New strings/ New transcription

[Jody Stecher]

The 5th peg on my Windsor Grand Solo banjo keeps slipping so I've been playing my Eric Stefanelli banjo more and more. As my classic banjo playing evolved I found Eric's recommended gauges too heavy for this banjo's 28 inch scale. The feel was good but the sound was a bit congested. The LaBella classic set ("17s") were too light in feel and too thin in sound to bring out the best this banjo has in it. I've been experimenting and I've nearly got it right now. At  present the 4 highest strings are rectified nylon  ( a mix of La Bella and Saverez Anciens, chosen according to what was in my string drawer) and the bass is a LaBella wound string like the one in the 17 set.  The gauges are as follows

1 and 5:   . 020

2:   .023

3:  .028

4: .025

I might like the 5th string to be .021.  The bass at C is perfect at .025 but sounds a bit fat and congested at D. Maybe I'll try .024.

Here is a recording  (with the new strings) and transcription of a tune that is called "Smith's Reel" in Texas and "Kitty's Wedding" in Ireland where it is thought to be a hornpipe although it doesn't go Rum Pum Pum at the end of either part.  

I've gotten not much response to the jigs, reels and hornpipes I've been posting. If these are not of interest I will stop posting them. One reason I've been posting these is because in my arrangements I have  applying the techniques I learned from classic banjo repertoire. For instance in Smith/Kitty I am using the fingering of both hands indicated in banjo solos by Joe Morley in "A Banjo Revel" and Parke Hunter in "Pensacola".

Attached are a recording,  staff notation, and tab.

[Jody Stecher]

Thank you for this these time-saving methods, Sam.  In classic banjo lingo PB stands for "position barre". Now we can reverse it to obtain a new one: BP.  It's for Banjo Palette, not British Petroleum. 

Question:  The symbol for "text line" in your custom banjo palette has no annoying "VII".  How did you get rid of it?

Discovery: Encircled numbers representing strings in the Guitar palette are larger than the same symbol in the fingering palette. I prefer the smaller ones and have put those in my new Banjo Palette.  

[Sam Harris]

Hi Jody, glad to help.

If you don't want the "VII" or any filler text, select a plain, straight line from the lines palette and use the "Properties" tab to modify it. Once the line is modified to your liking, you can drag and drop it into your palette, and it will stay modified for future use. Now that you have the custom line, you can add text to it by again going to the properties tab and selecting "Text."

This is all from when I was first trying to use MuseScore for banjo, so there could be an easier way to do it.

Jody Stecher said:

Thank you for this these time-saving methods, Sam.  In classic banjo lingo PB stands for "position barre". Now we can reverse it to obtain a new one: BP.  It's for Banjo Palette, not British Petroleum. 

Question:  The symbol for "text line" in your custom banjo palette has no annoying "VII".  How did you get rid of it?

Discovery: Encircled numbers representing strings in the Guitar palette are larger than the same symbol in the fingering palette. I prefer the smaller ones and have put those in my new Banjo Palette.  

[Jody Stecher]

Attached is what I see when I click on Properties. Now what do I do?

Sam Harris said:

Hi Jody, glad to help.

If you don't want the "VII" or any filler text, select a plain, straight line from the lines palette and use the "Properties" tab to modify it.

[Sam Harris]

Try adding the line to your score first and making sure the line is selected

Jody Stecher said:

Attached is what I see when I click on Properties. Now what do I do?

Sam Harris said:

Hi Jody, glad to help.

If you don't want the "VII" or any filler text, select a plain, straight line from the lines palette and use the "Properties" tab to modify it.

[Jody Stecher]

I see the same thing as in your screen shot. I was able to create the shape i want. But I cannot drag it into a palette. It moves to the left of the score towards the palette menu and then disappears.  I tried it 5 times.


Sam Harris said:

Try adding the line to your score first and making sure the line is selected

Jody Stecher said:

Attached is what I see when I click on Properties. Now what do I do?

Sam Harris said:

Hi Jody, glad to help.

If you don't want the "VII" or any filler text, select a plain, straight line from the lines palette and use the "Properties" tab to modify it.

