chas5131 - Posted - 01/18/2017:  08:34:00

Have been playing clawhammer.

Spent two or three years playing Classical Guitar about 10 years ago..

Like the sound of the banjo.

Worth buying and trying a 6 string?  

Is there enough music that suits it available?  I read notation for guitar.  Tabs for banjo.

darwinyarwin - Posted - 01/18/2017:  10:07:05

Interesting question! You'll get a lot of different answers over time. Here's my opinion:

1) Anything you can play on guitar you can adapt to 6-string banjo. It just takes musicality. Yes, you can put classical strings on it.

2) The 6-string has seen better days, it used to be very popular in the early 20th Century. consequently most available published music written specifically for it is of an era from the late 19th century up until about WWII.  Think Jazz and Dixieland for its biggest heyday. The "banjo sound" is not always present in different music, but you can achieve it or limit it with a 6-string. Don't expect a 6-string to be a good substitute for a bluegrass-style instrument. Clawhammer is better with a 5-string, imho.

3) You'll get a buncha argument about what is actually a "6-string" banjo. Some will insist that it's a 5-string with an extra bass string, or other variation; others that it is the more familiar guitar-like design. A  6-string is not a 'hybrid' but a banjo in its own right with a very old tradition.

4) There's a 6-string group here at the Hangout. banjohangout.org/group/banjitarcity

5) Imho, borrow a 6-string first. Try it out.  Selling one is hard. (voice of experience.)

Good luck!

davidppp - Posted - 01/18/2017:  17:47:37

Get Harvey Reid's CD for a taste of the enormous variety "that suits it":  woodpecker.com/recordings/banj...stry.html

(Not irrelevant is that he's the King of the Partial Capo, which extends the possibilities considerably.)

woodpecker.com/writing/article...zzle.html

Feo - Posted - 01/18/2017:  22:47:43

I love the 6-string banjo ....first tried it out about 30 yrs ago .... Ive been coming back to it the last few years now .... I found out that to sound good on the 6-string banjo you might have to enter uncharted waters , I mean , I had to explore my own sounds on the instrument because I could not get my crude guitar techniques to sound pleasant enough .....

I recently figured out how to use my web cam , even though my computer's old and the video's a bit herky-jerky and doesn't quite line up with the audio .... I have 2 videos on my page so far, if you click my avatar and find the videos tab on my pic .... I played both tunes on a 6-string banjo .... I've also been playing some fiddle along with my banjo , because I want to develope some more rhythmic effects to my banjo technique , something that will help a fiddler ... Ive been working on it and am almost there .... Ive been figuring out how to play fiddle tunes on the 6-string banjo

janolov - Posted - 01/20/2017:  08:34:59

I bought a 6 string guitar banjo (or is it banjo guitar) and I use it more like a guitar than a banjo. I play a few fiddle tunes with flat pick in Doc Watson style, and I play some rags and blues in finger style.

For the moment I have changed the sixth string with a first string which is capoed with a cheap fifth string capo and play it like a five string but with and extra bass string (tuning gGDGBD).

chas5131 - Posted - 01/20/2017:  10:14:22

Ordered the CD  and joined the group.  

Thanks for the information.

Leslie R - Posted - 01/20/2017:  19:19:17

They are versatile banjos.  I started playing one almost 3 years ago.  Obviously it can be tuned like a guitar..  It can be tuned to an open chord, even up to open G, with a high g on the 6th string, without having to capo that string in some way.  I usually tune mine a little different than most, I use gDGBDg.  I do this b/c it closely resembles a 5 string in open G, but with a high g, on strings 1 and 6.  I think this mirrors Open D guitar tuning, just dialed up a few notes.

What I really like, is there is so much unexplored territory with a 6 string banjo.

Have fun with your banjo.

chas5131 - Posted - 01/26/2017:  16:41:14

Ome now makes them with a guitar scale and a larger pot for the bass. That sounds best.
Anyone have one.
Certainly someone has a opinion on scale and the pot size.

chas5131 - Posted - 01/26/2017:  16:50:24

Banjo necks are expensive to make. I think that is why Deering is sticking to the longer banjo scale. . It is almost as long as a cello scale. Cellists don't play chords.

