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1903
-
The Oldest Fretted Instrument Magazine In The World
BANJO
MANDOLIN
No. 868
Winter 2012
-
2012
GUITAR
€5.00
Ron Hinkle
Music in this issue
Plectrum Banjo: Two Yuletide Tunes (arr. Vince Miller); Mandolin: Peaceful Isle (Phil Barnes);
Banjo: Narcissus (arr. Emile Grimshaw); Guitar: Mary’s Boy Child (arr. Max Brittain)
All Music in Notation and Tablature
A CLIFFORD ESSEX PUBLICATION - THE QUALITY MAGAZINE FOR MUSICIANS
TWO EARLY MINSTREL MUSIC BOOKS
Book One Contents
Book Two Contents
BACKSIDE ALBANY
BOLTON CLOG HORNPIPE
BONJA
DAN EMMETT’S REEL
JIM CROW
HAYE’S CLOG HORNPIPE
LONG TAIL BLUE
JIM LEE’S JIG
THE OTHER SIDE OF JORDAN
SPALDING’S JIG
LUCY NEAL
NIAGARA POLKA
THE COAL BLACK ROSE
ROARING JELLY JIG
TURKEY IN THE STRAW
ZIP COON
SUN GO DOWN, UP COME DE MOON
THE EARLY BIRD
LUCY LONG
THE A1 SAND DANCE
AMY ROSY LEE
DANDY JIM
AWAY TO THE SUGAR CANE FIELD
GENERAL POPE’S JIG
BELLE OF ALABAMA
THE BOATMAN’S DANCE
BESSIE’S GRAVE
THE JUBILEE
ELLEN BAYNE
LON MORRIS’S JIG
HURRAH FOR MY HANSOM CAR
PEA NUT GIRL
MARY GRAY
TONAWANDA HORNPIPE
MINNIE MOORE
PEARL WALTZ
NELLY WAS A LADY
THE GAL WITH THE ROGUISH EYE
SAVORY’S JIG
ROSA LEE
Early Minstrel Music Books
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99
1903
CONTENTS
The Peabody Instruments
Anthony Lis
Jazz Guitar - Minor Chord
Scales : 2 Phil Jones
Harmonics on Steel Guitar
Maurice Hipkiss
Eddie Lang Technique : 8
The Return of the Banjoline
Sean Moyses
Grimshaw Plectrum Banjo
Technique : 4 Ron Hinkle
From a Bath Chair
Richard Ineson
Wrockin’ with the Wrinkly
Wriffers
The John Bright Column
Humour
Cover Picture : Ron Hinkle
Music Supplement :
Two Yuletide Tunes : (Plec.
Banjo): arr. Vince Miller
Peaceful Isle : (Mandolin):
Phil Barnes
Narcissus : [Nevin] (Banjo)
arr. Emile Grimshaw
Mary’s Boy Child : (Guitar):
arr. Max Brittain
Max Brittain - Jazz Guitarist
Phil Jones
Plectrum Guitar Endings : 3
Don Roberts
Tenor Banjo Breaks : 3
Bluegrass Mandolin
John Baldry
BMG Tape Club (Hawaiian
Guitar Section): John Marsden
The Banjo Story : 3
A.P. Sharpe
The Clifford Essex Weaver
David Wade
Fingerstyle Ukulele : 4
Ray Woods
Making your own Guitar : 6
Roger Dalby
Bluegrass Banjo : 8
David Cotton
Bob Shank - Appalachian
The Eddie Peabody Project : 4
Georgette Twain
Fun with the Bass!
I tried not to be Rude
Richard Crabtree
Remembering Bert Bassett
Correspondence
Musical Terms / By the Way
Winners at the MBF /
For Sale
Hands Across the Sea
2012
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B MG
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EDITED BY CLEM VICKERY
The Editor does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed by his contributors.
All items offered for inclusion in the next issue must arrive at the address above by 1st February.
All articles and music in BMG are the copyright of the authors unless otherwise stated, and no material
may be copied in any form, or for any purpose without prior permission from the owner.
Application for permission must be made in the first instance to the Editor of BMG
No. 868
Winter 2012
Early Minstrel Music Book 1
A Review by Mike Moss
Of all musical instruments, none has been as deeply and intimately
associated with a single genre as the banjo and minstrel music. An
instrument designed to imitate those of the African slaves, the banjo became
a part of the minstrel show in the 1830s and remained as such, in all styles
ranging from stroke style to plectrum, for well over a century: the BBC’s
Black and White Minstrel Show, for instance, was aired on television until
1978, and endured as a stage show until 1987. Nowadays, due to its
offensive nature and the evolution of society, the minstrel show is often seen
as an embarrassment and is rarely mentioned; and yet, some of the most
enduring melodies in the history of popular culture – such as Swanee River
or Camptown Races – were born from the minstrel phenomenon.
There are plenty of books published which explore the early styles of
minstrel banjo – that is, how the minstrels historically played the banjo – but
this book is not one of them. As its title indicates, the goal of this book is to
explore minstrel music, whether or not it was written for the banjo; as such,
this selection includes arrangements of songs or pieces originally written for
the piano-forte, specifically arranged for the modern fingerstyle five-string
banjo. The selection presents a general overview of the music in the genre,
ranging from an arrangement of Bonja, originally a song with piano-forte
accompaniment, and one of the first songs about the banjo and African
Americans, to a broad selection of songs and dances such as the ever-famous
Turkey in the Straw, whose now-stereotypical use in cartoons was
consecrated by its premiere in the 1928 Mickey Mouse cartoon, ‘Steamboat
Willie’.
The usefulness of this book as a cultural artefact is immediately apparent:
for instance, many scholarly publications point out that, in spite of their
claims that they were playing authentic African tunes, the minstrels’ music
was primarily influenced by English, Scottish and Irish music; however,
actually playing the tunes allows the reader to experience this fact first hand.
Thus, playing the tunes in this book can be seen as an active way of studying
musical and cultural history.
B.M.G.
100
Winter 2012
ANTHONY LIS ON PEABODY
On September 21st,
the National Music
Museum and Center
for the Study of the
History of Musical
Instruments in Vermillion, South
Dakota unveiled an exhibit
including six instruments owned
by banjo virtuoso Eddie
Peabody. (Located on the
campus of the University of
South Dakota, the National
Music Museum holds an
impressive array of over 15,000
American, European, and nonWestern instruments, including a
mandolin built by Antonio
Stradivari [1680], a Stradivari
guitar [1700], and a custom-built
B. B. King ‘Lucille’-model
Gibson electric guitar [1997].)
The instruments in the NMM
exhibit are part of an eightinstrument collection donated to
the museum in May by
Peabody’s second son, George
Ro ber t P eabo d y. T he
assemblage, previously housed
in the New Orleans Jazz
Museum—includes
a
mandocello, two acoust ic
banjo lines, t hree elect ric
banjolines, and two plectrum
banjos.
George Peabody—explaining
the purpose of his gift in a May
article in the Argus Leader
newspaper (in nearby Sioux
Falls, SD) related that:
“I want to let others see my
father’s instruments, enjoy them,
and perhaps listen to some of the
music that came from them.”
NMM visitors, via a self-guided
multimedia tour, will be able to
hear audio examples of Eddie
Peabody’s instruments, along
with historical information.
Eddie Peabody’s mandocello
(the one such-instrument he
owned) was assembled by the
Vega company in Boston around
1920. (A mandolin tuned like a
‘cello, the instrument provided
the baritone voice in turn-of-thelast-century mando lin
orchestras). Peabody used his
mando cello in vaudeville
performances of the 1920’s and
in the March 1928 Vitaphone
short ‘Banjoland’ (in which he
performed five selections with
his then-prot†g†, Jimmy Maisel);
Peabody also played the
inst r ument in t he 1937
P a r a m o u n t s ho r t ‘ H u l a
Heaven’ (offering a circa threeand-a-half minute, tremolo-laden
rendition of ‘Aloha Oe’ roughly
two-thirds of the way through
the film).
Mandocello
Eddie Peabody’s two acoustic
banjolines were assembled by
Vega sometime around 1930.
