Tyler Jackson - 4 string banjos

1903
- The Oldest Fretted Instrument Magazine In The World
BANJO
MANDOLIN
No 877
Spring 2015
- 2015
GUITAR
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Tyler Jackson
Music in this issue
Guitar: Andante (Napoleon Coste); Mandolin: New Five Cents (arr. John Baldry);
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31
CONTENTS
Entertainer or Musician ?
Ron Hinkle
Entertainer and Musician
Sean Moyses
Bluegrass Banjo: 17
David Cotton
Peter Kelly
Chris Moreton: Bluegrass
Musician. John Baldry
Tyler Jackson Interview: 1
Ron Hinkle
Plectrum Banjo Corner
George Bennett
Jazz Ukulele
Fred Keeley
Tenor Topics
Bill Somerville
Classical Banjo Corner
Derek Hall
Classical Guitar Composer: 9
Music Supplement:
Andante (Guitar)
Napoleon Coste
New Five Cents (Mandolin)
arr. John Baldry
Going Over the Mountain
(Banjo) J.C. Scherpf
Song (Plec./ Fingerstyle Guitar)
Harry Volpe
Brejeiro: Choro de Brazil
Review by David Wade
From a Bath Chair
Richard Ineson
Correspondence
N. Roy de Silva
The Pedal Steel Guitar: 1
Maurice Hipkiss
Plectrum Legato
Roy Burnham
Bluegrass/Old-Time
Mandolin Workshop
with Jesper Rübner-Petersen
Bristol Sessions Anniversary
Anthony Lis
The Shelor and Blackard
Families. Ray Alden
By the Way
David Wade
BMG Tape Club (Hawaiian
Guitar Section): John Marsden
Huddersfield Jazz Guitar
Festival Announcement
The Banjo Story: 12
A.P. Sharpe
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3
4
5
6
8
10
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2015
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EDITED BY CLEM VICKERY
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The Editor does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed by his contributors.
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No. 877
Spring 2015
Notes and Comments by the Editor
As winter gives way to spring and new shoots and buds begin to emerge, it’s
a great time to reflect on the musical traditions we want to conserve and the
new blood we want to encourage. Tyler Jackson, at 28, represents the cream
of the new crop of fretted instrumentalists. An exceptional tenor banjoist,
Tyler speaks with wisdom, in the first part of a fascinating interview with
Ron Hinkle, about both music and the banjo. I wonder how many young
people, like Tyler, were unaware that a whole subculture of banjo music
exists in parallel with music more familiar to youthful ears, and how many,
if exposed to it, would become gripped by it as he did.
Sean Moyses takes issue with Ron Hinkle about his feelings regarding Eddie
Peabody, and argues that Ron is falling into a trap of pitting Classical Banjo
against Popular Banjo. An interesting debate which could run and run!
Maurice Hipkiss’s new series on understanding the C6 tuning is a must for
pedal steel players, and John Baldry has a treat for guitarists in his
affectionate article on Chris Moreton, — so expert as a flatpicker that he was
banned from entering competitions at the Edale Bluegrass Festival after five
consecutive wins, in order to give others a chance!
Part 12 of A.P. Sharpe’s banjo story provides a lovely guide to members of
the banjo family. If you were unsure of the differences between them, look
no further.
Whether you are an old school stalwart or a young maverick, there’s
something for everyone in this issue.
Happy reading!
B.M.G.
24
Spring 2015
Entertainment Device vs. Musical Instrument
By Ron Hinkle
There is a long
standing,
ongoing argument
regarding the four-string banjo:
Which is it, an entertainment
device, or a musical instrument?
As a life-long banjoist who has
personally struggled with this
question, I have finally reached a
definitive conclusion: It is both.
As I’ve laboured to define the
instrument and myself in a
satisfactory way, it has occurred
to me that to limit it to one
extreme aspect or the other is
u n n e c e s s a r y
a n d
counterproductive; let’s
celebrate the fact that it makes a
great entertainment prop (in an
entertainer’s hands) and a great
musical instrument (in a
musician’s hands). To be both an
entertainer and a musician in
equal world-class amounts is a
rare feat; in general, you are
either one or the other. This
dichotomy applies to listeners as
much as it does to players;
musicians bore those who crave
entertainment, while entertainers
bore those who crave music.
To put names to this argument,
using two of our most famous
Jazz Age ‘banjo heroes’ as
examples — and to choose two
at random, because there were
plenty of other great players, —
Harry Reser = musician, while
Eddie Peabody = entertainer.
Yes, Reser was also a fine
entertainer (and played his fair
share of hokum to pay the bills),
and Peabody was also a fine
musician, but it cannot be denied
who was the champion at which.
If you say “it was amazing how
Peabody would throw his banjo
in the air” and/or “Reser just
played too many notes,” that
only proves my point.
Harry
Reser
Who was the greatest banjoist?
That depends on your personal
bias; you are either an
entertainer appreciator (a
‘Peabody-phile’), or a musicianappreciator (a ‘Reser-ite’). As a
‘classically trained’ musician
and music understander/
appreciator, I naturally prefer a
good musician, regardless of
entertainment ability. Having
grown up in the banjo club
world though, I also appreciate a
good entertainer (regardless of
musical ability).
Banjo Entertainer ?
In general though, because I am
trained to listen with my ears
more than watch with my eyes, I
am biased toward the musician
side. Sorry, but to me, music
logically seems like it should be
more about the sound of the
actual music than the look and
charisma of the player. This is
why I absolutely abhor Pop
‘music’.
I will say that entertainers far
outnumber musicians in the
banjo world, and that’s sad to
me; it tells me that natural
musicians are not attracted to the
banjo to the same extent as
natural entertainers are. This has
been the case since the banjo’s
developmental days; it has
always been used more for
entertainment than for music,
and still naturally conjures up
scenes of ‘sittin’ on the back
porch, just a-pickin’ and agrinnin.’ Of course, in the
general world population,
musically-educated folks are
most certainly the minority, so
this should not be a surprise.
Those of us who are classically
trained have learned to
understand and appreciate the
‘finer points’ of music (wow,
that makes us sound like
absolute snobs!), simply because
someone smarter than us
explained them and opened our
minds and ears to them (and
gave us grades based on how
well we learned the material).
Unfortunately, flash a little
education around, and we are
seen as snobs, and who wants to
be bored by a snob who thinks
he/she is smarter than you?
Frankly, it’s a tough sell to play
an ‘all-Grimshaw’ program for a
banjo audience, I know, I’ve
tried it! Actually, it works pretty
well in a small, intimate setting
where you can give a little
history lesson along with it (it is
literally ‘banjo chamber music’),
but it does not work on the big
stage! That audience wants to be
‘wowed’ and entertained, and
what better way to do that than
to play some Eddie Peabody?
So, just what is my point, you
may rightfully ask? This
argument has been ‘raging’ since
the mid-1920’s, when
Spring 2015
Eddie Peabody came along and
dethroned the reigning banjo
champion, Harry Reser, by sheer
force of on-stage personality,
certainly not by superior musical
ability. I’m simply suggesting
that we bury the hatchet by
admitting that they were both
amazing banjoists with huge
influences, and that we should
learn to appreciate both (and
what they represent). If you’re a
good enough musician/
entertainer, be influenced by
both, if you’re good only at one
ex t rem e, m aximiz e your
potential in that extreme, and at
least appreciate the other. If you
are a new player, why not have
both as personal role-models, or
at least appreciate both for what
they are?
Eddie Peabody
Is this someone
else’s BMG you
are reading ?
W h y
not
subscribe
and
start collecting all this valuable
information for yourself ? Old
BMG’s are in great demand,
and can fetch a good price,
because of their unique content.
Players are already asking for
back numbers.
Why scrounge?
B.M.G.
53
Ron Hinkle’s Comments on Eddie Peabody
by Sean Moyses
Whilst I understand what Ron is saying about his personal
taste on what to play on the Plectrum Banjo, Eddie
Peabody’s musical prowess of the instrument is
undeniable and he was most certainly a consummate
musician and not simply a musical clown. I think the
problem is that Ron is falling into the trap of Classical Banjo verses
Popular Banjo music and not making clear lines between the two. I
have listened many times to Eddie playing purely solo on his early
1920’s recordings (which are available to download on I-tunes by the
way) and his command of the banjo, rhythmical technique and chordal
knowledge is phenomenal. This is certainly not the banjo music that
had been played since the 1800’s; Eddie was a ‘pop musician’ of his
day. If Eddie had sat on stage of the Cocoanut Grove, LA, and played
Victorian style Marches (etc.) he would have simply died a death,
gone out of business, and lost his livelihood. People want, and always
have wanted, to be entertained and listen to music they know. Eddie
did play some Classical pieces, but they were popular ones which
people could relate to. Harry Reser (and who could question his
credibility as a virtuoso musican?) turned out some pretty trite stuff
with his ‘Six Jumping Jacks’ in the 20’s (and I enjoy most of it!) as he
also wanted to be popular, pay the bills, support a family, etc.. Did he
get bogged down by playing lumbering Victorian Banjo music? He
could most certainly have played it if he had wanted to!
As one of the very few working, full time banjo players (who also
entertains his audience) I know this from personal experience. Sure,
play the classics, get to know how to appreciate, execute them and
play them accurately when opportunities arise. Playing for one
(usually yourself in the front room) is a lot of fun and expands your
knowledge of music and the instrument, but that is only a very small
tip of the iceberg. Unless you play in front of others you will never
gain stage confidence and maybe, as a result of constructive criticism,
improve your playing.
Ron, I know what you are aiming at, and I know you made it clear that
this discussion is about your personal musical taste. This topic has
actually been covered before in BMG, by Tarrant Bailey, who
commented on Eddie’s visit to the UK in 1933. Tarrant Bailey found
it too much to bear that Eddie’s ‘Pop’ style was so welcomed after the
stiff approach to banjo playing that had previously been the norm in
the UK, and he was quite abusive. Even Harry Reser was dragged
into the fray.
