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g-banjo - Posted - 01/01/2007: 11:51:58
quote:
Today some recording artists and authors in the field include Chris Grotewohl, Iain MacLachlan, Leon Hunt and yours truly. I have several more projects in the works, seeking to expand the repertoire and make it easier for people to get into the music, without bias or fear.
Tom, this list seems to consist of players who are coming from bluegrass to celtic and therefor probably share a common attitude or aproach to what they want to do. May I just point out that there are also a few of us who have been, for many years, developing an accompaniment style for the five-string in celtic music which has nothing at all of the bluegrass influence.
(Not that I'm suggesting there's anything wrong with coming from bluegrass and certainly if you're anywhere near as good as Leon Hunt I take my hat off to you
)
"it’s better to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time!"
Feo - Posted - 01/01/2007: 14:32:34
Hey, a fiddler friend in Northern Ireland just added a fiddle track to my Irish 5-string banjo mp3 track .... not too bad results seeings that we're swapping mp3 files back and forth instead of wave files...
Trying to lay a track down alone is tougher then playing live with other musicians... I'd like to figure out a way to metronome my ear while Im recording .... anyway, here is a 5-string banjo and Irish fiddler playing together , with the Atlantic Ocean between them .. http://media.putfile.com/Irish-5-st...o-and-fiddle
I had buzzing on my first 3 frets...my band has only a couple gigs this month so I just sent my banjo out for fretwork ..then I'll be able to use metal strings again instead of the plastic strings I recorded with ...
Hey, I remember Pecker Dunne .. cool dude ..a real link to the past ... I remember that he used to at one time play one of those old zither banjos ... and the thimble of course... he's certainly a genuine Irish 5-string banjo player from the old school :-)
cgrotewohl - Posted - 01/01/2007: 17:28:18
Howdy folks, Good material here. As far as a Bluegrass background and playing Irish music in my opinion, it should not matter. I have been playing BG for 35 yrs. and listening to IRTRAD for 35 years and playing it for 16. It took 20 yrs. of listening before attempting this music on 5 string. I'm sure it has been the same for Tom and others. We all approached it differently and it can all work. Others that can play this are Rex McGee and Alan Johnson. However, it is difficult music and takes a true understanding. Some Irish dance tunes might sound the same as some American tunes, but the difference is like night and day. An example is playing Miss McLeod's Reel in the Irish tradition and with some Bluegrass timing, probably won't jell... a different feel. The same works playing it Bgrassy in a Irish session, it probably won't work. My opinions only folks, HNY Chris
chris Grotewohl
http://irish5string.homestead.com/chrisG.html
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/04/2007: 21:38:29
Chris is spot-on about gaining an "understanding" and feel (sense of "timing") for the music. This needs to be learned through listening to recordings and playing at sessions, and it doesn't happen overnight, though people will have different learning curves. Some string wizards will pick it up quickly while most of us will have to work more painstakingly at it. It's a new vocabulary, grammar and set of language skills to master, so it takes real effort and dedication, no matter how much talent one has.
Another point that needs mention is that along with being able to fit in, pick melodies and back tunes at sessions, it is just as important -- maybe more important -- to be able to play tunes solo, note for note, without accompaniment, perhaps adding personal variation and style.
This ability lies at the very core of the Irish and Celtic traditions. A five-string banjo player can gain and hone this ability just as any other solo instrumentalist can; it will probably take years of listening and playing, and it is a never-ending process. Players who have mastered lots of tunes -- which can number in the hundreds -- and can add personal touches (variations and ornamentation) are generally the most revered in the various Celtic traditions. This cannot be faked.
Chris is spot-on about not confusing styles and genres. Too many overeager players look for shortcuts that don't really work. Context is key. So many tunes, so little time! 
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/04/2007: 22:00:34
quote:
Originally posted by Feo
Hey, a fiddler friend in Northern Ireland just added a fiddle track to my Irish 5-string banjo mp3 track .... not too bad results seeings that we're swapping mp3 files back and forth instead of wave files...
Trying to lay a track down alone is tougher then playing live with other musicians... I'd like to figure out a way to metronome my ear while Im recording .... anyway, here is a 5-string banjo and Irish fiddler playing together , with the Atlantic Ocean between them .. http://media.putfile.com/Irish-5-st...o-and-fiddle
I had buzzing on my first 3 frets...my band has only a couple gigs this month so I just sent my banjo out for fretwork ..then I'll be able to use metal strings again instead of the plastic strings I recorded with ...
Hey, I remember Pecker Dunne .. cool dude ..a real link to the past ... I remember that he used to at one time play one of those old zither banjos ... and the thimble of course... he's certainly a genuine Irish 5-string banjo player from the old school :-)
Good stuff, I like it.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
bindle stiff jim - Posted - 01/04/2007: 23:56:32
i'm digging it feo, great job.
dave - banjo pickin' backpacker
midlothian, va
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/06/2007: 08:27:58
quote:
Originally posted by g-banjo
quote:
Today some recording artists and authors in the field include Chris Grotewohl, Iain MacLachlan, Leon Hunt and yours truly. I have several more projects in the works, seeking to expand the repertoire and make it easier for people to get into the music....
Tom, this list seems to consist of players who are coming from bluegrass to celtic and therefor probably share a common attitude or aproach to what they want to do. May I just point out that there are also a few of us who have been, for many years, developing an accompaniment style for the five-string in celtic music which has nothing at all of the bluegrass influence.
Hey, G-banjo, wow, that's cool, fair play to you. I think you raise some really valid points. I would agree with you about the need for distinguishing between approaches, or put another way: playing in context. Maybe you have not read my Complete Irish & Celtic book, or seen the Glossary which compares and contrasts playing styles, including ornamental devices (all non-bluegrass), since you seem to focus on bluegrass influence? You would be mistaken to assume that I use a bluegrass approach -- just read my book -- but you still have a valid concern about
style, and I want to get into yours -- learn from it, if you are willing to share your techniques.
I think that to bring up bluegrass "attitude" or "approach" is a little vague --
it doesn't tell us what you do, only what you think some very unique stylists do -- in my humble opinion.
Or put another way: There is a signficant bluegrass and old-time audience reading these pages, but we would be wise not to misquote others for speaking to that very audience, as if addressing that audience is tantamount to being stuck in a bluegrass attitude or approach. None of the stylists I mentioned, or Chris G. mentioned, is stuck in a bluegrass paradigm here, so to lump them together creates a cyber-straw man to burn (in effigy) for a presumed bluegrass attitude or approach. Just my immediate reaction, but I am gobsmacked by something else.
I am fascinated by your new approach to accompaniment, and think it would be very useful to this discussion to talk about actual new techniques, which you must have in order to have an approach which "has nothing at all of the bluegrass influence". Wow, that would be nothing short of
revolutionary, and you have my attention, bro!
I can accept that, because I have heard and written of such an approach. For
Mel Bay's Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo, There is also a section on backing tunes, in which I describe "harmonic rhythm" -- a rolling backing technique that can be done on a five-string, avoiding bluegrass and old-time back-up techniques.
