Montag, Februar 08, 2010

Statt Kaffee

Heute abend 20:30 h wieder Folk-Session im Statt-Café, Kiel.

Samstag, Februar 06, 2010

Klezmer Again

We gave Broyges Tants a try again. This time it´s Clarinet (Martina) and Saga Banjo with ren-head, medium steel strings, noknot tailpiece and Fred Kelly pick.
Hope you enjoy.

Sonntag, Januar 31, 2010

Banjo Clips

A friend from Kiel posted 10 banjo clips on his blog. The subtitle means something like: "Sooner or later everbody gets the banjo kick".
I think the session backstage at the Grand Ole Opry reflects exactly what I like most in banjo playing (despite the lady with the banjo - or is it because of?).

Irish Jig

Last thursday Martina and I managed to record "Donnybrook Fair" with less mistakes than the week before. So we dared to record it.
The first part shows our practicing speed. Very much too slow for an Irish jig, but that´s how beginners are supposed to play while learning :-)))
Second part is double speed and sounds more like the speed they do at the Irish session in Kiel. BUT: I faked it. We played this piece twice in a row same (slow) speed and I then used Audacity to speed up the second part. That´s about the "real" speed, we are looking for.
It´s a long way to Tipperary...

I played the banjo part in clawhammer style. A jig is written in 6/8: So I (tried to) give the accent on the one, played a pull off on the two, bumped the three, bumped the four again, hammered (or drop-thumbed or pulled off ) the four and so on (wherever it was possible to me). By such the typical 6/8 rhythm can be accomplished, at least if you can ... (See Mike Iverson for more details).

Where the Banjo Came From

Just after having heard the radio show I mentioned yesterday I came upon a very interesting thread on the hangout about the origins of banjo.

Die Sendung im Deutschlandfunk hat u. a. sehr viele unterschiedliche Banjo-Spielarten (jeweils nur kurz) vorgestellt - und eben die Geshichte des Banjo. Leider kein Wort über die Anzahl der Saiten der frühen Banjos, keine Wort über Mr. Sweeney, der anscheinend nicht die hohe 5. Saite dazuerfunden hat sondern evtl. nur unsere tiefe D-Saite als 5. hinzugefügt hat (s. Hangout-Thread). Und kein Wort über up-picking, downstroke oder gar clawhammer/frailing. Trotzdem eine interessante Sendung. Wer sie verpasst hat, sollte mal versuchen, sie auf der Seite des Deutschlandfunks als podcast zu finden. Ich habe sie aber auch aufgenommen.