Mountain banjo

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Tom

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Yesterday, while in the local town Welcome Center here in OH, I spotted this mountain banjo on exhibit in their small museum display case. Note the lack of frets. The 'yellow card' provides more explanation than I could provide.
 

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I guess I'm not, nor ever will be, a real musician  :(
 
Tom, your voice certainly doesn't need any frets :)
 
Tom said:
Yesterday, while in the local town Welcome Center here in OH, I spotted this mountain banjo on exhibit in their small museum display case. Note the lack of frets. The 'yellow card' provides more explanation than I could provide.
I always wondered how violinists managed without some sort of reference up and down the neck.  But, if they can do it, "banjoist" s/b able to learn.  Go for it, Tom
 
Molaker said:
I always wondered how violinists managed without some sort of reference up and down the neck.  But, if they can do it, "banjoist" s/b able to learn.  Go for it, Tom
After I had been playing guitar for about 5 years I decided I needed some help at pitch discrimination. So I took two years of violin and viola lessons at Ventura College not so much because I wanted to play the instruments but to really help my ear.

Once you get used to being able to play a fretless instrument you really don't even have to look at the fretboard. Actually once you get used to playing a fretted instrument you don't need to look at the keyboard.

So in answer to your question as to how do they do it the answer is - practice practice practice.
 
I equate violin players to bass players and trombone players; No frets, no stops/buttons (whatever they're called).

Reminds me of the guy who asked a NYC cabbie if he knew how to get to Carnegie Hall; The answer was "You practice!".
 
One thing you will notice about violin, viola, cello, double bass and trombone players is that they never hold a note without adding vibrato. This makes it very easy to correct a note if it is not exactly pitch perfect. When playing a run of notes there is no time for a vibrato but then it is difficult for 99% of the listeners to tell if one of the notes isn't exactly perfect. Lots of singers use the vibrato trick too.
 
Don't forget buglers.  Even trumpet players (my Tom in high school) get many, many notes out of pressing three valves.  BTW, I agree with Ned, Tom Jones.  When you open your mouth and sing, you ARE a musician.  :D

Margi
 
[quote author=Tom and Margi]... I agree with Ned ...  When you open your mouth and sing, you ARE a musician.
[/quote]

He said I'm fretless  ;D
 
Since there are only 12 notes (A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#,G, G#), and if you hit a sour note, you're never more than a half step away from a note that you should be playing (going by the scale and key you are in).
 
That is the type of Banjo you would hear when you sat on the big front porch and listened to the men make music on a warm summer night in WV where I grew up. Heard many a mountain Banjo when I was young.
 
Luca1369 said:
Since there are only 12 notes (A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#,G, G#), and if you hit a sour note, you're never more than a half step away from a note that you should be playing (going by the scale and key you are in).
There are only 12 notes in Western music. Eastern music can have more than that. There actually is a 43 note scale:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Partch%27s_43-tone_scale

Steve is correct though, in Western music you are never too far away from the correct note. As a lead guitarist you learn either one of two things when you hit a wrong note, either bend up to the right one or play the wrong note a few more times so people will think you did it on purpose. If anyone asks you about the wrong note then you tell them is was the correct note, you were in a different mode. :D
 
As a lead guitarist you learn either one of two things when you hit a wrong note, either bend up to the right one or play the wrong note a few more times so people will think you did it on purpose. If anyone asks you about the wrong note then you tell them is was the correct note, you were in a different mode. :D

Or you could say that whoever wrote the score you are using wrote it wrong :) :) :) :)
Edit: Fixed quote.
 
gwcowgill said:
Or you could say that whoever wrote the score you are using wrote it wrong :) :) :) :)
Edit: Fixed quote.
Lead guitarists and music scores don't belong in the same sentence. We usually make it up as we go along.
 
SeilerBird said:
There are only 12 notes in Western music. Eastern music can have more than that. There actually is a 43 note scale:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Partch%27s_43-tone_scale

Steve is correct though, in Western music you are never too far away from the correct note. As a lead guitarist you learn either one of two things when you hit a wrong note, either bend up to the right one or play the wrong note a few more times so people will think you did it on purpose. If anyone asks you about the wrong note then you tell them is was the correct note, you were in a different mode. :D

Ever listen to Willie Nelson? :)
 
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