Have you really read my book -- to know what my actual attitudes and approaches are?About accompaniment, I wrote in 1998:
"Scruggs chordal vamping may seem to fit but use discretion, since many traditional players are not used to hearing Scruggs-style back-up and may not appreciate your bluegrass approach." Futher down I wrote: "Do not play counter to the melody (at least not in the beginning), but try to support it rhythmically. Never play louder than a melody player; if you cannot play the actual melody, do not interfere or detract from it."The book gives a few ideas about how and whom to lock in with, I won't quote anymore from that section here, but the book does give actual examples and a philosophy.
By the way, I have 68 tunes on the CD -- 101 in the book for folks who want to move beyond accompaniment -- that's an honest plug.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I have a few questions you might consider:
What tuning or tunings do you use most on your banjo for accompanying Celtic music?
Do you use four or five-strings when you play (not everybody uses all five who play Celtic music)?
Do you use fingerpicks? Are they plastic or metal?
Do you use a capo? If so, for what keys?
Can you explain the origins of your new approach, and that of like-minded players? What are your influences, if any?The assumption that players I mentioned share a "common attitude or approach" is a sweeping generalisation, in my opinion. I know from having personal contact and just listening to these stylists (over years) that we have very different approaches, and in some cases, rely on dramatically different techniques. I have outlined such techniques (including fretting- and picking-hand approaches) in my book and I believe that all these approaches can work in varied contexts.
Some Irish and Celtic stylists are doing virtually all single-string on four strings (e.g., Chris), some are never using a capo (e.g., Iain), some are mixing in jazzier improvisation, using single-string approaches (e.g., Béla, Leon), some are sticking to bare-bones arrangements with virtually no melismatic ornamentation, intervallic or rhythmic ornamentation (e.g., Iain, whose approach is distinctly Scottish), and speaking for myself, I live in Ireland, scour the country for sessions, and have a very organic set of approaches to this whole thing, which I cannot even whittle down to an attitude or an approach, save "eclectic".
Maybe you understand what you mean by my "approach" better than I do -- since you are able to categorise it -- then again maybe your assumption is an educated guess -- a fair guess -- or suits your own purposes for distinguishing your new style from others whom you don't want to be confused with -- fair enough.
I'd love to see some tab for it, and hear it -- do you have any?
Where can we hear you in action?One last point that might amuse you: I actually come more from a country blues, rock 'n' roll and traditional jazz background -- my father, Wild Jack, was a trumpet player, a melody player. I had only been playing bluegrass a short while before developing a lead approach (though I wouldn't call it an attitude) for Irish and Celtic styles. I learned how to play "Red Haired Boy" (Irish, single-string) before I had learned "Dear Old Dixie" (bluegrass, Scruggs-style). I was playing in Irish bars in NY, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Masachusetts and at bluegrass festivals all over the northeastern US.
So, for your information, since you are lumping together attitudes and approaches, I developed my bluegrass and Celtic styles simultaneously, in different places, with different players, but was also playing Piedmont-style blues guitar in a completely different context, studying the guitar with Jorma Kaukonen at the New School in NYC, which focused me on writing meticulous tabs and note-for-note arrangements. This discipline came in handy when later transcribing/engraving Irish and Celtic tunes for Mel Bay, who is my publisher.
It's all about context. My approach is informed as much by the (thumb-index) playing techniques of Rev. Gary Davis as they are by jamming with Irish trad players here in Ireland, e.g., Sharon Shannon or Winnie Horan (Solas), pictured at left at a ripping session at the Crane in Galway this summer. I don't play bluegrass at these sessions, unless I’m asked for a request, though I do play bluegrass at festivals in Europe.
I don't like to mix my Miller with my Guinness -- I keep them separate. All the players you lumped together (as having bluegrass attitudes…) have not stopped learning, and perhaps all of us have one thing in common: we are continually trying to learn new
tunes -- not limited to accompaniment. Speaking for myself, I travel all over Ireland, from one end of the country to the other, in order to learn
regional styles, and in Scotland, Shetland, Wales, England, Australia -- heck, any place that'll have me.
I'm a tune-aholic -- I admit it -- and my blues-guitar experience taught me long ago that regional styles are important. That’s my attitude. I don't lump all the Celtic styles together under an accompaniment approach either, because these related traditions are more about playing the tune melodies, but I think accompaniment approaches are important -- very important. So....
Would you do us a favour and describe to us what new approach you and your comrades, since you mention others, are using?
Who are these people that you allude to - can we meet them anywhere?
I'm sure many folks would love to learn from your approach, if you would divulge some of the actual accompaniment techniques. Can we hear or read about these techniques anywhere, by you or others?
Have you, or others, any tutors/recordings to share, or any planned?
It would benefit many beginners here if you would take the time to help them understand this new accompaniment style, before they get sidetracked by the attitude/approach you clearly want to be distinguished from.
You are focused in your attitude, but I would love to hear the approach and see it on paper. Many of us know how to add the feel, depending on the regional style.
I would be personally grateful to you for your help in teaching us your basics in accompanying tunes, in the way/s that you have alluded to (no bluegrass influences). Serve it up, man! I'm hungry, and I know I'm not alone.
If what you say is true, you have made a quantum leap in accompanying tunes on the five-string. Have you?Take it handy. Hey, let's have a few tunes together. I'm sure we can learn from one another. Where's your local?
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 01/06/2007 08:59:59
imac50 - Posted - 01/06/2007: 12:03:12
Hi G-banjo
We'll need to get together. I only play the tunes and don't have any backup apart from my bluegrass days. I've only played in a few sessions because I always seem to be busy playing or teaching.
Hi Tom - The oak is still going and Sandy Bells. Betty still has a session on the first Thursday of the month. When are you coming over? You can't get out of it now.
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/06/2007: 15:12:11
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
Hi G-banjo
We'll need to get together. I only play the tunes and don't have any backup apart from my bluegrass days....
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Iain, my man. Neither one of us can get out of it now -- and we need to climb Arthur's Seat again.
I hope G-banjo will respond and hook up with us. Denise says mid-term break in February (beginning Thursday the 23rd) because she wants to come too, but we won't make Betty's session, possibly the Oak or Sandy Bells, and we can start our own.... Maybe we can crash with you since we're gonna be up playing all night....
I'm in the middle of several projects at the moment, plus teaching and doing some promotions -- a concert series in Dublin, so February is the soonest for me, but there's also March.
How about it G-banjo? Want to have a few tunes and back us up on some jigs and reels? I also do Carolan tunes and lots of hornpipes, and Iain has lots of traditional Scottish dance sets that you may know intimately.
That would be way cool if we could all hook up and blast it out.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
imac50 - Posted - 01/07/2007: 06:06:25
Tom - as long as we don't have to carry our banjos to the top, Arthur's Seat is on the programme.
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/07/2007: 09:08:48
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
Tom - as long as we don't have to carry our banjos to the top, Arthur's Seat is on the programme.
