Friday, April 30, 2010
Newspaper article
We interrupt the banjo-related posts to tell you that the local paper has honoured us with a piece about the Ensemble, reflecting on the fact that the current lineup is in the studio and working on new things for you to listen to. Have a look at the article here. There's even a pretty photo of us in the Stomach's practice room.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Playing Irish tenor banjo
Here are a few tips gleaned from my experience of learning to play Irish tunes on a banjo. If you haven’t heard that kind of thing much, look for some tunes featuring Barney McKenna from the Dubliners, or Gerry O’Connor. Or at a pinch, listen to my trepidatious attempt at playing Tenpenny Bit here.
When I first heard the set of tunes called The Dubliners Fancy on the back of the Pogues/Dubliners Irish Rover 12” (remember those?) I decided straight away that one day I’d play that set on the banjo. That instrument propelled the tune rhythmically as well as carrying the melody. Or rather, when we talk about banjo, it’s more a case of grabbing the melody and throwing it at people, rather than just carrying it. The banjo has such a punchy sound, I reckon it must be the most ‘punk rock’ of all the acoustic instruments.
Types of banjo
Anyway, at that point I thought I could just walk into a shop and grab a banjo and start learning. I didn’t realise there are different kinds of banjo, so I thought Barney was using a 5-string one like Earl Scruggs. Nope, that’s a 4-string (tenor) banjo, I found out later.
There are even different models of tenor banjo. Eg. some have 17 frets and some have 19, some are open-back and some have a big wooden resonator bowl. Mine is a 19-fret Tanglewood with a resonator bowl. Doesn’t really matter, as far as I can tell they all do the job, just pick one that makes you look cool in a mirror.
So now I could go to a shop and ask for a 4-string tenor banjo and start learning, right? Nope, turns out that many tenor banjos aren’t set up for Irish-style playing straight off the bat. Well, not any that I could find anyway. Maybe a shop that specialises in folk instruments will have something for you off the shelf.
The tenor banjo that I bought was set up for use in something like a cool old trad jazz band, and it was tuned CGDA, but kick-arse Irish-tuned banjos are GDAE. So you need to tune your banjer a fifth higher. But you can’t just tune it up like that with the factory strings, because the tension is so much greater. You need some heavy Irish tenor banjo strings. I asked around and didn’t have much luck. So I ended up buying mine from Elderly Instruments in good ol’ Lansing, Missouri!
These 13-gauge John Pearse strings are specifically made for Irish tenor banjo. You can get 12s and 11s too, but I like these big suckas.
There’s not a lot of string-bending involved with Irish tunes, so heavy strings are fine, and they’re great for projection and tone.
For more information on various banjos, try this.
Tunes to play
Here’s a place to find some tunes to play: TheSession.org
You’ll soon see that there are usually 15 different versions of each tune, so if you want to play with other people, ask them to point you in the right direction before you spend a whole lot of time learning a different one!
If you’re like me, you’ll have to learn note-by-note and then internalise the tune, because I can’t read music all that fast. It helps if you’ve heard the tune somewhere first so you get the rhythm right. Reels are 4/4 time (boom-chick-boom-chick). Jigs are generally in 6/8 “double diddly time” (di-duh-ly, di-duh-ly). Slip jigs are 9/8 “triple diddly” (di-duh-ly, di-duh-ly, di-duh-ly).
This site is full of Irish banjo tips: Irish-banjo.com
In my next post I'll tell you how to make your own banjo pickup so you can play through a PA system!
When I first heard the set of tunes called The Dubliners Fancy on the back of the Pogues/Dubliners Irish Rover 12” (remember those?) I decided straight away that one day I’d play that set on the banjo. That instrument propelled the tune rhythmically as well as carrying the melody. Or rather, when we talk about banjo, it’s more a case of grabbing the melody and throwing it at people, rather than just carrying it. The banjo has such a punchy sound, I reckon it must be the most ‘punk rock’ of all the acoustic instruments.
Types of banjo
Anyway, at that point I thought I could just walk into a shop and grab a banjo and start learning. I didn’t realise there are different kinds of banjo, so I thought Barney was using a 5-string one like Earl Scruggs. Nope, that’s a 4-string (tenor) banjo, I found out later.
There are even different models of tenor banjo. Eg. some have 17 frets and some have 19, some are open-back and some have a big wooden resonator bowl. Mine is a 19-fret Tanglewood with a resonator bowl. Doesn’t really matter, as far as I can tell they all do the job, just pick one that makes you look cool in a mirror.
So now I could go to a shop and ask for a 4-string tenor banjo and start learning, right? Nope, turns out that many tenor banjos aren’t set up for Irish-style playing straight off the bat. Well, not any that I could find anyway. Maybe a shop that specialises in folk instruments will have something for you off the shelf.
The tenor banjo that I bought was set up for use in something like a cool old trad jazz band, and it was tuned CGDA, but kick-arse Irish-tuned banjos are GDAE. So you need to tune your banjer a fifth higher. But you can’t just tune it up like that with the factory strings, because the tension is so much greater. You need some heavy Irish tenor banjo strings. I asked around and didn’t have much luck. So I ended up buying mine from Elderly Instruments in good ol’ Lansing, Missouri!
These 13-gauge John Pearse strings are specifically made for Irish tenor banjo. You can get 12s and 11s too, but I like these big suckas.
There’s not a lot of string-bending involved with Irish tunes, so heavy strings are fine, and they’re great for projection and tone.
For more information on various banjos, try this.
Tunes to play
Here’s a place to find some tunes to play: TheSession.org
You’ll soon see that there are usually 15 different versions of each tune, so if you want to play with other people, ask them to point you in the right direction before you spend a whole lot of time learning a different one!
If you’re like me, you’ll have to learn note-by-note and then internalise the tune, because I can’t read music all that fast. It helps if you’ve heard the tune somewhere first so you get the rhythm right. Reels are 4/4 time (boom-chick-boom-chick). Jigs are generally in 6/8 “double diddly time” (di-duh-ly, di-duh-ly). Slip jigs are 9/8 “triple diddly” (di-duh-ly, di-duh-ly, di-duh-ly).
This site is full of Irish banjo tips: Irish-banjo.com
In my next post I'll tell you how to make your own banjo pickup so you can play through a PA system!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Go Grayson go!
Jim Keltnenhausen was talking record label business to Roger Shepherd last night and Roger said that he'd just signed Grayson Gilmour to the newly revitalised Flying Nun label.
So the first new Nun signing is a Palmy boy! Well done everybody. Rumour is that Jim K. will be advising Shepherd and helping him to make Flying Nun at least as big as TurkbyTone Rekkids. Oh look, it's already worked!
So the first new Nun signing is a Palmy boy! Well done everybody. Rumour is that Jim K. will be advising Shepherd and helping him to make Flying Nun at least as big as TurkbyTone Rekkids. Oh look, it's already worked!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Banjo-bashing
Banjo Bing Turkby went into the studio on the weekend, joined by his mates Lil' Bodhran, Ol' Dirty Bassplayer and Kid Racket. One of the results is a version of Tenpenny Bit, and old Irish tune. You can hear it here. Lil' Bodhran used to be a world-class rapper until people realised he wasn't being clever, he was just talking about the weather in Gaelic. Once they got someone to translate, he lost all his appeal, so now he plays Turkby-ised versions of Irish tunes with me. You may have already heard of Kid Racket. He's the guy making a racket on guitar when you go see a band. Yeah, that guy. Slainte!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Saint Ally of Audio
In Wednesday's Manawatu Standard there was a story about local stalwart Radio Control (Massey University's student radio station). Mention was made of a song in honour of Ally Fergusson, but sadly it was reported as King Ally of Audio, rather than the correct title Saint Ally of Audio. Yes, it's a new BTE number, and you can hear the demo version here. We're working on the studio version now. Yes, right now. Now!
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