A parting thought is that by the 1940’s most banjo playing had simply
vanished from the general public here in England, by the 1950’s
Lonnie Donegan was the best we had to offer in the ‘Trad Jazz’ boom
and by the middle 1960’s it was all but dead again. Eddie worked, as
the world’s most popular banjo player, right the way through from the
early 1920’s until collapsing on stage in 1970, something no banjoist
in the UK could claim. Five decades in show business and THE
leading Banjo player of his time. The reason? He kept popular with
his audience by playing popular music, and they loved him for it.
Some of us still do.
www.seanmoyses.com
46
B.M.G.
Spring 2015
Bluegrass Banjo 17 - The Art of Backup - 2
by David Cotton
Last time, we began to look at basic backup. Playing offbeat chords is fine for a while but will
soon begin to pall, so let’s spice it up a little. Two techniques work particularly well here: one
is to link chords with short runs of notes, the other to add slides, bounces and grace notes to
add rhythmic interest to your playing, with the double benefit that it adds more dynamism to the group
sound.
In the first example, I’ve taken a standard three-chord sequence and added little bass runs between the
chords. Use your right thumb to play the bass runs:
The next example is a little more complex. A little slide in bar 1 effectively creates a run between the G
chord and the C. Halfway through the second bar the left hand makes a big leap from around the first fret
to the seventh on the third string. The easiest way to achieve this is to start with your left first finger around
the 2nd fret on the third string and slide it very quickly up to the seventh fret. I’ve taken a few liberties
with the C chord here and in bar 6, and the G chord in bar 7. The C is really a C7 and the G is really a G6
— each of them tremendously effective at adding tonal colour. In the penultimate bar, hook your left
thumb over the fifth string at the tenth fret, to give a useful D7 chord.
In the last example, I’ve introduced a standard backup technique which requires some practice. Each chord
should be plucked and then damped, by slightly raising your left-hand fingers off the strings. The little
grace notes which precede each chord are slides from the fret below the fingered note on the third string.
The combination of the slides and the damped chords produces a bird-like ‘chirruping’ effect. Listen to
professional bluegrass artists to get an idea of how this should sound.
Again, in bar 8, hook your left thumb over the 10th fret of the fifth string, to give the 7th note in the D
chord. Because the fifth string plays, from the fifth fret upwards, precisely the same notes as the first string,
it can be used as an additional melody string or to add a different flavour to standard chords played on the
other three strings. Experiment with it when playing other chords and see what you can create.
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
75
A combination of a fretted fifth string and creative right hand patterns can produce some wonderful sounds.
The final bar is the standard lick which you see at the end of example 1, played an octave higher.
The art of great playing is to get to the stage where technique doesn’t stand between you and the music.
Practise the techniques here, not as end points but as starting points for your own creative backup. Listen to
others and play tastefully when they are singing or have the solo. The banjo is by far the most obnoxious
instrument in the bluegrass band and banjo players love to dominate. The best players perform with
subtlety, weaving rhythmic and harmonic patterns in and out of the music to enhance it. Next time, we’ll
return to melodic playing and work through an old fiddle tune in some detail.
Happy playing!
Peter Kelly
New York City based pop/rock singer-songwriter, Peter Kelly,
announces a new LP featuring the singles ‘Tailwind (It’s A Beautiful
Day)’ and ‘Maybe’. The new LP was released in February 2015.
Kelly’s latest effort fuses old school song-writing with contemporary
musicianship and dynamic compositions.
A trained guitarist from the Berklee College of Music in Boston,
Kelly graduated with a degree in music performance and moved to
New York City to begin his career. He performed in multiple bands
including Hemenway and Roadside Poets, and during recording
sessions, Kelly met soon-to-be producer, John Campos. After
deciding to go solo, Kelly continued to collaborate with Campos and
the two produced and wrote Kelly’s new material.
Kelly has performed his well-known song ‘Oz’ at the notable Cipriani
in New York City for the United Nations with special guest Arnold
Schwarzenegger, as well as the same event for a second time with
special guests Stevie Wonder and Michael Douglas. Kelly has
received praise from Skope Magazine, The Working Musician, and
more, with True Radio describing Peter Kelly as the ‘Bruce
Springsteen of our generation’. Furthermore, Skope Entertainment
states: “Peter Kelly’s voice is steady, confident, and in a style that is
all his own, as he bends notes and croons powerfully throughout ”.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.peterkellymusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/peterkellymusic1
https://twitter.com/PeterKellyMusic
http://instagram.com/peterkellymusic
B.M.G.
68
Spring 2015
Chris Moreton - Bluegrass Musician
by John Baldry
During the last
twelve months
the
recording
most often on
my CD player has been Not
Strictly Bluegrass by the English
musician, Chris Moreton. Chris
epitomises the world of BMG,
having played banjo, mandolin
and guitar for over half a century
and delighting audiences with
his fretted instrument skills
during this time.
I have been fortunate in knowing
Chris as a personal friend since
1974 when by chance he heard
that I did a bit on the banjo and
contacted me to suggest a
session. Soon we had a fivepiece band and for a couple of
years we played at folk clubs
and social events around Surrey
and south London. As the guitar
player and lead singer Chris was
the driving force of the outfit,
and the rest of us learned a great
deal from his guidance, although
he was only twenty when we
started out and had not played
bluegrass and old time music
with other people before.
The story of Chris’s musical
development is inspiring and
instructive to all budding
musicians. Primarily, he learned
by ear. He had acquired basic
flatpicking skills on the guitar by
listening to local folk
musicians and from a handful of
records in his father’s collection.
Right from the start Chris was a
powerful player, with a precise
and accurate technique
combining superb rhythmic
control with impeccable timing –
and he always kept his
instrument beautifully in tune,
more difficult before the age of
the digital tuner!
Once he started listening to
bluegrass music in earnest,
Chris’s career really took off.
His guitar influences were (in
more or less chronological
order) Doc Watson, Norman
Blake, Dan Crary, Mark
O’Connor, Tony Rice, Clarence
White, David Grier… and the
list goes on. On the British
bluegrass scene, people really
took note when Chris went up to
the Edale festival for the first
time in 1980 and won the guitar
competition as a virtual
unknown, a feat which he
repeated for the next four years.
After five successive wins he
received the compliment of
being debarred from the
competition and being appointed
as one of the judges!
Over the succeeding decades
Chris has expanded his horizons
even further and has become
widely recognised as a musical
force outside the specialist world
of bluegrass. One source of
inspiration was mandolin player
Simon Mayor, who had a broad
repertoire of folk, jazz and
classical music which he and
Hilary James (and later their
band the Mandolinquents) took
to a wide range of audiences and
events around the country.
Classical pieces like Mozart’s
Rondo alla Turca began to
appear in Chris’s stage
performances. And in 1997 he
won the Guitarist Magazine’s
‘Acoustic Guitarist of the Year’
Award for his flatpicking
performance of Handel’s Arrival
of the Queen of Sheba. This
piece became a showstopper for
Chris and he still receives
requests for it today. You can
hear Chris playing The Queen of
Sheba on YouTube as well as a
lot of other wonderful stuff! Go
to:
https://www.youtube.com/
resultssearch_query=Chris+M
oreton
With Clifford Essex Paragon
T o d a y C h r i s M or e t o n i s a
seasoned, indeed veteran,
performer of the music he loves.
The CD Not Strictly Bluegrass
reflects what you will hear at a
Chris Moreton concert. Nine of
the fifteen tracks are songs –
Chris is as much a singer as an
i n st r u m e nt a l i st , a n d h a s a
relaxed baritone voice which he
has used to good effect over the
Spring 2015
years in bands like the classic
Cat’s Cradle String Band of the
Edale period, and his later line
up of the Jalapeno Pickers.
There is plenty of hot guitar
action in the instrumental breaks
to his songs, complemented by
some more lyrical playing. On
the instrumental front Cattle In
The Cane amply fulfils the
requirement for one of Chris’s
classic guitar tunes from the old
days! He flatpicks two other
great fiddle tunes, Angelina
Baker and Freshwater East, the
latter his own composition
played on the guitar and
mandolin. Chris’s banjo playing
is also deservedly featured (on
Clifford Essex Paragon no
1330!), in a haunting old-timey
version of Clinch Mountain
Backstep and a Chris Moreton
original he has been honing
since the 1970’s, Rollin’ Past
Ya’, which demonstrates his
command of both Scruggs and
melodic styles. The overall
listening experience of the CD
reminds me of those classic Doc
Watson recordings, with its
balance of singing and hot
instrumentals and that sense of a
relaxed master of his craft
completely in control of what he
is doing.
B.M.G.
‘The Promise’, which she cowrote with Chris. The CD is
available from Chris via his
website:
www.chrismoretonmusic.com
price £10 + postage. Click on
Shop to see the ordering details,
including the option for a digital
download. You can also hear
three tracks for free on this web
page, which illustrate the range
of the material on the CD. It’s
not all strictly bluegrass, but you
will love it!
97
CLIFFORD ESSEX
MINI CLIP-ON TUNER
SIMPLE TO USE
The Moretons
Chris & Wendy Moreton
Track list: California Blues,
Clinch Mountain Backstep, Grey
Is The New Blonde, The
Promise, Cattle In The Cane,
The Devil Came Back To
Georgia, Freshwater East, The D
-18 Song, Angelina Baker, I’ve
Been Everywhere, Ginseng
Sullivan, Easy Ridin’, Tennessee
Stud, Rollin’ Past Ya’, Gonna
Lay Down My Old Guitar.
1. Clip the tuner on to your
instrument.
2. Press the power button and
hold down for 2 seconds to turn
on or off.
3. Press the power button
continuously to select tuning
mode, then press the button to
select the instrument.