Peabody’s contribut ion to
banjoline-evolution involved
placing a violin mute on the
bridge to produce a softer sound.
The banjoline on the right—with
a sunburst finish—was featured
in Peabody’s 1943 film ‘Strum
Fun’, during a segment in which
he serenades a young woman
with a tremolo-filled rendition of
Eliseo Grenet’s sentimental tune
‘Marquita’.
Banjoline
In a 10th May interview with
South Dakota Public Radio,
George Peabody related that Bill
Nelson, then-president of Vega,
produced the first electric
banjoline for his father (at his
father’s urging) in the late
1950’s. Peabody noted that the
instrument was “very, very
popular” in his father’s stage
performances, particularly when
he played Hawaiian numbers.
Eddie Peabody featured the
electric banjoline on two early1960’s Dot LP’s, Eddie Peabody
Plays Smo-o-o-thies [1963] and
the Hawaiian-tinged follow-up,
Eddie Peabody Plays More Smoo-o-thies [1964], where half of
the tracks were Island-themed,
including ‘Blue Hawaii’ and
‘Beyond the Reef’.
Peabody’s electric banjolines
include a Vega prototype made
in Boston in late-winter 1957, a
Fender prototype assembled in
Fullerton, California in early
1965, and a model produced by
the Rickenbacker company in
S a nt a Ana , C a lifo r n ia i n
December 1968. Geo rge
Peabody related in his SDPR
interview that Bill Nelson gave
h is fa t h e r V eg a ’ s e le c t r ic
banjo line pat ent in t he lat e
1950’s or early 1960’s; Leo
Fender, founder of the Fender
Winter 2012
Electric
Instrument
Ma n u fact u r ing Co mp a ny,
expressed interest in
manufacturing the instrument,
but a long-term bout with a
streptococcal infection forced
Fender to sell his company to
C.B.S. The patent was released
and subsequently picked up by
Rickenbacker, where companyhead Francis C. Hall at last
effected mass-production of the
instrument (with the finished
product looking quite similar to
a hollow-body electric guitar).
Peabody’s plectrum banjos
(Vegavox IV and V models)
were manufactured by Vega
about 1958 and 1969. In his
SDPR int er v iew, Geo rge
Peabody recalled his father
personally assembling the
Vegavox IV for him; the back of
the resonator (likely assembled
in the 1930s) features a handcarved version of the Peabody
family crest. Eddie Peabody
utilized the Vegavox V in the
NBC-TV special ‘Johnny
Carson Presents the Sun City
Scandals’. (The music-andcomedy feature, — including
two-dozen entertainers over age
sixty-five, — was filmed in
suburban Los Angeles in
summer 1970, with Peabody
playing his Vegavox V in a jazz
sextet led by a drum-playing
Carson. Ironically, the program
aired exactly one month to the
day after Peabody’s November
1970 death from a stroke).
C o n c er n i n g t he N M M ’ s
acquisition of the Rickenbacker
electric banjo line, Fender
electric banjoline prototype, and
Vega plectrum banjos, the
NMM’s Curator of String
Instruments, Arian Sheets,
remarked in the 18th May
edition of the Vermillion (SD)
Plain Tal k: “We d idn’t
previously have a postwar
Rickenbacker electric . . . and
B.M.G.
Fender instrument. And Vega of
course is one of the better
ma nu fact ur er s o f fr et t ed
instruments throughout the 20th
century, and also of very, very
fine examples of high-end
plectrum banjos”.
Vegavox V
The NMM constructed a large
display case to showcase Eddie
Peabody’s instruments, along
with some related ephemera,
also donated by George Peabody
(including LP-covers and a Vega
resonator from circa 1928). At
the opening-reception, George,
prefacing a screening of ‘Hula
Heaven’, thanked the NMM “for
finding a home for Dad’s
instruments”.
The NMM bookstore is selling
George Peabody’s Man With the
Banjo (Wheatmark, 2011), a
fictionalized account of his
father’s musical and militaryintelligence career in the 1930’s.
In 1935, Eddie Peabody—via an
arrangement with Franklin
Roosevelt—was commissioned
in the US Naval Reserve and
cland est inely t rained for
reconnaissance-work, which he
undertook during his 1938
101
European tour. (Peabod y
snapped photos of Nazi antiaircraft fortifications and a
secretly-constructed U-boat
plying the River Elbe in
Hamburg. He had to be hurried
o ut o f G er ma n y a ft e r
entertaining Adolf Hit ler,
Hermann Goering, and Heinrich
Himmler at a private party, when
the Gestapo discovered his Navy
background and realized he
might be conducting espionage.)
The National Music Museum
Thanks to George Peabody for
supplying high-quality photos of
his father’s instruments, to Arian
Sheets for providing detailed
in fo r mat io n abo ut t he
instruments’ dates, modelnumbers, and place-of-assembly,
and to Karl Gehrke for providing
a recording of his 10 May SDPR
interview with Peabody.
Helmut Rheingans
Luthier
Maker of
Open-back Banjos,
Mountainbanjos,
Bansitars.
Top quality repair work
undertaken.
www.orbmusic.co.uk
Tel. 01433 631907
B.M.G.
102
Winter 2012
Jazz Guitar - Minor Chord Scales - Part 2 by Phil Jones
Moving on from where we left off last time, we are now building similar chord scale patterns
on different string groups. Beginning from the first position on the inner 4 strings ie: the 5th,
4th, 3rd and 2nd this time we are using the scale for Bb Minor so that, again, we can run the
unbroken scale up and down the fingerboard. Again we will build our chords on the melodic minor which
differs whether it is ascending or descending and conveniently includes the chords we need:
Figure 1 – (Bb minor scale)
As before, practice the sequence ‘as written’ to begin with then vary the style and the rhythm in as many
ways as you can think of – bass note then chord – arpeggios – etc. and then, when you are happy with the
scale pattern in the key of ‘Bb minor’, try transposing it to all the other keys. After that you can try and mix
and match the new scale shapes with those from the previous issue.
The following chord scale which uses the top 4 strings ie: the 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st could be considered
more suited to melody chord playing than for comping but, as previously, it is included here for the sake of
completion.
Figure 2 – (Eb minor scale)
Practice this as per previous examples and then integrate this form with the others. Of course there are
many, many, chord shapes over and above those shown so far in this series of articles, but if you work these
in all keys they will help you to handle just about any chord sequence you are likely to encounter and bring
you a step closer to a total understanding of this two foot piece of wood we all struggle to master.
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Winter 2012
103
HARMONICS ON STEEL GUITAR by Maurice Hipkiss
As I have included
harmonics in some
of my steel guitar
arrangements, I thought it may
be a good idea to do a short
article on the different types.
I have found that many players
shy away from using them
probably because of the fact that
if you do miss one they are often
very exposed within your
playing, and immediat ely
noticed by your audience.
However, they are a great
vehicle for your musical
expressiveness.
There are two types of
harmonics (sometimes called
chimes) Natural and Artificial.
Natural harmonics are normally
played by lightly placing the
edge of your left hand (bar hand)
on certain frets, they sound best
at the 12th, 7th, 5th, 19th and
24th frets. If you have a basic
tuning in C (e.g. C6 tuning) frets
12th, 5th and 24th will give C
chords and fret 7th and 19th will
give you G chords. If you are in
the key of C and want to finish
the piece on a ‘Perfect
Cadence’ (5 to 1) this can be
done in harmonics quite easily.
If you use the C tuning, an E
chord can be achieved at the 4th
fret and the 9th, a C chord can
be achieved at the 17th, and a B
flat chord at the 22nd fret,
although these are much weaker.
Artificial Harmonics
The playing of Artificial
Harmonics requires much more
care in their execution. These
can be played on any fret and on
any st ring. The simp ler
harmonics you can produce are
the ones where you stop the
strings with the edge of your
right hand, resting lightly on the
strings twelve frets above the bar
position, and pick the strings
with your thumb.
Make sure your palm is parallel
to the frets. You lift the right
hand immediately after picking
so that the notes ring out clearly.
