This great video just popped up on my Facebook feed. Not sure what the tuning is, but it looks like Allison is using a partial capo across the first 3 strings and leaving the 4th open.
That is really nice.
Looks to me like the banjo has 6 strings, with 4 capoed and the 5th (bass) uncapoed. Unusual.
Very nice.
Lots of energy in clawhammering a jig. Don't think I ever seen or heard that.
Looks like a 6-string banjo with a short string. Here's an adjusted image.
Edited
BHO is not letting me post the image by pasting though it was OK in the Preview. Essentially, it's at 1'54" and was lightened up by 100 by my Cool Edit program. The button on the short string is black and difficult to see without lightening the image.
quote:
Originally posted by JimHenryLooks to me like the banjo has 6 strings, with 4 capoed and the 5th (bass) uncapoed. Unusual.
You're right. So that gives it a low drone as well as the regular 5th string. Nice sound.
A truly groundbreaking performance!
quote:
Originally posted by gentrixukquote:
Originally posted by JimHenryLooks to me like the banjo has 6 strings, with 4 capoed and the 5th (bass) uncapoed. Unusual.
You're right. So that gives it a low drone as well as the regular 5th string. Nice sound.
Stop the video at 10 seconds in. That shows the peghead. There are two wound full-length bass strings, three unwound full-length and then the usual short "5th" string. Sonny Osborn played such a 6-string for some years. The low wound string was tuned to C or G, depending on. (Search the archives for several discussions of Sonny's 6-string.) I'd guess Alison does something similar. I doubt she always capos just strings to use the 5th as a drone....Of note--Tatiana Hargreaves, with whom Alison plays quite a bit, plays a 5-string fiddle with (I assume) the low string tuned to C. Ditto Brittany Haas.
Edited by - Bill Rogers on 01/31/2021 00:50:31
Amazing performance.
Alison is superb and the young man playing guitar the same.
I think he may have listened to a few Arty McGlynn recordings because he has captured the unmistakable essence of the master.
quote:
Originally posted by Bill RogersOf note--Tatiana Hargreaves, with whom Alison plays quite a bit, plays a 5-string fiddle with (I assume) the low string tuned to C. Ditto Brittany Haas.
Tatiana often has her low string tuned to C, but she also uses other fiddle tunings and tunes her low string accordingly. For example, in cross-tuned A (AEAE low-to-high on a 4-string fiddle), I think she usually tunes the low string to a low E. And in DDAD tuning, I've heard her tune that low string all the way down to a (very) low A. Because she's such a tasteful player, she doesn't overuse that low string when playing old-time tunes, so when she occasionally reaches down and touches that low string, it send a delicious shiver up my spine, especially if I'm playing with her, which I wish could happen more often!
I'm not as familiar with what Brittany does with the low string when she plays her 5-string fiddle, but I assume she has a similar approach with different tunings. I could hunt up some YouTube videos and figure it out - or I could just ask her, I guess!
And yes, Allison is an amazing player, and doesn't sound to me like any of the other young banjo players; so inventive and so skillful, yet deeply rooted in tradition at the same time - but all in service to the music, never showing off! Listening to Allison and Tati play together is a joyful experience, with their deep personal as well as musical bond so evident, and their endless creativity.
Edited by - BrendanD on 01/31/2021 05:34:12
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