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Good thinking. We'll leave the banjos at home. Are you playing the RB-250 or the SwallowTail -- I'd be interested to see what kind of bridge you're using on the latter? I use two different basic kinds of bridges myself, depending on what style of music I'm playing.
Billy Connolly (also a fine banjo player) has my Mel Bay book and contacted me soon after it came out -- loves it -- maybe if he's around we can take him up on an old invitation to his castle in Aberdeenshire -- maybe we can get a lift by helicopter.
We should bring the banjos for that -- they're loud enough!
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
imac50 - Posted - 01/07/2007: 09:47:18
I have the basic Stelling banjo on the Swallowtail which is the one that goes gigging with me. I haven't really tinkered with it except have a Tony Pass rim put on it last year. The RB250 has a Moon bridge on it and stays home these days for my own picking pleasure! I'm sure the Big Yin won't mind if we just "drop in"!
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/07/2007: 16:00:32
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
I have the basic Stelling banjo on the Swallowtail which is the one that goes gigging with me. I haven't really tinkered with it except have a Tony Pass rim put on it last year. The RB250 has a Moon bridge on it and stays home these days for my own picking pleasure! I'm sure the Big Yin won't mind if we just "drop in"!
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
The Big Yin -- that's right!
Billy got his start in comedy when his group would go out and play pubs and the publicans would hire the band back -- not necessarily for the music, but for Billy's off-the-cuff comic sketches and antics. This puts him clearly in line with all the great old-school banjo comedians who used to play the Grand Ole Opry -- this time with a pronounced Gaelic twist.
Iain, I'm delighted and honoured that you are using the
Stelling SwallowTail. It is a Gaelic-inspired instrument -- meant for no-nonsense tune-playing -- and you are probably its finest and most dedicated Scottish champion (to my knowledge).
Geoff Stelling and I co-designed this instrument some ten year ago after much research, pub crawls, planning and going back to the drawing board.
Besides the Big Yin, another comedian who has used banjo in his routines is Steve Martin, who only last year chose a
Stelling SwallowTail Deluxe for his new instrument. He called Geoff to tell him that he loves "everything about the instrument".
In 1996 Geoff was talking about making me a new banjo, customised to reflect the Irish and Celtic music I was playing, and I came up with the name
"SwallowTail" (after the jig and the reel and the book Swallow Barn) and we decided that it would be a good idea to have both Standard and Deluxe models, which set a new trend for high-end Stelling banjos (options).
One very special option that I chose was the cylindrically radiused fretboard (not conically radiused) for ease in playing -- getting triplets especially, also good for fretting-hand Celtic ornamentation. I convinced Geoff that this was a useful feature -- he hesitates to build (and re-fret!) necks that way -- for playing Irish and Celtic music. Even a curved bridge, like the Moon bridge serves this purpose. I stand by the radiused neck and the original Tom Hanway SwallowTail has one. Geoff doesn't like moon bridges on his Stellings because he observes that he cannot get all the strings intonated correctly, and his banjos already have a compensated nut. Bill Keith and Geoff still debate this one....
I suggested the acorns and oak leaves for the main inlays -- after visiting Edinburgh Castle and seeing the Scottish 'Honours' -- which have oak leaves and acorns! This is another place we need to visit, also St. Margaret's Chapel -- the oldest building in Edinburgh (at the top of the Castle). To view and read up on the history of the 'Honours' -- the oldest Royal Regalia in Britain, go here:
http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryU...wnJewels.htm A dear friend of mine, Will Heintz, had a 'Bird of Prey' -- with oak leaves, and -- unbeknownst to me -- secretly encouraged Geoff to dig the oak leaf templates out of the vault to use on the Swallowtail. Geoff agree and so we recycled the oak leaf from the Bird of Prey. Of course the oak leaves, acorns and Swallow all worked together. The idea for the celtic knot came from a visit to Trinity College in Dublin, viewing the Book of Kells, which are full of Celtic interlaced designs. I didn't want to have a gaudy (expensive) inlay going up the whole neck, and neither did Geoff, and we were looking for "simple elegance" -- with just a few Celtic knot patterns, which I sent to Geoff after my visit to Trinity College. We moved these around and tried them in different directions until we found where we liked them best.
Geoff might have used another type of wood, but I wanted only curly maple and a hint of sunburst, to highlight the Swallow on the resonator -- apparently some folks agree with the materials and design!
We considered binding, but the consensus was that this would "trap the Swallow" on the headstock and add even more cost to the banjo, and I wanted to keep the cost down, and Geoff agreed. He was still dreaming up his Viking banjo - a real killer! The SwallowTail is now one of the newest top-selling Stelling banjos.
See
SwallowTail description here:
http://www.stellingbanjo.com/html/swallowtail2.htm Check out
Banjo Hangout Reviews of the SwallowTail here:
http://www.banjohangout.org/w/revie...h/m/mo/v/905Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 01/07/2007 17:58:06
imac50 - Posted - 01/07/2007: 16:31:51
Of course my post should have said I have the basic Stelling bridge on the Swallowtail! It is a fine looking banjo. After I got mine my wife was even showing it off to her friends. I rest my case! Mine doesn't have the radiused fingerboard. Never really experienced that. It does work hard, though, and you can all hear it on the Thunderdog Ceilidh Band's new CD - "The Dogs Frolics" (Ha Ha - Time for a free plug!). http://www.thunderdog.co.uk/frolic.htm
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
g-banjo - Posted - 01/08/2007: 16:16:35
Sorry, Tom and Iain, for the delay in responding here - things have been a bit hectic with moving house. I'd be delighted to join you for a session.
As for what I do, Tom, I'm afraid I've never been very good at describing it. I remember playing in a session many years ago and overhearing a girl speaking behind me to the keyboard player of the band I was with at the time. She said "That banjo player is great!" To which Andy replied, "Yes, and the amazing thing is - he has no idea what he's doing!" And he was right. I played banjo in public for ten years before I ever took it out of its case in private - always used the banjo in sessions, played the guitar when I was by myself. The result is that the music I'm jamming with goes in my ears and my fingers just do what they want. It's chord - based, of course. It means the banjo is playing a similar role to what the bazouki often does in irish sessions. And if there IS a bazouki player in the session you have to pray he has a similar chord-sense.
I play a '79 Whitestar with a Kateyz bridge and a Renaissance head. I use a regular Delrin thumbpick and brass Dunlops and use the third finger as a brush now and then. I tune in standard G but don't use a capo in sessions as things happen too fast and anyway the open chord is not particularly strong with 1 tonic and 2 5ths making it less than ideal as a basis for improv.
Sorry I tell a lie, I do sometimes use a capo in sessions - the last time was when I was jamming with an Armenian Duduk player.
Hmm, not so keen on the o'Carolan stuff though I'm willing to have my prejudices quashed. That is to say the music is beautiful on the harp but why bother trying to gild the lily? Is it really not nice enough on the harp? Why not just let the banjo do its own stuff, stuff that's never been heard before? But I hope you're also going to bring out some fast jigs and reels for us to get our teeth into.