If not, they will be damped.
T hese are called ‘pal m
harmonics’.
The one problem that you may
get with the execution of these
harmonics is the fact that you
cannot see the spot where you
need to touch the string or
strings with your palm because
the rest of your hand is blocking
your view. As you are picking
with your thumb, use the spot
where your thumb picks the
string for a particular fret and
remember this position. You will
find you will get more adept at
this as time goes on.
With palm harmonics you can
pick several strings resulting in a
chord of harmonics. Since the
theoretical aspects are the same
for both types of harmonics the
right hand palm can produce
artificial harmonics by stopping
a barred string or strings 5th, 7th
and 19th frets above the bar as
well. Also with palm harmonics
it is possible to strike two strings
together, harmonic one string
and leave the other as a natural
note. e.g. strike E and G notes
together, harmonic the lower
note E but keep the G at its
natural pitch. Now the E is an
octave higher. Instead of a 3rd
interval it now becomes a 6th
interval.
There is another way of
obtaining Artificial Harmonics
which takes the small amount of
guess work out of the equation.
This is by using the tip of your
right hand ring finger again
using your thumb to pick the
strings.
With this technique you can see
exactly where the tip of your
finger touches the strings. Your
thumb is tucked in behind your
ring finger about an inch or so
further up the neck of the guitar.
With this technique, string
selection and placement of the
f in g er is ver y pr ec is e.
Depending on the sound you
want, you can go between
natural, palm and finger
harmonics to create different
effects.
By using all three techniques it
is possible to play any note or
configuration of notes anywhere
on your guitar neck in
harmonics.
Artificial harmonics can also be
achieved using the knuckle of
the little finger on the right hand,
but I prefer using the tip of my
ring finger as this is more
precise.
Do n’t be fr ight ened o f
harmonics; relax and you will
realise they are easier to execute
than you thought. Whatever
style you play on your steel
guitar, from classical music to
jazz, use harmonics, — they will
add a new dimension to your
playing.
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B.M.G.
Winter 2012
EDDIE LANG TECHNIQUE
PART EIGHT
In this issue we are going to take a look at a single note solo played by Eddie on a recording he
made with Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke in 1927. Under the title of ‘For No Reason
At All’ the track was originally released on the album ‘Bix and Tram, Volume 2’ with the
original catalogue number ‘Columbia CL 845’. It’s on You Tube and is well worth a listen.
The tune is a typical 32 bar ‘AABA’ composition—(an 8 bar theme repeated with slight variation, a
contrasting middle 8, and a recap of the original 8), Eddie’s is the third chorus in and instead of just running
the chords or building on the earlier solos, Eddie lays down a whole new instant composition beautifully
presented in a well sculpted AABA melody. The first technique to note is his re-use of his improvisatory
material - having created his theme instead of dashing on to new material he allows it to develop naturally.
Compare bars 1 to 4 with 9 to 12 etc. Almost all of the solo is played on the first two strings, as can be
clearly discerned from the recording. This keeps things fairly high and gives the sound of the plain steel
strings a chance to cut through or pass over the sound of the horns. This allows us to note a second
technique, Eddie plays the first 4 bar musical statement in the 10th position and then drops down to the 5th
position to produce a contrasting 4 bar phrase. He lets this technique carry him along changing between the
two positions every 4 bars for the whole of his 32 bars. The third point which may have been a deliberate
technique or just coincidental is the similarity of rhythm and phrasing between this theme and the big hit of
the previous year (1926) ‘I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me’. Not close enough to be a copy,
but near enough to be a quote.
To mark his passing on 20th
April 2012, thirty of Bert
Weedo n’s best kno wn
recordings are now available on
a new CD. In 1959, Weedon
was the first British guitarist to
have a hit record in the UK
Singles Chart, ‘Guitar Boogie
Shuffle’. His best-selling tutorial
guides, ‘Play In A Day’ were a
major influence on many leading
British guitarists, including Eric
Clapton, Brian May, George
Harrison, John Lennon, Keith
Richards, Pete Townshend,
Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page.
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Winter 2012
B.M.G.
The Return of the Banjoline
The original inspiration for the
banjoline was born in the 1920’s
when Eddie Peabody and his
stage partner Jimmie Maisel
played duets on mandola and
mandocello. Eddie tuned his
instrument as plectrum banjo
and was already playing
beautiful muted solo’s on his
banjo. He had an instrument
constructed utilising a mandola
body, a plectrum banjo neck but
doubling the 3rd string in
monotone and doubling the 4th
as octave. The sound was sweet
and this odd mixture proved to
be popular in his stage act. Eddie
revitalised the idea of the
banjoline in the mid 1950’s
when he saw that the Electric
Guitar was becoming the ‘in
thing’ he approached Bill Nelson
of Vega Banjos to make a
prototype for him. A few were
constructed but they were never
production models. Eddie
recorded two albums purely on
his banjoline for DOT which
proved the instrument’s validity
with the album buying public.
Fender was then approached to
produce the instrument but the
deal fell through at the last
minute and the Rickenbacker
Company were then involved in
producing a couple of models
which were briefly manufactured
until the early 1970’s.
My inspiration to try the
banjoline came from a remark
that Eddie’s grandson made via
the Facebook website: ‘Eddie
Peabody Fans Cellar’ and asked
“Is there anyone today who can
play the banjoline”? Realising
the potential of the banjoline as
an instrument to bolster my solo
banjo act, the plan of obtaining a
banjoline was put into action.
H o w e ve r , t he fe w o ld
Banjoline’s that are out there are
collectors’ pieces and expensive.
Could I really justify several
t hou sand do llar s o n an
instrument that would be, after
all, secondary in my arsenal of
stringed instruments? I thought
about the possibility of using a
cheap Asian copy and making a
reproduction Fender Banjoline.
Of all the Electric Guitars
available, the Fender Telecaster
has about the right scale length
for Plectrum Banjo tuning, and I
found a brand new copy for
under $100, complete with strap,
cable, plectrum and a soft case!
I must state right here that my
woodworking ‘talents’ are
purely at the level of a normal
handyman about the house.
However, I feel that most craftorientated people with a
moderate amount of tools can
put this project together for very
little outlay
and
have
fun
along
the way.
Sean with
his finished
banjoline.
My Telecaster copy was brand
new and required very little
modification. After removing the
strings, my main task was to
slim the neck down to plectrum
banjo size. I removed the
retaining bolts of the back-plate,
tuning pegs and nut. The frets do
not need removing as the fret
spaces are fine. With a file I
reshaped the neck, the fret ends
then needed profiling and
buffing to remove the sharp
ends. I used a wipe-on oil finish
instead of re-spraying the neck,
and there was no binding on this
105
by Sean Moyses
model to worry about. With that
process out of the way, the nut
needed making. A nut blank can
be bought for very little money,
take care to make the nut slots
correctly. I used my plectrum
banjo as the template and with a
junior hacksaw and a small file I
soon made the nut. Neck
complete!
The tail-piece needed two extra
holes drilled for the double 3rd
and 4th strings, it simply
unscrews. The bridge on a
Telecaster has a separate part for
each string. I removed the outer
bridges (1 and 6), and with a
junior hacksaw I carefully cut a
small channel for the string to
run through to the side of the
existing one. I restrung with an
extra 3rd and used a 1st string
for the octave 4th. Now I had my
very own ‘Telecaster Banjoline’!
I have already had a lot of fun
with my Banjoline and recorded
my latest album playing it.
When plugged into an amplifier,
using head phones, I can play at
any time of the night or day,
without disturbing anybody.
The Banjoline Returns!!!
106
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
EMILE GRIMSHAW PLECTRUM BANJO
TECHNIQUE - PART 4
by Ron Hinkle
Hello again! Welcome to Part 4 of my series on Emile Grimshaw banjo technique. This is
actually a continuation of Part 3, and the subject is Picking-Hand technique. In the last
lesson, I gave you a couple of basic exercises to start with. I could actually stop right there,
because those exercises cover the physical technique pretty well; what I will do though is show you a few
picking examples from his music. All you have to do is take the physical technique and apply it to the
situation. I don’t mean to make this sound ‘easy’, because it does take a lot of work; the more you practice,
the better you will get (no matter how many years you continue to work on this!).
