Segment 2: Master Class for Banjo/Guitar (20:02)

For use in Lesson #5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To go to a specific chapter, slide the elapsed time indicator in the video screen to the timing point shown for that chapter below.

Chapters:

1. Clinician introductions: Howard Alden, Cynthia Sayer, Don Vappie (0:00)

2. Which Instrument for Which Style (0:48)

3. A Look at the Acoustic Guitar (1:25)

4. A Look at the Electric Guitar (1:55)

5. A Look at the Tenor Banjo (2:24)

6. A Look at the Plectrum Banjo (2:54)

7. A Look at the Six-String Banjo (3:57)

8. “Guitar Tuning” on the Banjo (4:26)

9. Banjo Considerations (5:46)

10. Banjo Techniques (6:11)

11. Your Role (7:09)

12. Ensemble Banjo Playing: New Orleans Styles (8:18)

13. Ensemble Banjo Playing: San Francisco Style (9:56)

14. Ensemble Guitar Playing: Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Styles (10:34)

15. Soloing on Banjo (11:31)

16. Soloing on Guitar (13:45)

17. Clinicians’ Showcase (15:21)

18. A Message From Howard (17:48)

19. A Message From Don (18:18)

20. Clip of Eddie Condon (18:42)

21. Clip of Freddie Green (19:18)

22. Clip of Harry Reser (19:39)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A detailed description/transcription of this video segment follows for reference

Clinician Introductions: (left to right) Howard Alden, Cynthia Sayer, Don Vappie

Howard: [plays runs on the tenor banjo] Oh hi. I’m Howard Alden, and I’m going to talk to you a little bit today about the role of the banjo and the guitar in traditional jazz.

Cynthia: [plays “Doin’ the New Lowdown” on the plectrum banjo] Hi. I’m Cynthia Sayer. I play jazz banjo, and this is a plectrum banjo.

Don: [plays “Alabama Jubilee” on the tenor banjo] Hey! I’m Don Vappie and I’m here to talk to you about some jazz.

Which Instrument for Which Style

Howard: So. One of the first things to consider is when to use banjo, when to use guitar. Depends on the style of jazz you’re playing. Usually the tradition in New Orleans Styles, banjo is best although guitar can also work. When you’re playing the Chicago Style, more of a swing era style, or a swinging style, guitar is better. San Francisco Style, which was one of the first revivals of the traditional jazz in the 40s, usually calls for banjo. And the European Trad Style also is best on banjo.

A Look at the Acoustic Guitar

Howard: Generally, in traditional jazz, acoustic guitar is the best choice, and there’s so many different styles. If you can get an archtop guitar, which is the kind that was used in the 20s and 30s, it has a more percussive sound and also just a little jazzier sound. This guitar is also an acoustic guitar; this is the type of guitar that Django Reinhart played a lot. It’s a French design but it’s also very good for traditional jazz music [strums a chord] because it has a nice acoustic sound to it.

A Look at the Electric Guitar

Howard: If you are using electric guitar, it’s a good idea to find one that has at least a bit of a body to it. This is not a really loud acoustic guitar, but it still is not a completely solid guitar, so it has [strums] a little bit of acoustic response to it, but it’ll still come out when you amplify it; you’ll just be able to feel a little—better for rhythm and stuff.  You want to avoid completely solid body guitars.

A Look at the Tenor Banjo

Howard: Now getting back to the banjo, there are several different kinds of banjo used over the years, and there’s a lot of ways to play them. The type of banjo I play mostly is called tenor banjo. It’s a four-string banjo, it was used a lot back in the 1900s through the 1930s, and it’s tuned [sounds each string] in fifths, C-G-D-A, like a viola; it has a very open, bright sound. [strums chords]

A Look at the Plectrum Banjo

Cynthia:  And the plectrum banjo is tuned C-G-B-D [sounds each string]—in other words, it’s a G chord [runs the chord] with a C on the bottom. Now if you think about it, the plectrum banjo has a much tighter chord cluster than a tenor banjo does, and consequently, the plectrum banjo works very well for playing chord-melody style playing on the instrument. Tenor banjo has a bigger spread with the inversions, and plectrum banjo has tighter chord clusters. And so, you should pick what sounds good to you.

Don: There’s also the 5-string banjo which is normally not used, because it’s just built for a different style of playing; it has that short drone string up there, it’s more for bluegrass, clawhammer type stuff. You could use a 5-string if that’s what one you have; just take off the drone string, tune it like a plectrum, and you can strum it.

