What's the beef with banjo players?

Terry McCumbee · Post by **Terry McCumbee** » 24 Feb 2009 12:18 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Z0VN1Lq_A

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 24 Feb 2009 4:22 am

In the right players hands, a banjo can be a beautiful sounding instrument, but most of the time they suck!

James Jacoby · Post by **James Jacoby** » 24 Feb 2009 5:42 am

Bo Borland wrote:In the right players hands, a banjo can be a beautiful sounding instrument, but most of the time they suck!

James Jacoby · Post by **James Jacoby** » 24 Feb 2009 5:52 am

In the right hands, just about any instrument can be a beautiful thing (not just a banjo)! In the wrong hands, any instrument can suck! Personaly, I'd rather whine about "Rap", or "Hip Hop", and some guy scratching records on a turntable, than getting down on banjos!--------Jake Jacoby

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 24 Feb 2009 7:07 am

You're right James. There are better things to whine about. Or worse things. Whatever.

I just don't like the sound. When I hear it, I have involuntary responses. My face assumes an expression of horror. I am compelled to try to make it stop. I really don't have any control over this.

I'm not whining or complaining. People are different from each other. I understand that some people have different reactions, but the instrument never sounds "beautiful" to me.

James Jacoby · Post by **James Jacoby** » 24 Feb 2009 9:56 am

Sorry, b0b! I didn't have you in mind, when I said that! I was just trying to be philosophical,and make some sense of the whole subject! I think, though, I understand your feelings about banjo sounds! I get the same ones when I hear Rap, and Hip Hop. I guess we all have things/sounds, we dislike, but, at the same time, there are others who love what we hate, and hate the things we like! (my aunt hates PSG music--says its "too whiney"). I guess the world would be a boring place if we were all alike!-------Jake Jacoby

Olaf van Roggen · Post by **Olaf van Roggen** » 24 Feb 2009 12:18 pm

http://bluegrassbanjo.org/banjokes.html

Wayne Wallett · Post by **Wayne Wallett** » 24 Feb 2009 12:29 pm

Problem with banjo as with anything else they don't know when not to play, play all the way through the song. If they take just their part it can work. Although I am of the opinion that a steel really doesn't fit in a bluegrass band and conversely a banjo does not fit in a country band with maybe a few exceptions. Now before you flame me I know Doug Jernigan can pick the snot out of a bluegrass tune. And I have heard a few banjo players in some country songs sound good. But as a blanket statement neither belongs in the others arena. JMHO
Regards,
Wayne

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 24 Feb 2009 7:40 pm

James, I hope you know I was kidding, hence the

face.
Heck, I have friends that play banjo, I went to school with banjo pickers, a couple of banjo people lived next door to me for a while. I'd let my sister marry one, I even met a banjo playing woman I thought was hot!
I just think they are really loud... in the wrong hands.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 24 Feb 2009 7:58 pm

Gary Lee Gimble wrote:Pete, 6 string banjos are cool, tune the 6th to a C. Meanwhile, I feel compelled to share what a banjo picker should look like whilst chillin and picken....If I can reach just one person, just one steel player.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcFUQnfNy0M

Gary that;'s the Banjo equivalent of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, and just as accurate !

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 24 Feb 2009 8:12 pm

James Jacoby · Post by **James Jacoby** » 24 Feb 2009 10:15 pm

Bo Borland wrote:James, I hope you know I was kidding, hence the !
I just think they are really loud... in the wrong hands.

No offense taken, Bo! In my years of playing, most of the musicians I've had to work with, over-played. The best ones always know when and when not to come in and at the right volume! Wouldn't it be nice if we all had world class musicians to work with! Then this whole topic would be unnecessary! ----Jake Jacoby----

Gary Lee Gimble · Post by **Gary Lee Gimble** » 25 Feb 2009 1:11 am

basilh, I don't know from Jonathan and Darlene Edwards but I am familiar with many of your posted comments here on the Forum. So, after I finished a slice of pumpkin seed toast, smothered with cloudberry jam, I conducted a search for the Edwards and found a Myspace page dedicated to their work. Now I know from the Edwards.....shame on you

I bet you have a banjo hiding in your closet, I know you do...

Bob Simons · Post by **Bob Simons** » 25 Feb 2009 6:43 am

I had a banjo once. Unfortunately I left it in the backseat of my car in a shopping center and I forgot to lock the door of the car.