One of my jazzer buddies sometimes talks of "the tyranny of the melody", and I think he's got something. We in Scotland and Ireland are blessed with a great number of first class musicians, there is no shortage of melody players.
I may not be hanging around here much for a while, moving house, Celtic Connections festival coming up but I hope to see you for a session sometime, and say hello to Sharon for me next time you see her.
"it’s better to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time!"
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/08/2007: 22:10:13
Hi, I'll be coming over during Iain's mid-term break in February, sometime after the 12th. Just me. So, we'll have plenty of time to pick. I'm in the middle of several book projects, so I'll be collecting traditional tunes and getting releases for photographs to be used in the various works.
Maybe you can steer us to some cool pubs and to folks who wouldn't mind having their pictures taken -- I'm looking for traditional Scottish sessions (while in Scotland) more than Irish ones, but any trad sessions will do. It'll be fun and very low-key -- I'll need signatures saying I can use photos (gratis) or the publisher cannot use the likenesses.
Okay, the jig is up: I don't want to put you on the spot, and we'll meet soon enough, but I'm still curious G-banjo -- and you're not telling us anything new. However, by your handle we can infer that you use G-tuning, which is standard bluegrass -- make no bones about it. It's possible to tune the banjo in so many other non-bluegrass tunings, but you are using a bluegrass tuning -- isn't that correct? (Btw, Rex McGee has a wild, mind-boggling tuning for Celtic explorations.)
How can you be certain that your style has absolutely no bluegrass influence when you begin with bluegrass tuning?
Look at it this way: The tuning of your instrument is already in the bluegrass "gentleman's key of G" -- it already has a bluegrass tonality built into it -- especially if you are limiting it to back-up purposes, e.g., even the simplest roll pattern or holding down a major chord and playing any notes, in any pattern, will have a bluegrassy sound. Even if you don't hear it, others will -- it's a banjo in G-tuning -- it's not going to sound like a bouzouki or a harp (tip: unless you mute the bridge).
The best way to break through the barrier is to play non-bluegrass melodies, but back-up is not melody -- it's either rolling or vamping or a combination of both, and that smacks of a bluegrass approach, unless you're accompaniment is so revolutionary, so innovative that your banjo sounds like a totally unique backing instrument.
It seems to me -- though I have not heard you yet -- that your 5-string backing approach must have some bluegrass influence -- maybe not apparent to you since you say that you have never been good at describing it.
Please try to describe it. I am sorry to put you on the spot, but you have my rapt attention.
I write books and articles about this broad subject, I travel and do research in the field, collect tunes like a Lomax, and so I take it more seriously than most. I have a hard time reducing what I've learned to one-liners, dismissive posts, or these scamps:
I want to believe that you have something new or truly unique in your approach. I am also a sceptic when people make revolutionary claims when there is scant evidence -- not even tabs.
I'm always looking for modern approaches to and attitudes about the music -- and I travel the world doing so. (I too went to the Tony Trischka School of Banjo -- which really celebrates all things banjo.)
I'm really about preservation and innovation, continuity and change -- these terms are not mutually exclusive for me.
I think its possible to be squarely within a tradition and be innovative at the same time -- that's what makes a living tradition.
Is G-banjo a moniker you chose because you use G (bluegrass) tuning -- or do you use some exotic banjo and some other G-tuning, either tuned up or down an octave?
There's nothing wrong with having non-Irish and non-Celtic influences in one's playing style. Celtic music owes much to even older European and Continental traditions. The old Greek and Church modes and both classical and jazz influences have worked their way into both bluegrass and Celtic music -- it's okay -- it's not a mortal sin.
These musics don't live in a vacuum and they inform each other, borrow from each other and they always will. I recently saw an old clip (c. 1958) of Harlem jazz fiddler Stuff Smith playing the "Irish Washerwoman" in the middle of a break -- and it got the attention of all the horn players, who beamed with great delight.
Let's not forget that many of the instruments used in Gaelic music, for example, have origins and use techniques (approaches) that come from outside of Ireland and Scotland. The bowed violin comes from Italy -- it came to Ireland through Scotland, the ubiquitous guitar from Spain, the tenor banjo from America (jazz), the bouzouki from bouzoukiland.
At the end of the day, if we are playing a G-tuned five-string, we are playing a modern African-American instrument -- not in a 19th-century tuning, but in the quintessential 20th-century bluegrass banjo tuning.
So, I ask again: What makes your accompaniment style either Scottish, Gaelic or Celtic? Is it because you live in Scotland? Or is there more to it? Maybe you'll just have to show me, and I can accept that.
Okay, I don't want to press too hard, because we're gonna have a ball in about a month's time, and there's no pressure to play anything in particular -- let's have fun and a few jars, check out the local talent.
Maybe your original style -- and I'm all for originality in music -- owes something to classical banjo or old-time styles, or maybe you are making it up as you go along, like Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, a hero of mine
Heck, even if a player doesn't play like Scruggs licks or copy any bluegrass players, he is working in bluegrass tonality from the get-go, and I bet he use opens strings and blocked chord positions, then he is using techniques which everybody from Scruggs on down uses.
Maybe it's the hardware that makes your style unique and owing nothing to bluegrass: Do you use special fingerpicks or a plectrum or a thimble or your fingers? Do you use your fingernails, four fingers or more? I would love to seen a flamenco banjoist!
I've seen John McEuen pick for hours non-stop without fingerpicks. Mick Daly in Ireland (Lee Valley Stringband) has a unique picking style, using a Double C or dropped C tuning -- I don't think he every uses G-banjo tuning. He is extraordinary and highly innovative. Have you heard his backing style? He also plays with top-class trad players here on Ireland, though he would use the guitar more than banjo to back tunes (probably for the bass notes).
I am sorry to hear that you have biases against playing some traditional forms, such as O'Carolan. I think that is a rigid attitude to have and cripples one's playing options, but it's your choice; maybe I can help you loosen up your approach -- to be more openminded about playing Celtic melodies on the banjo. You have no idea what you are missing if you haven't done it.
Carolan is fun. Harp tunes are great on banjo, and not as tough as one might imagine.
For all -- folks need to learn melodies to appreciate tunes in their elegant simplicity or complexity. As fun and gloriously nebulous as it may be, back-up is not really what's traditional about traditional music.
Virtually all Celtic tunes can stand alone, and were written on solo instruments -- not with an ensemble approach.
Bluegrass is full of Celtic tunes and lore, and many of the top Irish, Scottish, Celtic and English players have been informed by bluegrass. In my life I have jammed with many fine musicians who cherish their bluegrass influences, including the late Scottish fidder, Johnny Cunningham (a dear friend and whiskey-drinking buddy who used to hang out at my Paddy Reilly's sessions in NYC), Tony DeMarco (NYC's hottest Sligo-style fiddler) Gerry O'Connor (tenor banjoist extraordinaire), Eileen Ivers (Irish trad-contemporary fiddler), the fun-loving Joanie Madden (Cherish the Ladies) and Sharon Shannon, who is getting more and more into bluegrass, though she is a box player.