4. Backlight turns green and
meter points to the middle - in
tune. Backlight turns white and
meter points left - flat note.
Backlight turns white and meter
points right - sharp note.
Functions:
c - Chromatic
g - Guitar
b - Bass
v - Mandolin
u - Ukulele
BATTERY INCLUDED
C hri s pl a ys al l t he fret t ed
instruments on Not Strictly
Bluegrass, and shares the string
bass work with his wife, Wendy,
who also did the excellent
artwork for the CD. An extra
treat is the singing of Jane Pearl,
Kentucky born and raised, on
£8.50
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Only from
Clifford Essex
Tel: 01485 529323
Email: [email protected]
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810
Spring 2015
This Issue’s Cover Picture
Tyler Jackson - Tenor Banjoist - Part 1
Interview with Ron Hinkle
Anytime a young person shows
a serious interest in the tenor
banjo, it’s a good cause for
celebration, but when he/she
turns out to be as gifted as Tyler
Jackson, it’s a cause for the
history books as well. Shortly
after taking up the instrument at
the age of 12, Tyler was
mastering the flashy tenor banjo
intricacies of Harry Reser, and
he has only improved with
‘age’ (relatively speaking; he is
only 28 years old at the time of
writing!). Tyler was encouraged
to take up another instrument in
order to pursue a proper musical
education; he chose the bass,
which has led him to a
successful, continuing career
backing some of the biggest
names on the American Jazz and
Country music circuits. He takes
his banjo on tour with him, and
has had the opportunity to play
for other musicians and famous
fans wherever he goes. His work
currently involves playing 3-4
gigs a week and teaching at
Hearts' Home Acoustics in
Boerne, Texas.
heartshomeacoustics.com
He teaches over 30 students a
week, as well as selling and
repairing instruments. He and
his wife Kristin, a fine musician
in her own right, have worked
up an innovative banjo/flute act.
Tyler on Bass, backing
country singer Ray Price
(By the way, they are expecting
their first child in April). Their
first CD, New Again, and Tyler’s
solo CD, First Impression can be
found at:
www.tylerjacksonmusic.com.
Tyler speaks, and plays the tenor
banjo, with wisdom and
experience well beyond his
years. There can be no better
spokesperson for the value of
youth music education than one
who has so obviously benefited
from it; I think we can all take
some cues and inspiration from
this young man, and that was
certainly one of my motivations
for wanting to interview him…..
#
Ron: What led you to play the
tenor banjo?
Tyler: My Dad was an associate
pastor at a church in Houston
[Texas], and Buddy Griffin
worked with him, also as a
pastor; there was a church
Christmas banquet one night,
and I was dragged unwillingly to
this thing, I didn’t want to go.
We got there, and I was the only
kid, other than my sister. Then
Buddy Griffin comes out with
his Vegavox IV tenor banjo, and
plays Bye Bye Blues and all
these other songs, real fast and
flashy, and does comedy and all
that kind of stuff; all of a
sudden, that banquet was a lot
more interesting! There was just
something about that sound, that
look, Buddy Griffin is a great
performer, and he doesn’t get a
lot of credit for that; he always
gets credit for being an educator
[2005 inductee in the American
Banjo Museum Hall of Fame]
rightly so, but he’s a virtuoso
player and entertainer too. So
he’s playing up and down the
neck, flying on that thing, and
well, that was the first
inspiration, at that banquet.
I had taken piano lessons and I
sang in a touring boys’ choir
when I was really young; I sorta
enjoyed that, but to be honest, by
the time I was 10 years old I just
wanted to play basketball and
swim. I didn’t really think about
playing an instrument.
Buddy Griffin
The way the banjo really got into
my hands physically, after the
banquet, I was home-schooled at
t he t i m e, a nd t h e n et wo rk
support group would meet to
cooperatively teach the subjects
we were missing. One of the
credits I lacked was music, and
t here were t wo i ns t rum ent
Spring 2015
choices; the recorder, and the
ukulele. I knew I had to do it, so
I picked the ukulele. Turns out,
Buddy Griffin was the teacher of
that class! I remembered, he was
the guy who played the banjo at
that banquet. The tuition
included a ukulele, his method
book, and various other
accessories. We had eight weeks
in that class, and in eight weeks,
I went from knowing nothing to
playing really well, somehow, I
just naturally took to it. He told
me at the end of the eight weeks,
“I’ve never had a kid excel as
fast as you; would you like to
learn something a little bigger?”
So he shows me his banjo, I
remembered it from the banquet,
and I told him I would love to
learn that! He made me a deal
that I would get free lessons,
whenever we both had free time.
We met, and he gave me, — and
this is what really got me
hooked, — he gave me a little
‘banjo care package,’ a manila
envelope with old copies of
FIGA, Resonator, and BMG
magazines, and cassette tapes of
various banjo players. This made
me aware that there was a whole
world out there that I never
knew existed, and it got me even
more interested because it
seemed like a ‘happening’;
something really cool.
Ron: If we could figure out how
to ‘package’ this, — get more
12 year olds interested in the
banjo….
Tyler: Well, on a side note, I
hear a lot of people today saying
we need to do more current
music on the banjo; I’m not
against that, that’s cool, because
they think it’s going to get kids
more interested in the banjo, and
that may very well be true, but
just from my personal
experience, what really got me
was t he older m usi c being
played at a really high level, and
B.M.G.
knowing that this was like its
own kind of sub-culture that
existed, that I didn’t know about,
it seemed so much cooler to me
than it really was, but it ended
up being even cooler than I
thought it was!
My first real exposure to that sub
-culture was the Guthrie Jazz
Banjo Festival [ Guthrie,
Oklahoma; former home of the
American Banjo Museum], and
that was huge. That’s what led
me to choose the tenor banjo, it
was all Buddy Griffin, 100%;
this was 1997.
Ron: So besides Buddy Griffin,
who has been your greatest
inspiration?
Tyler: Unquestionably, Buddy
Wachter. I remember asking
Griffin, while listening to banjo
recordings on the way to a gig
who he thought was the best
banjo player out there, right now
today. He answered, “Well,
that’s hard to say, from an
entertainment point of view is
one thing, but no question about
it, Buddy Wachter is unrivaled.
Nobody will ever come even
close to him, except for you of
course (with a wink)”. I just
knew about five chords at the
time, but for him to have had
that much faith in me then, I
mean, wow... which is part of his
genius with kids, he really
makes you feel like you can do
anything. But yes, musically
speaking, my biggest inspiration
is without a doubt, Buddy
Wachter. He also has that ‘you
can do anything’ approach
which really empowers you.
Meeting Wachter in Guthrie
Oklahoma that very first time
was a turning point in my life. I
was nervous about meeting him
because I knew how amazing he
was. I finally went up to him
after his concert and introduced
myself, he was right there with
his banjo, and immediately said
119
Tyler With Buddy Wachter
“Let’s play something”.
I said “what, really, with me?”
and he said “sure”.
I didn’t have a banjo, but Scott
Whitfield was right there and he
said “play mine”, and Buddy
and I played a couple of tunes.
That just made my day! That he
would offer to play a song.
He gave me one of his cassettes,
‘The Natural’, and signed it to
me, and I just thought that was
the coolest thing ever, that
somebody that good would be
that nice.
We have to remember, that when
a young person is coming up, —
I mean, we’re talking about the
future, the survival of the tenor
banjo here, — we have to be
careful that we never pass up an
opportunity to be nice to them,
and to give them that same kind
of attention. I don’t know if I
would be here today with the
same ambition for tenor banjo if
it wasn’t for guys like Buddy
Griffin and Buddy Wachter
being that nice to me, to be
willing to spontaneously play a
song with me like that.
The Tyler Jackson interview will
be continued in the next issue.
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B.M.G.
Spring 2015
Plectrum Banjo Corner
by George Bennett
Whispering is a fine old tune and I have based this arrangement on the recording made by Paul Whiteman
and his Orchestra in 1920. Whispering, with its long notes, is an excellent tune to practise your rhythm
strokes. When you are comfortable with playing the tune as written, experiment with the rhythm by
playing each bar using any of these examples:
The more your mix these rhythms in the tune, the more interesting it will sound.
Whispering
Schoenberger, Coburn and Rose
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
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Jazz Ukulele - Oh, Lady Be Good!
by George Gershwin
Arranged by Fred Keeley
Welcome to Jazz Ukulele! This time, we feature a ukulele arrangement of the George Gershwin classic Oh,
Lady Be Good! George and Ira Gershwin wrote the song in 1924 and it was featured in their first real hit
musical ‘Lady, Be Good!’ which ran 334 times in the original Broadway run. The musical was a vehicle
for Fred and Adele Astaire.
Also in the show was Cliff ‘Ukulele Ike’ Edwards and you can hear his lovely ukulele-accompanied
rendition of the song on YouTube at http://bit.ly/17NE3Mz in a recording from 1925.
An instrumental version of the tune was a hit in the same year for Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, and
for Carl Fenton and His Orchestra, but perhaps the best known recorded versions come from Ella
Fitzgerald. Her first, recorded in 1947, featured Ella scat singing, but she slowed it down and sang it as a
poignant ballad in 1959 when she recorded it for the Verve album, Ella Fitzgerald sings the Ira and George
Gershwin Songbook, in an arrangement by Nelson Riddle.
More than 90 years since it was first written, the song still stands the test of time.
There are quite a few four-string chords in this tune and I hope that some of them are unfamiliar to you: it is
always good to learn something new!
You can, of course, strum these chords, but personally I prefer to pick them with my thumb and first three
fingers of my right hand.
Good luck.
B.M.G.