Since Emile Grimshaw and his contemporaries were originally finger-style players (and the plectrum banjo
evolved from the classic five-string), many of his picking techniques were either an attempt to imitate the
finger-style, or to more easily adapt the finger-style compositions to the plectrum. These could then be
thought of as ‘hybrid’ techniques, further confirming how different they are from typical chord melody
style. In my opinion, the result is a much more complex and musical playing style.
So, here is a picking example
(Figure 1, from A Banjo Vamp) that
is found in just about every
Grimshaw piece. The intent is to
sound like two banjoists; the first
plays the melody (on the beat, upstrokes), and the second plays the
rhythm accompaniment (off the
beat, down-strokes). It may seem a
little counterintuitive at first to play up-strokes on the beat, but you’ll get used to it quickly; that’s the
melody, so your ear will tell you it’s correct.
The second example is a modern
variation (called a ‘broken-chord’
stroke) that can be played in
almost every case. In the brokenchord strokes, strive for machinegun-like precision.
Remember to keep your foundation fingers in contact with the banjo head, as stated in the previous article!
Now, here is a variation of the
first example, where the melody
is down an octave on the third
string, and the accompaniment is
on the second and first strings.
This one is all down-strokes; take
your time, and try to get the aural
separation between the two parts
that is so easy in the first
example.
Below it is the
equivalent broken-chord stroke
variation.
By the way, I’m sure you can see from these examples how pervasive the three-string chord is in
Grimshaw’s music. There are many instances, though, where the melody will be on the fourth string, and
the accompaniment on the third, second, and first strings.
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
107
I’ll show you a few more basic Grimshaw
picking techniques; these are very much
related to the equivalent finger-style
strokes (and actually quite similar to the
examples). This one is a glide stroke
(down-down-down-up), from Beat As
You Go. It is similar to the broken-chord
stroke but is executed in a quicker, more dramatic fashion (no need for machine gun precision, it’s meant to
sound like a flourish).
The last example, (from A Spanish Romance) actually shows two different strokes: The half-note chord on
the downbeat of each measure is ‘arpeggiated’, meaning to play it one string at a time. It takes a little
practice to get this one right; it still only takes up one beat, but you must distinctly hear each note. Think
Spanish guitar on this one. The accompaniment figure is the interesting part; it is obviously just like fingerstyle. Because we only use one pick, there are usually some compromises made to accomplish it. Pay strict
attention to the picking pattern shown in the first measure; sometimes you just have to do what you have to
do to make it happen! Some of it may not make immediate sense, but the end result is music, and that’s all
that counts.
This is not a complete compilation of picking-hand techniques, but it should be enough to get you started.
Almost everything else is simply variations on these. Have fun! I hope you are enjoying Emile Grimshaw’s
music as much as I am! On behalf of all the banjo players here in the U.S, a very ‘Happy Christmas’ to all.
Back Copies of
BMG
Pre 1926
Urgently Wanted
Any Condition
Good Prices Paid
Call Phil Jones on:
02393 112364
Email:
philbmg@cliffordessex.net
Clifford Essex is the
Official UK stockist of
Wegen hand-made picks
We stock a wide range
of Wegen picks,
suitable for mandolin,
guitar and banjo.
Go to
www.cliffordessex.net
on the menu on the left,
click on ‘Plectra’.
Or telephone: 01485 529323.
YOU’LL NEED STRINGS
THIS CHRISTMAS
SEE THAT YOU HAVE SOME SPARES
In Your Instrument Case
BUY ONLY THE BEST — FROM
CLIFFORD ESSEX
TEL: 01485 529323
Solo Plectrum Guitar
CD by Mike Chapman
Speechless
‡10.00 incl. P & P
mikensally@fsmail.net
Tel: 01277 231522
Ideas for
Christmas Presents ?
visit
www.cliffordessex.net
B.M.G.
108
FROM A BATH CHAIR
The season of mists
and
mellow
fruitfulness is upon
us, speaking of
which, mellow fruitfulness was
well exemplified by the speaking
likeness of Martin Wheatley,
which adorned the front page of
the Autumn issue of B.M.G.
Martin is one of those rare
musicians whose enthusiasm for
the music of yesteryear makes
his every performance a joy to
witness, I well remember him
playing a wonderful version of
‘Midnight in Mayfair’ at one of
the Reading Banjo Festivals,
some years ago, the tune, and
Martin’s unerring performance
of same, occasionally still comes
to my mind at odd moments.
Speaking of mists, I was pleased
to see that the vigorous export
activities of ‘Mac’ McNaughton,
or McNaghten, as he preferred to
call himself, were exposed to the
public gaze at last, in the same
B.M.G.
The avuncular ‘Mac’ liked to
project himself as a harmless old
buffer, with a love for, and an
encyclopaedic knowledge of, the
banjo, his shady dealings
in vo lving t he apparent l y
unauthorised disposal of the
archives of the B.M.G. division
of the Clifford Essex Co.
however, show a hitherto little
known aspect of his character.
Bill Ball used to tell me of their
(Mac and himself) trips to the
USA, to the ABF meetings,
trips, where, ‘Mac’ would use
Bill as a pack horse, to carry
piles of papers, records and
photographs, selected from the
archives of C. Essex & Co..
Eventually, Bill refused to assist
Mac in this endeavour as he
thought that carrying these
weighty parcels would kill him.
‘Mac’ was bo r n in a faded
suburb, Pitsmoor, of my own
hometown, Sheffield, in 1911.
This area might still have been
respectable in those days; the
house, No. 15, Catherine Street,
has sadly, been demolished, but
its neighbours suggest that it was
a substantial town house, built
for a class rather above the
ordinary.
Joseph McNaughton 1936
‘Mac’ never, as far as I am
aware, ever really disclosed
where his liking for the banjo
came from, we know that he said
that it arose as a result of hearing
an Oakley recording of ‘The
Darkie's Awakening’ and that
later, he met a well-known
Sheffield banjoist called Harry
Burton, and also took lessons
from another well-known
S he f f ie ld ba njo ist , Fr ed
Needham, and that his mother
gave him a cheap banjo in 1930.
Over the years, I have had much
banjo music through my hands,
and amongst it, I once found a
copy of Cecil Folkestone’s
‘Frivolity’ barn dance. The
interesting thing about this
particular piece of sheet music,
is that it bears a rubber stamped,
owner’s address, which is P.
McNaughton, 15, Catherine
Street, Sheffield 3. Surely this
must be some relation to our
‘Mac’?
Could P. McNaughton have
Winter 2012
by Richard Ineson
been his father, or an older
brother? Why was this relation
never mentioned by ‘Mac’? Was
this person the true source of
McNaghten’s interest in the
banjo? Why was this P, a
McNaughto n, and not a
McNaghten?
The question which then arises
is this, why was he, ‘Mac’ at
such pains to change his name,
and if he had decided to do so,
why change it to something
almost the same? A very
puzzling circumstance.
That he did take pains to make
this change to the spelling of his
name is well known and there is
much evidence to support his
o bv io u s o bs e s s io n w it h
discarding his original surname,
the cover of the B.M.G. for
October 1952, shows ‘Mac’ in
full flight, on his ‘Vibrante’,
whilst stationed at R.A.F. Kai
Tak, in Hong Kong, the caption
shows his name as
‘J.McNaughton’ but, on my
copy of this issue, which
formerly actually belonged to
‘Mac’ he has changed the name
to ‘J. McNaghten’.
McNaghten
Why has he done this? The
magazine came from his house in
Croydon, where it had been in the
loft, probably since shortly after it
was delivered; why change the
name on his own copy of B.M.G.
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
which nobody was likely to see,
when there were thousands of
other copies, still bearing what
appears to be his real name,
McNaughton, spread over, not
only the UK, but the world?
A mystery which is not now
likely to be solved, but is food
for much thought.
