The oldtime banjo blog from Kiel

Well known accidents which can happen when you're playing the banjo: 1. You hit the wrong note 2. You hit the wrong note again 3. You get bitten by your dog (not loving you hitting wrong notes)  4. You get hitten on the head by flying items (sometimes caused by a cohabitant not loving you hitting wrong notes)  5. Some bloody incident. At least No 5 just happened to me. Yesterday I put on a new 5th string on my banjo. As I know they tend to break when not carefully handled, I only tuned it up to F and let it rest over night. Today I tuned it up to G. Perfect so far. Played a tune ("Alonzo Janes") and suddenly the 5th string broke - and hit my right hand. See proof below. It broke near the tailpiece at some point where no sharp edge could have cut it. Happened with one of the Red Series from Aquila. As this string had broken some days ago too and it was my second try I now go back to the white Super Nylgut strings from Aquila - they seem to be safer and sound perfectly too ...

 ... but this may give us some reason to smile. Major and minor differences between Bluegrass, Celtic and Oldtime (found this somewhere on the web): The Music Old Time and Celtic songs are about whiskey, food and struggle. Bluegrass songs are about God, mother and the girl who did me wrong. If the girl isn’t dead by the third verse, it ain’t Bluegrass. If everyone dies, it’s Celtic. A Bluegrass band has between 1 and 3 singers who are all singing about an octave above their natural vocal range. Most Old Time and Celtic bands have no singers at all. If a Celtic band has a singer, it is usually either a bewhiskered ex-sailor, or a petite soprano. A Bluegrass band has a vocal arranger who arranges three-part harmonies. In an Old Time band, anyone who feels like it can sing or make comments during the performance. In a Celtic band, anyone who speaks during a performance gets ‘the look.’ Celtic songs are preceded by a call for silence and a detailed explanation of their cultural signifi...