On "impossible" chord shapes

[Mike Moss]

I've been giving some thought to the use of a six-string (5 long + octave string, not 6 long strings) banjo as a solution for the problem of "impossible" chord shapes.

 

As we all know, there are advantages and disadvantages to both "elevated bass" tuning and standard C for the banjo -- whereas I strive to play all of my music in standard C, even those pieces which sound as if they'd work a lot better in elevated bass (the London Club Parade, for instance) there are some solos in which both the low C and the convenience of a bass string tuned to D become apparent, such as the ease of playing a four-note F chord in the 1st position or hitting the F# note on the fourth. One such example is "Return of the Regiment", in which we have both the low C and a nigh-impossible (unless you have foot-long fingers!) F chord which requires an awkward jump. This problem is also apparent in many of Grimshaw's studies in "How to Excel on the Banjo", in which you sometimes can't give a note its proper length due to the need to jump to reach another note.

 

So I've been thinking... wouldn't a banjo with both a C and a D bass strings solve these problems, eliminate the need to re-tune the bass string for different solos, and allow a greater variety of four-note chords to be played from a single tuning, whilst preserving the banjo's usual range?

 

The only problems I see for this 6-string banjo are, for instance, C-tuning solos in which rasps feature prominently, solos in which a novelty effect is derived from strumming the five strings (as in Japanese Patrol), and some Morley pieces in which he uses a thumb glide on the fourth and third to obtain a particular effect (Bourree, Boston Walk Around... or Bert Basset's Jumbo Rag).

 

Any thoughts?

[marc dalmasso]

my thought : why not ?  your idea isn 't bad  but  you cannot play fast tunes with an extra bass , no so fast as you could do with the regular because of the extra distance to go to the 5th string ; i have tried this .

But it should work with the slow & medium tempi

More ; i thing the best using of the extra string is a G ; because an extra string is not only the new notes you can play with it but also the extra harmonics you have which update the general sound of the bj

http://classic-banjo.ning.com/video/el-caminante

[Jody Stecher]

1) Cammeyer's stretches are worse than Grimshaw's. At first it seems impossible but after a while the hand relaxes and it is no longer such a big deal.

 

2) I've tried 6 strings. On the banjos I've played the presence of the extra bass (no matter what it is tuned to) makes the other strings sound muddy.

 

3) tuning one bass to D and another to C would cause new problems

a) problems of how to avoid sounding the D string when wanting to sounding the C string

b) new stretch problems, this time vertical.

-Jody "Stretcher"

[Mike Moss]

Thanks for the insight, Marc and Jody. It seems that an extra D creates as many problems as it solves (unpleasant overtones, too much tension on the head, vertical stretches...) -- which is probably why we don't see many such banjos, historically. I realize that these subjects have probably been debated time and again over a million times throughout banjo history, and I tend to over-analyze things myself! If luthiers and players alike didn't adopt it over the course of a century and a half, it probably wasn't practical to begin with.

 

I'll get back to stretching, I must admit that my reach has improved considerably after several months of playing the Grimshaw exercises. Hopefully I'll be able to play that four-note F chord someday!

[Trapdoor2]

I have one of the new Goldtone "lo-jo" OT-6 banjos. I only really bought it because it was dropped in my lap and it was cheap. I have tried tuning it as you suggest and it does work reasonably well (I think I could probably get used to it) but the more I played it, the less happy I was with the extra string.

I just don't play it now, so I'm probably going to trade it off.

[Jody Stecher]

6 and 7 string banjos were used mostly for simple song accompaniment.  Extra basses came in handy for that.

[marc dalmasso]

Like Joe Morley , he died in poverty , when he passed away , his friends found 2 pianos out of tune in his place and several used ( destroyed ) black suits

[Jody Stecher]

Were the suits destroyed from too much stretching?