A Look at the Six-String Banjo

Don: Okay, the banjo I’m holding right now is a 6-string banjo. Sometimes it’s called a guitar banjo or a banjo guitar, or ban-tar, git-jo, whatever. It’s tuned like a guitar, it has 6 strings, you play it exactly like a guitar. [demonstrates]

“Guitar Tuning” on the Banjo

Howard: Now, another option, if you’re already a guitar player—start playing the banjo, just tune it like the top four strings of the guitar. [sounds the strings] It’s not going to be quite as resonant as the regular banjo tuning, because you don’t have the low C, and it’s not quite as open voicings, but you can still get a very good sound that way. And…one thing to keep in mind is the guitar normally is much closer voicings [strums] but if you open them up by simply making the chords go this way [motions] across the fingerboard instead of this way [motions], it’ll sound a little more banjo-like and a little more resonant. [plays a chord] This [plays a chord] as opposed to this [plays a chord], or this [plays a chord] as opposed to this [plays a chord], or this [plays a chord] as opposed to this [plays a chord]. Even something like this, instead of playing, like a major chord like this [plays a chord] … [plays a chord], so with a little experimentation you can get pretty much the same sound as a plectrum banjo out of guitar tuning.

Don: By the way, if you do use guitar tuning, you may need to change a few of the gauges, and not use a standard tenor banjo set. You don’t want one string flopping around and another one not, I mean you sort of want a uniform tension on your strings. That’s something you need to experiment with.

Banjo Considerations

Howard: My recommendation is, get a banjo with a plastic head, or put a plastic head on it, and keep it tightened up, not ultra-tight that it’s going to break but keep it tense enough that you get a nice clear sound out of it. [strums] And picks: you want to have a small, fairly hard pick that gets a good tone off of the string without flexing or bouncing around too much. I just use a small, hard pick.

Banjo Techniques

Cynthia: The way you mostly play the instrument, and then you make your variations from there, is to hold down the strings. [begins strumming] Let that banjo ring. And you should be driving that rhythm section. [finishes strumming] And when you’re strumming, people sort of try to find the path of least resistance, but in truth you want to get nice clarity, by being fairly perpendicular to the strings. [strums] You don’t want to be… [strums weakly, with pick turned] You can hear that blanket sound. [strums weakly] You want to be like this. [strums strongly] You hear the difference? You want to let that banjo ring, and let each note have lots of full clarity on the instrument.

Your Role

Howard: The idea is to listen to the rest of the rhythm section and lock in with whatever feel is going on; sometimes it’ll be strictly a 2-beat type of thing… [plays four bars of 2-beat] Sometimes it’ll be more of a steady 4/4. [plays four bars of 4-beat] And the whole idea is to listen to both the drums and the bass and try to get something that locks in rhythmically. And also define the harmony at the same time.

Cynthia: Sometimes banjo players will play along with a band, instead of being an integral part of the rhythm section. It’s very important that you are a part of what drives the band. It’s not for other people to drive it and for you to play along; it’s for you to contribute to the driving part of what’s going on with that time. It’s very very important; that’s what makes you a musician, to connect that way to the time. You just listen with your ears and you feel with your heart, and you get involved with the music. Don’t stay involved with your instrument here; you listen to what’s going on in the band, and you contribute to what feels right out here with the music.

Ensemble Banjo Playing: New Orleans Styles

Howard: Now if you’re playing rhythm for New Orleans Style, the idea is to usually stay in pretty much a very even, steady 4/4 rhythm. I’ll use a tune that we’ll play over and over again, called “Hindustan”. Give you an idea of a progression. You might just use full chords in 4/4. [plays “Hindustan”, simple chords in 4/4] Now there I’m using just wide open four-note chords. You can also quiet down a little bit by going on the bottom three strings, and still have the same effect. You’ll have more of a guitar sound, but just a little softer. [plays “Hindustan” chords on three strings]

Don: What I like to do is make it more interesting and sort of have an underlying melodic thing going on by using different inversions. [plays 8 bars] So, another thing I like that you can do, on some songs you might want to have sort of a what they sometimes refer to as ragging it up a bit—use sort of triplet figures, like: [plays 6 bars]

Ensemble Banjo Playing: San Francisco Style

Howard: Now if you’re playing banjo in a San Francisco Style band, it’s usually 2/4. You have a tuba playing pretty strong on one and three, and the banjoist mostly plays on two and four. And what I might do is play on one and three very lightly but I’ll still put the main accent on two and four. So I might even play slightly on one and three. [plays “Hindustan” chords with a 2-beat feel]

Ensemble Guitar Playing: Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Styles

Howard: On the guitar, I usually try to voice my chords so the top note is on the second string. And usually the root is on the 5th string. You don’t have to play all six strings with the guitar for it to sound good; you don’t have to play whole, you know… [strums a full chord] Usually three notes is enough to make a good sound with the rhythm section. [plays 8 bars of chords]

Don: [strums chords] That’s all you need to do. And if you can get your groove, you can transmit that groove, that feeling through your music, you’re a lot more powerful than the biggest, loudest chord you could ever play. In fact, I think it was Count Basie who said if you can’t hear the guitar player, you’re playing too loud. So that makes you real important.

