Banjo Players... Come Out of the Closet !

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 22 Sep 2006 2:48 pm

Was a Bluegrass banjo picker for years, toured with one group quite regularly. Still pick banjo on a few tunes in the group I am working with currently. (Several well known steel players started as banjo pickers, Bill Keith and Jack Hicks come immediately to mind.)

Ken Williams · Post by **Ken Williams** » 22 Sep 2006 3:17 pm

I played 5 string several years before I started playing steel. I took the thing out of the case a couple of weeks ago. That was the first time I had played it in over 15 years. I used to think I did alright but looking back I guess I wasn't that good. I feel that playing the banjo made it much easier to make early progress on steel, as I was already used to the picks and the idea of using my fingers to pick the strings.

Ken

Frank Estes · Post by **Frank Estes** » 22 Sep 2006 7:16 pm

Epiphone MB-250 Do not spend enough time at it. I can fake a few instrumentals. Steel and lead guitar take priority.

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 23 Sep 2006 6:38 am

I don't think anyone should make fun of banjos....but Mike Perlowin doing "I
Feel Pretty" , now that is funny!

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 23 Sep 2006 7:05 am

I had no idea I was listening to banjo on 'West Side Story.'
I demand my money back!

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 23 Sep 2006 7:32 am

Allan, I played the banjo when I was a kid.
I make fun of it in my cartoons here on the forum in my Steel Guitar Forum Funnies but
the honest truth is I have nothing against
banjos or banjo players, and I even enjoy
it. Bella Fleck sure does some interesting stuff with it.

Mike Ester · Post by **Mike Ester** » 23 Sep 2006 8:18 am

Guilty as charged. 1978 Gibson RB250. Bought it brand new in Denver, while going to Air Force tech school. Started out playing bluegrass music, but when I moved back to New Braunfels, I had to change to steel, just to play.

By the by, have you noticed that b0b is frightenly quiet about this thread? I admire his magnanimous display of self-control.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 23 Sep 2006 12:06 pm

He's plotting his next move...

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 23 Sep 2006 12:29 pm

Bob HAS to be out of town.

Pete Young · Post by **Pete Young** » 23 Sep 2006 1:45 pm

Maybe B0B is practicing banjo just to show you guys that he can play it too

Gary Lee Gimble · Post by **Gary Lee Gimble** » 23 Sep 2006 3:10 pm

Well, since this thread is still alive and b0b may need some inspiration to woodshed some more as Pete has suggested, here ya go...
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Dennis Coelho · Post by **Dennis Coelho** » 23 Sep 2006 3:20 pm

Been playing and teaching banjo for more than thirty years: Gibsons, 60's Fenders, Ome, now on my second Stelling. Sold my railing/clawhammer banjos to buy steels.

Also play an Ome "Irish" tenor: same scale as regular tenor (21 1/2 inch) but with heavier strings and tuned a whole octave lower (GDAE) than mandolin or fiddle but with the same fingering.

25 years with the same comedy/music group. I've heard every banjo joke there is, even all those transplanted from drummer jokes. Really feel sorry for those guys. Dennis

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J. R. McClung · Post by **J. R. McClung** » 23 Sep 2006 3:35 pm

Okay. Since I let the cat out of the bag today at the club meeting, here goes:

I own and play a 1980 Gibson RB-250. I play Christian, cajun, country, celtic, and bluegrass, and often use it to accompany my wife who is a harpist.

I will even play the banjo, steel, and fiddle tomorrow at a Gospel music show down in Chichasha, Oklahoma.

Yep. Like Mike P. says....got one and aint afraid to use it!

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 23 Sep 2006 5:17 pm

There you go, now. That wasn't too difficult, was it ? Truth is I bet most steel guitarists have played banjo at some time in their lives. I've never met anyone who only played steel. It's usually an instrument you take up after already having played other instruments.

Don Barnhardt · Post by **Don Barnhardt** » 23 Sep 2006 5:58 pm

Didja hear about the guy at the banjo convention who was so out of tune that the other banjo players even noticed?

Jennings Ward · Post by **Jennings Ward** » 23 Sep 2006 7:39 pm

NEED A BOLEMIC AID?
CALL A BANJER PLAYER.......
JW......
P.S. BAMA CHARLIE HAD TO DRAG ME INTO THIS MESS........
TRADED A BANJER FOR SOME CARPENTIER WORK,, THE GUY TOOK OFF, HAD A HEART ATTACK, GOT FIRED FROM HIS JOB, HIS WIFE RAN OFF WITH HIS BEST FRIEND...NOW HE IS IN JAIL.....

NO THANKS ,, NO DAM BANJER FOR ME......
THE REASION I HAD THE BANJER IN THE FIRST PLACE,, IT CAME WITH A GUITAR FIDDLE DEAL I GOT INVOLVED IN......HAD A HARD TIME GETTING RID OF IT, THE BANJER, I MEAN.......
JW

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N. 400

Steve Robinson · Post by **Steve Robinson** » 23 Sep 2006 8:32 pm

Guilty as charged. Pushing 35 years of banjo-playing!

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 23 Sep 2006 10:09 pm

A Gibson RB-75 and an RB-250. When you play for spite, a banjo is the ultimate weapon.
It isn't meant to be enjoyed, it's meant to
be endured !

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 24 Sep 2006 5:49 am

I can only lay claim to being a banjo owner

John Cisco · Post by **John Cisco** » 24 Sep 2006 6:29 am

Me too

I bought a cheap Fender last year just to learn to play.

Klaus Caprani · Post by **Klaus Caprani** » 24 Sep 2006 1:29 pm

I'm probably more of a banjo owner than a banjo player. My repertoire on the instrument is quite limited, but I find quite some fun in doing things like "Tiny Broken Heart" in tempo 180

BTW it's a 5 string G-open.[This message was edited by Klaus Caprani on 24 September 2006 at 02:33 PM.]

Pete Young · Post by **Pete Young** » 24 Sep 2006 1:49 pm

And still no word from B0B

Andy Jones · Post by **Andy Jones** » 24 Sep 2006 8:05 pm

I have a 1928 Gibson TB-1 with a Randy Wood RB-12 conversion neck.Been playing for 35 years.I've been letting her rest since I got my '74 MSA D-10 Classic 13 months ago.
Andy

Kelly Hydorn · Post by **Kelly Hydorn** » 24 Sep 2006 9:30 pm

Well, I have to add my two-bits worth. E. Blackburn, thank you for allowing me to see the plink, plink, plink of this so-called instrument. Back then it was known as mountain music and then it's changed to Bluegrass music and it's still the same. You can put all the lipstick on it you want but a pig is still a pig. Thank You. Yep you heard it here.

Kelly Hydorn · Post by **Kelly Hydorn** » 24 Sep 2006 9:32 pm

oops.[This message was edited by Kelly Hydorn on 26 September 2006 at 08:02 PM.]