How many people actually play this style?

[Austin]

I'm curious. How many people even know about it? It seems rare to find someone who does.

[Austin]

Liszt already existed and I don't feel very attracted to the piano. The banjo is my home.

Richard William Ineson said:

You are right Ian, he's flogging a dead horse, he needs to move on to an instrument with more of a future and less of a past.

IAN SALTER said:

I think that my post was poorly considered. It was intended to suggest to Austin, that his stated aims might be better realised on instruments other than a banjo.

[Ethan Schwartz]

Drift is right. The original question has been answered (more or less), and the reasoning behind that answer has been provided. We don't need to invent further explanations -- like instruments not being used to their "full potential," whatever that means -- when we can simply look at the historical facts. 

nick Kelly said:

I am struggling to see a connection between some guy tapping an electric guitar and how many people play in this banjo style, must be what is called thread drift !

Austin said:

Because they wear picks. But right hand tapping is more of a gimmick or party trick.

Ethan Schwartz said:

You don't see people doing fast two-handed tapping on banjo, and there's a reason. You need very low action and the right combination of string gauge/tension to get a clear and even sound. Electric instruments have the advantage here because you can play gently and just boost the output (some compresion/reverb doesn't hurt, either). Instruments like the Chapman Stick and Marcodi Harpejji are designed with these principles in mind. You can tap on acoustic guitar but it takes more force and thus is less agile. 

Jody Stecher said:

Strings and frets are strings and frets. Banjos have em, just like electric guitars. Left hand tapping can be done on any stringed instrument. I still maintain that the banjo has limits but I don't see how this repertoire and its techniques can't be done on most types of banjos.  Not that I would ever want to.

IAN SALTER said:

I should have used an example performed on an acoustic instrument. However, the point is that I cannot imagine a banjo being used for such advanced musical expression.

[IAN SALTER]

Irrespective of what it may be called, I am very content playing only pre 1900 jigs, hornpipes, schottiches, waltzes and marches on my pre 1900 banjos. 

[Joel Hooks]

I have to admit, I did not listen to the guitar tapping video-- I saw it but did not turn on the sound.

The "classical guitar" world is replete with new composition.  The problem is, and this is just my opinion, 99% (of what I have heard) is unlistenable. 

The whole 12 tone or atonal thing is just beyond my understanding.  It is not fun. It is not good music.

There was some of this 12 tone stuff on the Black Tie Banjo CD recorded by Geoff Freed.  I deleted it off of my phone so that it would not play by accident.  It sounds like random clicks and plunks and bleeps. Oh... but it is taking music to "higher levels"! Bah!

For me, I was attracted to classic banjo by the "historical" printed music.  Give me a military march, polka, rag, waltz, jig, reel, minor jig, characteristic piece, etc.. 

Compose good fun music, with melody and harmony, that lands easy on the fingerboard and I'll be all about it.  Use difficult time with hard to play atonal chords and no melody to speak of... well, I'll go back to George Lansing and Thomas Armstrong. 

[Richard William Ineson]

I feel exactly the same Joel, Cammeyer's attempts at introducing 'modern' harmonies and no melody in his work, pieces such as 'La Caresse' were completely baffling to everyone I suspect, like much 'avant garde' music in other fields. I have tried to listen to what I term, 'What time does the tune start?' music and it just makes me feel queasy. The guitar tapping video sounds, to me, like the muzak which is now played as background on many UK TV adverts, composed, if that is the right term, especially for the job and to avoid paying any fees to the Performing Rights Society for music written by composers who were/are more traditional in their approach to music.

Joel Hooks said:

I have to admit, I did not listen to the guitar tapping video-- I saw it but did not turn on the sound.

The "classical guitar" world is replete with new composition.  The problem is, and this is just my opinion, 99% (of what I have heard) is unlistenable. 

The whole 12 tone or atonal thing is just beyond my understanding.  It is not fun. It is not good music.

There was some of this 12 tone stuff on the Black Tie Banjo CD recorded by Geoff Freed.  I deleted it off of my phone so that it would not play by accident.  It sounds like random clicks and plunks and bleeps. Oh... but it is taking music to "higher levels"! Bah!

For me, I was attracted to classic banjo by the "historical" printed music.  Give me a military march, polka, rag, waltz, jig, reel, minor jig, characteristic piece, etc.. 

Compose good fun music, with melody and harmony, that lands easy on the fingerboard and I'll be all about it.  Use difficult time with hard to play atonal chords and no melody to speak of... well, I'll go back to George Lansing and Thomas Armstrong. 

[nick Kelly]

I have always just played any tune that I enjoy ,my audience seem to enjoy it too, I make no attempt to push anything to a higher level like others have said, such attempts to do so I have found to be unlistenable. I like Scott Joplin, George Gershwin and a slew of other composers of their ilk, if anybody wants to push barriers and explore new genres using their banjo then good for them but, dont be surprised if most people just ignore you,its only a banjo, just play it !