Soloing on Banjo

Cynthia: On the banjo there are two ways that you can approach your solo work. One is by playing single-string. [plays a single-string lick] One is by playing chords. [plays a chords lick]

Don: Let’s take “Hindustan”—I’ll do a chord solo thing for you, basically play the melody. [plays a solo on “Hindustan”]

Cynthia: One of the things about the banjo is that it has certain sound characteristics to it. One of them, which you might identify very strongly with the banjo, is the tremolo. [demonstrates tremolo] Very banjo-y. That’s a big sound of the character of the banjo. I’m a firm believer in not over-using the tremolo. But it is something that is a part of the characteristic sound of what makes a banjo a banjo.

Howard: So that’s one approach to soloing, the whole chordal solo thing. The other thing you can do is just play melodically, like a horn player, play one note at a time, what we usually call a single-string technique, and that can be as busy or as simple as you want. [plays a single-string solo on “Hindustan”] I’ll try to play a chorus of that same tune and mix a little bit of both styles. [plays a chordal/single-string solo on “Hindustan”]

Soloing on Guitar

Howard: Now on the guitar, as a soloist you can also do chordal-style things. Acoustic guitar is particularly good for kind of rhythmic chordal-style playing. Again, you can be busier chordally or you can play simpler rhythmic things. I’ll play the same tune on the guitar and try to give you a nice chordal-style solo on that. Same tune, “Hindustan”, in B-flat. [plays a chordal solo on “Hindustan”] So here I’ve got the electric guitar, the amplified, semi-acoustic guitar; I’ll play a little single-note solo for you. By the way, you’re not—there isn’t a problem with your vision, this guitar has seven strings. Most guitars have six strings, but I’ve been playing a seven-string guitar for about 15 years, and it has an extra low A string [sounds the string], which is just an octave below the fifth string. [sounds the string] Anyhow, here’s some single-notes on the same tune, “Hindustan”. [plays a single-string solo on “Hindustan”]

Clinicians’ Showcase

Don plays “Hindustan” on acoustic guitar

Howard plays “Sugar” on electric guitar

Cynthia plays “Doin’ the New Lowdown” on plectrum banjo

Howard plays “Sweet Substitute” on acoustic guitar

Don plays “Indiana” on electric guitar

Howard plays “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” on tenor banjo

Don plays “Lollipops” on tenor banjo

A Message From Howard

Howard: It’s a living art, it really is. I’ve played over the last thirty years a lot of different styles of jazz, a lot of different dialects; I’ve played bebop on the guitar, Brazilian music, more modern forms, swing of course from the 40s, and I find when I go back and play traditional jazz that it gives just as much room for creativity and individual expression. It’s an important part of my life to keep playing this kind of music with other players—older players and younger players.

A Message From Don

Don: You know, I really love playing New Orleans Style music—traditional jazz, the classic styles—all the styles incorporated into what we call traditional jazz. It’s very exciting, it’s very full of feeling. I think there’s a lot more that can be developed out of the New Orleans Style. So, have a lot of fun with it.

Clip of Eddie Condon

Don: Now here’s Eddie Condon with one of his all-star groups in a Chicago setting.

Eddie Condon plays “Muskrat Ramble” with his group

Clip of Freddie Green

Freddie Green plays “I Left My Baby Standing in the Rain” with Count Basie

Clip of Harry Reser

Howard: Check out this vintage clip of one of the great banjo virtuosos, Harry Reser.

Harry Reser plays “Tiger Rag” with his Eskimos

 

Performance Clip Details

Ch. 20: Eddie Condon, “Muskrat Ramble”, 1962: Wild Bill Davison cornet, Peanuts Hucko clarinet, Cutty Cutshall trombone, Johnny Varro piano, Eddie Condon guitar, Joe Williams bass, Buzzy Drootin drums

Ch. 21: Count Basie, “I Left My Baby Standing in the Rain”, 1957: Count Basie piano, Freddie Green guitar, Eddie Jones bass, Jo Jones drums

Ch. 22: Harry Reser and his Eskimos, “Tiger Rag”, ca. 1936: Harry Reser banjo, others unknown

Music heard under the “A Message From…” chapters is performed by the Capital Focus Jazz Band youth group of Washington, DC.