Banjo versus TV week 94: Update on the little plastic foot

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 12/13/2009 through 12/19/2009.

It's been a slow week so this is a good time to follow up on something.

Remember how, back in September, I put a little plastic foot on my banjo to train my right ring finger to maintain its position? It's been going really well. I can really feel it when my finger slips off of the disk and my right hand foundation has been improving.

I did make one change from my original plan: I got rid of that crescent-shaped plastic foot...

...and replaced it with a circular foot.

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Things I learned at this week's banjo lesson:

• David showed me a bunch of variations on a common ending lick. I'll be posting more about that as endings month continues.
• David recommends Killer Tone, an 80-minute DVD by Steve Huber about banjo setup. I've placed it on my Amazon wish list.
  
  

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Last week to order Band Geek Hero shirts

According to the banner at tshirthell.com...

...this is the last week to order Band Geek Hero t-shirts, including the Banjo Hero t-shirt (which I just now ordered).

Here's a selection of patterns from the Band Geek Hero line:

If you like one of these you'd better order it by Sunday December 27th at 11:59 PM EST, which their Facebook page says is when the shirts will be gone forever.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Santa Tracker: 88.7 percent

Shh! Don't tell the people who we're meeting after Christmas that we haven't got some of their presents yet.

But the rest of them are good to go! (And it's not even Christmas Eve!)

Endings month: Ending on the 7

Here's a variation on the end-the-song-by-returning-to-the-tonic trick: end-the-song-by-returning-to-the-7-of-the-tonic trick

So if your song is in G you bring it back to G at the end, but you slap on a G7 for the final note(s). Or if you're in Bb, end it in Bb with a Bb7. And so on.

It's kind of a bluesy thing to do, so let's look to Robert "King of the Delta Blues Singers" Johnson to show us the way in Sweet Home Chicago at 2:48 in.

And for another example of this technique it's Sweet Home Chicago again, this time by The Blues Brothers with an ending at 3:30.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Santa Tracker: 71.4 percent

One of the benefits of living in a big city: the post office on Harrison Street is open until midnight.

Endings month: Slowing down

This is a simple ending trick but it requires you to make sure you have everyone on the same page before you do it: slowing down.

It's a popular ending for train songs, giving the audience the feel of a train slowing down. Bob & Rose Savoy use this ending starting around 1:45 into Ruben's Train:

It's not just for train songs. It's also good for hymns and for just-plain-songs like Reno and Smiley's Talk of the Town (at 2:12):

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Santa Tracker: 67.7 percent

Shopped locally, if by "locally" one means "by driving around the suburbs".

Santa Tracker: 45.3 percent

The final push has begun.

Someday/maybe list

Selected items that are on my GTD someday/maybe list, which I'm reviewing because we're coming up on the end of a quarter:

• Repair seat in car
• Learn to play mandolin
• Learn to play ukulele
• Learn to play harmonica
• Take Chicago architecture tour
• Look into ways to prevent the interference from iPhone when you connected to 12v car adapter
• Dance lessons
• Look for Gasoline Alley comic strip for January 1st 1991 or so, featuring the new year playing a banjo
• Learn to shuffle cards
• Get screen protector for digital cameras
• Learn to play Cuban box drum
• Add Wachet Auf by Johann Sebastian Bach to my list of songs I want to learn on the banjo
• Learn to roll Rs
• Find a T-shirt that says, 1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish
• Research Sunni and Shiite differences
• Costume idea: Thanos playing the banjo with the Infinity Gauntlet
• Take more vocal lessons
• Vacation in Napier, New Zealand, the Art Deco capital of the world

Anyone got any someday/maybe items of their own?

Endings month: Remember variety

An important lesson that my banjo instructor, David, emphasized when we were discussing my endings month project: Remember the variety. Don't just play the same ending for song after song.

I'll illustrate, but first I'd like to apologize to Barry Scott and Second Wind for using them as an example of what not to do. Sorry, guys. But you did put yourselves out there on YouTube.

So here's what not to do. Two years ago YouTube user wright98 posted several recordings of Barry Scott and Second Wind. Listen to what they play at 2:27 into I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling...

...and 2:40 into I Want To Live Beyond The Grave...

...and 2:27 into Oh What A Day.

It's the same ending lick. All three times.

These guys have great rhythm and wonderful voices but — just judging from this small sample set from 2007 — their single way of ending makes them come off as unpolished and repetitive.

