Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I struggled for years to come up with a good way of putting a tune list on my banjo. When I was learning to play (and I still am but who isn't), I used the tune list to remind myself to practice certain tunes. Then as I got better the problem wasn't that the list was too short but that it was too long and I couldn't figure out a good way to both attach it and still read it. Later when I started to entertain I had the added problem of how to read the list quickly without the audience looking too long at the top of my head. (WARNING: Never stick your tune list to the back of your banjo because when you hold up your banjo in front of your face to read it your audience will think you are hiding... ("Where did his head go?")
It took me 59 years of playing the banjo but I have finally figured out the best way to create a tune list, print it, attach it, modify it, file it, update it, and see it clearly at a glance. I depend on it completely, not only for tunes to play but for what to say during an entire one hour solo show. (It's wonderful if your memory is shot!)
I'm delighted to share my ideal solution to the well-known "Tune List Problem" and, believe it or not, it is a LEAF SPRING! It is nothing more than four to six long "tune cards" (printed on card stock) which are held together firmly at the ends by two common paper clamps. This makes everything a leaf spring because when it is bent in a curve to attach it to the banjo the lever arms on the paper clamps are pushed by the leaf spring effect firmly under the banjo's hooks to keep everything firmly in place on the banjo. A yellow background makes it highly visible at a glance. Check out my two pictures of it that I've posted in the "Photos" section of this blog. Just click on the "Photos" button above my picture. You can probably read the list in the close up pic. I've also discussed the list including its contents and "tune list management" in some detail in a recent blog entry on the "Blog" page of my website, www..geigeracousticdevices.com. While you're there please check out my latest photos and descriptions of my banjo tone amps on the "Products" page.
I'm done. Now what? ... Where's my "To Do" list?
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GeigerAcousticDevices.com
Playing Since: 1950
Experience Level: Expert/Professional
Interests:
[Teaching] [Helping]
Occupation: Retired Army, Invent & Sell Sound Enhancing Devices
Gender: Male
Age: 87
My Instruments:
Gibson Mastertone tenor (tuned CGDA), Violin. Tenor Guitar (GDAE).
Favorite Bands/Musicians:
John Cali, Eddy Davis, Tim Allan and Howard Alden, John Becker
Classified Rating: not rated
Rate this Member
Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 7/20/2007
Last Visit 8/7/2024
THEN: Born and grew up in Brunswick, Georgia on the coast. After high school I went one year to Georgia Tech in Atlanta and then to West Point where I graduated in 1960. After a 20 year Army Career in Infantry and Ordnance Corps I retired from the Army and sold computer and engineering software and services for a number of companies and did some part-time college-level math teaching and tutoring. Along the way and later I performed professionally as a tenor banjo soloist/vocalist for over 26 years in the Atlanta, Georgia area - mostly putting on one-hour solo shows for seniors by playing and singing old popular "hits" often called "America's Songbook". I also include a few early jazz, blues, country, and unusual tin pan alley tunes and included short, interesting anecdotes between tunes about the old performers, composers and times. For seven years until 2015 I also played Irish style tenor banjo on a GDAE tenor before losing interest and going back to playing old American hits using chord melody on my CGDA tuned Gibson tenor, tenor guitar and violin.
NOW: Arthritis and a broken left hip in 2015 (which resulted in a loss of feeling in my left hand fingertips) effectively stopped my banjo playing, but the feeling is returning to my fingertips and I now enjoy playing for my own entertainment and making and selling sound improvement attachments to banjos, guitars and violins from my website. I enjoy reading non-fiction, especially related to new discoveries in science, new inventions and methods which were used to advance knowledge.
Several years ago I wrote a 30-page book (PDF file) titled "Build Any Chord, Anywhere" for tenor banjos and other fifths-tuned instruments which uses a unique color graphics approach to understand and build chords. The first part of the book explains the basics of chord theory so is applicable to any chord instrument but the focus is toward instruments tuned CGDA or GDAE. Prior knowledge of music isn't necessary to use the methods in the book. You can download the book free at the downloads page of my website.
This year (2021) I've invented two new, inexpensive mechanical sound improvement attachments for bowed instruments (such as violins and violas) and picked instruments such as guitars, banjos, and mandolins., I will posr details on my website when they are ewady for sale. Prices will be around $20. All use Surface Acoustic Wave Technology, are guaranteed and come with an explanation of how they work.
I've learned a lot from BHO members and hope I can help others by sharing what I've learned about sound mechanics.