An amusing tale relating to Mac
was told to me by another
‘Mac’, Kathleen MacGarvey,
who told me that Mac went to
stay with them, in N. Ireland, for
a week or two, during the 193945, war. Mac pretended to be
engaged on some very ‘hush
hush’ O.H.M. Secret Service
business. Kathleen’s banjoplaying father, Jack, decided to
play along with this obvious
fiction and arranged for his
brother, who was a Trinity
House, lighthouse keeper, to turn
up at the house, wearing his
lighthouse keeper's uniform.
This he did and, pretending to be
on official military security
bu s ines s, co mme nced t o
interrogate Mac about the
purpose of his visit, and where
he had travelled to and from, and
what, exactly, was the purpose
of his visit to N. Ireland. etc..
Mac was completely taken in by
the imposter, and confessed that
he was merely on holiday, —
much to the amusement of Jack.
Did ‘Mac’ fool us all, did he pull
off the ultimate double bluff?
Was he really a secret agent?
Winter is upon us, our thoughts,
at this time of the year, will
inevitably turn to choosing a
nice, young, plump bird and
getting reacquainted with a few
Carols, but do not forget amidst
the Christmas festivities, to
devote some time during those
long evenings by the fire, to
perfect ing t hose difficu lt
chromatic runs etc.. Perhaps
your banjo might benefit from a
new vellum? Now is the time to
make sure that your instrument
is in top form, ready for next
year. Fit some new strings, get a
new bridge, cheer the poor old
thing up, the banjo, that is, not
your wife.
A very merry Christmas to
f r e t t e d i n s t r u m e nt a l i s t s ,
wherever and whoever you are.
109
BMG
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The name that denotes
everything that is best in
fretted instruments and their
accessories.
Wrockin’ with the Wrinkly Wriffers
Eric Clapton - Layla
The Beatles - Michelle
B.M.G.
110
Winter 2012
THE JOHN BRIGHT COLUMN
In one o f my
catalogues from the
U nit ed
States,
advertising second
hand banjos for sale, there is a
statement that all instruments
accepted for re-sale are sold on
as received, including ‘all the
cool little things you find in
banjo cases’.
Certainly, one of the great thrills
for me, when acquiring a second
hand banjo, is to see what the
previous owner has left in the
storage compartment in the case.
Among the ‘cool little things’ I
have found in cases have of
course been the ‘tools of the
trade’ such as plectra, tension
keys, pitch pipes etc. On the
more unusual side: an over
elaborate banjo capo, a tin
containing assorted nuts and
bolts, none appropriate to a
banjo! Violin resin, a small
bunch of dried flowers, and a
Victorian ‘skirt lifter’ or ‘skirt
clip’, something which took me
ages to identify. The gadget
consists of a nicely made nickel
plated spring loaded clip. I am
told by antiques experts that
ladies would have several of
these, attached to their waists
with ribbon, and use them to peg
up their skirts if on muddy
ground, etc.
So, what do we keep in our
banjo cases apart from strings,
keys, plectra etc? I always carry
a couple of screw drivers, a
tuning fork, a banjo sling and a
spare bridge. I am the only banjo
player I know who has had a
b r id g e s n a p i n ha l f w h i l e
playing! In one of my banjo
cases I had the compartment
extended to hold a music stand. I
also have two of those neat little
banjo stands which really do fit
into a banjo case, and of course,
a black bow tie (well you never
know).
In his excellent book ‘A Life On
The Road’, Julian Bream tells us
he carries in his ‘old guitar case’
scissors for cutting his left hand
nails, nail clippers for cutting the
spare ends of strings, a tuning
fork, a pencil, a rubber, fountain
pen refills, a pencil sharpener,
sand paper for filing his nails,
two stones for burnishing his
nails, a few packets of cigarettes,
a collapsible footstool, a
micrometer for checking string
gauges, a postcard portrait of a
woman by Rembrandt, a box of
specially made false nails, and
last, but not least, spare strings!
His rather special case has three
compartments, and has space for
the guitar!
Talking of special cases, the late
Barry Dew once showed me a
case he had had made to carry
two banjos. Very convenient if
you play two styles, or even
break a string : put one down
and pick up the other. However,
the sheer weight made it
impractical..
Okay then, what’s the most
unusual thing you have found in
an instrument case? What
unusual things do you carry? Do
tell, — you can always write
under an assumed name!
CLAW
Clawhammer and frailing
banjoists asked us for a very
light 3rd. We have obliged with
a 0.016” nickel or phosphor
wound on steel string, never
before available in the UK.
€6.00 a set + €1.00 postage
“Not bad, fellas. Let’s do one more
take, with more emphasis on tone,
ha r mo n y, mel o d y, r hyt h m,
composition, lyrics, musicianship,
tempo and originality.
THE
POWER
HAMMER
of the
BANJO
Could this
happen to
YOU?
BEFORE CONVERSION
Beware of
the satanic
demon
evil
in banjo
playing!
AFTER CONVERSION
Winter 2012
B.M.G.
This Issue’s Cover Picture :
Ron Hinkle is a plectrum and
tenor banjoist who literally grew
up in the American banjo band
scene. His father was Myron
Hinkle, who founded three banjo
bands in the Pacific Northwest.
In 1960, the year Ron was born,
Myron was working as a pianist
and banjoist at the Blue Banjo, a
popular watering hole in
downtown Seattle, Washington.
While in Seattle, Myron founded
the Seattle Banjo Club. In the
mid-60’s, he moved his family
to Aberdeen, Washington
(named by Scottish settlers from
Aberdeen), and soon founded
the Grays Harbor Banjo Band.
It was in the GHBB that Ron got
his start; this band became his
extended family. His sister
Linda had started playing the
tenor banjo in 1970 (she’s still
an active member), and Ron
finally got the bug in 1972,
starting on tenor, but soon
switching to plectrum. Myron
had recently started a third banjo
band; the Grays Harbor Junior
Banjo Band, made up of Linda
and three other banjo band kids.
With the addition of Ron, they
changed their name to the
Jubilee Five, and for the next
five years, this group played all
over the Pacific North West.
They also travelled to the
Sacramento Banjorama, and
even had their own TV show on
a local station.
Ron took a hiatus from the banjo
while he served a four-year
enlistment in the military, then
two years in college, where he
met his wife, Paige. They have a
28 year-old daughter, Carlee.
When he started playing again,
he became the lead banjoist for
the Silver Strings Banjo Band in
Provo, Utah, and co-founded the
Salt Lake Banjo Club. While in
Utah, he also discovered his true
111
RON HINKLE
musical love: Traditional Jazz.
Throughout the 90s, Ron was the
banjoist, either as a substitute or
as a regular, for some of the
West Coast’s top bands, and was
a featured performer and
clinician at banjo shows and jazz
festivals throughout the Western
U.S. In 1998, he recorded with
three different bands: Pat
O’Neal’s Riverboat Jazz Band,
Black Swan Classic Jazz Band,
and the Three Rivers Jazz Band.
During this time, he also earned
a Bachelors’ degree in Music
Education
from
Central
Washington University.
Banjo; Beyond Chord Melody.
This tutor brought him to the
attention of the Clifford Essex
Music Company, and he was
commissioned to update the
Emile Grimshaw collection,
among various other future
projects.
Ron plans to retire from the
Army in two years, and hopes to
become a full-time banjoist,
writer, and teacher. He can be
reached
by
email
at
banjoplayer1@yahoo.com, and
would love to hear from other
players and teachers. To see and
hear Ron play, simply go to
YouTube and enter Ron Hinkle
in the search box.
Plectrum Banjo Solos
Available from
Clifford Essex,
Edited by Ron Hinkle
Linda, Myron and Ron Hinkle
in 1974
In 1999, he returned to the active
duty military as an Army
Bandsman, playing clarinet,
saxophone, guitar, and banjo. In
this capacity, he has played the
banjo in over two dozen
countries (including England) on
four continents. He also spent 6
months in Iraq in 2003, where he
discovered that the Iraqis knew
the banjo and Trad Jazz from
before Saddam Hussein. He is
currently serving a one-year tour
of duty in Seoul, South Korea.