When you're jamming or especially if you're doing a set on stage, make sure you vary your endings.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Endings month: A cappella endings

Here's an easy ending trick that works well for songs with meaning: the a cappella ending. Basically you drop the instruments and just sing.

Some options:

• Go a cappella for the last chorus.
• Go a cappella with a repeat of the last chorus.
• Go a cappella with a repeat of the last line or two.

A demonstration of that first option at 1:30 of the Austin Lounge Lizards singing One True God:

That's one of my favorite Austin Lounge Lizards songs. Unfortunately the first line — "You say your god is the one true god but my one god is the one true god..." — got clipped on that video.

Speaking of the Lounge Lizards's irreverence, here's another example of them doing a cappella for the first verse (0:28 to 1:18) and as a penultimate ending by repeating the last line (2:35 to 2:41). The ultimate ending is a banjo tag at 2:42.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Banjo versus TV week 93: Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 12/06/2009 through 12/12/2009.

I went to Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival at the Congress Theater. Not all of it, but a bunch of it.

There was a lot of good stuff which I'll get to in a moment, but let's start with the big disappointment: no jamming. We were promised jamming. See?

What can I bring, and what can't I bring in to the theater?
There's two things we strongly encourage you two bring: Chairs and Instruments. It's a long day, so bring your camping chairs to pop a squat on when your dogs are barkin', and there'll be an open jam session and picking circle from the second the doors open. Musicians are all invited to bring their instruments and participate. There’ll be an “instrument check” along with the coat check so that you don’t have to lug your noisemaker around with you all day.

But somebody dropped the ball. There was no open jam session and no picking circle. I tried to get some jamming started but there wasn't even a quiet corner in which I could gather the several people who brought instruments. What a bummer. I hope the organizers get it together for next year.

On to the good stuff. The best part of the night, for me, was learning about slap-style instrument play from Lucy, a hula hoop vendor and drummer from Hawaii. Here she is, using my Nechville banjo to illustrate:

Yeah, it was a dark (and noisy) hallway. But her slap style of play sounded AWESOME!

What she was doing was similar to a slap bass guitar technique that Chrisophe Godin teaches, but Lucy uses her whole left hand while Christophe mostly uses his thumb.

Anyway: Sounded great. I'm going to learn more. Stay tuned.

The rest of the good stuff: act after act after act. Here's a smattering of photos to show you what I mean:

The night's big headliner was Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, but I have to admit that I missed most of their main stage performance in favor of the act playing on the pavillion stage: Holy Ghost Tent Revival. I figured that (a) I've got tickets for Béla and his crew for their February show at the Old Town School and (b) Holy Ghost Tent Revival was really terrific! I mean it. They've got this incredible mix of electric bass, drums, guitar, 5-string banjo and trombone that's full of energy. It's a mix of different musical styles that reminded me of both Squirrel Nut Zippers and riverboat banjo jazz.

I didn't miss all of Béla Fleck's stuff. After the Holy Ghost Tent Revival performance and after I purchased the HGTR's two CDs...



...I joined the huge crowd in the main room in time to see Alash, a Tuvan throat singing group travelling with the Fleck brigade. The raw strength of the throat singing is hard to describe. Here's a video I found of a show from Christmas Eve of last year that will give you a feel for it:

I also caught Béla Fleck wrapping up his part of the show with my favorite thing that he does: beautiful Scruggs-style banjo play. (I must admit that Béla Fleck's jazzy stuff leave me cold. It's a little too John Tesh for my tastes.)

All-in-all it was a nice evening. This is an annual event and I'm sure they'll do it again next year. Hope there'll be jamming.

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Also in the last week:

• Been sick this week, which put a damper on some of my Endings Month plans, but I plan to make up for it all by the end of December.
• Ordered the DVD Essential Banjo Techniques By Ross Nickerson.
  
  
  
  Hope I get it in time to review it for Endings Month.
• Ordered the latest CD from The Christmas Jug Band...
  
  
  
  ...and put four others...
  
  
  
  ...on J.R. Jenks' Amazon wish list. I was going to put all of them on the list but the redhead heard me previewing Christmas In The Bottle from the 2009 album and called it a must-have-now.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Endings month: Repeat a line or two

One common ending trick is to simply repeat a line or two of the song.

Basically you take that last line (or the last two lines) and repeat it at the end of the song.