Richard William Ineson said:

I feel exactly the same Joel, Cammeyer's attempts at introducing 'modern' harmonies and no melody in his work, pieces such as 'La Caresse' were completely baffling to everyone I suspect, like much 'avant garde' music in other fields. I have tried to listen to what I term, 'What time does the tune start?' music and it just makes me feel queasy. The guitar tapping video sounds, to me, like the muzak which is now played as background on many UK TV adverts, composed, if that is the right term, especially for the job and to avoid paying any fees to the Performing Rights Society for music written by composers who were/are more traditional in their approach to music.

Joel Hooks said:

I have to admit, I did not listen to the guitar tapping video-- I saw it but did not turn on the sound.

The "classical guitar" world is replete with new composition.  The problem is, and this is just my opinion, 99% (of what I have heard) is unlistenable. 

The whole 12 tone or atonal thing is just beyond my understanding.  It is not fun. It is not good music.

There was some of this 12 tone stuff on the Black Tie Banjo CD recorded by Geoff Freed.  I deleted it off of my phone so that it would not play by accident.  It sounds like random clicks and plunks and bleeps. Oh... but it is taking music to "higher levels"! Bah!

For me, I was attracted to classic banjo by the "historical" printed music.  Give me a military march, polka, rag, waltz, jig, reel, minor jig, characteristic piece, etc.. 

Compose good fun music, with melody and harmony, that lands easy on the fingerboard and I'll be all about it.  Use difficult time with hard to play atonal chords and no melody to speak of... well, I'll go back to George Lansing and Thomas Armstrong. 

[IAN SALTER]

Nick, without reading all 11 pages again, I could be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure it was only Austin who was talking about using the banjo for exploring new music. 

[nick Kelly]

And it was to him I addressed my remarks, I think he may be on the wrong forum !

IAN SALTER said:

Nick, without reading all 11 pages again, I could be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure it was only Austin who was talking about using the banjo for exploring new music. 

[IAN SALTER]

Your approach to the banjo is the same as I have with my mouth organs and melodions. I play the old sing-songs, as well as polkas, schottiches, waltzes, jigs and stepdance tunes etc. If it can be whistled, it can be played on those instruments. Having spoken to several old boys, it is just what they were doing in the 1930s and onwards. Sadly, it seems to have almost disappeared, with the demise of those old players. It is the similarity in repertory that drew me to the banjo, albeit I play from the old tune books. It is like stepping back in time.

[nick Kelly]

I play mouth organs also, I play all types of banjo, 5 string Scruggs style on steel strings, classic style on nylon strings and Irish music on 4 string tenor which is the same as mandolin which I also play, ukulele George Formby style and electric guitar to boot ! I rely on all the above named to allow me to work all year round to paying audiences, I do 4-5 gigs weekly which is why I am often surprised by those who try to buck the trend and wonder why nobody listens, like you Ian I love those good old familiar tunes and never tire of singing them, I am always amused by those who think that Michael Buble wrote "The Way You Look Tonight" they have no idea that some of the best songs/tunes of all time were composed almost 100 years ago, great ! go and play those tapping squealing noises and, I will grab my uke and sing  a Percy French song, just out of interest, the two most often requested tunes when I am in seaside mood are Whistling Rufus and The Maple Leaf Rag , just the way it is !

IAN SALTER said:

Your approach to the banjo is the same as I have with my mouth organs and melodions. I play the old sing-songs, as well as polkas, schottiches, waltzes, jigs and stepdance tunes etc. If it can be whistled, it can be played on those instruments. Having spoken to several old boys, it is just what they were doing in the 1930s and onwards. Sadly, it seems to have almost disappeared, with the demise of those old players. It is the similarity in repertory that drew me to the banjo, albeit I play from the old tune books. It is like stepping back in time.

[IAN SALTER]

I had a little band, for about fifteen years, when I lived in East Sussex; I mainly played fiddle, with occasional piccolo or mouth organ and my three pals were on fiddle, Anglo concertina and banjo or piano. We played for dances and now and then, as the 'house band' at a folk club in London. I moved to Birmingham three years ago and now I'm only playing for myself. I'm still working from the Ellis tutors, mainly banjo, but also his guitar and mandoline books. If you haven't come across it before, this is a fabulous site

https://m.youtube.com/user/CatsPjamas1/playlists

The early decades are what I listen to, in particular the great Henry Burr.

[nick Kelly]

Ian, it is all good, older geezers like us can do much in the way of exposing young whippersnappers to older music !

IAN SALTER said:

I had a little band, for about fifteen years, when I lived in East Sussex; I mainly played fiddle, with occasional piccolo or mouth organ and my three pals were on fiddle, Anglo concertina and banjo or piano. We played for dances and now and then, as the 'house band' at a folk club in London. I moved to Birmingham three years ago and now I'm only playing for myself. I'm still working from the Ellis tutors, mainly banjo, but also his guitar and mandoline books. If you haven't come across it before, this is a fabulous site

https://m.youtube.com/user/CatsPjamas1/playlists

The early decades are what I listen to, in particular the great Henry Burr.