Topic
Banjo music in the music?
I am just learning to play banjo (shhh, I like it, it's good enough for Kermit, it's good enough for me). I've been messing around trying to pick out the theme but I am not good enough yet. Am I correct that there is banjo in the general theme and if so, is there a tab for it?
Replies
- Sounds like a banjo to me actually! but I'm only just learning mandolin and haven't got my country plucked strings figured out acoustically yet so don't take my word for it. No idea if there's sheet music for it. Good on you for picking up banjo!
- It's a 5 string clawhammer style. If possible, find somebody in your community that plays claw-hamme if you think you like it. The tune is a D tuning with the capo on the second fret. Starting with the string closest to your face, the strings are: ADADE.
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@Lynore
I'm sure you're already familiar with her work, but on the off chance you're not, listen to some Sarah Jarosz. She's something of a prodigy and plays a lot of clawhammer banjo (among other things). I mostly listen to electronica of varying types, but she found a home in my music collection through sheer amazingness. Plus, she's just so incredibly likeable as a person that you have to root for her.
Here are some of my favorites:
Tell Me True (banjo)
Mansinneedof (mandolin)
Ireland's Green Shore (banjo) (Tim O'Brien cover)
Song Up In Her Head (octave mandolin)
Fischer Store Road (banjo)
Little Song (acoustic guitar)
Run Away (acoustic guitar)
Come Around (octave mandolin)
Left Home (banjo)
It's worth mentioning that she writes all of her own songs, aside from the occasional cover. - @Eleni - wow!
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@Lara
I know, right? =) There's a video of her playing "Little Song" in a hotel room that's just haunting, and she was only 17 when it was filmed, even younger when she wrote it. When I was seventeen, I was worrying if the boy I liked was going to ask me out, and possibly writing very bad poetry about it <laugh>; I certainly wasn't writing songs for my upcoming album while touring music festivals. She really is unbelievable. I wish she were more widely recognized, but she's certainly respected in her field.
(I added a few more songs to my original post, too. "Ireland's Green Shore," "Left Home" and "Come Around." She does an incredible version of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells," too; I actually like her arrangement better than Dylan's original, and I'm a huge fan of his (who isn't?). - Nice Eleni! Love it! I'm pretty sure I've seen her around jamming at festivals, but I didn't know she had a recording career. Love that version of Ring them Bells!
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I'm from New Zealand and only got introduced to country/folk/bluegrass when I visited Maryland in July this year, and since then have been hooked. First artist I really got into was Sierra Hull as I have a mandolin but heard Sarah's name here and there as well and I'm so glad I finally clicked through to some of these videos :)
Just listened to the "Ring them bells" video (believe it or not, I've never listened to Bob Dylan - yep, I'm a newbie). Wow! And that instrument is awesome :) I wonder how a normal octave mandolin sounds different from that one. I'm totally impressed. -
@Lara
Oh, if you know Sierra Hull, check this out: Old Daingerfield. =) The two of them play an instrumental mandolin duet.
One of the things I like best about bluegrass in the modern age is that it's so easy to find live footage like that, and it's usually as good or even better than the studio productions. There's such an atmosphere of joy and earnestness on that small scale, especially with bluegrass.
Oh, another really great pair of such moments! Blue Night and Look at Miss Ohio - http://video.pbs.org/video/2164506461/
- Nice find, Danny. Thanks for the link. =)