In an effort to solidify his banjo
education (and pass on the
knowledge to others), Ron wrote
and published a successful
plectrum
banjo
technique
manual in 2011; The Plectrum
A Banjo Vamp ; At Sunset ;
Banjoliers ; Beat As You Go ;
Chop Suey ; Fretwork ;
Happy Go Lucky ; Harry
Lime Theme ; Here's How ;
Listen To This ; Moonlight
and You ; New Rag ; Return
of the Regiment ; Sailors
Don't Care ;
Scotch Broth ; A Spanish
Romance ; Speedwell ;
Stars Are Shining ;
Take Your Pick ; Tattoo ;
The Entertainer ; The Kilties ;
The Spanish Maid ; Tune
Tonic ;
Valse Sympathie ; Vodka ;
You and a Canoe ; Joy Dance.
***
All written in notation and
tab, €3.00 each, post free,
world wide, or download for
€1.30. www.cliffordessex.net
112
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
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114
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B.M.G.
116
Winter 2012
MAX BRITTAIN - JAZZ GUITARIST
by Phil Jones
Max Brittain and Barney
Kessel in March 1988
Max was born in Halesowen in the West Midlands on Christmas Eve
1946, both parents were amateur musicians eagerly involved in local
musical productions, there was always good music being rehearsed in
their home. Max took up the guitar in the 1960s, inspired by Lonnie
Donnegan and the Beatles, which he heard on LP records brought
home by his elder brother. Hearing one such record featuring Barney
Kessel on the first ‘Poll Winners’ album with Ray Brown and Shelley
Man was a life-changing moment. Decades later he had the privilege
of playing with Barney and fulfilling a lifetime ambition.
Initially self-taught, Max moved north to study at Leeds Music
College and then to London, turning professional in 1978. A jazz
guitarist at heart, Max has turned his hand to a wide range of musical
styles, working in studios, the West End Theatre, pubs, clubs and
concert halls all around the world.
A spell with the Terry Lightfoot band took him to the Middle East and
the Falklands, and UK tours with Vic Damone, Guy Mitchell, the
Nelson Riddle Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and
Mantovani gave him the opportunity to play in all the major concert
venues.
For thirty years, Max was guitarist to Val Doonican, with broadcasts,
recordings and world-wide concert appearances, until Val’s retirement
last year. A special highlight was a performance with Val and John
Williams at the London Palladium. Other recent prestigious venues
include Buckingham Palace, Blenheim Palace, Kensington Palace and
Hampton Court Palace and all of the major Art Galleries and Hotels at
home and abroad.
In jazz, Max has worked with Ike Isaacs, Humphrey Lyttleton, Ronnie
Scott, Cleo Laine, Marian Montgomery, Georgie Fame, Jamie
Cullum, and visiting Americans Barney Kessel, Harry Edison, Charlie
Byrd, Al Grey and Herb Ellis. A regular performer at the Ealing Jazz
Festival with trumpeter Chris Hodgkins and with guitarist John
Coverdale, he has also appeared with Chris at the Brecon Jazz
Festival and travelled to Nepal to appear in the first ever Katmandhu
Jazz Festival in 2002. In 1990 he was invited to establish the electric
guitar faculty at Eton College, where he still teaches as senior visiting
lecturer. The faculty currently consists of over 100 students with 4
teachers.
Max has many guitars and banjos, plus a mandolin and a ukulele to
meet the varying needs of the day. His 1997 custom-built Mike
Vanden archtop takes pride of place, with a 1962 Gibson L7 which he
obtained from Ike Isaacs, a close second.
Max is happily married to actress Susan Sheridan (Trillian from the original BBC radio 4 Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy) with three grown up daughters, and has to be the most contented musician it has been
my pleasure to encounter. We must thank him for his arrangement of ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ in the music
supplement, and samples of Max’s performances can be heard on his website: www.maxbrittain.com
The following recordings are currently available:
Chris Hodgkins Trio ‘Present Continuous’ Bell CD 511
Chris Hodgkins Trio ‘Future Continuous’ Bell CD 512
Chris Hodgkins Quartet ‘Boswell’s London Journal’ Bell CD513
Winter 2012
B.M.G.
117
PLECTRUM GUITAR ENDINGS Part Three by DON ROBERTS
Here are some more endings for the melody note G in the key of C major.
Note the use of a B flat 6th chord in Example 9, and the A flat major seventh in Example 10 to
accommodate the G.
In Example 11, we have another case of extended
harmony, much like that of Example 7 in the last
issue. In fact, this chord sequence is employed in the
melody One Note Samba.
Moving away from the idea of using the notes of the
tonic chord, Example 12 uses harmonized scales to
make a suitable ending.
To harmonize scales, each note is ‘piled up’ with
thirds, and this idea can be very useful for extended
harmony.
In the next issue, the final Part of this short series will demonstrate other methods of ending solos in an
interesting way.
Tenor
Banjo
Breaks
Part 3
118
B.M.G.
Bluegrass Mandolin
Winter 2012
by John Baldry
Jesse McReynolds - crosspicking on the mandolin : Part Two
Playing the rolls as simple patterns is the first step in learning McReynolds style crosspicking
on the mandolin. You then have to find notes on the fretboard in positions where you can work them into
your roll patterns to create a seamless melodic break. With the first or second string played open, the
available melody notes are often located on the lower strings higher up the neck.
To illustrate the contrast between crosspicking and regular-style playing, I have tabbed two breaks for the
well-known fiddle tune Sally Goodin in the key of A. The first version is a straightforward arrangement
using down-up strokes throughout. On the opposite page is a crosspicked break using McReynolds rolls. In
each break, play Part 1 x2 followed by Part 2 x2. It may be difficult to make sense of the crosspicked
break until you have it smooth and co-ordinated. There are MIDI files of all the exercises and tunes in this
article on the Clifford Essex website at (www.cliffordessex.net) follow the link to BMG, Winter 2012.
Playing the files on your computer should help you to understand the sound that you are aiming to create.
If you like the sound of crosspicking, listen to as much Jesse McReynolds as you can find! He and his
brother Jim had a band which performed for decades as Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys. Jim
McReynolds, who sadly died in 2002, had a wonderful high tenor voice, and the brothers’ harmony singing,
together with Jesse’s mandolin playing (both crosspicked and regular style) comprised one of the wonders
of the bluegrass world. Now in his early 80s, Jesse continues to perform and record a wide variety of music.
Mandolin players will also want his excellent instruction DVD Classic Bluegrass Mandolin. This is
produced by Homespun, who have released a clip on YouTube which spotlights Jesse’s crosspicking and
shows his right hand technique clearly. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aEvnS3LnVU There is
also lots of Jim and Jesse on YouTube and a ton of their recordings (in CD and MP3 format) at Amazon
and County Sales, as well as at the official Jim and Jesse website http://www.jimandjesse.com And there is
a detailed interview with Jesse McReynolds at http://www.bluegrassmandolin.co.uk/jesse.html
In book form the most thorough instruction in crosspicking currently available is in Jack Tottle’s Bluegrass
Mandolin, which includes transcriptions of Jesse’s breaks on Too Many Tears and Stoney Creek. The
original recordings of these tunes can be found on Jim and Jesse 1952-55 (their early Capitol recordings)
and Bluegrass and More (Bear Family 5CD set) respectively. Both contain classic recordings of Jim and
Jesse, with a good helping of crosspicking. If you know a long-time mandolin player, see if you can borrow
a copy of Andy Statman’s book Jesse McReynolds / Mandolin in the Oak Bluegrass Masters series. Andy
did a thorough and detailed analysis of the complete range of Jesse McReynolds’ playing techniques,
Winter 2012
B.M.G.
119
which has inexplicably been allowed to go out of print. At the same time see if you can lay hands on Allen
Shelton’s banjo LP/CD Shelton Special from 1977. Allen was Jim and Jesse’s best banjo player back in
their glory days, and Jesse returned the favour by taking some wonderful breaks on Allen’s solo album.
