The banjo is the iconic American instrument, critical to the early development of most forms of American popular music, including “Tin Pan Alley,” Jazz, and Bluegrass. Yet, cultural shifts starting in the late 1960s somehow caused banjo to be, not only neglected by most popular musicians, but derided (especially by…
First of all you should know that I do not consider myself a “banjo player” per se. I am a songwriter/singer who occasionally uses guitar, banjo, bass, dulcimer, or piano to accompany himself and his friends. So if you invite me to bring my banjo to a party or gig,…
If you’ve ever visited the saxophone section of my SchoolOfTheRock.com web page, you’d know that I love writing about vintage saxophones almost as much as I love playing them. I’m also a professional writer and researcher, so when I get a question from a reader, I can usually track down…
When I wrote an article about “short-scale” and travel banjos for the Riverboat Music site, it got me thinking that I would like to have a 5-string that was as portable as my Martin Backpacker travel guitar. My Backpacker is 35″ long and just over 9″ wide at its widest…
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 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 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…
Originally Posted, July 29, 2015 As a folk-style banjo player since the 1960s, I was encouraged to hear Mumford and Sons put banjo back on the radio, at least temporarily. However, it’s also led to some interesting conversations as I’ve tried to explain to my musician friends the difference between…
