What's the beef with banjo players?

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 7 Mar 2009 2:47 pm

Larry Bressington wrote:..you are a handsome bugger mate, almost look Bristolian!

You mean he looks like a steam engine ?????

Bernie Gonyea · Post by **Bernie Gonyea** » 7 Mar 2009 7:42 pm

I do not hate any musician; regardless of their choice of Instrument; we all perform to the best of our GOD given ability. Nor do I hate everyone whom loves to poke fun at any of the pickers or the instrument which they are playing. Like many of you have stated " There's a time and place for every thing and every person, to do their thing. I'm a firm believer in carrying a pair of ' Ear Plugs ", if there is a sound or composition I do not wish to listen to, I put my " Ear Plugs " into action.. Miracles never cease..Bernie

James Jacoby · Post by **James Jacoby** » 7 Mar 2009 8:27 pm

John Billings wrote:I am currently designing a pedal banjo. 13 strings 11 pedals and 13 knee levers. Will be at the Dallas show. Look for my room in the sub-basement.

Hey John, Bring it over to Ricks store, I'll bring my 9&1/2 string guitar, and we'll jam!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Jake Jacoby-

Glen Derksen · Post by **Glen Derksen** » 7 Mar 2009 8:37 pm

John Billings wrote:I am currently designing a pedal banjo. 13 strings 11 pedals and 13 knee levers. Will be at the Dallas show. Look for my room in the sub-basement.

I hope your sub-basement has a couple of sump pumps!

Ulric Utsi-Åhlin · Post by **Ulric Utsi-Åhlin** » 8 Mar 2009 12:36 am

For the record...a week ago I threatened to invest in
a good,used 5-string...scanning some ads,my eyes fell
on a Gold Tone DOJO...mail,call,transfer,wham...the
day before yesterday it turned up on my doorstep...
a little fret dress and it´s ready to play...great
little instrument,fun to play...mcUtsi

Gary Lee Gimble · Post by **Gary Lee Gimble** » 8 Mar 2009 3:46 am

Looks like a young Doug B.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm_2JNDwwPk

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 8 Mar 2009 4:14 am

Hey Jake! My Pedbansteel only plays really fast songs! I admit that I once strung a Tele into G tuning, and replaced the 6th string with a .009 tuned to high G. It worked great. That was in a band in Wisconsin. Everybody was high on cheese.

Don Drummer · Post by **Don Drummer** » 8 Mar 2009 9:52 am

How about this one: Did hear about the fiddle player that was so out of tune the steel player noticed? My apologies in advance if this is redundant. Don D.

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 8 Mar 2009 10:46 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi5XNC-f ... annel_page

Even if you hate the banjo...it's a workout!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 9 Mar 2009 2:19 am

Doug Beaumier wrote: have you ever tried playing steel guitar with a bxnj0 on stage? It will cancel out all of your sweet steel guitar sound , $:\$ They should stick to acoustic music, where they belong.

Uhmm, well I also play many gigs on Telecaster where we may bring in another Steel player, who, uh..never clash with the guitar player !

Doug, is it the Instrument or the,uhh...player ? Maybe someone should tell JD Crowe !

If someone is canceling out any sounds I submit that it ain't the Instrument but rather an amateur musician, note I didn't say player,but rather an amateur bandstand musician.

I love a great Bluegrass band with all the elements, I am currently listening to Jim Van Cleve , kinda Country, with elements of Mountain and even a hint of fusion. Great all around tracks, Mando, DBro, Bjo, Fiddle, Flatpick etc. Also listening to Mark Johnson with Emory Lestor, BJo , Mando and Flatpick, great stuff, really melodic.

I gig sometimes on Steel or Tele with a great Fiddle player, when he is not soloing or backing, he is not playing, which is also the school that I come from on Steel. I would love to play with a great Banjo player, as long as we are both in tune.

Our planet is chocked full of great players who don't know when to stop playing great !

t

PS; the worst players I have ever worked with who canceled out the sounds of everything on the bandstand were keyboard players who thought that because they had two hands and ten fingers they were entitled to use them 100% of the time.

Jaclyn Jones · Post by **Jaclyn Jones** » 9 Mar 2009 7:38 am

As a steel and a banjo player I think it is all about how you use either instrument. Lloyd Maines sounded great with both a banjo and a fiddle on stage with him when working with the Dixie Chicks. The end result comes from the cooperation of the whole band. However, I still can't find a way to play both at the same time!

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 9 Mar 2009 8:32 am

We have Steel Radio. I'll bet there's a Banjo Radio too.
"All banjo, all the time!"

