not every tune--but it sure has a special place in the line up imo
Play it almost all with the forward roll ,,,ha
and the arch top is at home on this one too--
There is a lesson to be learned from Roy Clark's banjo picking. Most people would agree that he was not that great a banjo picker, but he was an OUTSTANDING entertainer!! So the moral of the story is, being able to SELL IT is more important than perfect execution.
That sounded like a fine version of John Henry.
What year was that? 1959?
an expert here guessed it to be A Jimmy Dean show about 1958,Steve
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Edited by - Tractor1 on 11/22/2024 06:31:45
My vote is Roy Clark was a great banjo player, and great guitarist of course. Ability and fame makes one great.
I just noticed that on this vid The sound and vid are" not exactly "synchronized--I think I will down load it and get it much closer-----It looks like D tuning --that is a tuning I never 'got around to
Roy played good 3 finger banjo to folks that were getting a lot of their advice from the Pete Seeger book.Roy probably helped launch the Scruggs Book.
Aided with a sense of humor in his playing.
Count me in the group that thinks Roy was a great banjo picker.
for me--the magic of the way- this one is the control he-has to bring out emphasis--even when the strings are getting blasted by a relentless stream of notes--any introduction of more modern styling would have took a bit of that--he-- of course--- recognized the benefits and different magic of the more modern styles and could have worked it up--but really no reason --so he kept it ringing and clucking
Hello,
Given his hand positions playing the song, I didn’t see D chord forms. I saw G chord forms. While John Henry was played by Scruggs in D, bar chord forms were rarely used. I enjoyed his presentation.
Early on, audiences supported the banjo by requesting specific banjo songs to be played. When Elvis hit the scene, the banjo took a back seat. Electric guitars are the gig.
roy was just a great musician and showman,,, i saw him a few times live and he does entertain and when he gets on a roll was funny as all get out.
It was rare to find banjo picking on TV.
Thank you for bringing it to the public,Roy.