Have you read my tutor, Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo? Have you seen the section on back-up? Have you tried to learn any tunes from it on the banjo -- not accompaniment -- tunes?
There are 101 tunes in it from all six Celtic nations and the diaspora, some O'Carolan, plus some original pieces generously submitted by modern Irish composers. It's more than just jigs and reels.
Playing melody, and being able to render it with personal variation, lies at the heart of all the Celtic traditions, even if some folks grumble and whine about it. That's just chatter.
If tunes were to be lost to backing styles, the core of the tradition would be lost. That won't happen because serious tune players will just kick the offending bludgeon-strummers out of their sessions, or move somewhere else and not invite them.
A similar thing happens in jazz to people who can't cut it, except that jazz cats are more likely to tell a player off in no uncertain terms, or simply ignore them as if they don't exist -- talk about the school of hard knocks!
All the best,
Tom
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 01/09/2007 00:29:43
g-banjo - Posted - 01/09/2007: 02:45:35
Tom, I play in open G because I used to play a lot in that tuning on the guitar.
I dare say there are many things I do that also happen in bluiegrass, after all there are five strings and two hands, but that does not mean these things are coming FROM bluegrass. (Also please let me insist I have absolutely nothing against bluegrass and often wish I could play it myself).
I consider o'Carolan's music to be amongst the most beautiful ever written, I used to play it on the guitar myself. Perhaps I just got over-exposed to it in the eighties when everyone was playing it on just about everything bar the tuba, and I'm not sure if even that wasn't tried!
All I really wanted to say was that it is not really necessary to play melody to be a positive element in Scottish and Irish sessions.
"it’s better to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time!"
Edited by - g-banjo on 01/09/2007 12:18:22
imac50 - Posted - 01/09/2007: 13:04:10
Hi G
Well I'm looking forward to hearing you. We'll need to find someplace that can handle 3 banjos in full flow! I have to admit I don't even know the chords to many of the Scottish tunes I play because I've never needed them just like you have never needed the tunes. Wierd isn't it! Do you have any recordings or samples at all?
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/09/2007: 17:17:14
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
Hi G
Well I'm looking forward to hearing you. We'll need to find someplace that can handle 3 banjos in full flow! I have to admit I don't even know the chords to many of the Scottish tunes I play because I've never needed them just like you have never needed the tunes. Wierd isn't it! Do you have any recordings or samples at all?
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
quote:
Originally posted by g-banjo
Tom, I play in open G because I used to play a lot in that tuning on the guitar.... All I really wanted to say was that it is not really necessary to play melody to be a positive element in Scottish and Irish sessions.
"it’s better to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time!"
I'm looking forward to hearing G-banjo as well, and you too, Iain, it's been ages.... I like playing with players who do it seat-of-the-pants and make it up as they go. I come from that school myself. As Jack Lawrence put it after he played a real weird lick in Athy, Co. Kildare, Ireland: "it's the I-can-start-on-any-note-and-land-on-any-other-note approach." If one knows the tune, this works out.
Okay, lads, I'm coming over solo, for five or six days, looking forward to meeting up, having a few tunes, a wee dram and a bit of craic. Iain, I emailed you privately about travel plans, so please respond to me off-thread and we'll do it. I'll take you up on your offer to lend me your SwallowTail which will save myself the hassle and worry of checking mine. Much appreciated!
G-banjo -- I also play guitar in G-tuning, so I know where you're coming from. No worries, let's have a laugh, have some tunes, relax, and have a bit of fun. I'm still bringing a camera and release forms so I can take photos to use in my book and magazine projects. I need a few good shots for posterity -- some posed, some spontaneous, some cool pub environments....
Denise and I were at a friendly session in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim a few nights ago -- a place called "The Thatch" It was a real country pub in the middle of nowhere. Lovely folks and no pressure. Lots of old-timers playing fiddles, accordions, banjos, even harmonicas. We did a lot of Sligo tunes -- Michael Coleman tunes and the like. Good stuff. A country gentleman in his nineties, who was listening and smiling all night, finally couldn't restrain himself any longer and picked up a fiddle, and the place fell silent while he played. Great atmosphere -- we're going back this week -- these places are few and far between nowadays in Ireland, I'm sorry to say. The old culture is dying with each musician who moves on....
Looking forward to Edinburgh, and we should consider getting up to Aberdeenshire to tempt Billy Connolly -- what the hell -- he's a good player and loves his sessions. Stranger things have happened.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 01/09/2007 17:28:44
g-banjo - Posted - 01/09/2007: 18:49:19
Well guys I'll make it if possible, things can be fairly hectic here and its been a while since I've even managed to get a session with my friends. But I must admit I don't find all this talk of photos and signing forms particularly attractive.
Iain, send me am MP3 and I'll put some backing on it once I've got all this house moving hassle out of the way. (oh, and after Celtic Connections of course).
"it’s better to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time!"
imac50 - Posted - 01/10/2007: 13:47:23
Are you going to the Banjo Night on the 25th? Or something a bit more "High Brow"?
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/10/2007: 18:45:46
quote:
Originally posted by g-banjo
Well guys I'll make it if possible, things can be fairly hectic here and its been a while since I've even managed to get a session with my friends.
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
Are you going to the Banjo Night on the 25th? Or something a bit more "High Brow"?
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Hi guys - Iain, we organised a flying session, as I recall, when I was over with Burnt Toast ten years ago, at a cool pub, and we should do that again, and I'll see about organising players from here. I also recall going to a very traditional Scottish session and meeting some very nice young players there and going back to a house party and staying up all night. We don't have to do that, but I think I can find that session again, and I'm sure some new sessions have sprung up with new blood. I want to meet players who are hungry and getting out there.
G-banjo, do not fret - I would never take anybody's picture that didn't want his picture taken, and I'm looking for unusual tune players --
characters -- amateurs and professionals that are not put off by a camera or by a bit of publicity. It's all good.
You don't have to be involved in any of that if you feel more comfortable
staying out of the picture - no pressure dude.
You don't have to go for it, but you are welcome.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
g-banjo - Posted - 01/11/2007: 08:44:21
Ok Tom, I'll certainly try to join you. I'll look in again in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow is the big moving day and we've just heard of the death of an old band mate and banjo singer, so lots to thinkabout.
Paddy - Posted - 01/30/2007: 10:57:04
Well, myself and Tom picked a 5 tune medley of Irish tunes at a festival in Carrick-on-Bannow at the weekend, with backing from the guitarist of Special Consensus, and many of the punters were full of the yelps typicla at any Irish session.
As far as they were concerned, as far as I could see, it was the music that was being played, and not necessarily the musicians or the instruments that were playing the tunes which was important.
Oh and Tom, that CD is superb, Avalon, Green Mounta..sorry Elephant Hop, Bucket of Bees and Alabama Jubilee/Bye Blues, in particular. You'll have to show me them sometime!