12
14
TENOR TOPICS
Spring 2015
by Bill Somerville
I enjoy playing Old Time waltzes on tenor banjo, and plectrum banjo too. The idiom
enables players to devise interesting ‘fill-ins’ with these melodies. So I have chosen a waltz
for this issue of ‘BMG’. The piece I have selected is ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’;
music by Albert von Tilzer, and lyrics by Jack Norworth. This number was written in
1908, and is played at baseball stadiums all over the U.S.A. The piece is straightforward,
and very easy to play. Try to play the tremoloed notes clearly with a strong accent on the chords associated
with them.
Any problems with the number, don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] Happy Picking!
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
Classical Banjo Corner
13
15
by Derek Hall
‘The Cadets’ is another tune which is suitable for beginners. This time we are in the key of G,
so before you play the tune,
practise the G Major scale.
This will give you a good sense of the
new key. The scale shown here goes
a twelfth higher than the octave.
This is a March, and should eventually
be played at March tempo, but try it
slowly at first; you can increase the
speed later.
THE CADETS
B.M.G.
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Spring 2015
CLASSICAL GUITAR COMPOSERS : 9
NAPOLEON COSTE
Philip Bone, in his authoritative book ‘The Guitar and Mandolin’, states
that Coste was born on June 28th, 1806, although other sources give the
date as June 27th, 1805. He had been playing the guitar from the age
of six, learning from his mother, who was a capable performer, but he
suffered a severe illness at the age of eleven, after which the family
moved to Valenciennes. There, about the year 1824, he began to teach
the guitar, and give public concerts.
In 1830 Coste moved to Paris with the objective of taking advanced
lessons from Fernando Sor, but soon he was giving concerts as a
respected soloist, and becoming well-known as a teacher.
During the next ten years, while continuing to teach and give concerts,
he studied harmony and counterpoint with the aim of publishing his
compositions, eventually producing about sixty works of varying
difficulty.
He designed his own guitar, making it larger than usual for those days,
and tuning it a fifth lower. It had a finger rest above the table for the
right hand, was beautifully decorated with mother of pearl on both the
fingerboard and around the edges of the body, and was eventually given
to the Museum of the National Conservatoire in Paris.
Coste also advocated using a seventh string, an innovation proposed by
both Sor and Legnani. After Sor’s death, Coste was commissioned by
the publishers Lemoine, to edit a revised edition of Sor’s ‘Method’, and he included an additional section
on the seventh string.
When he was fifty-seven, while giving a concert, Coste fell on some stairs and broke his right arm, which
effectively ended his performing career, although he was able to support himself financially by continuing
to give lessons. He died on February 17th 1883, at a time when public enthusiasm for the guitar, which
had been so strong in the early years of the century, had declined to some extent.
The Andante opposite is one of his easier pieces, and shows his original fingering.
DELTA BLUE ‘A’ STYLE MANDOLIN
An excellent student model mandolin, extremely well made with
a super tone.
Specifications
Top : Spruce
Back & Side : Mahogany
Neck : Mahogany
Fingerboard : Rosewood
Bridge: Rosewood
Machine Heads : Chrome Plated
Colour : Sunburst
This instrument
really is incredible
value for money.
Delta Blue Mandolin
Electronic chromatic
tuner
Padded bag
Easiest Mandolin Tutor
Medium ‘Ace’ plectrum
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£100.00
Tel: 01485 529323
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
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B.M.G.
Spring 2015
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
19
20
B.M.G.
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
Spring 2015
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Brejeiro
by David Wade
Helmut Rheingans
Luthier
Maker of
Open-back Banjos,
Mountainbanjos,
Bansitars.
Top quality repair work
undertaken.
www.orbmusic.co.uk
Tel. 01433 631907
Choro de Brazil
Dave Griffiths very kindly sent me a review
copy of his group Brejeiro’s second CD:
‘Carinhoso’ (the Portuguese word for
loving).
The group consists of Dave and Mike Pryor
on mandolins, cavaquinhos and bandolims;
Helen James on nylon strung guitar and
Andy Fuller percussion .
The playing on this CD undoubtedly
demonstrates the collective talent and
versatility of the group. Dave and Mike
have assimilated an authentic style of
playing the cavaquinho; Helen provides
strong rhythm guitar with lyrical bass lines and Andy ably
demonstrates his dexterity on a range of percussion including the
pandeiro (Brazilian tambourine), cajon (box drum) and tam tam (hand
drum).
The band and Dave in particular, have spent a lot of time exploring
and work-shopping source material to develop an exciting and varied
repertoire which represented on this CD.
Waldir Azevdo’s ‘Camundongo’ opens the CD and sets the pace.
Waldir Azevdo was considered ‘king’ of Choros in the 40s, 50s &
60s. Some tracks are more familiar than others, including the beautiful
tune Como Llora Una Estrella (Antonio Carrillo), delightful Doce de
Coco (Jacob do Bandolim) and jazzy Delicado (Waldir Azevedo). The
popular Libertango (Astor Piazzolla) is an absolute stunner! The
playing throughout is splendid; clear, clean melody notes driving
guitar rhythm and amazing percussion. Highly recommended
listening! The CD can be ordered from their web site:
www.brejeiro.co.uk or Amazon and iTunes.
No matter which
fretted instrument you
play,
Clifford Essex have
the best strings
www.cliffordessex.net
Telephone orders
welcome
01485 529323
B.M.G.
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22
FROM A BATH CHAIR
Firstly, may I
thank all of the
many readers of
B.M.G. who took
the trouble to send me their good
wishes on the occasion of my
68th birthday on January 8th; it
is very touching to know that so
many of you (including the tax
man) still have me in their
thoughts after so many years.
I was unable to mention the sad
news of the death of Clive
Palmer, (Billy Connolly’s
‘Desert Island Discs’ banjo
player of choice) at the age of
71, last November, this was due
to an unprecedented demand for
space within the pages of
B.M.G.
Clive Palmer
Clive was born in Edmonton,
North London and took up the
banjo when he was around ten
years old. He is remembered
mainly for his part in forming
The Incredible String Band, with
Robin Williamson in 1965, who,
at the height of their popularity,
appeared at the famous
Woodstock Folk Festival, in
1969.
Clive continued to play, perform
and record until 2011, his last
recordings being made with The
Clive Palmer Band, Along The
Enchanted Way and Live at the
Acorn in 2011.
There is a
charming film of Clive and his
band performing Morley’s
seldom heard these days, ‘Fun in
the Cotton Fields’ on YouTube.
Now that the season of festive
hysteria has faded from our
memories, the ‘Rustle of Spring’
and a new banjo season, is upon
us, — a fresh start, and a chance
to attempt something new on the
banjo.
To this end, the Reverend
Anthony Peabody is currently
engaged, via the Ning Classic
Banjo website (organised and
overseen by Ian Holloway aka
‘The Really Nice Man’) on the
mammoth task of transferring
the Joe Morley repertoire onto
the site in playable form so that
each piece may be heard being
played, and you may then decide
whether or not to learn to play it.
Spring 2015
by Richard Ineson
project, as many of these pieces,
though well worth playing, have
not been available for many
years, and consequently, have
been seldom performed.
My personal favourites from
Morley’s early period are, ‘The
Violet Mazurka’, ‘The Fire Fly
Polka’, ‘The Brooklyn Polka’
and ‘Slip Along Polka’, all good
tunes which contain a few
challenges to engross the mind
and fingers.
One of my birthday gifts came
all the way from Australia, and a
very welcome present it was,
indeed. A CD featuring the fine
banjo playing of Ian Simpson
and John Kane. On this CD,
‘Banjo Australis’ they play
many old favourites of mine,
including Slim Dusty’s big top
ten hit from the 1950’s ‘The Pub
With No Beer’. Here are the
lyrics for the first verse, for
those of you who may be
unfortunate enough to have
never heard this song before.
“It’s lonesome away from your
kindred
and
all,
By the campfire at night where
the wild dingos call,
But there’s nothing so lonesome,
so dull or so drear,
Than to stand in the bar of a pub
with no beer”.
Here in the UK of course, we do
not have the problem of pubs
with no beer, or rather it is the
Anthony Peabody with his
Cello Banjo
Anthony has already waded
through the very early Morley
pieces which were published by
Essex and Cammeyer when they
were in partnership, with
premises at 59, Piccadill y,
between 1891 and 1900, and is
now moving on to the later
pieces. A ver y wort hwhile
Slim Dusty
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
reverse, plenty of beer, but a
diminishing number of pubs. It
seems odd to me, but there we
are, we are living in times of
great change. Also featured is
another of Slim’s classics, ‘The
Road to Gundagai’.
“There’s a track winding back
to an old-fashioned shack.
Along the road to Gundagai.
Where the gum trees are growin’
and the Murrumbidgee’s flowin’
beneath the sunny sky.
Oh my mother and daddy are
waitin’ for me,
And the pals of my childhood
once more I will see.
And no more will I roam ‘cos
I’m headin’ right for home,
Along the road to Gundagai”.
Inevitably, the mention of these
two songs immediately brings to
mind the voice of Jean Metcalfe
saying, “The time in Britain is
twelve noon, in Germany, it’s
one o’clock, but home and away,
it’s time for Two Way Family
Favourites”, — referring of
course to the well-loved record
request programme which
served our Armed forces in
Germany after the war.
Both songs will meet with
approval from any audience,
once you have arranged a
suitable banjo accompaniment
to them, buy the CD, amaze
your friends and become
popular with girls, — or men, if
you are a girl.
And don’t forget the Clowne
banjo rally:
Midlands and North Banjo
Rally - Classic Banjo
Saturday April 26th 2015,
Clowne Community Centre,
Clowne, near Chesterfield,
Derbyshire, S43 4PL. Classic
Banjo – informal concert and
trade stalls. Contact: David
Wade, email:
[email protected]
Correspondence
Electric Hawaiian Guitar’ (made
by Rickenbacker) was shipped
by your agents W. H. Martin
Ltd, on S.S. Bhima on August
29th 1939 and was cleared by
customs in Sri Lanka on
November 15th 1939. I have no
doubt that this model was one of
the world’s first electric
Hawaiian guitars. I understand
that the ‘Premier Vox’ began
being manufactured in 1936. It
is now 76 years si nce this
instrument arrived in this
country, and so it nears antique
Dear Sir,
It may interest you to know that
i t was m y l at e father, Mr.