Here's a demonstration by the first lady of the banjo, Roni Stoneman, starting at about 4:54 in.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Endings month: Cadences

I think I was mistaken when I was trying to figure out what Pete Wernick meant when he advised jammers to "[l]isten for instrumental licks that signal ending." I'd guessed that he was asking us to listen for something like Bill Knopf's two-part endings, but that doesn't really make sense. The endings Bill Knopf describes come after a verse or chorus ends, so they're not really helpful as a clue of an approaching ending. Once you hear those guys the verse or chorus is already over.

As I look into this endings thing more, I think that what Wernick wants us to listen for is a cadence.

What is a cadence? Here's what Wikipedia says:

In Western musical theory, a harmonic cadence (Latin cadentia, "a falling") is a progression of (at least) two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music.^[1] A rhythmic cadence is a characteristic rhythmic pattern indicating the end of a phrase.^[2] Cadences give phrases a distinctive ending, which can, for example, indicate to the listener whether the piece is to be continued or concluded. An analogy may be made with punctuation,^[3] with some weaker cadences acting as commas, indicating a pause or momentary rest, while a stronger cadence will then act as the period, indicating the end of the phrase or musical sentence.

There are several kinds of cadences. The most common one in bluegrass music (and a lot of popular music) is the cadence that goes from the V (dominant) to the I (tonic) at the end of the song. Grab your favorite bluegrass tab book and see how many songs in G end by going briefly into D (or D7) then back into G. Just about all of them. That V-to-I or IV-to-V-to-I thing is called the authentic cadence (also the closed cadence or standard cadence).

Other cadences are possible, but less common. The Grateful Dead song Friend of the Devil doesn't have a V-to-I authentic cadence at the end. Instead, it goes to V and just lingers there. That's called a half cadence (or open cadence or imperfect cadence). There are also deceptive cadences and some other subtypes of cadences. See that Wikipedia entry for a good run-down on cadences.

One final type of cadence kinda isn't a cadence at all: the plagal cadence or "amen cadence". I'll get back to that one later in the month when I cover amen endings.

So, to sum up: A cadence is the harmonic progression that indicates within a verse or chorus that the verse or chorus is about to come to an end.

Endings month: Bill Knopf's two-part endings

In his 1976 book Hot Licks & Fiddle Tunes for the Bluegrass Banjo Player Bill Knopf dedicates two chapters to endings — Chapter 1: 30 Ways to End a Solo Break and Chapter 4: Endings.

Today I'll cover Chapter 4 but it's worth noting that Knopf says many of the licks from Chapter 1 can serve as the endings of songs as well.

Knopf's ending licks are a two-part pair of licks that are appended to a song. You play through the song, usually returning to the tonic (that is, the chord that the song is written in), then you play a two-measure preparatory lick and a two-measure ending lick.

For example, if you're finishing a song that's written in the key of G you can play the last verse of the song then add this preparatory lick...

...and follow it with this finishing lick:

Knopf provides six preparatory licks and twelve ending licks, all following that same G-|DG|G-|DG pattern.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

T-Bar Double Reed Marching Kazoo

If you're looking for something to get for me for Christmas and you're not very good at math the T-Bar Small Double Reed Marching Kazoo will seem like a real bargain. I've been jealous of my friend Arlo's marching kazoo, it's got a terrific sound, I'd really really love it and it's only 27, er...

...okay, that's 27 British pounds. Which at today's exchange rate of 1.63383 USD per pound is $44.11 before international shipping.

But, still, it's a really cool idea and I'm just going to throw it out there as part of J.R.'s wish list. And it's cheaper than the even cooler slimline and standard models. (Which would totally rock.)

Update: Here's a photo of Arlo making me jealous by playing his T-Bar Standard Double Reed Marching Kazoo down in Memphis when the Brass Note Jug Band first got together to dedicate a brass note to Will Shade and the Memphis Jug Band:

Fake Magnetic Stud

Darn it. Amazon just got around to recommending that, since I purchased the Tribal Tiger Tattoo Sleeves I might want to purchase a Fake Magnetic Stud.

That would have been perfect for my Tool Academy costume this past Halloween.

Banjo versus TV week 92: Busy week

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 11/29/2009 through 12/05/2009.

I've had a busy week with several banjo-related events.

