The Eternal Quest

Maybe it´s not a problem for you, my dear reader, but since I´m playing my Saga I was looking for improving it´s sound.

Changed the top (now it´s a fiberskyn head), changed the strings from steel to nylon and back to steel again, looked around for another banjo: This beautiful baby made by Neil, or one of Karsten´s great instruments (but definitely not one of those 10.000 bucks pieces you can find here).

Always I am insecure if I need another banjo to achieve this plunky old time sound I like most – or is it just my way of hitting the strings? Softer is better? But softer is harder to do for me.

Just now I came upon a totally new problem concerning the sound.

I used to go to a nail shop to get some acryl on the finger nails because that makes them stronger and it´s easier to do some finger picking on the guitar with acrylic nails (t.m.h.o). So I got a strong frailing nail too. A while ago I decided to stop tuning my nails because I tend to play more plectrum guitar now. Now the acryl is totally gone and left a very thin nail on my frailing (middle) finger. In a few weeks it will grow stronger again, but just now the sound of my frailing changed a lot. It sounds week on the low D string and isn´t really satisfying on the high strings. It seems that the finger-tip hits the string immediatly after the nail hits. That´s why there is some "extra sound" which I would like to avoid. For example: soft nail´s joy.

So the never ending quest continues…

Northcretan Wood

Yannis showed us how to play Norwegian Wood on the banjo. As I read his remark that it could sound good with a guitar I could not help but give it a try. I took my little Martin and played exactly Yannis´chords but with a C at the end of the long first run in D.
I capoed the 5th string of my banjo up two frets so that it sounded as an A. As the A is part of a D chord that should fit (my thought).
Then I added my banjo (with Audacity).
By the way the chords are:
D........(C) D
dm G
dm em A A7
And here we go. Now we need a singer...
Maybe if I take some of Yannis´raki he gave me during our last meeting?

Klez-Hammer

The guys from Hagen Banjoree sent me this mail:
"Zu unserer großen Freude können wir am 03. Januar in Hamburg einen Workshop mit dem herausragenden Clawhammer Banjospieler Andy Rubin aus Sacramento / Californien anbieten. Titel des Workshops ist „Clawhammer Klezmer Banjo“."
Clawhammer - Clezmer - Fusion? A must have!
Andy Rubin will come to Hamburg and have a workshop on Sunday (very friendly to the working class) January 3rd 2010. They promised, there will be tabs for beginners too.
I am very curious about it and can´t wait.

Charlie Poole

Our friend Uli is on air again:
(I write this in English as there´s a web-stream too).
You can hear BYRON's BARN at Tuesday Nov. 25th 10 pm and Wednesday Nov. 26th at 10 am on the radio FM 101.2 (Offener Kanal Kiel)
and
as a lifestream on the Internet www.kielfm.de at the same time (klick at "KielFM Livestream" on the left menu)

Uli told me that this time his broadcast will be about Charlie Poole:


I ran along CP at the Kiel Retreat through Hartmut who seemed to be a fan. Thank you very much again, Hartmut!
Maybe Uli will tell us about the great Loudon Wainwright III "Charlie Poole Project" too.

Duelling Strings

Alway was curious if nylon strings sound "better" on my Saga open back 5-string banjo. So I recorded "Soldier´s Joy" (and I´m sorry for the mistakes) with nylon and steel strings alternatingly. Recorded with ZoomH2, using the freeware Audacity. Video made with Windows moviemaker.
The result for me:
I like the frailing feeling more with steel strings. They are harder and more resistant to the frailing finger. Nylons want to be hitted very hard to give the wanted response. But played by a non-expert like me, the acoustic difference is less than I would have predicted. Ok, the recording is not professionally done, so this may be the reason why the different parts of the audio file sound very similar to me.
Not so in "real life". The nylon strings sounded a little muffled to my opinion, in particular the 3rd and 4th string. So I will keep the steel strings on the banjo - at least as long as I don´t have a second instrument.