When I returned there were two banjos in there!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Feb 2009 9:22 am

John McGlothlin · Post by **John McGlothlin** » 25 Feb 2009 1:00 pm

Hey b0b I want ya to take a listen to this here one and I swear so help me potater cakes it ain't no banjo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=688MSTIR ... re=related

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 25 Feb 2009 5:34 pm

I just don't get it. I used to think it was just good-humored fun, but the number of times the subject comes up brings me to believe that there really are steel guitarists out there who hate the banjo. It's a very narrow-minded attitude.

Let's get something straight. The banjo is and always has been an integral part of country music. It has a lot longer history than the steel guitar and is just as important.

Just how far do we take this ? How many mandolin haters out there ? How many mountain dulcimer haters ? How many fiddle haters ? How many accordian haters ?

Okay, let's get even more narrow minded. How many steel guitars hate Cajun music ?

Let's take it one step further. How many E9 pedal steel guitarists hate C6 steel guitarists ?

It's all totally absurd.

Excuse me for a moment, I simply must have a quick burst on me banjo...

Mike Ester · Post by **Mike Ester** » 25 Feb 2009 6:16 pm

Wayne Wallett wrote:Problem with banjo as with anything else they don't know when not to play, play all the way through the song. If they take just their part it can work.

This is probably a bad habit that occurs early in their "careers". In defense of those offensive players, they probably never learned about the concept of "less being more". Unfortunately, your garden variety bluegrass jams do not teach this. They are usually a big free-for-all. And these jams are the only musical experience ojnab pickers get.

I first started my musical foray on ojnab when I was 16. I dabbled at it for a few years, but then ran into a fine bluegrass guitar picker by the name of Carl Fitzgerald. He made darn sure that I learned how to back off during other leads, and how to do backup. When a fiddler or dobro picker joined in, I knew how and when to back off. In fact, it gave me the opportunity to listen to them and enjoy.

That man gave me the tools I need to play with a live group. May God rest his soul.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Feb 2009 9:10 pm

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 25 Feb 2009 11:12 pm

John McGlothlin wrote:Hey b0b I want ya to take a listen to this here one and I swear so help me potater cakes it ain't no banjo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=688MSTIR ... re=related

That instrument sounds considerably better than a banjo, IMHO. It's not half bad. Almost, but not quite.

Gary Lee Gimble · Post by **Gary Lee Gimble** » 26 Feb 2009 12:32 am

IMHO. It's not half bad.

Now thats what I call progress, there is hope after all

then is some cases, there is no hope....
Doug B.= 1 lost soul....oh well....

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 26 Feb 2009 5:07 am

Just like the old Clown and Mime war.
Here's a trick for you... Lay a plastic comb on the steel and pick real fast and see if you can't just replace them your self..Sounds like a banjo..
Me I love the sound of an accordian....Hitting the bottom of a dumpster.
Altho I did see the Smiling Scandinavians do a set of Bob Wills that wasn't bad at the Polka Fest up in Washington State.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 26 Feb 2009 6:47 am

Well, boys - for me it's the accordion. The nastiest, most 'fakey' sounding instrument on the planet.

Jeff Taylor, of course, has nearly rid me of my prejudice, but I'm not quite there yet.

I bought myself a banjo some years ago, fully intending to get to grips with it (I'd been inspired by Bobby Thompson - the best I ever heard!), but that dreadful noise I was making drove me to distraction, and I quit. I have earned a few thousand dollars with it over the years, but only after taking off the high 'G' and using it as a four-string for period shows ('Showboat', 'Mame', etc...)

If only there had been a way of me learning Scruggs-style without having to be in the same room as the banjo, I might have made a go of it....

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 26 Feb 2009 6:55 am

I think the movie Deliverance is the culprit...

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 26 Feb 2009 7:42 am

Doug Beaumier wrote:...That doesn't mean I want any of them on the bandstand next to me today. Banjos should stay with ACOUSTIC music, where they belong....

That's fine, and you wouldn't want a cathedral organ next to you either, but try playing Bach's organ pieces without one, and a New Orleans Jazz Band wouldn't sound the same without a banjo strumming the rhythm.

Obviously a banjo doesn't fit into all music: I wouldn't want one on an Hawaiian album, for instance: but that's no reason to make fun of what is a very important instrument, as many steel guitarist seem to....

Everyone is entitled to his own tastes: I don't like all those organs they started putting into 60's rock and roll, for instance: but even those offensive synthesized organs built before electronics made them sound anything more than electronic noises have a place somewhere.

Let's stop putting down the banjo. It's offensive to banjo players.

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