How's the TITM single stringage coming along?
Oh would you believe, I wrote a little Hornpipe sort of thing in the car on my mobile on the way home. In the Key of E, no capo. The open B string gets a good run-out!
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/30/2007: 17:00:59
quote:
Originally posted by Paddy
Well, myself and Tom picked a 5 tune medley of Irish tunes at a festival in Carrick-on-Bannow at the weekend, with backing from the guitarist of Special Consensus, and many of the punters were full of the yelps typicla at any Irish session.
As far as they were concerned, as far as I could see, it was the music that was being played, and not necessarily the musicians or the instruments that were playing the tunes which was important.
Oh and Tom, that CD is superb, Avalon, Green Mounta..sorry Elephant Hop, Bucket of Bees and Alabama Jubilee/Bye Blues, in particular. You'll have to show me them sometime!
How's the TITM single stringage coming along?
Oh would you believe, I wrote a little Hornpipe sort of thing in the car on my mobile on the way home. In the Key of E, no capo. The open B string gets a good run-out!
This roots/bluegrass winter festival that Paddy and I jammed at was at Colfer's, in Co. Wexford, which is noted for traditional Irish music (with fantastic regional tunes). It is also home to Phil Murphy Weekend, a traditional and roots music festival held the last weekend of July,
http://www.philmurphyweekend.com/ -- a very low-key (amazing) festival. John and Pip Murphy are carrying on the family tradition on harmonica, which their father Phil preferred to call the "mouth organ". These are All-Ireland champions and terrific tunesmiths, whose jigs and reels are being recorded by such notable artists as Altan and Sharon Shannon. The five-string is welcome at sessions here, and it's a very high standard of musicianship.
On guitar jamming with us at the end was Justin Carbone, who has blossomed into a fantastic bluegrass songwriter, singer and flatpicker -- check out his new release on Pinecastle. I knew Justin when he was a sprout, and he looks exactly the same, no, exactly the same, just ... man-size now -- he even laughs about it! Special C. is a force of nature, and they put on one helluva show -- great songwriting and their gospel tunes are not of this earth.
Paddy, you played some amazing stuff (with Fair City Grass). Woodbine did a great set -- the best I've heard them (with Clem O'Brien on dobro and mandolin). When the Chieftains --
those Chieftains -- need a bluegrass/country guitar player on the road, it's Clem who gets the call. He sang and played great, as always. I did something unusual (for me) with some original songs and mainly country blues guitar stuff -- just to give the crowd another kind of Southern flavor before the main course.
Thanks for showing me that TITM pattern for single-string licks -- it's really weird and I'll get around to incorporating it (probably for reels). Karl Deeter and I (Tennessee Hob) look forward to jamming with you at the United Arts Club in Dublin on Saturday night. We'll begin at 9.30 pm, do a short set, take a break, then another short set, then we'll open things up and have a jam. You're on my guest list, so bring the banjo and let's have a few tunes. Karl is itching to play Irish tunes, and he plays them very well on the guitar. We'll mix it up. The UAC has a third floor drawing room (where Lady Gregory, W.B. Yeats and G.B. Shaw used to have a drink and listen to old fiddle, piano and banjo music). So this room has great ghosts and some neat history.
I can show you Avalon and Elephant Hop, or Green Mountain Hop. I must try the TITM pattern on that. I actually use TMTM -- not just TITI, so I don't think I should have trouble with TITM, once I get practiced with it.
Maybe I should put
Elephant Hop or other originals up here. How do you do that?
Paddy -- see you Saturday bro. Let me hear your new tune. I've got a few I can run past you. The jam is on the third floor, the bar is on the second floor, and I think we can go until 1.00 am. The bar is a different story....
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 01/30/2007 17:27:15
BDCA - Posted - 01/31/2007: 22:45:23
Tom, I used to play with Roger Sprung and we defiinately had no autoharp players with us. Roger had been heading "Down South" for 14 years before I joined him on his summer excursions (and also Union Grove iaround Easter). Some of the Yankee miscreants that were around at he time included Dave Grisman, Winnie Winston, Dave Gruhen to name a few.
We had a fiddle player named Frank George and blew Galax away we did When You and I were Young Maggie with Frank on the Highland Pipes. We also were the first band to play with Clark Kessinger when he came out of retirement. Roger was much more interested in the picking sessions than the performance, and we would pick up any stray musicians that came by. We actually won Galax in the mid 60s.
I moved to Ireland in the early 70s and was the guy that introduced Roger to Irish music on one of my trips back to the States.
Interestingly enough, I play (guitar) with a box player in West Mayo and a German 5 string player. This time last year we were touring Ireland.
Cya!
Bob
Bob
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/31/2007: 23:31:19
Contact me Bob the next time you're over. I met and jammed with Roger several times at a session I had at Dempsey's Pub. Great stuff.
Which band one Galax? What a great bunch of miscreants. Those were the days!
I was sad to hear of Winnie's passing last year.
Where are you now?
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
BDCA - Posted - 02/01/2007: 11:22:54
quote:
Originally posted by Tom Hanway
Which band one Galax? What a great bunch of miscreants. Those were the days!
I was sad to hear of Winnie's passing last year.
Where are you now?
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Winnie was a character,,,, I am currently just outside of Santa Cruz, CA.
We were a different band at every festival and we made up a name for each show. I think we were called the Picking Gypsies when we wonb Galex and we even had a picture in the Galax flyer title "From Way Up North" . We had 5 regular musicians and picked up a fiddle or what ever at each stop. We also stayed with lots of locals like Obrey Ramsey, A.P Van Hoyt, Doc Watson, etc..
If I am not mistake the fellow with the autoharp may have been George Gruhn,
BTW, do you know Geordie McAdam? We were plaing up in Bangor this time last year.
I lived near Dun Laioghaire in the 70s and used to hang out in O'Donnohughs. I also played in a bluegrass band with George Kay. We did a lot of gigs in Drogheda, Irlands version of Mississippi!
Where are you based?
Slante!
Bob
Edited by - BDCA on 02/01/2007 11:24:10
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/01/2007: 16:16:20
Bob,
I don't know those guys but I see Niall Toner and Mick Daly (Lee Valley String Band) quite regularly at festivals.
I'm based in Longford, which is cool because it's no big deal to gig in Dublin on Friday, Galway on Saturday, then head to say Wexford or Kilkenny on a Sunday. I'm not locked into one scene or environment. Longford has some crackin' sessions in the town and in nearby counties. Cork has some great bluegrass and old-time pickers.
I used to play in the John Herald Band back in New York, and I ran a roots festival for about six years. I had Tommy Peoples come down one year from Massachusetts, and we had a bit of everything.
I go back to the States about twice a year. I also get around Europe and play blues and bluegrass festivals. It's a lot of traveling, so I like have a quiet homebase to re-group.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/01/2007: 16:18:42
Bob,
I don't know those guys but I see Niall Toner and Mick Daly (Lee Valley String Band) quite regularly at festivals.