Neville de Silva who imported
the first electric guitar into Sri
Lanka (then Ceylon). It
happened to be one supplied by
your esteemed company. After
seeing an advertisement in BMG
(Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar)
magazine, he ordered the guitar
to be despatched in his name.
The guitar is a ‘Premier Vox
21
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status.
Just after WWII, my father
travelled to India with this
guitar, and for the first time, an
electric Hawaiian guitar, this
particular one, was played by my
father in Hindi movies at the
Paramount Studios in Bombay.
This is an instrument with a
great history.
After his demise in 1978, the
guitar came into my possession,
I am his only son. I have taken
care of it ever since and even
though it is not in proper
working order electronically, I
presume it has value as a
collectors item. I have enclosed
a recent photograph of the
guitar.
I wish to pass this instrument on
into safe custody before my
death. If anybody is interested in
making me an offer, you can
contact me at the the address
given.
N. Roy de Silva
36/8 B. 3rd Sagara Lane,
Uyana, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Tel: 0777245900
B.M.G.
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THE PEDAL STEEL GUITAR
Spring 2015
by Maurice Hipkiss
UNDERSTANDING THE C6 TUNING : Part One
If you are a beginner and have a twin neck guitar, or you have a single neck instrument but
your interest lies in types of music other than ‘Country,’ these articles are for you.
If you are in a Country Band but get gigs playing other types of music, such as Pop Standards, Blues Rock,
Western Swing, etc; these articles will be of interest to you also.
The following examples are chords you can get on the open strings without the use of pedals or knee
levers; chords that are already built into the tuning.
Chords are built from scales. ‘C’ Scale:
C D E F G A B C
Position in scale: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
‘x’ denotes the string to be picked.
The numbers on the RIGHT of the ‘x’ show the position of a note in the scale.
C Major Chords
1, 3, 5, or C, E, G
C6 Chords
1, 3, 5, 6, or C, E, G, A
A Minor Chords
1, flattened 3, 5, or A, C, E
A Minor 7th Chords
1, flattened 3, 5, flattened 7
or A, C, E, G
F Major Chords 1 3 5 or F A C
F Major 7th 1 3 5 7 or F A C E
F Major 9th Chords 1 3 5 7 9
or F A C E G
You can use the formula for all the other scales and keys. The next article will deal with the pedal and
knee lever changes on the open strings using a 5-pedal, one knee lever set-up. This is the minimum
configuration that you will need for the C6 Tuning. Best of Luck !
Spring 2015
B.M.G.
Plectrum Legato
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by Roy Burnham
The plectrum — and the technique with which it is wielded — is always important. It is doubly important
when producing the sweet sound.
There are people who think that to produce a softer tone and a sweeter sound they should use a flexible
plectrum. This is not so. You should never use a flexible plectrum, whether the flexibility is the result of a
too-thin pick, or an unsuitable substitute for tortoiseshell.
A plectrum that bends easily will bend when striking the strings, and it will produce a noise of its own — a
clicking or clacking that is most unmusical.
Yet the reasoning that leads people to believe there should be some ‘give’ in the plectrum to produce a
tender touch is correct. The ‘give’, however, should not be in the pick itself, but in the manner of its
application to the strings.
This is only possible if you hold the plectrum correctly in the first place. First of all, check the position of
your right-hand first finger and thumb without a plectrum. The first and second finger joints should be bent
as far as they can go: i.e. almost at right angles, so that your finger forms three sides of a square. Because
the sectional view of a finger is round, there is a considerable hollow in the centre of this square.
Your thumb should fit firmly into this hollow.
This is the position for holding the plectrum. If the plectrum is laid upon your first finger so that the
vertical line drawn from the tip up through the centre bisects the angle of the first finger joint, it will be
correctly positioned for striking the strings.
Your thumb is placed on top, — but make sure it is still over the hollow of the first finger ‘square’ and not
over the first finger top joint.
This ensures that the plectrum is held in such a way that it will not slip. Your thumb presses one way, in
between the finger joints pressing the other way.
This grip not only holds the plectrum firmly, but allows you to adjust the amount of ‘give’ in the plectrum
tip as it strikes the strings, by the tightness of the grip between your finger and thumb.
Because of the manner of the grip, it can be relaxed a little without any danger of the plectrum slipping.
Thus a tight grip is used for vibrant, attacking strokes, and a more relaxed grip is used for softer, legato
passages.
To ensure the sweet sound, the plectrum must be well made (with a smoothly rounded tip) and properly
bevelled. A rough tip, or incorrect bevelling, can cause a rougher tone.
Again, a smooth vibration, always working from your wrist, and never from your elbow, is important if a
soft tone is required, and so the tip of the plectrum should just glide over the strings. It should never dig
into them.
The shape of the plectrum is a matter of choice, and much depends on the size and shape of each player’s
hand. Some players prefer a plectrum which is almost the shape of an equilateral triangle. Others do better
with a plectrum more like an elongated pear. But whatever plectrum you use, what really counts is the way
you hold it and how effectively you can use your powers of self control. It is much more difficult to stroke
the strings with a plectrum than to strike them!
Bluegrass/Oldtime Mandolin Workshop with Jesper Rübner-Petersen.
South Petherton, Somerset - 15th and 16th August 2015. Participants will be
introduced to playing bluegrass/oldtime mandolin. Musical examples will be
drawn from standard tunes of various levels of difficulty, giving players a broad
overview of these genres. Both solo playing as well as accompaniment will be
explored during the course, allowing participants to learn new techniques and
develop and refine their existing playing skills. Exercises for improvisation and
short forays into music theory will round off the course material. In addition to
the principal themes of bluegrass and oldtime, individual examples taken from
swing, jazz and/or Irish folk music may also be included in the course. Course
Fee: £90.00. Venue: The David Hall, Roundwell St., South Petherton, Somerset,
TA13 5AA. More details: Email: Jesper at: [email protected] Or:Will Helton, South Petherton, Tel: 01460 241 329, Email: [email protected]
B.M.G.
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Spring 2015
Key Events to Commemorate the EightySeventh Anniversary of the ‘Bristol Sessions’
by Anthony Lis
Last July marked the
eighty-seventh anniversary of
the ‘Bristol Sessions’, the most
important of the early ‘hillbilly
music’ field-recording sessions.
On July 25, 1927, Victor recordproducer/talent-scout Ralph
Peer and two recordingengineers set up a portable
recording studio in the former
Taylor-Christian Hat Company
warehouse in central Bristol,
Tennessee. The city of Bristol,
roughly 375 miles southwest of
Washington DC, straddles the
Tennessee/Virginia border. Over
the next eleven days, Peer
recorded seventy sides by
nineteen different area acts,
including the first recordings by
the Carter Family and Jimmie
Rodgers.
A number of plectrum players
showed up in Bristol, including
Ernest Stoneman (who played
guitar on at least ten sides),
ukulele-player Iver Edwards
(who helped back vocalist Eck
Dunford on four recordings),
and banjoists Bolen J. Frost and
George Stoneman (the latter
Ernest’s cousin), who joined
Ernest on two sides credited to
the ‘Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers’.
Other plectrum-players included
the Johnson Brothers, (guitar,
steel guitar, and banjo);
Benjamin Frank Shelton, a
vocalist who accompanied
himself on banjo; gospel singer
Alfred G. Karnes (who may
have accompanied himself on a
Gibson harp-guitar); banjoist
James P. Nestor, who backed
fiddler Norman Edmonds; and
banjoist Joe B. Blackard who
appeared on four recordings with
the Shelor Family (aka Dad
Blackard’s Mountaineers).
Several late summer and fall
2014 events helped mark the
Bristol Sessions anniversary,
beginning with the August 1st
opening of the Birthplace of
Country Music Museum in
Bristol. The museum sits on the
southeast corner of Cumberland
and Moore Streets on the
Virginia side of the city,
roughly two-and-a-half blocks
northwest of the TaylorChristian warehouse-site (now a
parking lot).
Benjamin Frank Shelton
1902 - 1963
The two most famous acts to
emerge from the Bristol Sessions
also brought along guitars;
Maybelle Carter accompanied
her sister-in-law (and distant
cousin) Sara on ‘Single Girl,
Married Girl’ and ‘The
Wandering Boy’ with a Gibson
L-1 flat-top on August 2, 1927,
while Jimmie Rodgers
strummed a Martin 00-18 while
offering ‘The Soldier’s
Sweetheart’ and ‘Sleep, Baby,
Sleep’ two days later.
Maybelle Carter
The 24,000 square feet museum
is affiliated with the Smithsonian
Institution; visitors are greeted
with a fourteen-minute
introductory film, ‘Bound For
Bristol’, narrated by John Carter
Cash (grandson of Maybelle
C a r t e r ) . T h e m u s e um a l s o
includes a gallery for rotating
B.M.G.
Spring 2015
exhibits, listening stations, a
karaoke booth (where one can
record their own version of one
of four Bristol-recorded tunes),
and three smaller theaters.
Jessica Turner, Director and
Head Curator of the museum
told me during a November 26th
telephone interview that
instruments currently on loan to
the museum include a 1929
guitar owned by Jimmie
Rodgers; a circa 1936 Martin
0028 played by A.P. Carter
around 1938-41; banjos owned
by Earl Scruggs and Ralph
Stanley, and a prototype of
Gibson’s Bill Monroe F-5Lmodel mandolin of the 1990’s.