BMG TAPE
CLUB
Hawaiian Guitar Section
by John Marsden
John Wilkinson (East Yorkshire)
has generously provided no
fewer than six CD programmes
this quarter. I’m sure members
will especially enjoy a ‘live’
broadcast by Felix Mendelssohn
from the Sheffield ‘Empire’. I
must also encourage other
members to put together some
material for the club. Don’t
leave it all to John!
Tony Docherty (Cleveland),
though not a member, has sent
us his latest tape of homerecordings, this one entitled
‘Every bum chord tells a story’.
However, I heard no bum
chords, just Tony’s usual
excellent playing! Members are
sure to enjoy this tape. Thank
you, Tony!
Finally, I should like to pay
tribute to our popular member
Arthur Layfield of Pateley
Bridge, who passed away due to
cancer on the morning of
October 19th, aged 74. The news
came as a great shock to me.
Hawaiian fans will have the
biography published in 2005 in
‘Aloha Dream’ magazine’s
Hawaiian Record Collectors
Directory, so I won’t repeat that.
He joined the Tape Club in
March 1966 aft er a
recommendation by Gordon
Hepburn. Arthur took over
Gordon’s position as guitarist
and Hawaiian guitarist with the
Bertini dance band, when ill
health forced Gordon to quit.
While with this band, Arthur met
Leeds-based ‘Country’ singer
Tony Goodacre, with whom he
later recorded. Leading an
unusual musical double-life,
Arthur also played trombone and
in 1989 became bandmaster and
mus ical dir ect or of t he
‘Summerbridge & Dacre Silver
Prize Band’. Concerts took up a
great deal of time, especially
around Christmas!
On a personal level, I should
particularly like to pay tribute to
Arthur as one of our leading
Hawaiian music experts.
Arthur Layfield, (left) with
George Hamilton IV and
Tony Goodacre
The Club was fortunate to
b e ne f it fr o m h i s w i d e
knowledge, and his record
collection is internationally
recognised as one of the largest
and most comprehensive in the
genre. We often used to trade,
and I dearly wish, as a fellow
Yorkshire man, there had been
an opportunity to meet. On
behalf of myself and the Club, I
should like to offer heartfelt
condolences to his wife, Ann,
and family.
B.M.G.
120
THE BANJO STORY
(Johann Christian)
Gottlieb Graupner
(his
first two
Christian names
are
usually
omitted) was born in Hanover in
1767, and died in Boston in
1836. He was a conductor and
composer, playing oboe, piano,
clarinet and double bass. His
father was leading oboist in a
regimental band commanded by
Co lo ne l vo n Gr ot en o f
Andreasberg, and Graupner
himself joined a regimental band
in Hannover (as oboist) at an
early age.
He had enjoyed a thorough
musical training. When he was
twenty-four it is said that the
handsome young man became
involved with a lady of society
some years his elder and, to save
the family names (both his
father’s and the lady’s in
question) he agreed to leave
Hanover in exchange for an
honourable discharge from his
regiment.
When he left Hanover in 1789,
he went to London, where it is
possible he played in Solomon’s
orchestra assembled for Haydn’s
visit to London between 1791 92. In the mid 1790s he travelled
to Prince Edward Island in
Canada and by 1795 he was in
Charleston, South Carolina,
where he performed many
concerts. In 1796 he married
English Diva (outstanding opera
singer) Catharine Comerford
Hillier 1769-1821, she was not
only his wife, but principal
music partner.
After settling in Boston around
1797, in 1801 Graupner cofo u n d e d t he A mer ic a n
Conservatorio, a successful
music publishing venture. In
1810 he founded the Boston
Philharmonic Society, and five
Winter 2012
PART THREE by A. P. Sharpe
years later was a co-founder of
what later became the Handel
and Haydn Society.
American folklore has led to
Graupner becoming known as
’The Father of Negro Songs’.
Legend would have us believe
that during a period when he was
engaged to perform an oboe
concerto between the acts of a
drama which held no interest for
him, Graupner left the theatre
one evening, and strayed into
some slave quarters nearby,
from which he heard the strains
of an unknown (to him)
instru ment played as an
accompaniment to negro voices
harmonising a melody.
Graupner, a warm-hearted and
emotional German of the old
school, is said to have wept with
joy when he first heard that
Negro melody; not because it
was a sentimental or nostalgic
air, but because, without
warning, he had discovered
something musical he had never
hear d before. Aft er his
engagement had ended, it is said
Graupner acquired a banjo and
re-visited the slaves’ quarters
where, to their delight, he
learned to play the instrument
then and there. Being a trained
musician, albeit not a string
player (apart from the doublebass, of course) it was not
difficult for him to pick up the
few chords used in the
rudimentary instruments of the
time. It is said he noted down the
Negroes’ dialect and inflections
as well as their melodies and
variations, he spent some time
practising on his newly-acquired
instrument and prepared himself
to present to the receptive
Bostonians a self-accompanied
song.
Time and again during my
research I have come across this
story, of course we have no way
of knowing if it is based on fact,
but we do know that legends are
often based on true accounts.
Meaning of ‘Legend’ - An
unverified story handed down
from earlier times, especially
one popularly believed to be
historical.
The legend continues that
Graupner made his debut during
a performance of Thomas
Southerne’s ‘Oroonoko’, subtitled ‘The Royal Slave’, in the
Federal Street Theatre on 30th
December 1799, and the song
was called ‘The Gay Negro
Boy’.
It is said that for this truly novel
performance he blacked his face
and bare feet with burnt cork,
wore white gloves and, to cover
his blond hair (some writers say
it was prematurely white at the
age of thirty-two) he persuaded
his indulgent wife to make him a
woolly black wig.
Graupner (who has been called
both ‘the father of American
orchestral music’ and ‘the father
o f American minstrelsy’)
became a naturalised American
in 1808.
When he died in 1836 he left an
‘est ate’ valued at $975,
consisting of his music store, his
instruments (including his
banjo), his printing press and his
clothes. This is a fact, and the
mention of a banjo is very
significant.
The only other record of him
mak ing ano t her public
appearance with his banjo was
on 4th September 1809, when he
again performed ‘The Gay
Negro Boy’ in a circus at
Taunton, Mass. Thereafter it
would appear that his banjo was
laid aside and only occasionally
looked upon as a reminder of a
new experience in his busy life.
Winter 2012
Johan Christian
Gottlieb Graupner
Fact or Fiction?
In his book published in 1943,
‘Musical Interludes in Boston’,
H. Earle Johnson writes: “One of
the most persistent legends
relating to Graupner concerns
the introduction of a Negro song
in blackface, alleged to have
been sung by him in Boston on
December 30, 1799.
Unfortunately Graupner has
become famous for this alleged
novelty among persons who
know no more about him. The
fact is that Mrs. Graupner, not
Mr. Graupner, sang the popular
ballad ‘I Sold a Guiltless Negro
Boy’ as this notice indicates:
‘End of Act 2d. the Song of ‘The
Negro Boy’ by Mrs. Graupner’.
In the Boston, Massachusetts,
newspaper ‘The Columbian
Centinel’(1790-1840)
established by Benjamin Russell,
announced on December 21st
1799, the first performance of
‘Oroonoko’ staged two days
later on December 23rd:
Federal Street Theatre
The Pantomime of GIL BLASS,
never performed in Boston.
ON MONDAY Evening, Dec. 23,
will be presented the Tragedy of
OROONOKO,
Or The ROYAL SLAVE
[cast list]
End of act 2d. the Song of the
Negro Boy, by Mrs Graupner.
B.M.G.
Graupner was ‘the musical
oracle of Boston’ and his wife,
Catherine, who, as mentioned,
was an exceptional opera singer,
performed frequently as a
soloist, often accompanied by
her husband. It could well be
that Graupner accompanied his
wife on the banjo in the manner
described. We shall never know,
but certainly, something quite
momentous, took place.
Negro songs were introduced in
the late 1700s with ‘I Sold A
Guiltless Negro’ (also known as
‘The Negro Boy’). Also popular
was ‘The Gay Negro Boy’,
which featured the first use of
banjo accompaniment. Some
consider these songs to be the
first suggestion of the black face
minstrel style that would soon
popularize thousands of songs.