I'm based in Longford, which is cool because it's no big deal to gig in Dublin on Friday, Galway on Saturday, then head to say Wexford or Kilkenny on a Sunday. I'm not locked into one scene or environment. Longford has some crackin' sessions in the town and in nearby counties. Cork has some great bluegrass and old-time pickers.
I used to play in the John Herald Band back in New York, and I ran a roots festival for about six years. I had Tommy Peoples come down one year from Massachusetts, and we had a bit of everything.
I go back to the States about twice a year. I also get around Europe and play blues and bluegrass festivals. It's a lot of traveling, so I like have a quiet homebase. I like going to as many sessions as I have the energy for.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Paddy - Posted - 02/01/2007: 17:22:19
Great stuff Tom, I'll almost certainly be able to make it, looking forward to it. The craic'll be mighty !
I have some other cool single string left hand stuff as well you might like, arpeggios and suchlike I was working on today, linking different parts of the neck and trying to get out of single string "boxes".
It was funny, I remember more than a year ago I met Karl down at the picking session at Rosie O Grady's, we jammed a little before the main thing started, and he played loads of cool stuff, the "Strawberry Hornpipe" and a gypsy jazz-ish version of Blackberry Blossom. He was very encouraging, and a pleasure to pick with. I'd love to hear his take on Irish tunes.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/06/2007: 21:16:57
quote:
Originally posted by Paddy
Great stuff Tom, I'll almost certainly be able to make it, looking forward to it. The craic'll be mighty !
I have some other cool single string left hand stuff as well you might like, arpeggios and suchlike I was working on today, linking different parts of the neck and trying to get out of single string "boxes".
It was funny, I remember more than a year ago I met Karl down at the picking session at Rosie O Grady's, we jammed a little before the main thing started, and he played loads of cool stuff, the "Strawberry Hornpipe" and a gypsy jazz-ish version of Blackberry Blossom. He was very encouraging, and a pleasure to pick with. I'd love to hear his take on Irish tunes.
Paddy - Karl, as you know, is a very humble and dedicated player; he is also an encyclopedia of Irish tunes for flatpicked guitar. That's really hard to pull off, and Karl does it out of standard tuning at breakneck tempos. I think it's easier on 5-string because we have three fingers at our disposal, and certainly easier on tenor, fiddle and mandolin. Arty McGlynn would be proud.
That was some fine playing the other night. I started messing with the TITM patterns for single string, and it seems to work well for certain things, less comfortable for others. I think I already use it at times without really being aware of it. It's pretty natural at times.
I enjoyed your new tune in E. It reminded of Trischka's Old Joe Clark in E, and it had a melodic contour that was very Irish and reminiscent of Cronin's Hornpipe (A part). It's a keeper, with an ear toward the past and a vision for a new direction in Irish 5-string banjo.
We should write some Irish tunes together and then shred on them, deconstruct them for a laugh.
I couldn't believe Karl was able to flatpick the Salamanca at the tempo we played it. That was awesome, probably too fast, but a good workout.
Study hard for those exams, okay. And write more tunes. Let's see if we can come up with something different.
What tune was it I said I'd send over to you? Email me off forum....
Going to visit Iain MacLachlan in Edinburgh next week to do some playing. Iain is another encyclopedia of tunes, especially ceilidh tunes that people still dance too. He also avoids the capo and plays fast (for the dancers). Great stuff. We must get him to come to Ireland and have a Celtic 5-string banjo concert in Dublin. Leon Hunt too. He's awesome.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 02/06/2007 21:28:54
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/21/2007: 16:25:07
quote:
Originally posted by BDCA
Tom, I used to play with Roger Sprung Some of the Yankee miscreants that were around at he time included Dave Grisman, Winnie Winston, Dave Gruhen to name a few.
We had a fiddle player named Frank George and blew Galax away we did When You and I were Young Maggie with Frank on the Highland Pipes.
Bob
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
Of course my post should have said I have the basic Stelling bridge on the Swallowtail! It is a fine looking banjo. After I got mine my wife was even showing it off to her friends. I rest my case! Mine doesn't have the radiused fingerboard. Never really experienced that. It does work hard, though, and you can all hear it on the Thunderdog Ceilidh Band's new CD - "The Dogs Frolics" (Ha Ha - Time for a free plug!). http://www.thunderdog.co.uk/frolic.htm
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Well, Bob,
Iain MacLachlan and I hung out and played banjo for five days in Edinburgh, at Scottish, blues, Scottish/Irish and even a bluegrass session. No bagpipes this time. (Thanks to Iain's wife Christine for being such a lovely and generous hostess, conjuring up some beautiful meals, especially her penne and meatballs.)
We had house sessions, made duet recordings on Iain's Mac -- two versions of "Eighth of January", and we jammed all around the Royal Mile, at
The Tass,
The Royal Oak and
Sandy Bell's, which was generous enough to offer me a gig on the second day (playing country blues guitar). It was gladly accepted, which lead to a ten-hour Saturday session with only two breaks. Iain came in and we switched over to Scottish and bluegrass tunes. A marathon picking session, and the whiskey was clean.
We also played bluegrass with
Betty Cooper, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, who is a really sweet singer and a hard-driving rhythm guitarist. Her husband, mandolinist
Russell Cooper (1962-2002) was a real friend to bluegrass and is sorely missed. I had the pleasure of meeting and staying with Coopers in the late 90s when Burnt Toast toured Scotland and the UK. It was a lovely surprise to find her leading the musicians at what we thought was going to be a Scottish trad session at the Oak, but it was inevitable just the same. Betty is the darling of Edinburgh bluegrass and a real lady. Russell was a true gentleman and always made everybody feel welcome. Betty is doing him proud and carrying on the tradition with great energy and love for the music.
Her Bluegrass in Scotland page is here, and there's alot of interesting stuff:
http://www.lumison.co.uk/~russell/b.../homejam.htmIn sum, Iain and I did not waste time doing some serious woodshedding and tune arranging. Thanks Iain for being so generous with your music and so willing to try out new tunes and compose (decompose?) breaks.
"Eighth of January" is recorded in harmony as a reel and a hornpipe and we tabbed out both parts, including an ending way up the neck.
The arrangement will eventually go to Mel Bay (one of my books), possibly on-line, and we hope to get it out in other ways so folks here can access it and learn the parts. We did not change the basic melody, but we did arrange it very carefully for Celtic fingerstyle. It works easily as a bluegrass tune (which of course it is) if played faster, leaving out the dotted-eighth-note feel.
Iain, what did I leave out? Oh yeah, your SwallowTail sounded great with the Stelling bridge, and it was quite comfortable even without a radiused neck. It felt and played like my own SwallowTail, which says alot about Stelling quality control. I remember almost bringing it into my room the last night, to sleep with, because I thought it was my banjo. Iain caught me before I got around the corner. That was gas! Sorry Iain, it was an honest mistake, I swear!
