Originally posted September 18, 2015 So, I learned 5-string banjo in the 1960s, following the example of a variety of folk artists, especially Pete Seeger, who – despite being basically a frailer – had mastered several other techniques, and didn’t feel bad about adjusting his playing style to the song.…
Originally posted September 13, 2015 So, we’re cleaning up the basement after some 28 years of living in the same old house – a house we moved into in a hurry and where we have been randomly throwing stuff into the basement ever since. In the meantime, I’ve upgraded most…
Originally Posted August 31, 2015 Twelve-string guitars have the low strings doubled an octave higher. This concept had long been used by members of the mandolin family, but wasn’t apparently carried over into the guitar family until the late 19th century. The extra high strings help the guitar sound louder…
Originally posted August 28, 2015 Just got my 12-string Ovie Balladeer out of mothballs to play in a church service. I’m the guitarist they call in when the other three guitarists can’t make it. But I don’t mind, since it gives me most Sundays off but lets me keep my…
Originally posted August 23, 2015 Folks working with traditional music often run into fake copyright notices on the sheet music they buy. One particular publisher often gets credit and even publishing royalties for recordings of songs that were written long before that company existed, only because they affixed a copyright…
Originally Posted August 12, 2015 Added my first YouTube. Mostly, I’m experimenting to see if I can get all the bits and pieces of my “web presence” talking to each other. It’s showing a 5-string beginners version of “Boil That Cabbage Down,” to accompany chapter 4 of my free banjo…
Originally Posted August 9, 2015 I don’t have much personal stuff to post yet, but I will try to get something posted soon. In the meantime, there are a few nice videos from folks I enjoy hearing. For some reason the link software isn’t working right. You may have to…
Originally posted August 8 Just retweaked my “electric-acoustic” Dean Backwoods 6 for the third time this season. Then I played my Deering D6 for about ten minutes. They’re barely the same instrument. I like the fact that I don’t throw my back out picking up the Dean like I do…
Originally posted August 6 Back when I was playing harp all the time, I migrated to Hohner’ “Pro Harps” because of their volume, rich tone, and reliability. Recently, I wanted to play harp-on-a-bracket on a song I’m working up on banjo. Since I’m now going back and forth between multiple…
Originally posted August 5 Just put a Grover compensated bridge on the Samick 5-string that I use backless. it has the tone I want and decent action, but playing “A” on the second fret of the third string was always “iffy,” usually quite sharp. Playing B on the fourth fret…