During the first week of
November, the Chicago Review
Press released Barry Mazor’s
Peer biography Ralph Peer and
the Making of Popular Roots
Music. Mazor, who spoke at the
‘Record Man’ exhibit on
November 15, is a Nashvillebased music journalist and
author who has written for the
Wall Street Journal, The Village
Voice, and the Washington Post.
(Mazor’s previous book,
Meeting Jimmie Rodgers, won
Belmont University’s ‘Best
Book on Country Music’
award.)
25
27
me, including Peer’s purchase of
a Weymann banjo for Bolen
Frost about a year before the
Bristol Sessions, during an
Ernest Stoneman recording stint
in Camden, New Jersey.
Frost, Stoneman’s son-in-law,
then new to his band, needed a
banjo to provide a Appalachian
‘ambiance’ to Stoneman's
waxing of the 1853 song ‘Kitty
Clyde’. Mazor writes: “Peer had
Stoneman go across the
Delaware River bridge from
Camden to central Philadelphia
where Weymann & Son were
located, to pick up a fine
Keystone State Special banjo, a
model that cost a whopping
$150, equal to several thousand
dollars today”.
Barry
Mazor
Jessica Turner
Turner also relayed that the
museum maintains a digital
archive including a small
instrument collection, old-time
radio equipment, and oral
history interviews.
On September 12, Nashville’s
Country Music Hall of Fame
unveiled a ‘spotlight exhibit’
titled ‘Ralph Peer: Record
Man’, which showcased
artefacts related to Peer’s career,
including a Western Electric
carbon microphone similar to
the one he used in Bristol.
Ralph
Peer
Mazor told me that his Country
Music Hall of Fame appearance
was an hour-and-a-half long,
with film, audio, and live
performances, adding: “I
wended my way through how
Ralph Peer made and remade
country music over the decades.
Shawn Camp (with Mike Bub,
formerly bassist with the Del
McCoury Band and Laura
Cash, ex-wife of John Carter
Cash) performed five numbers,
including: ‘The Storms Are On
the Ocean’, the last song the
Carter Family recorded during
their initial Bristol session”.
Mazor devotes roughly thirty
pages in his book to the Bristol
Sessions, (around ten percent of
his narrative). He relates several
session-related facts unknown to
Peer also relates that Bristol
Session fiddlers Jesse T. and
Pyrhus D. Shelor were ancestors
of bluegrass banjoist/vocalist
Sammy Shelor, who currently
leads the Lonesome River Band.
Also Eck Dunford’s Bristol
session waxing of ‘Skip to My
Lou’ with Dunford and Ernest
Stoneman on guitar and Iver C.
Edwards on ukulele, was the
first recording of the tune.
Perhaps by press time, the
Bristol Sessions tribute CD
mentioned at the end of my
previous article, (Orthophonic
Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions
Revisited), will have been
released. [Discographical
information taken from Tony
Russell’s Country Music Records:
A Discography, 1921-1942.]
B.M.G.
26
28
Spring 2015
The Shelor and Blackard Families
by Ray Alden
Anthony Lis is
c u r r e n t l y
concentrating on
the 1927 Bristol
Sessions in his BMG articles.
Because the Shelor Family
participated in the Bristol
Sessions, we felt it appropriate
to include this article. Ed.
The late Ray Alden, created the
Field Recorders’ Collective over
a decade ago. The Field
Recorders’ Collective is an
organization dedicated to the
release of materials (music and
photographs) from private
collections. Your support for
this extremely focused project is
important. In purchasing
products from the Field
Recorders’ Collective, you will
be making it possible for them to
continue this endeavour and
provide funds back to surviving
musicians, immediate families
and those collectors in the group
attempting to maintain often
endangered collections.
www.fieldrecorder.com
Ray Alden’s widow, Diane, has
kindly given us permission to
publish this article stating: “He
loved spending time with the
Shelors and hearing about their
history. He brought me to meet
them one summer, and Clarice
even gave me a piano lesson! I
am pleased to give permission
for his article to appear in
BMG”.
Jesse Shelor (born December,
1894) was the youngest boy of
the fourteen children of
Reverend William Ellis Shelor.
Even though all of Jesse’s
brothers played fiddle or banjo,
it was not their influence, but
rather a more startling event that
start ed ten - years ol d Jesse
fiddling. One day Jesse’s father
Jesse Shelor
came home, picked up a fiddle,
and played ‘Callahan’. This
impressed young Jesse greatly
since he had no idea his father
played! Community pressure
against a Baptist minister
playing the ‘Devil's Box’ was
strong. Even though this was the
only time Jesse heard his father
play, he never forgot that tune!
After Jesse began playing, he
learned a great deal from the
great local fiddler, Wallace
Spangler. Twelve year old Jesse,
who came up to big 240 pound
Wallace's waist, came to be
known as ‘Little Dad’ and
Wallace as ‘Big Dad’. Wallace
was so well known that even
Taylor Kimble had heard him
play and knew him as a man of
quick wit, especially when
probed about the growth on his
nose. One young smart aleck
asked him, “Why is that rum bob
on your nose so big”? Wallace
immediately replied, “Well, I
gave it a chance to grow by not
sticking it in other people’s
business”.
In addition to helping Jesse with
his music, Wallace taught his
two sons, Tump and Babe, to
play fiddle. In the years 1906 to
1914, the Shelor family spent
time in the factory towns of
Danville, Virginia, and Spray,
North Carolina, working in the
cotton mills. In Danville, Jesse
and his older brother Pyrhus
(pronounced ‘Purse’) began to
play music with the boy across
the street, Charlie LaPrade.
Charlie played more modern
tunes such as ‘Over the Waves’
and ‘Under the Double Eagle’.
Jesse learned these tunes from
Charlie and, in addition, learned
to carry Charlie home in a
wheelbarrow after Charlie stole
drinks of whiskey. Charlie went
on to join a major old time band,
the ‘Blue Ridge Highballers’.
Jesse was drafted into the army
during World War I. Discharged
after his entire division was
almost destroyed by the great
Spanish-Victoria flu, Jesse
returned to the Meadows of Dan.
He renewed his music by
playing with his old mentor,
Wallace Spangler and with
Joseph Blackard, who often
played clawhammer banjo with
Wallace. Jesse also renewed his
friendship with Joe Blackard’s
two piano playing daughters,
Lorna and Clarice. In 1919,
Jesse married Clarice Blackard
and they began to play music
nightly in their home with
Pyrhus and Joseph. This then
brings the fourth musical family
into the story, the Blackard
Family.
Clarice (born March, 1900)
remembers stories about her
father Joseph’s childhood: “You
know Grandpa (Willoughby
Blackard) died in the Civil War
with the measles and left
Grandma with five children to
raise. She had a real hard time.
Sometimes she couldn’t buy wax
Spring 2015
Jesse and Clarice
to make candles for the children
to study by. He (Joe Blackard)
was so anxious to learn that he’d
go cut pine and burn it and study
his lessons by the light the pines
would give out of the fireplace”.
Joseph continued to a higher
education than most by walking
seven miles to Vesta every
summer to learn from a visiting
professor. Finally, Joseph be
came a teacher for the mountain
children by carrying around a
petition to form a ‘subscription’
school. Clarice told me: “the
people that weren’t able to pay,
he took ‘em in free an’ taught
‘em. But there’s plenty people
that was able to put in something
that did”. In 1904 Joe began to
carry the mail and stopped
teaching. He carried the mail for
twenty-one years, until 1924.
Joseph began singing and
playing the banjo when he was
so young that he had to put the
rim on a chair and just hold the
neck. Later, he bought the first
‘store’ banjo ever to come to the
area. Finally, he ordered a Sears
and R oebuck m etal -cl ad
‘Supertone’. When, in 1918,
Cecil Sharp came collecting
songs for his book ‘English
Folksongs from the Southern
Mountains’, he found Joe
Blackard a rich source. He
collected songs like ‘Young
Beichan’, ‘The Holy Twig’,
‘Fine Sally’, and ‘Bow and
Balance to Me’ from Joe.
B.M.G.
Both sides of Clarice’s family
were musical, On her mother’s
side, the Pendletons, there are
many fine musicians. Clarice’s
nephew, Buddy Pendleton, is a
champion bluegrass fiddler.
Buddy learned a great deal from
his uncle Delmar Pendleton.
However, it was Clarice’s father
who influenced her most
musically. Her father, Joseph,
sent Clarice to ‘singing’ school
every summer. The school
would be a full day and lasted
two weeks. At night, Joe helped
Clarice associate the new shape
notes with the more familiar ‘dore-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do’. Even
though there was a pedal organ
in the Blackard home, Clarice
begged for a piano. When she
was seven, she got one. Joe now
wrote ‘C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C’ on
paper and put them behind the
white piano keys. Again Clarice
learned to associate these letters
with ‘do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do’.
At first, Clarice only played
melody behind her father’s
singing and banjo playing. He’d
stop and correct Clarice’s every
mistake. Then, she added the
bass notes. Finally, using her
imagination, she added her own
special notes to the tunes. When
Clarice was thirteen, she could
play even the fastest tunes up to
tempo. That meant music nightly
in the Blackard home. Even after
Jesse and Clarice were married
and had their first child, (Joseph
C. Shelor) in 1920, the music
continued in their home
throughout the decade. The
music would have stayed only in
the home, except for a talent
search by Victor Records. The
owner of a victrola record store
in Hillsville, Mr. Walter
Howlette, held auditions for
local bands and Joe Blackard
brought his group. The Victor
Record representative liked them
and gave them a recording date
27
29
in Bristol, located in the
southwest corner of Virginia,
125 miles away.
Joe, Clarice, Jesse, Pyrhus, and
seven year old Joseph arrived in
Bristol on August 2, 1927. The
recording session took place in a
dusty millinery shop. They were
asked to sing some of their more
unusual songs although they
hadn’t practised for them. Joe
had to write the words out for
Clarice and placed them on the
piano. Pyrhus patted his foot so
loudly that they finally had to
put a pillow under his foot. Little
Joseph was crying and getting
dirt from the shelves on his face.