Lastly, I recommend the Edinburgh traditional scene to anybody with an interest in Scottish traditional, blues, bluegrass or folk music. There's lots of solid Irish traditional music, and all the players know lots of Irish session tunes, some of which are originally Scottish.
On the last day, with
Oscar, a Bichon Frisé, we trekked up and walked around Arthur's Seat, part of a series of volcanic plugs in and around Edinburgh. Later at the Royal Oak I had a great session with
John Martin (fiddler with the
Tannahill Weavers) and
Kevin Macleod (toured with De Dannan) on 4-string National tenor -- pure poetry.
We have loads of stories, and people who we encountered on the session trail, but it's Iain's turn....
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 02/21/2007 16:39:26
imac50 - Posted - 02/21/2007: 18:07:51
Well Tom, you have about said it all! I'm beginning to catch up on some sleep. I think the only thing you missed was an encounter with Joe Val. I enjoyed it all as much as you. I don't go out to sessions much, as you know, so I had a great time just playing and talking banjo. I've got some Shetland tunes for you but I need your mailing address. It was good for me to listen for a change and it was good to play my old RB250 seriously again. You'll need to come back this weekend - I've got 3 gigs in a row with the ceilidh band. I think I'll need some help!
One question neither of us could answer - How many Swallowtails are out there? Maybe we can have a Swallowtail convention! Tom's and mine are 2 so there's a start.
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
CanynroChris - Posted - 02/22/2007: 10:16:09
The information and kinship displayed in this thread is why I come here. Thanks to all who have shared their knowledge and insight.
"Banjo, my secret shame...Hush, my sweet! Keep the secret..."
Tom Hanway - Posted - 02/23/2007: 07:04:07
quote:
Originally posted by imac50
Well Tom, you have about said it all! I'm beginning to catch up on some sleep. I think the only thing you missed was an encounter with Joe Val. I enjoyed it all as much as you. I don't go out to sessions much, as you know, so I had a great time just playing and talking banjo. I've got some Shetland tunes for you but I need your mailing address. It was good for me to listen for a change and it was good to play my old RB250 seriously again. You'll need to come back this weekend - I've got 3 gigs in a row with the ceilidh band. I think I'll need some help!
One question neither of us could answer - How many Swallowtails are out there? Maybe we can have a Swallowtail convention! Tom's and mine are 2 so there's a start.
Iain
www.iainmaclachlan.com
Oh yes, Joe Val playing in Edinburgh -- great concert footage. This has to be one of the great unheralded videos of the amazing Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys. We should find a master copy (i.e., get permission) and send it to IBMA for the museum in Owensboro, KY. Joe played mandolin -- impeccably clean and sang higher and possibly lonesomer than Bill Monroe, if that is possible!
We really should get a copy to IBMA, because this is classic footage of one of the all-time *GREAT* American bluegrass bands playing abroad (Scotland, no less). The quality is excellent for video. Can you track down the source? I had never seen footage (or seen) Joe Val before, only hearing about him through people like John Herald and Bill Keith. This man was a true bluegrass GIANT and his band in the video is nothing short of awesome. How many copies of this video exist, I wonder.
About the SwallowTail, we must find out from Geoff how many SwallowTails have taken flight from the Stelling factory. My conservative guesstimate is around thirty by now. Actor Steve Martin just bought one directly from Stelling and said something like, "I love everything about it...," according to Geoff. Not bad. Your Stelling, Iain, has beautiful wood, especially the curly maple resonator. I got very attached to it. I need to get a new bridge for mine, because it's really been hammered on and I think it's getting a little fatigued. I need Geoff to make me an arched bridge. My original has gone walkabout (flyabout?)
Let's get this Joe Val video to IBMA for posterity, okay? There is still a great bluegrass festival in his name.
Nice one, Iain.
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 02/23/2007 07:19:44
hognamay - Posted - 02/26/2007: 13:33:50
I have been away from bluegrass or three finger picking for a while.
Its always interesting what attract us to music. I played the BG banjo
for a long long time. I wanted to learn the "Sailor's Hornpipe" on the banjo.
After a while I decide to get a set of pipes to play hornpipes.
I sold my pre war Gibson that I got from Rual Yarbrough
( with a Randy Woody neck) to help finance a set of Geoff Wooff uilleann pipes.
Those of you in Ireland and the UK may appreciated what I am saying, a good bit.
In 1991, I was in Ireland visiting my wife's relatives and saw a sign on the road that read "First Blue Grass Festival" and it was in Athy. I look at my uilleann pipes in the car and thought "why am I not stopping here?"
To make a long story short, I recently parted with my beloved Wooff pipes. And
bought a beautiful ODE that's almost 30 years old and plays like a dream.
Over the years of playing the uilleann pipes I have collected a lot of Irish tunes. I am
starting to play them on the ODE. Its great!!!
Banjowen - Posted - 02/26/2007: 14:23:40
quote:
Originally posted by hognamay
I have been away from bluegrass or three finger picking for a while.
Its always interesting what attract us to music. I played the BG banjo
for a long long time. I wanted to learn the "Sailor's Hornpipe" on the banjo.
After a while I decide to get a set of pipes to play hornpipes.
I sold my pre war Gibson that I got from Rual Yarbrough
( with a Randy Woody neck) to help finance a set of Geoff Wooff uilleann pipes.
Those of you in Ireland and the UK may appreciated what I am saying, a good bit.
In 1991, I was in Ireland visiting my wife's relatives and saw a sign on the road that read "First Blue Grass Festival" and it was in Athy. I look at my uilleann pipes in the car and thought "why am I not stopping here?"
To make a long story short, I recently parted with my beloved Wooff pipes. And
bought a beautiful ODE that's almost 30 years old and plays like a dream.
Over the years of playing the uilleann pipes I have collected a lot of Irish tunes. I am
starting to play them on the ODE. Its great!!!
Its sad that you obviously couldn't hold on to your pipes as well as buying your banjo,the uilleann pipes are a great instrument and not the easiest to master, in my opinion there's no other instrument that can sound so haunting and beautiful in the right hands, but at least you have all those great Irish tunes in your head that you can now adapt to your banjo....good luck, and have fun..
Owen.
http://www.ukbluegrass.com www.banjohollow.ic24.net
hognamay - Posted - 02/26/2007: 16:13:36
Thanks very much Owen
Those Wooff pipes were special. I do have a D set of pipes that I can play in
a session. The Wooff set was one of his flat set with a very haunting sound.
Hope to be in Manchester and Ireland this summer and maybe meet up with you to hear some of the music there.
Thanks again ..... Ed
Banjowen - Posted - 02/27/2007: 03:59:56
quote:
Originally posted by hognamay
Thanks very much Owen
Those Wooff pipes were special. I do have a D set of pipes that I can play in
a session. The Wooff set was one of his flat set with a very haunting sound.
Hope to be in Manchester and Ireland this summer and maybe meet up with you to hear some of the music there.
Thanks again ..... Ed
Your very welcome Ed,please let me know when your coming,it would be great to see you at the Junction,....dont forget the pipes.
Owen.
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