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]

I like it

IAN SALTER said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u9EJOzEXTgE&list=PLiNeEis1npnDXza...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DRfzittQ4Wc&list=PLiNeEis1npnDXza...

I tried and then gave up trying to explain my reason for posting this. 

[Richard William Ineson]

You have to admire the technique but it all seems like aimless noodling to me. I was privileged to spend a weekend with fellow banjo enthusiasts at the B.M.G. Federation event at Halsway Manor a couple of years ago, the banjo tutor was Aaron Jonah Lewis, he admitted that, like myself, he often just sat with his banjo and played the open strings in random sequences with no aim in mind, perhaps he should make a recording of it. He called it 'discovering the Zen of the banjo'. On the same theme I've  got an old (now) LP of David Grisman, the record is called 'Mandolin Abstractions' and has tracks called things like  'Journey to the Centre of Twang' and 'Two White Boys Listening to James Brown at the Apollo'. I was talking to DG at a Bluegrass (or Folk/Roots etc.)  Festival some time later and the subject of this LP (Mandolin Abstractions) came up, he said to me, "Did you actually buy this record?" (I had)

Austin said:

I like it

IAN SALTER said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u9EJOzEXTgE&list=PLiNeEis1npnDXza...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DRfzittQ4Wc&list=PLiNeEis1npnDXza...

I tried and then gave up trying to explain my reason for posting this. 

[IAN SALTER]

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.

[Richard William Ineson]

There a few things which you can play on the banjo which might move some people to tears, Dream Song (I once played this with all repeats and it lasted eight and a half minutes) You and a Canoe, Pompadour, Tender Glances, Violet Mazurka, Hunter's Romance, At Sunset, and there must be lots more.

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.

[Jody Stecher]

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.

[Ethan Schwartz]

And it doesn't really matter anyways. If the goal is purely to make really technical music, keyboard is unbeatable. Or to make music that is truly superhuman, you can ditch physical instruments altogether and compose using digital tools. But such music will always be of passing interest because it communicates nothing (well, besides the skill of the player/composer). 

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.

[Ethan Schwartz]

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.

[Austin]

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.

[nick Kelly]

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]

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.

[Joel Hooks]

Grimshaw composed some great sentimental pieces, add Stars are Shining and Pierrot Serenade, good stuff!

Richard William Ineson said:

There a few things which you can play on the banjo which might move some people to tears, Dream Song (I once played this with all repeats and it lasted eight and a half minutes) You and a Canoe, Pompadour, Tender Glances, Violet Mazurka, Hunter's Romance, At Sunset, and there must be lots more.

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.

[Richard William Ineson]

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.