Edited by - chas5131 on 01/26/2017 16:56:24

John Gill - Posted - 02/03/2017:  12:44:00

Hi

I'm a little late on this but here goes. I think the 6 string (Guitar-Banjo) is a great alternative banjo with a lot of possibilities. I've never played the other type which is basically a 5 string banjo with an extra low string but I'm sure that it works just fine in the Bluegrass arena. There has been a fair amount of talk on the merits or lack there of regarding the Banjo-Guitar, and many interesting approaches to tuning set up, etc. I play straight guitar tuning, I use a fairly heavy pick, 1.50-2.00, and I use Alverez Gypsy Guitar silk and steel strings gauge 11 and sometimes 10. I remember reading in an old Vega Catalog that they recommended silk and steel strings for their banjos. I play old time jazz and ragtime on the 6 string so it kind of just works for me. The 6 string is often maligned as not really being a banjo, not blending well, and lacking  the ability to cut thru the ensemble. Well I'm primarily a plectrum player with some experience on the tenor and I have not found this to be true if the banjo is set up right. It has a lot of sound and while it can be difficult to control some of the overtones caused by the 2 low strings, clever use of palm muting and good pick control eliminates most of this. It also sounds great when finger picked. It's really not worse or better than a four string or five string it's just different and needs to be handled differently. Most of the notoriety of this instrument comes from it's legacy in the 1920's. Seminal jazz recordings by King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong all feature a 6 string banjo. Notable player are Johnny St. Cyr, Bud Scott, and Papa Charlie Jackson. You can also hear it on Memphis Jug Band records. A lot of these old timers started playing before the tenor or plectrum was invented and they were actually guitar players. I think the six string banjo appeared on the scene in the 1890's as an accompaniment instrument for use in Banjo Orchestras that were popular then. The 4 string showed up around 1912-14 or so, prior to that 5 string players would just take of the 5th string and start strumming. Bob Gillette of the Wolverine Orch. and Lew Black of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings did that and many others too. Back then Guitar Banjos were made by Vega, Yosco, Orpheum, and Weymann. Also Paramount made a 6 string and so did Bacon and Day. So there must have been some market for these instruments, even Gibson made them. I have an Ome Juniper open back that is very nice. It has a long neck though, 22 frets and a 26 1/4 scale. I also have a Vega Tuba Phone with a resonator and it's also very nice. It has a 25 1/4 scale and only 18 frets. I also have a Bacon Peerless that is also on the short scale side but plays and sound very good. I've also played a Deering Boston that was ok, again long 22 fret neck and quite heavy and a cheaper Gold Tone Banjitar ( hate that name) which was so so but very affordable. The Ome's, Vega's, B&D's, Weymanns are going to be on the pricey side but you will definitely get more bang for the buck. Look around and you might find a bargain. They are a little hard to sell but maybe you'll love it so much you won't sell it.

Good Luck

John Gill

JackRyan - Posted - 02/22/2017:  17:50:26

Either play 5 string, plectrum, or tenor.

A banjitar isn't a banjo, it's a guitar that looks like a banjo.

It's very, very true what I'm saying.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Banjo players will never allow you into their circle if you're playing a guitar.

banjobard - Posted - 03/06/2017:  00:00:36

I was just listening to some played very nicely on a Steve James cd. They can sound great in blues, jazz (Django played one), ragtime, classical, and more. W.B. Reid plays Irish music on one. Harvey's cd just begins to scratch the surface of what is possible (and is a tremendous piece of music). All you have to remember is that not all guitar music or music suited to other types of banjos works with it. The hardest thing IMO is finding an instrument that sounds good. Old Gibson's old Vegas, new Omes, some Deerings are safe bets, and I once played a Lamehorse guitjo that sounded great and even better when played with a slide. Don't listen to the naysayers, just listen to the music and keep experimenting until you get the right combination of set-up, technique and material. I've been working on a contemporary guitar piece called Koyunbaba in a crazy tuning, and it sounds great. Try flamenco, lute music, oud music, pipa music, see what's possible and yet to be explored!

Helix - Posted - 03/06/2017:  00:22:49

You have a great lab already in your brain, try to think of this as remodeling. I now play 6-string with various finger styles, 12-str. in open G with drop C, mandolin, 5-string with Seeger, frailing and claw + Scruggs 3 finger, and other 2 finger styles revisited. Seems like I plant and harvest every year, the yield is due to this here stimulating forum.



If you don't explore the rhythms and syncopation of the various instruments that play well with others, you'll regret it. Once I fell out of the cocoon, dang if I could get back in that safety, and these wings dried out and needed flapping, it just seemed natural, I'm not the same. We are NOT supposed to stay in one place, we have feet and we go places. We have hands that can grasp new ideas, it's ok.



Sometimes a well-traveled path can be seen as a rut.



Nothing like fresh air is there?



Now there is a 6-string banjo played like a 5-string with a logical G string below the 4th string D. Some banjos build that note with the 3rd and 4th strings, sympathetic, it's a pre-war trait. But various road musicians use this to broaden their scale. Slammin' bluegrass.



I learned to use my index finger for a downbeat and took that back over to my 12-string in G tuning with a Drop C and using 2 .010's for the 3rd string.   Double Eagle tuning always goes where you want the slide to go.

Edited by - Helix on 03/06/2017 00:26:42

Helix Hexatar Cherry Blossom #005 backside

Helix Hexatar Cherry Blossom #005 Ron Wright's

Helix - Posted - 03/06/2017:  00:33:03

I build 11's and 12's. I use 3" as a depth. Other factors are rim thickness manipulating the size of the drum chamber.

Scale goes to how much string you want to put on. And where you would like the bridge to be on the banjo head. The "length' of the heel can be manipulated here.

Deering chose that scale for a reason, read up.

OME is one of my personal favorites, he gives everybody a strap and a hat. How hard can that be. If OME has a nice 12, you should look at it, he considers every aspect of making sound.

Good necks ain't that hard.

Carl Arcand - Posted - 03/06/2017:  05:22:27

I made two of those MayBell six strings banjos. 

This one is a 241/2 inches scale and has a radius fingerboard. 

I am left handed so i asked my friend Robert to do a sound file for it.

You can hear different musical style in his video. 

secondlifebanjo.com/new-five-s...anjos.php