I saw the Dime Store String Band play at Uncommon Ground on Devon. My instructor, David, is usually the banjo player but he was out of town for this performance so DSSB founding banjo player Wavy Dave Burlingame filled in. The String Band is there every Sunday from 4pm to 6pm.

I joined the first-Tuesday-of-the-month jam at the Red Line Tap.

I followed up the jam with a late banjo lesson in which David and I discussed my newest project: Endings Month ("A study of finger-picking endings for the 5-string banjo"). I'll be sharing the bits of wisdom from that lesson throughout the month.

Thursday night I went to the open jam at The Old Town School of Folk Music, which happens every Thursday from 7pm to 10pm.

I returned to The Old Town School of Folk Music the next day for I went to First Friday. You get a great evening for your $5. First Friday has a community song, dancing, several different jams and a concert. There's always more things to do than I can get to. This time I focussed on jamming.

I started with Jason McInnes' Gather-All. This is an all-ages jam that draws a lot of kids and a handful of adults. These songs are always slow and easy so I used this as an opportunity to practice my backup licks and chord inversions. This particular Gather-All marked the one-year anniversary of Jason's Gather-All, which is something that Old Town School Founder Win Stracke started years ago and which Jason restarted in 2008.

Then I hit the Song Circle with Cathy Norden, which is a more adult-focused jam. I was the only banjo in the circle so Cathy called on me a lot. It's good to get thrown into a solo. I did better than I thought I would.

After the Song Circle I went to one of the trickier jams: Skip's Back Porch Jam. Skip Landy calls this an all-ages jam, but it favors the better players. I'm able to keep up with this jam and I look forward to the day when I can really stand out.

This month the ensemble classes performed on the main stage. Pictured above is the Old Crow Medicine Show Ensemble, taught by jug band enthusiast Jonas Friddle, who played Tear It Down and Down Home Girl.

The night wrapped up with a concert. Opening act Temple Schultz performed a few of her own songs, then Strictly Jug Nuts took the stage. The Jug Nuts, you'll recall, where the winners of Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands, beating out my band and four others. They performed:

• Yum Yum Blues
• Who Walks In When I Walk Out
• Stormy Monday
• The Eggplant That Ate Chicago
• The Judge He Pleaded
• What is the Soul of a Man
• I Can't Dance
• Walk Right In
• Let It Roll
• My Blue Heaven
• Malted Milk
• Rag Mama
• Hard Times / One Meatball
• Keep It Clean

I ended the week by attending Flatts & Sharpe's winter recital. I got my first banjo lessons at Flatts & Sharpe and have played at a couple of these recitals.

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Also in the last week:

I watched my DVD of The Hee Haw Collection, vol 2 with guest stars Johnny Cash and Jean Shepard. I'll have more to say about Hee Haw in my endings month posts.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Santa Tracker: 6.2 percent

We didn't get much of our shopping for family and friends done yet, but we've purchased some gifts for the kids we sponsor overseas and, as an AgileTek company event, for some disadvantaged local families.

Getting gifts for local families in need was an idea that Tim, one of my partners at AgileTek, had. This year instead of buying gifts for all of our AgileTek team members we let our team members do the giving. Working through a local school we got information about a few dozen family members who were in need of gifts. Each of us was assigned three people and given a Visa shopping card and an assignment cards like this:

Then we took a half day off of work to do our shopping together.

Yes, that's me in a Santa t-shirt. I'm festive.

I'm dying to post a picture of one of the gifts I got for the 10-year-old, Jonas-Brothers-loving bass player, but there's a long-shot chance that she might see this post. I'll wait until after Christmas and post it.

Endings month: Jam etiquette for endings

To get endings month off to a good start, let's consider jam etiquette for endings.

I think most jammers will agree with these points from Dr. Banjo's (Pete Wernick's) Jamming Tips: Bluegrass Jamming Pointers:

Whoever is singing lead or kicks off an instrumental usually leads the group through the song, signaling who takes instrumental solos ("breaks") and when to end.

...

On instrumentals, the same person usually starts and ends, with solos going around in a circle to those willing.

...

Use signals to help everyone end together: Foot out, hold up instrument, end after “one last chorus” or repeat of last line.

...

Listen for instrumental licks that signal ending.

That last one is a little tricky. What, exactly, do "instrumental licks that signal ending" sound like?

I'm guessing that Dr. Banjo means to listen for what Bill Knopf calls "preparatory licks," which will be the next thing I talk about when endings month continues.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog