. It ain't just about the notes. Meanwhile, you might want to check out a couple of songs on Michael Jerome Browne's latest album, Sliding Delta. He got me working on "Bull Doze Blues" in open C.

We have a pretty decent harp player who comes to our Bluegrass jam. One of these days we should see what happens with harp and CH slide. It's an interesting intersection, OT music. It's where country meets blues and jug band. Harry Smith knew that.

Lew H - Posted - 01/11/2016:  02:15:22

I find that several of Muddy Water's songs are readily adaptable to my frailing style of banjo.He often had a syncopated riff that served as a filler between lyrical lines and also echoed the melody. I stumbled upon this riff while noodling, then found it fit Mojjo Workin' quite nicely. Since I asked about where our examples of blues are, I'll relink a video of Mojo Workin' that demonstrates this in double C tuning.  I like triple C tuning (gCGCC) and modal, aka sawmill tunings for blues also, but I'm just getting stared exploring banjo blues. I originally posted this video a couple years ago.

VIDEO: Mojo Hand, or Mojo Workin' (click to view)

guitarman8491 - Posted - 01/11/2016:  05:59:13

Lew...great example...nice playing and thanks for posting it.

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/11/2016:  09:39:06

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lew H

 

I find that several of Muddy Water's songs are readily adaptable to my frailing style of banjo.He often had a syncopated riff that served as a filler between lyrical lines and also echoed the melody. I stumbled upon this riff while noodling, then found it fit Mojjo Workin' quite nicely. Since I asked about where our examples of blues are, I'll relink a video of Mojo Workin' that demonstrates this in double C tuning.  I like triple C tuning (gCGCC) and modal, aka sawmill tunings for blues also, but I'm just getting stared exploring banjo blues. I originally posted this video a couple years ago.

---

Great stuff Lew. I love the mix of blues and old time. The whole modal OT and Bg approach oozes blues anyway. 

Lew H - Posted - 01/11/2016:  10:32:17

Thanks, John.  That's my understanding of modal too.  If you need those flatted 3rds and 7ths. They're right there at your fingertips and the un-flatted versions are not open notes.     The notes that I want to bend are often near each other on the 3rd fret (sometimes higher) to get that sound that's in between the regular octave notes.

PS:  I meant to say while re-listing that video that I don't want to start a contest as someone proposed, but just a sort of song swap. I'm not sure that what I call blues and what other people call blues are exactly the same.  There's lots of overlap, of course.  Lots of BG and OT songs have blues in the name, but are they blues in a strict sense?  Some Delta blues don't fit the standard blues progression and octave, so are these blues in a strict sense?  The more I wander into this area, the less sure I am of the boundaries. Nonetheless, I'm having fun exploring, and that's what counts for me.

Edited by - Lew H on 01/11/2016 10:33:03

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/11/2016:  11:24:43

Lew

Blues is like any other genre when talking purity. I mean the debate over "what is blues" mainly falls into two camps: one being the delta blues, Piedmont blues, i.e. "Pure" stuff , verses anything that has a mixture of blues and other things. One should always go to the source for any genre of music. For blues that means going back to the black blues players from as early on as possible. 

I was very fortunate that growing up I lived near the Virginia line in southwestern NC, where the Foddrell  brothers, who along with Lynn, Tuners son,me well known players in the "Piedmont" style of blues. These guys let me sit in with them on banjo and guitar and they could play straight up blues, but also like to dabble in other genres too. Mixing blues with it. They got a kick out of seeing this skinny white kid trying blues on a Bluegrass banjo,haha. I learned a TON from these guys. They knew absolutely no theory and couldn't tell you a flat third from Christopher Columbus. But they didn't need any theory, they felt it and learned the sounds on the fingerboard.

I wished so much that I had the equipment to make some videos of those guys jam sessions. They ran an old country store just a few miles down the road from my dads own country store and my dad and I did repair work there. We had a shop in the store too and I got to work on some of their instruments. That's where I first met them. Marvin and Turner Erie super nice guys too. Turner listed after a 1930s LG-1 Gibson guitar that I rescued from the county landfill (another cool story,haha) . He tried and tried to buy it from me. I wish now I had let him have it. He passed away with cancer a few years. They also likes to use banjo in their music and loved old time music and bluegrass too. Heck, they liked it all. 

I did find some sound files for them on YouTube a few years back. Here's a link you like:m.youtube.com/watch?v=hqUtnRnkSy0

Edited by - Banjophobic on 01/11/2016 11:39:39

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/11/2016:  11:29:09

Turner played some mean blues banjo, but I can't seem to find any links for that on Youtube. Their dad Posie Foddrell played banjo too but he died long time before I came along. The foddrells travels all over back in their younger days and even played for the queen once or twice, back in the 69s I think. Sorry for the long story but it hurts my feelings sometimes that guys like this, real blues masters, are mostly u known to the music world. I had great respect for them as players and human beings. They are all gone now except for Lynn, the son. What I learned from them about the blues can't be bought with money. Maybe I can dig around the net and find some banjo blues examples. Heck, I might even record a tune they taught me and post it here sometime.

Dang,just  thinking about them made me tear up. 

Edited by - Banjophobic on 01/11/2016 11:30:57

steve davis - Posted - 01/11/2016:  11:29:46

I find a great deal of enjoyment fitting the banjo into all kinds of genres.You'll know if you are getting it by the reactions of the others.
No pressure!

maryzcox - Posted - 01/11/2016:  12:56:25

maryzcox.com

Banjophobic - Posted - 01/11/2016:  12:58:30

I found a picture of a news paper article about my dads store. It just so happened in the picture we had one of Posies banjos in for some restoration work. I bet there was lots of blues and old time played on that thing!  I think the banjo was a super tone, if memory serves me.

Edited by - Banjophobic on 01/11/2016 13:08:22

Rick McKeon - Posted - 01/11/2016:  14:01:46

This may qualify as Blues. It's called "Fishin' Blues." You can see a performance and lesson here: youtube.com/watch?v=6pnccY6L7zo Tabs for this arrangement are on my website.

Rick

BanjoBelle - Posted - 01/11/2016:  14:12:45

Rick I'll look forward to seeing the other 3 boxes. 

Banjophobic,I'd love to see or hear you playing a blues tune.....not for proof of any kind,just to hear it. 

Rick McKeon - Posted - 01/11/2016:  14:49:23

Hi Sherrie,

I have the third one up. Other two to follow soon. Also, I changed the header on the first two to say "Blues Scale" and made a note that the minor pentatonic (1,b3,4,5,b7) plus the "blue note" (b5) is the Blues Scale. Small change, but you might want to re-download the first two.

Rick

pgarner - Posted - 01/11/2016:  17:36:21

Mary: Hesitation Blues... 5 stars.

Rick McKeon - Posted - 01/11/2016:  18:05:29

Finally have all five blues scale diagrams up here: rickmckeon.com/banjolessons.html Scroll all the way down to Banjo 1100: Banjo Blues. These are some nice clear diagrams showing the fingering and scale degrees. Also, how the different boxes stack end to end to cover the entire fingerboard.

Of course, the Blues Scale is just scratching the surface as far as blues improvisation goes, but they give the beginning student some confidence that they can create some interesting solos playing over the changes (I have seen students having fun playing some awesome stuff within minutes!) To "Play what you hear" you have to first hear something! Messing around with the blues scale is a way to begin hearing something. Soon you will want to break out of these patterns because you will start to hear more.

So, find some blues backing tracks (or a blues player), find the key, move these patterns so the root is at the right place on the fingerboard for that key (you will be "playing out of position"), and just start playing some notes and see what happens!

Rick

Edited by - Rick McKeon on 01/11/2016 18:15:22

steve davis - Posted - 01/12/2016:  06:32:37

The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave To Me

Lew H - Posted - 01/12/2016:  07:51:57

Mary Z,  That's nicely done. That's one of those that's not a standard blues with AAB form lyrics, nor does it follow the common blues chord progression, but it's really bluesy. It would be even bluesier if you added some chokes along the line.  Thanks for posting that!

Lew H - Posted - 01/12/2016:  07:53:26

Hey, Steve!  Why not post your version of Naughty Sweetie, and let us hear it?  Or are you trolling again?

steve davis - Posted - 01/12/2016:  07:58:15

I simply mentioned a song that I like,Lew.Look it up yourself.
I don't troll I just say whatever's on my mind.
Maybe you read too many conspiracy novels.

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 01/12/2016:  08:12:25

Sitting on top of the world is a well known bluesy song - even in Bluegrass circles. But it shares a melody with many other blues (and even some verses). Robert Johnson's Come on into my kitchen comes to mind. Underscores the versatility of the blues.

youtu.be/smq2ZrW8vG4