For those new to Classic Style... here is why I like it so much!

[thereallyniceman]

I am aware that many on here are familiar with the playing of TBj., but for those who don't here is a treat for you!
There are several misconceptions regarding "Classic Style". One thing that it isn't is "Classical Style", playing exclusively what is normally regarded as "classical" music on the banjo.

"Classic Style" encompasses the whole spectrum of musical styles from Classical music, Ragtime, Jazz to popular music, but definitely NOT Bluegrass :-(

Tarrant Bailey Junior was one of the finest UK players from the early 20th Century, and I was fortunate enough to have met him on many occasions and was also given many playing tips by him.

How can you not like this infectious and dynamic style. Tarrant Bailey's rasps could tear your ears off at 100 paces.

:-)

[Trapdoor2]

Crazy to see his bass-string work as well. If I hit my bass string that hard on a regular basis, I'd be buying strings and band-aids (plaster) in bulk!

[Shawn McSweeny]

TBjr is definitely one of the Great String Wizards that play incredibly and make it look so EASY.

[John Cohen]

Man, so if you put a resonator on a Weaver it becomes a weapon of mass destruction.  I've got to try that with mine.  

[3iv8pyyhxxoiv]

Why is the armrest on TBJr's banjo positioned so as his arm cannot rest on it??

[Jody Stecher]

Maybe he had a good sense of humor.

Maybe he liked to play tremolo or some other effect near where the neck and pot meet and found the arm rest more useful there. 

In other words, I have no idea.

John Field said:

Why is the armrest on TBJr's banjo positioned so as his arm cannot rest on it??

[3iv8pyyhxxoiv]

It's baffling......

[Jody Stecher]

Sometimes I do small odd things on stage just to see if anyone in the audience is alert.  For instance I'll put a capo on a guitar on only 5 strings, leaving the bass string open. Then I'll finger that string below the capo. Almost no one catches it but those who do are the more alert ones and I notice them noticing.  

I have a trick where I seem to be raising the pitch of a guitar string by turning the endpin. Perhaps Bailey is doing a similar thing with the armrest  just do see if anyone notices. You, John, would have passed the test. So would others how have pointed out this anomaly before.

John Field said:

It's baffling......

[thereallyniceman]

Maybe for his Australian tours?

;-)

... He did have a very dry sense of humour!

[3iv8pyyhxxoiv]

There's another Pathe clip on Youtube from 1936 of TB Jr and Geoff Sisley playing a banjo and guitar duet.  TB Jr is playing the same banjo as in the 1942 clip and it had that armrest in the same position.....so it was mounted thus  (it would seem) for at least 6 years.  I cannot figure this out at all........

[Joel Hooks]

Eli Kaufman asked him why he did this and he gave him an answer.  There is some logic behind it.

Come to the ABF rally next month and ask Eli in person-- he will tell you!

[Mike Redman]

There is also a photo of TB Jr taken when he was in Tenerife, which from memory is the same banjo with the arm rest close to the neck, this would date the photo as 1960's, unless he was taking a holiday there prior to living in Tenerife?

John Field said:

There's another Pathe clip on Youtube from 1936 of TB Jr and Geoff Sisley playing a banjo and guitar duet.  TB Jr is playing the same banjo as in the 1942 clip and it had that armrest in the same position.....so it was mounted thus  (it would seem) for at least 6 years.  I cannot figure this out at all........

[Joel Hooks]

Seriously, there is a real answer to this question.  He did it for a reason.