URGENT : help needed to mic banjo for gig

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Lancaster
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crazydoc said:
Bass. It has the fewest strings to keep track of.
I assume you play guitar and/or mando. Do you fingerpick at all? :)
Yeah, but the positions are not as close together so you have to move your fingers farther. :p

I mostly play guitar - used to play some mando (and fiddle way before that) but just don't have time to practice it any more. I guess bluegrass is my forte' but I play a lot of other styles, both acoustic and electric. And yeah, I fingerpick a little when people make me. ;)

What kind of stuff do you play?
 
DJL said:
And the one string tub bass is fun. :)
I never could get it - the broomstick moved aroud too much for me to control it. :)

Flatpicker said:

What kind of stuff do you play?
Mostly american traditional - Carter Family type stuff in large part - late 19th, early 20th century po' folks on the porch stuff. Sometimes gets toward gospel, or approaches country, some bluegrass, some Doc Watson stuff. I love jamming with bluegrass or blues folks, but we don't play too much of either. Blues are so great because you don't have to worry about song structure - you can concentrate on playing the music. Bluegrass folks tend to be a little egotistical about their chops - especially fiddlers and mando players try to make each piece into a contest. :)

I wish I could play jazz, but I don't have the chops or the mind for it, and never will. But I love the music.

I used to play electric in a country band back in my youth, but when I started playing again about 10 years ago I switched to double bass and never looked back.

I play guitar - acoustic steel string, classical/flamenco and pedal steel in the privacy of my home, but never in public.:D
 
Sounds like we play the same stuff! Too bad we’re a couple k-miles apart or we’d get together and pick.

Like thousands of other flatpickers, I’d probably never picked it up if it hadn’t been for Doc. My dad had one of his albums back when I was in high school in the 70’s, and one day out of shear boredom I just happen to listen to it. I was so blown away by it that I just had to learn how it was done. And you know what? I’m still learning! ;)

I know this guy from out your way that plays Irish mandolin. His name’s Dave Firestine. Ever heard of him?
 
I heard Doc on Prairie Home Companion this weekend with his grandson, Merle Jr. I've seen Doc and Merle MANY times.
 
Doc and Merle created this unreal rhythm when they played together, didn't they? Never heard anything like it, before or since. And funny thing was, it never seemed to come across on their recordings like it did live.

I cried like a baby when Merle was killed. Man, talk about the day the music died...! Richard play's great, but he ain't his daddy. He'll tell you that, too. ;) I never got to meet Merle, but Richard sure is a nice fellow.

Don Gallagher, who builds the guitars that Doc plays, is a good friend of mine. I was down at his house back around '95 when Doc and Richard were visiting him, so I got to hang out with them a while. Doc even played my guitar! I still haven't come down from that high! :D
 
Flatpicker said:
Don Gallagher, who builds the guitars that Doc plays, is a good friend of mine. I was down at his house back around '95 when Doc and Richard were visiting him, so I got to hang out with them a while. Doc even played my guitar! I still haven't come down from that high! :D
No kidding? That's VERY cool.:cool:
 
I remember a story a pretty good guitarist told that he arduously learned Doc's licks on a song over months and months, and finally got it down. When he played it at one of the festivals he was told "That's nice, but Doc flatpicks it."
 
crazydoc said:
I remember a story a pretty good guitarist told that he arduously learned Doc's licks on a song over months and months, and finally got it down. When he played it at one of the festivals he was told "That's nice, but Doc flatpicks it."
Reminds me of a story Chet Atkins told once…

He and his wife were sailing with some folks in the Caribbean. While the boat was docked, he got his guitar out and played a little there on the deck. A fellow on the boat next to him spoke up and said “Man, you’re pretty good, but you’re no Chet Atkins.”
 
Well boys, I too am a bluegrass player.

My main instrument is mandolin but I also play guitar and just bought a 1949 King Moretone upright.

Oh! And after 27 years of playing pedal steel, I also play a little dobro....:D

Earl
 
pdlstl said:
Well boys, I too am a bluegrass player.

My main instrument is mandolin but I also play guitar and just bought a 1949 King Moretone upright.

Oh! And after 27 years of playing pedal steel, I also play a little dobro....:D

Earl
Hi, Earl. Nice to meet you! After 27 years of playing pedal steel, you probably rip that dobro up better 'n Jerry Douglas! :D
 
Hey Earl

Is Dobro harder than pedal, or just a different technique to learn? Pedal seems easier to me (though I can't play either one for shit) because of the possibility of more and different chord positions with the pedals, ability to play scales and runs with mainly the pedals instead of steel movement, and such gorgeous sliding chord changes with the pedals!

Nice to see you here, though this forum seems to be mainly for people with personality disorders (like myself :).)

I just posted a question over on the guitar forum - give a look and see if you have any ideas.
 
Ah... pedal steel. I got to sit in with a steel player who played with Jerry Garcia. The guy was great on the steel, and a damn fine banjo player, too.

Is the crossover from 5-string banjo to steel a difficult one?
 
bgavin
I used to play with a steel player many years ago at the Live Oak in Rocklin, on Old Auburn Road. I don't suppose it even exists anymore. We also played at the Nevada Club in Grass Valley and a few other local bars.
Seeing as you're in Orangevale, it brought back old memories.

I don't know anybody that plays steel and banjo both, so I imagine it's not an easy switch, though the right hand should have some similarities.
 
We are one of the last holdouts where a band gets paid to play, rather than paying to play (Los Angeles).

Karaoke is taking over most of the bars now. The few that are left (Constable Jacks in Newcastle) bring in some big names. Here in Orangevale, a long running country bar is now The Boardwalk. It caters to a younger crowd, and my daughter's band (www.aroarah.com) plays there regularly.

I recently got picked up by Code Blue as the replacement bassist, and we are booked all the way through 2004. Under a different name, Code Blue won the 1997 SAMMIES here as a country act. One guitarist can do bass while I do banjo. Always been intrigued by pedal steel, but too old/too poor/too busy to learn yet another instrument. I'm formally trained in keys, but the right hand thing on the steel piqued my interest.
 
bgavin
You ever run across a guitarist named Carl Finnigan? Used to live in Citrus Heights, but I've lost track of him.
 
Don't know the name, but I'm not immersed in the local music scene, either.

I've been the house bassist the last three years at BB Wolfe's Saloon in Cameron Park. That blues-thing folded up, and I just got picked up by Code Blue, who is a tight, pro band (I'm thrilled).

I know a lot of the blues players, but none of the younger punkers, and only one or two country players.
 
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