Even with these less than ideal
recording conditions, the group
cut ‘Sandy River Belle’, ‘Big
Ben Gal’ (incorrectly labelled
Big Bend Gal), ‘Billy Grimes
the Rover’, and ‘Suzanna Gal’,
producing four sides on two
sevent y-ei ght rpm records.
The Shelor Family
also known as
‘Dad Blackard’s Moonshiners’
The trip back made the
recording session seem like a
cream puff. They left Bristol
before dark. Crossing New
River by ferry, they had to
B.M.G.
28
30
straddle large holes in the ferry’s
rotting timber, and calm little
Joseph at the same time. After
that it was driving in complete
fog. Jesse drove for hours with
his head sticking out of the
window. They arrived home at
three a.m., Jesse had a stiff neck
that lasted days. Even though the
family was asked back to record,
they never returned.
The music in the home entered a
new phase when Jesse, because
he worked on the state roads,
had been away from home a
great deal. Jesse and Clarice
Shelor had six children of whom
three, Joseph, Paul, and Jimmy,
became particularly interested in
playing music. At the same
time, Jesse’s brother Frank, a
singing master, had six children
interested in music. One in
particular, Bill Shelor, became
an excellent fiddler, guitarist,
and singer. The cousins would
then meet every night and make
music. This way Clarice never
had to worry and knew where
her children were every night.
Finally, World War II broke up
this phase, making its demands
on the family.
Currently all the children bring
their families over every
Sunday. Paul’s daughter, Susan
Shelor, has learned many of her
grandmother Clarice’s piano
pieces. Even though Jesse is
partially paralyzed due to a toxic
garden spray, Susan can get him
to do his favourite tune,
‘Callahan’. And so the tradition
is passed on.
http://www.fieldrecorder.com/
docs/notes/shelor.htm
The Famous Clifford Essex
‘Havana’
Sliding Banjo Mute and Tone
Enhancer £7.50
post free
By The Way
Spring 2015
by David Wade
Here are some up and coming events that are worth a
look ....
Midlands / North Banjo Rally will again be at
Clowne near Chesterfield and will take place on
Saturday 25th April.
Clowne Community Centre is about 10 minutes drive east from the
M1 Junction 30 - S43 4PL for those with SatNav. The day will follow
the usual format with doors opening at 12 noon and the informal
concert starting at 1pm with easy community pieces.
Contact Dave: 07976-875-619 for details.
American Banjo Fraternity
Next Rally: May 21st - 23rd Allenberry Resort , Boiling Springs, PA
Theme: Edison 2 Minute Cylinders Website: www.banjofraternity.org
Contact: Paul Heilman [email protected]
Ukulele Society of Great Britain
Next Rally Sunday 12th April Digswell Village Hall, Welwyn,
Hertfordshire AL6 0AT
Website: www.usgb.co.uk
Contact: Fred on 0208-960-0459 for more information.
Lute Society
Residential School ‘Lutefest 2016’ 26th– 29th March at Benslow
Music Trust, Hitchen
AGM : 9th May at the Dutch Church, London EC2N 2HA
More information Chris Godwin 01483 202159
West Sussex Guitar Club
Recital: Edoardo Catemario Saturday 28th March 7.30pm at the
Recital Hall, 46 Studley Road, Bognor Regis PO21 1ER.
Contact: 01243-696-762
Web: www.westsussexguitar.org
North East Scotland Classical Guitar Society
10th Spring Concert—Montes Kircher Duo
Based in Aberdeen, this Society meets monthly on Wednesday nights
at Queens Cross Church.
For more information contact:
Peter Stock email: [email protected] Web: www.nescgs.co.uk
And on the horizon:
The British BMG Federation Summer School 19th - 21st June
Alston Hall College, Longridge, near Preston PR3 £BP
Contact: Sandra Woodruff 07946-716-591
Classical Guitar Retreat
1st - 6th July, Cathedral of the Isles on the island of Cumbrae off the
West Coast of Scotland.
Contact: Matthew McAllister : 07190-471-486
Web: www.cgretreat.com
B.M.G.
Spring 2015
29
31
BMG TAPE CLUB
Hawaiian Guitar Section by John Marsden
We have three new contributions this quarter. James Kerr (West Lothian) has sent a fifth DVD of his
beautiful playing, accompanied by wonderful photography. James’ productions can be found on the
internet. Former member Keith Wagstaff (Staffs) has submitted another tape of his well-constructed multirecordings, and finally, I am circulating a tape which includes an M. R. James-inspired Hawaiian ghost
story written by David Rowlands, a 1936 ‘Hawaiian Fantasies’ radio programme featuring Danny Stewart,
and a circa-1961 ‘Hawaii Calls’ radio show.
Edward Kirkman
Readers will be very sorry to learn of the death on October 31st last
year of Edward Kirkman. He was 85. Edward was featured on the
cover of the March 1969 issue of BMG, and during the 1960’s he
wrote regularly on steel guitar matters. In 1971, his ‘Stranger in
Paradise’ series documented his visit that year to Hawaii. Born in
Nottingham, he moved to Bristol after marrying Jessie, an Austrian
girl, then to London and finally to Canvey Island, Essex, in April
1967. A journalist by profession, he was interested in both South
American and Hawaiian music. In 1997 he paid a return visit with
Jessie to Hawaii.
Edward played a Fender 800 pedal steel guitar, with ten strings (he
used nine) and six pedals. He tuned it to D6th with added 9th. He
loved the sound and repertoire of the great Hawaiian bands of the
1930’s-40’s, and especially steel guitar in an orchestral setting.
We became good friends through BMG, and he was a Tape Club member for many years, producing a
series of carefully planned and beautifully played tapes. Edward was pre-deceased by his beloved Jessie,
and we send our sincerest condolences to son Mark, who is, incidentally, a fine rock guitarist.
Finally, the recent loss, probably in the post, of a couple of tapes prompts me to recommend that members
should keep a list of tapes received. It’s so useful when we need to try and locate one which has gone
missing. It also underlines the point that irreplaceable original material should not be circulated. Always
make a copy for the Club.
Huddersfield Jazz Guitar Society
JAZZ GUITAR FESTIVAL
Saturday 11th July and Sunday 12th July 2015
Jim Mullen, John Etheridge, Remi Harris, Adrian
Ingram, Darren Dutson Bromley, Trefor Owen,
Sam Dunn and the cream of local jazz guitar talent
● 12 Workshops
● 12 Daytime Performances
● 2 Ticketed Celebrity Concerts
● Great brewhouse ales and fantastic atmosphere
● Dozens of fantastic raffle prizes donated by bespoke jazz guitar
sponsers
Sponsered by: Just Jazz Guitar, Mikes Masterclasses, Bulldog
Pickups, Dr Tom Van Hoose, Tom James
Email: [email protected]
www.facebook.com/HuddersfieldJazzGuitarSociety
VENUE
The Rat and Ratchet
40 Chapel Hill
Huddersfield
West Yorkshire
HD1 3EB
England
B.M.G.
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THE BANJO STORY
Spring 2015
PART TWELVE by A. P. Sharpe
Readers are reminded that these instalments are updated from A.P. Sharpe’s original typescript. His footnotes are shown
between square brackets, and comments by the present editor are printed in italics between curved brackets.)
The peghead of
most
banjos
houses four tuning
pegs — sometimes the push-in
type as on the violin, but more
usually non-slip or geared pegs.
All types of banjo pegs are fitted
at right angles to the plane of the
arm, either being pushed into
tapered holes or fitted through
the back of the head.
The fifth (short) string of the
banjo is tuned by means of a peg
inserted at right angles into the
side of the arm at the fifth fret.
Some makers used a tube under
the fingerboard for this string, in
order to eliminate the side peg.
When such a tube was used, the
fifth string entered the tube at
the fifth fret and was carried
under the fingerboard up to the
peghead, which housed a fifth
peg in addition to the usual four.
[In post-war years, because of
the shortage of high class nonslip or geared pegs, some Asian
makers have used single guitar
machines for their banjos, and
these protrude at each side of the
peghead.]
There is no ‘standard’ type of
stringing for the banjo, although
at first, players used all gut
strings with a covered-on-silk
4th. These were available for
other instruments such as the
violin, harp and guitar, but when
strings were produced
specifically for the banjo, many
variations were made, and nylon
has taken the place of gut today.
(Nowadays the covering for the
4th string is usually a very fine
gauge nickel or copper wire, and
the core is generally a multifilament nylon, or nylon floss,
although some have a monofilament nylon or thin steel wire
core.)
Some of the various
combinations of strings used for
the banjo are:
1. Nylon mono-filament 1st,
2nd, 3rd and 5th of different
gauges with a nickel-silver or
copper wrapping round a nylon
floss core for the 4th. (This
would be the modern equivalent
of the all-gut strung banjo.)
2. Plain wire 1st and 2nd, nylon
filament 3rd and 5th with a
wrapped nylon 4th.
3. Plain wire 1st, 2nd and 5th,
wrapped on wire core 3rd and
4th.
There are many permutations of
the strings commercially
available and they vary with the
player’s taste and, of course,
what sounds best on a particular
instrument.
LONG ARM BANJOS
Before going on to the other
instruments of the banjo family
we should, perhaps, mention
here the extra-long, so-called
‘folk banjo’ which Pete Seeger
(the American folk singer) made
popular in the late 1950’s, and
which was subsequently played
by ‘bluegrass’ banjoists, of
whom Earl Scruggs and Roger
Sprung were the leaders.
The instrument has five strings
tuned:
This banjo has a normal 11 inch
hoop but utilizes an extra-long
fingerboard with 25 frets and a
32 inch scale length. It is, in
fact, a normal banjo with three
extra frets at the nut end. The
octave string is fitted at the
eighth fret.
