Comment by marc dalmasso on July 31, 2012 at 12:02

 From the piano  ‘ score ; the beautiful rag was composed in 1915 by Joseph  F Lamb ; it ‘s a romantic ragtime ; (a ragtime which is romantic ) . Impossible to play on the regular 5^th , we need a 6 th ‘ one  to do that . The low bass is an octave C . There are 3 parts  + intro & interlude . The tempo is moderate and up to the Bj .

Comment by Trapdoor2 on July 31, 2012 at 14:41

One of my favorite pieces, Marc. Well played!

Now I'm going to have to drag out my 6-string banjo and work on "Ragtime Nightingale"

BTW, a guy named Paul Smith made a great recording of this piece on the banjo back in the 1980's. He also did several classical pieces. I bought that album when it was new and never heard another thing from him. Now he is a member of the ning Minstrel site! I'll ask him if I can upload an mp3 of his version here...but I think it is only on a 5-string!

Comment by Mike Moss on August 1, 2012 at 9:58

What a great piece, and what a remarkable sounding banjo! I'm constantly thinking about the possibilities of an extra bass string... How do you see its use, harmony-wise, Marc? I guess a low G would mostly add sympathetic vibrations + possibilities for easy counterpoint by fretting the bass G where you would fret the treble G in close-voiced chords. Any insight into this matter?

Comment by marc dalmasso on August 1, 2012 at 18:27

Marc ; was a joke ; it' s of course impossible to do all the dots writed for a piano arrangment , even with an extra string ; however , i noticed this rag was build alike some by Louis moreau Gottschalk or Henry Lodge , with repetitive parts in differents octaves ( the nighingale in the 3rd part ) ; need the bass string for this and for the melodic line of the 1st part , too

Mike ; yes , even if you do not touch the extra string , you will have harmonics & a bigger sound ; but with the large neck , it will be only for the medium or slow tempi ' tunes ; this one or maria mazurka for example ; for fast tempo or tunes  for banjo  ( smiler , yankee land etc ) better is the 5th . one thing more , when you start on the six string , your  fingers may take the habit of the bass string ;learning ,  it 's usual to fret the good string LH and play the bad  'one RH

Comment by thereallyniceman on August 2, 2012 at 10:28

Very good again Marc,

It is good to hear the tuning of the instrument before you start to play too, so if people want to play along it is easy to tune to your banjo.  I have electronic tuners, but sometimes just tune the instrument by ear or by reference to our electric piano, which for some strange reason seems to be sharp of concert pitch!

The tempo you set is slower than I expected for the rag, but I guess for "romantic ragtime" it is perfect. Other Youtube recordings seem to have more of the ragtime swing, but it is all down to personal preference.

Thank you again Marc... great stuff!

Comment by Jody Stecher on August 2, 2012 at 15:10

The different brands of electronic tuners disagree with each other so how can any be trusted?  They are fine for getting pretty durn close but even the finest electronic tuner cannot "know" in what key you will play, so minute adjustments need to be made by the player. 

Comment by Trapdoor2 on August 2, 2012 at 15:35

My tuner (a Peterson "Stroboflip") has "sweetened" tunings for various instruments, including the banjo. It does a much better job than I can.

Add a Comment