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 9 Mar 2009 9:05 am

Sit in a room with Bill Keith and you will witness one of the most powerful minds ever.

Love me some Bobby Thompson, too.

Nathan Sarver · Post by **Nathan Sarver** » 25 Apr 2009 1:09 am

"Why Not Your Baby" by Gene Clark And Doug Dillard is one of the prettiest songs I've ever heard and the banjo is absolutely magic in that song. I have yet to hear ANY instrument that doesn't sound great in the right context. Doug seems to be beating his head against a wall trying to prove that all air smells bad after smelling a fart. He asserts that steel players dislike banjo players because they don't sound good together, but the unpleasantness of two things in concert is hardly a reason to dislike either by themselves. I don't like chunks of steak in my ice cream, but both are great separately.

Derrick Frank · Post by **Derrick Frank** » 25 Apr 2009 1:52 am

Nothing wrong with banjo playing provided it's played in the right song, Ex: Rocky top, sounds great with a fast steel on board,we have a banjo come lead guitar in the band, and we allways rib him when he decides to have a plonk, but it's all in good fun.

Terorist took over a Banjo Convention, and held 50 Banjo players to ransome for $5.000.000.00 if the gov refuse to pay up, they have threaten'd to release on every hour.Slim.

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 25 Apr 2009 9:16 am

I can understand where b0b and some of the others are coming from.
I don't know why but i could never stand the sound of an organ.
Not that it ever affected thier ratings but i never watch Lettermans show as that organ got on my nerves.
I like a good drummer but never watch Leno because of the drummer hitting that @#@$%% rim shotso much.I wondered if it is to let the audience know what Leno said was supposed to be funny?
And years ago i used a leslie with my steel in the N.W.because we played pop and rock and i don't mean 50's as the people out there hated country and i hated that leslie,but i did like eating.I have no idea what any one likes now as it has changed so much.

Ronnie Boettcher · Post by **Ronnie Boettcher** » 25 Apr 2009 11:18 am

I played a electric banjo once, and it really sounded close to what Buck Trent does, without the keith tuners. Also if any of you steelers have a sweet tooth for banjo's, there is a site, like this one, called banjohangout.org. I know it is not in the same interest as this topic, but it does relate to the subject. Sorry b0b, we all have our moments. My love is classic country, and classic bluegrass. Ronnie

Don Drummer · Post by **Don Drummer** » 25 Apr 2009 12:56 pm

Wha? How did all those late Feb. early March posts get thrown in there? My favorite banjo player is Tony Trishca. He almost always performs with a second banjo. Suprisingly it seems to soften up the sound. Don D.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Apr 2009 2:35 pm

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 25 Apr 2009 4:51 pm

Y'all can say what you want about the banjo but Ray Stevens' "Misty" would not have been the same without it. Along with JD Maness on pedal steel it is so much a part of making the song what it is.
Just my 2 c.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Apr 2009 5:47 pm

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 25 Apr 2009 7:04 pm

I can make a steel guitar sound worse than any sound you'll ever hear from a banjo.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 25 Apr 2009 11:39 pm

My guess is Doug Beaumier never heard Byron Berline and Sundance back in the early 80s.

With John Hickman on banjo, Allen Wald on pedal Steel and Dan Crary on acoustic guitar (periodically Albert Lee on electric guitar as well) that band (IMO could change anyone's perception of steel/banjo not being a good combination. Hearing those guys chase each other with 2 or 4 measures apiece was fantastic.

Also hearing Pat Cloud play with jazz-influenced steel players ( I heard him with J.B. Crabtree a few times playing some bebop-type stuff) would probably change your perception.

I don't disagree that straight bluegrass banjo (Scruggs style) can be a poor match for pedal steel, but the melodic players...especially the top-line guys, like Hickman, Keith, Furtado, Cloud, Fleck, Trischka et al can mix it up with a steel player and turn the prototypical "banjo listener" on his head.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 26 Apr 2009 7:23 am

Peter Dollard · Post by **Peter Dollard** » 26 Apr 2009 7:43 am

To me this subject is just so juvenile, like the banjo has no use compared to the steel guitar or it is somehow inferior. Bill Keith recorded one of the best steel guitar solos of all time on a banjo. Yet no one knows because it was never identified on the track. Most people think it is some kind of modified guitar although it was actually a muted banjo. Listen to the Jugband(Kweskin's Band)version of Mississippi John Hurt's "Richland Woman". It has Keith at his most elegant using steel guitar expressions and making them fit in the song like it was his and of Course Maria Muldaur's....

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