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otto1258 - Posted - 07/21/2024: 06:42:02
Answer to: banjohangout.org/archive/282477
Yes it's sad...
I also encounter this here in the Czech Republic (Europe) that people ask if it's a banjo or a mandolin, but that this is possible even in your heart of Bluegrass in America... so it's a massacre....
And the lady's thought process - wonderfully captured !!! I haven't laughed like that in a long time! Thanks!
Edited by - Bill Rogers on 07/21/2024 14:38:18
Dean T - Posted - 07/21/2024: 07:21:51
> Obsessed with tone, playability, appearance and anything else we can think of. Then we take it to a bar, pub or session and proudly 'play and display'.......and I can guarantee that 99 percent of the crowd wouldn't know the difference between a basic Goodtime and a top-of-the-range Gibson etc.<
I played with a couple low key local groups for a combined total of 19 years. Early on, it was a Deering Calico. The majority of years was with my prized Gibson ES. I got to a point in 2017, when the weight of the ES was killing my back, and was robbing me of all the fun old playing out… so I replaced it with a 4 pound Goodtime openback. I used the Goodtime for every gig for 3 years (until COVID shut everything down). Not once, not even a single time, did anyone ever notice, care, or mention that I was using a different instrument, or sounded different. Interestingly, my bandmates liked the Goodtime tone better. Microphone use eliminated any volume issues. Also of note, is that my wife had even mentioned, that between me and the mando, she could never tell who was playing what.
Texasbanjo - Posted - 07/21/2024: 08:05:02
People who don't play stringed instruments have no way of knowing what is what or why. While everyone may get a laugh out of someone asking if it's a banjo or mandolin, at least the person wants to know what it is! Nothing wrong with showing your "ignorance" about something you know nothing about. Perhaps they enjoyed the sound of a particular instrument and want to see what one actually is. Perhaps that may start them thinking about learning an instrument. All of that is good, not weird or funny, at least to me.
Whose of us who knit, crochet and do other handwork have the same problem: people who don't know which is which may call them the wrong thing or ask what it is and what does it actually do. We tell them, show them and, if they show interest, try to get them started on learning how to do that particular craft. I've made a lot of friends doing that.
Edited by - Texasbanjo on 07/21/2024 08:07:27
Owen - Posted - 07/21/2024: 08:21:43
I figure that a significant part of the "problem" [in most, if not all endeavors/walks of life] is the propensity for many to use their experience/knowledge/talent in a game of one-upmanship. But, since practically nobody accuses me of being the most astute/perceptive dude on the block ........ ???
Culloden - Posted - 07/21/2024: 13:04:59
There is no shame in being ignorant. Wanting to prove it is a different matter.
otto1258 - Posted - 07/22/2024: 07:54:31
I believe that even this branch - music - belongs to the most basic education and that this shouldn't be such a big problem for even a less educated person.... surely he has already seen or heard about the banjo at least once in his life.. .
'Vega Whyte Laydie' 1 hr
'Good Sunday Morning' 4 hrs