[Sam Harris]

Sorry, forgot to mention Ctrl+Shift while dragging and dropping

Jody Stecher said:

I see the same thing as in your screen shot. I was able to create the shape i want. But I cannot drag it into a palette. It moves to the left of the score towards the palette menu and then disappears.  I tried it 5 times.


Sam Harris said:

Try adding the line to your score first and making sure the line is selected

Jody Stecher said:

Attached is what I see when I click on Properties. Now what do I do?

Sam Harris said:

Hi Jody, glad to help.

If you don't want the "VII" or any filler text, select a plain, straight line from the lines palette and use the "Properties" tab to modify it.

[Jody Stecher]

AH ! Thank you.  That worked, with Ctrl replaced by Command on my Mac.  In order to get the shape of a horizontal line that turns down at a right angle at  its right end I selected an end hook showing a horizontal line that turns up  at a right angle at  its right end. I stumbled upon this choice.  Does Musescore think the average user is going to know that up means down?

Sam Harris said:

Sorry, forgot to mention Ctrl+Shift while dragging and dropping

[Joel Hooks]

Hey Sam, you are becoming one of my favorite banjo people!  Please keep coming to the rallies!! I had a great time hanging out and playing with you and you are adding so much.  Your musescore tips are icing!  This symbol flag thing is fantastic.

[Jody Stecher]

Whoops. What happens is that the modified line that has been dragged into the Banjo Palette stays there for as long as I am working on the particular score in which the line was created. Once I save and leave that score and open something else, the line is no longer in the Banjo Palette.  

Jody Stecher said:

AH ! Thank you.  That worked, with Ctrl replaced by Command on my Mac.  In order to get the shape of a horizontal line that turns down at a right angle at  its right end I selected an end hook showing a horizontal line that turns up  at a right angle at  its right end. I stumbled upon this choice.  Does Musescore think the average user is going to know that up means down?

Sam Harris said:

Sorry, forgot to mention Ctrl+Shift while dragging and dropping

[Sam Harris]

Thanks Joel! It's always great to seeing you at rallies

Joel Hooks said:

Hey Sam, you are becoming one of my favorite banjo people!  Please keep coming to the rallies!! I had a great time hanging out and playing with you and you are adding so much.  Your musescore tips are icing!  This symbol flag thing is fantastic.

[Trapdoor2]

I have now built my own "Banjo" pallet. No issues. Having been raised in the control character age, I use that a lot. ctrl-c/ctrl-v = cut/paste, ctrl-T = staff text, ctrl-K = chords, ctrl-S = slur, etc., etc. Faster for me than mousing around.

I also tend to do things in blocks. Key in notes, add repeats, add slurs, add dynamics, add grace notes add accents, etc. I could move all the usual heavy hitters to my "banjo" pallet but I think I'll leave most of them comfortably in their own pallets.

The ctrl+shift technique works fine (I'm Windoze based). I was able to create and save any Staff Text and the VII------ thing, no problem. The "VII" is just a placeholder for text. Even if you created it as 6B-----, you'd have to change the text for every different position.

I suppose you could create a pallet for positions with every single fret...but it is so easy to change the properties, I'm keeping mine VII (I did change it to dotted lines though). I found it amusing that the same VII thing is located in the guitar pallet but named "capo line". In the "lines" pallet, it is simply called "text line".

It is nice to have boilerplate though...and it is easy to modify the pallet. Instead of typing ctrl-t and then typing "6B" (or whatever) for every position, one could scan (visually) the piece and create a temporary pallet for all the PBs and Bs seen. When you got around to adding positions, they'd be clickety-click.

Jody Stecher said:

Whoops. What happens is that the modified line that has been dragged into the Banjo Palette stays there for as long as I am working on the particular score in which the line was created. Once I save and leave that score and open something else, the line is no longer in the Banjo Palette.  

Jody Stecher said:

AH ! Thank you.  That worked, with Ctrl replaced by Command on my Mac.  In order to get the shape of a horizontal line that turns down at a right angle at  its right end I selected an end hook showing a horizontal line that turns up  at a right angle at  its right end. I stumbled upon this choice.  Does Musescore think the average user is going to know that up means down?

Sam Harris said:

Sorry, forgot to mention Ctrl+Shift while dragging and dropping