I've uploaded two photos of an old Temlett zither-banjo. It's going to my student Ken who says it reminds him of his grandmother. Who am I to deprive him of his grandmother? It needs a bit of work. It seems that over the last 120 years or so the wood of the neck and fingerboard have dried out and shrunk so all the frets protrude on both sides. The fret ends are sharp and can draw blood. It's a small, light z-b with a string length of only 25.25 inches (just over 64 centimeters). The sound is… Continue

I've just uploaded an mp3 of a catchy little tune called Champion Waltz. It's from Winner's New School for the Banjo (1872). I learned it from the ABF quarterly 5 Stringer where it was transposed to C notation by Eli Kaufman. I'm playing it on a fretless banjo made in the 1890s by J Clamp in Newcaste-on-Tyne. It has a big pot and a short neck so it looks a bit like a skillet. Today it sounds like it has a cold. Calfskin head, heavy nylon strings, low tuning.

A Banjo Revel is a Joe Morley tune I learned from some very large sheet music I won on ebay. I've never heard a recording of it. It seems to be the only one of Morley's compositions to be published by Larking. (Larking's Banjo Budget #1). It anticipates "melodic" bluegrass technique by several decades not to mention the theme of The Ballad of Davy Crocket ("born on a mountain top in Tennessee....." ). I'm playing it on an anonymous American banjo with a 12.5 inch metal clad pot and a playing… Continue

I'm not sure where to post info about mp3-s I've posted so I guess I'll do it here. I've just uploaded a casual recording of St Louis Tickle that I had made for a friend so he could get a feel for the tune. Imperfect as it is, I like the feel of this rendition. It was recorded on my mac using Garage Band and the mac's built in mic. No too bad at all. Sorry about the talking and interruptions. The "technical difficulty" was the banjo sliding off my lap.



St Louis Tickle was written for… Continue