The long neck of these
instruments appears to have been
inspired by the early banjos
which were made before the
tuning (or strings) became
standardised, but as most players
use a capotasto, more often than
not, at the third fret, the long
neck seems unnecessary, except,
perhaps, for a low voiced singer
who knows only a few chords.
THE ZITHER-BANJO
The Zither-banjo is really a
constructional variation of the
banjo, and as such has five
strings tuned to the same pitch
and notes.
Spring 2015
This type of instrument started
with W. Temlett’s patent closedback banjo of 1869 (Temlett
always called himself ‘the
pioneer of the zither-banjo’).
The American, C.E. Dobson,
patented an ‘Improved Closed
Back’ banjo in 1878, but it was
Alfred D. Cammeyer who
perfected the zither-banjo in
1888.
The vellum diameter of zitherbanjos varies between seven and
nine inches, and the skin is
stretched over a circular metal
casting which is suspended in a
wooden hoop with a convex
back, by metal ‘S’ shaped
brackets (varying in number)
fixed to the upper edge of the
hoop. There is generally about
an inch gap all round between
the casting and the inside of the
hoop.
The top-band (or bezel) is
usually of cast metal with a
number of lugs around its
circumference, through which
pass screws which engage in the
tapped holes of corresponding
lugs on the main casting. By
tightening these screws, pressure
is applied to the top-band, which
then increases the tension on the
vellum. Zither-banjos have
always dispensed with the side
fifth peg; the octave string
passing through a tube inserted
under the fingerboard between
the peg-head and the fifth fret. It
has been usual to fit guitar-type
tuning machines to the zitherbanjo so that the peg-head
presents a ‘three -a-side’
appearance, although only five
of the machines are used.
(Some manufacturers have, in
the past, produced sets of tuning
machines specially for the zither
-banjo, with two pegs on the
bass side and three on the treble
side, but it is considered that the
balanced machines present a
better appearance).
B.M.G.
The peg-head is normally
roughly rectangular and is
pierced by two parallel slots to
allow access to the barrels of the
tuning machines, which are
fitted through holes drilled in
each side of the head. The
barrels are therefore in the same
plane as the fingerboard, with
the tuning buttons at right angles
to, and underneath the head.
The machine itself is a simple
worm-and-pinion, with the latter
fitted on the outside end of the
barrel, the worm being part of
the shank of the tuning button,
which, as mentioned, lies at the
back of the head. Each barrel is
pierced by a small hole for
anchoring the string, and the
material can vary from brass
tube to bone or ivory, according
to the quality of the instrument
and the design of the maker.
The Zither-banjo is invariably
played by vibrating the strings
with the nails of the right hand
(these were developed and
carefully tended by the true
artiste for this purpose) and the
instrument is particularly suited
for the slower type of solo where
sostenuto could be employed.
When forced, the zither-banjo is
inclined to produce overtones,
and true staccato playing is
difficult (if not impossible) to
perform on it. The instrument
has a distinctive tone all its own;
with an inclination to ‘wiriness’.
As with the Banjo, there is no
‘standard’ stringing, but the
following sets of strings are
generally considered to be
acceptable:
1. Wire 1st, 2nd and 5th. Nylon
mono-filament 3rd, nylon floss
core wrapped 4th.
2. As above but with a silk core
31
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wrapped 4th.
3. Wire 1st, 2nd and 5th. Wire
core wrapped 3rd and 4th.
4. As 3, but with nylon or silk
core wrapped 4th
THE PLECTRUM BANJO
This instrument has the same
characteristics and scale length
as the Banjo, but lacks the short
fifth string. As a result, the neck
is usually narrower.
The tuning is the same as strings
1 to 4 on the Banjo and,
although modern players have
almost exclusively adopted the
raised ‘D’ for the bass string, the
‘C’ tuning is useful for some
music:
Either
The Plectrum-banjo is generally
fitted with a resonator (details in
a later chapter) and, because it
is usually used for dance-band
work, or at least, used to hold a
melody line above other
instruments, it is invariably
32
34
strung with special plectrumbanjo strings made of a thicker
gauge of wire than those on the
Banjo or Zither-banjo. The 1st
and 2nd strings are made from
single strand heavy gauges of
wire, while the 3rd and 4th both
have wrapped wire cores of
differing thickness. Some
players who use the instrument
purely for solo work fit a nylon
filament 3rd and a wrapped
nylon 4th.
(Sharpe omits the obvious
information that the Plectrumbanjo is played with a plectrum,
not the fingers, and gives no
details about this essential piece
of equipment. During my years
with the Clifford Essex Music
Co. I sold large numbers of
plectrums (plectra ?) and offer
the following observations. The
plectrum varies with the player,
being a matter of personal
preference as regards the shape,
size and material used.
The
essentials seem to be a smooth
bevelled edge for striking the
strings; an area large enough to
be gripped firmly without
slipping between first finger and
thumb; and a material that is
fairly flexible, — although this
last requirement varies
enormously between players, in
that some like a thin, very
flexible plectrum, while others
prefer it to be almost rigid. The
material used has also varied,
ranging from a polished
hardwood, such as ebony, to
tortoiseshell — very popular
thirty years ago — to, more
recently, nylon, plastic and
buffalo horn, which produces a
tone similar to tortoiseshell)
THE TENOR BANJO
The Tenor-banjo has four strings
tuned:
B.M.G.
Spring 2015
The Banjolin can have either
four single or four double
strings.
(Double strings, set
close together and tuned to the
same note, or in octaves, are
known as a ‘course’: this is a
traditional method of increasing
the volume of an instrument .)
Music is written in the Treble
Clef, sounding at that pitch, and
the tuning is:
— which is the same as the
Viola in the string orchestra.
It has a shorter scale length than
the plectrum-banjo, and only
nineteen, or sometimes
seventeen frets to the
fingerboard. There has never
been a ‘standard’ scale length for
the tenor-banjo; — during its
lifetime it has varied from as
short as nineteen inches to as
long as twenty-three; each
manufacturer having his own
idea of what is ideal. It can be
mentioned that with the twentythree inch scale it is almost
impossible to procure a first
string of sufficient tensile
strength to withstand the
constant tuning to A. [See the
special chapter devoted to the
Tenor-banjo]. Most tenor-banjos
are fitted with a resonator; the
instrument is always played with
a plectrum, and strings are
specially made for it. (As noted
above, Sharpe wrote a separate
chapter on the Tenor-banjo.)
THE BANJOLIN
or
In its four-string form the
instrument looks like a stunted
plectrum-banjo, for it has a fullsize (11 inch) hoop but an arm
of only about half the length of
the banjo. It has a scale length
of thirteen inches, (six and a half
inches to the twelfth fret) and the
fingerboard usually extends a
little over the vellum. The size
of the vellum in relation to the
string length results in a rather
‘tubby’ tone, but when such
instruments have been made
with a smaller hoop they have
only succeeded in sounding
‘tinny’.
This instrument is always played
with a plectrum and was evolved
to enable mandolinists and
violinists to look like ‘banjoists’
when the rag-time orchestras
became popular.
The fourstring banjolin is generally used
in the B.M.G. orchestra and in
the banjo band. The four course
version came into being to
enable mandolinists to play a
louder -voiced instrument.
Because of the tuning, mandolin
strings are used for both versions
of the instrument.
To be continued.
SHUBB 5th STRING BANJO CAPO
LONG VERSION - NICKEL
Product Features
• Advanced design and features
• Capo can be disengaged completely
• Shubb construction
Product Specifications
Made from hard wearing nickel with a sturdy
design and well-machined parts, the capo allows
the 5th string to be stopped up to the 13th fret.
Weight: 0.10 kg (approx)
A very popular 5th string capo made in USA.
We recommend that you have this fifth string
capo installed by a professional luthier.
Model: FS-LB
£47.50 post free to UK destinations
Elsewhere: £5.00
KYSER QUICK CHANGE
TRIGGER CAPO FOR BANJO,
MANDOLIN OR UKULELE
• Designed for the slimmer neck of the banjo,
mandolin or ukulele
• Perfect for quick and accurate on-stage
applications
• The Kyser Kombi capo can be positioned with
one hand and repositioned without changing
your instrument’s tuning
£21.00 post free to UK destinations
Elsewhere: £5.00
KYSER 6 STRING PRO-AM
GUITAR CAPO
These capos work like a charm. You won’t miss
a key change in between songs! They are easy to
use and very fast to change position.
A perfect fit for the necks and fingerboards of
acoustic 6-string guitars, the original QuickChange is a snap to reposition between frets
using just one hand, or to ‘park’ on the head
stock.
More guitarists use this capo than any other
type. The quick change design allows for fast
and easy key change with the use of only one
hand. Don’t wait until your next gig, order one
today!
£8.50 post free to UK destinations
Elsewhere: £5.00
Clifford Essex
Tel: 01485 529323
ARIA AM-20E ELECTRIC MANDOLIN
Specifications
Top: Spruce
Back and Sides: Mahogany
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Number of Frets: 20
Scale Length: 350mm
Bridge: Rosewood
Pickup: Magnetic
Controls: Volume, Tone
Hardware: Chrome
Finish: Brown Sunburst
Included: Gig Bag and the Clifford
Essex Mini Clip-On Tuner
£170.00
Plus £10.00 Postage
UK Only
ARIA ABU-1 BANJO UKULELE
£250.00
Plus £10.00
Postage
UK Only
Clifford Essex. Tel: 01485 529323.
True to their usual high standards this
new banjo-ukulele from Aria is very
playable and extremely well made.
Producing a strong, powerful tone, with
genuine banjo resonance.
Specifications
8” Head: REMO
Hoop: Maple
Resonator: Maple
Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Number of Frets: 18
Scale Length: Concert Ukulele 392 mm
Tension Hooks: 12
Included: Gig Bag and the Clifford
Essex Mini Clip-On Tuner