To be continued.
The
Clifford Essex
WEAVER
by David Wade
Right back as far as I can
remember, I was told that the
‘ultimate’ classic, classical banjo
was a 12” wood hoop Weaver.
There are plenty of original
Weavers, 11” metal hoops – all
slightly different and all very
nice, but rarely do we come
across a 12 incher, and even
more rarely a wood-hoop. I was
thrilled to learn from the
Clifford Essex Co., that they
wanted to have a 12” wood-hoop
in their new banjo range. I was
even more interested to learn
that they had recruited Garry
Silbert as luthier. Garry is a
former pupil of Dave Van
Edwards, the lute builder — well
-known to me through the Lute
Society.
The banjo arrived by courier on
121
Tuesday lunchtime ....... it was
one of those long lunchtimes
where I was tempted ... do I
sneak off home or wedge a chair
behind the office door ... because
as soon as I opened the case I
knew we had a winner. The neck
is beautifully hand carved by
Garry and has very tasteful head
stock inlays and simple pearl
dots down the fingerboard. The
neck has a silky smooth finish
and fits your hand perfectly. The
hoop is made of sections of
English oak finished with an
exotic hardwood tone ring
(Chakte Viga) that blend
together perfectly.
Strung with Clifford Essex
medium gauge nylon strings,
this ‘jo has all the ‘snap’,
‘crackle’ and ‘pop’ that you
would expect from the best
vintage instruments. But there is
no ‘boom’ which is sometimes
associated with the sound of 12
inch hoops. In fact as you move
to the bottom of the fingerboard
the tone develops a lovely
almost classical guitar warmth –
really nice for the Cammeyer
type of solo.
It was a pleasure and privilege to
have the banjo on my stall at the
Midland Banjo Fest – please
check the Rally video on classicbanjo.ning for Richard Ineson’s
masterful performance on the
Clifford Essex Weaver.
This is a lovely banjo; beautiful
finish, fantastic sound, and with
loads of potential, and best of all
it’s British, and it’s MINE!!
Clifford Essex
Quality
122
B.M.G.
Fingerstyle Ukulele Part 4
Winter 2012
by Ray Woods
Below is ‘The Skye Boat Song’, but I need to explain some of the signs before you start
playing it. At the end of the first staff there is a Final bar line, where the right-hand side is a
thick line. It is used at the end of a piece, whereas the Double bar line, at the end of the
bottom staff, shows the end of a section. At that point, the words D.C. al Fine mean ‘from the beginning
to the end’, so you must play from the beginning again until the Final bar line, where you see the word
Fine, which is Italian for ‘Finish’. The brackets over the last two bars in the top staff are called First and
Second Time Endings, and the first time ending has a Final bar line with two dots in the spaces. This is
called a Repeat bar line, and means that you play the section again, but then use the Second time bar.
The wiggly lines in front of the chords in bars 2 and 3 are called arpeggio signs, and mean that the notes of
the chord must be played separately, one after the other, usually from the bottom upwards. The notes can
be picked separately by your right-hand fingers, or they can be strummed, either with one finger, or as a
rasgueado, which guitarists play by striking the notes with the back of the nails, starting with the fourth
finger, and finishing with the first, all in rapid succession. The single line, as in the notation, usually
means that the notes should be picked by separate fingers, and the one with an arrow, as in the tab, means a
strum, but unfortunately not all composers use these definitions, so you often have to decide for yourself,
according to the type of music. Only three chords are marked, so you can decide how to play the others.
The notes in the first time bar have a curved line joining them: this is called a ‘tie’, and means that the
second note is not picked, but the first one allowed to continue sounding for the duration of the second.
The small figures in front of some note-heads show which left-hand fingers should be used.
The rhythm of a 6/8 piece is best counted in two lots of three, as shown at bar 6, where the first three notes
are all the same length. Compare these with those in the first bar, where you have to slip in an extra halfbeat, after the ‘2’, because the first note is a dotted quaver. You may find it easier to start at bar 6, to get
the basic rhythm first, and then sort out the dotted quaver and semiquaver afterwards.
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
123
MAKING YOUR OWN CLASSICAL GUITAR
PART 6
Making and fitting
the Bridge
The bridge of the instrument was
made from rosewood, with a
slightly compensated saddle
arrangement. I have to admit to
being baffled by the number of
different views there are
concerning bridge design and, in
particular, the amount of
co mpensat io n needed.
Essentially when a string is
pressed down onto the fret-board
it is put under additional tension,
causing it to sound sharp. To
compensate for this, stringed
instrument makers make the
string a little longer than its
theoretical length (in my case
the scale length was 650mm)
causing the note produced to be
s l i g ht l y lo w e r , t h e r e b y
compensating for the increase in
tension. In theory the amount of
compensation is different for
each string, since each has a
different stiffness. Also the
densities of strings alter from
one manufacturer to another. In
practice, different makers use
d if fe r ing a mo u nt s o f
compensation to suit their own
instruments and preferred string
manufacturer. For example,
some makers of classical guitars
compensate by making all the
strings 2mm longer than the
scale length, others makers slant
the saddle slot to provide less
compensation on the trebles than
the bases, others apply differing
degrees of compensation to each
string by altering the point that
each string leaves the saddle.
After a lot of deliberation I
decided on a bridge design that
provided 2mm of compensation
for the bottom E string reducing
linearly to 1mm at the top E
string. I am sure that someone is
able to describe how to decide
by Roger Dalby
on the correct amount of
compensation to use for any
given instrument, but in the end
m y d e c i s io n w a s ve r y
unscientific, I merely copied my
existing instrument, which had
the same scale length and an
action similar to the one I
wanted, and seemed to work
very well with the strings I
prefer. Making the bridge from a
blank of Indian rosewood was
not too difficult, but did require
access to a router table. Fitting
the bridge to the body of the
instrument was another one of
those tasks that I was dreading.
and cla mped it t o t he
soundboard. After the glue had
cured I removed the drill bits
and replaced t hem wit h
hardwood dowels that were
glued into place. These dowels
were then hidden by a decorative
tie block top, made from an offcut of Indian rosewood and
bound with bone to help prevent
the strings from cutting into the
tie block.
( To be continued )
The completed bridge
Classical Guitar Bridge
Dowling the bridge
If the position of the bridge was
not just right the intonation of
the instrument would be
compromised. So needless to say
I measured the position of the
bridge many times before finally
holding it in position with
masking tape while I drilled two,
1.5mm dowel holes through the
bridge’s tie block and into the
body of the guitar.
I used two 1.5mm drill bits as an
aid to locating the bridge, and to
hold it in position while I glued
Gluing the bridge
from Clifford Essex
Indian rosewood Bridge
for nylon strung Guitar.
Pre-routed saddle slot.
‡10.25. Postage UK: ‡2.00.
Elsewhere: ‡3.50
BMG
Is this someone else’s BMG you
are reading ? Why not subscribe
and start collecting all this
valu able infor mat io n fo r
yourself ? Old BMG’s are in
great demand, and can fetch a
good price, because of their
unique content. Players are
already ask ing for back
numbers.
Why scrounge?
124
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
Bluegrass Banjo 8 – Playing Melodically
by David Cotton
This time, we’re going to explore a more melodic approach to playing, building on the scale
practice which you did last time. Here’s an old bluegrass standard, ‘Red-Haired Boy’.
As before, the tuning is gDGBD
Red-Haired Boy trades under a variety of names, including ‘There was an old soldier and he had a wooden
leg’. Adopted many years ago by the bluegrass fraternity, it switches from G to F suggesting it has Irish
origins. Take it slow and easy at first, and then build up a little speed when you can play it smoothly.
Note the hammer in the first full bar, easing the passage from the D to the E. If you want it to sound more
Irish, ignore the hammer, and pluck the first three notes separately, alternating your thumb and index finger
in whichever sequence is most comfortable for you. In bar 4, you need to bring your right middle finger
over on to the second string. This will come naturally with a little practice.
Once you have found your way around the tune, start to see left hand patterns — places where you can
keep your left hand fingers in a particular position or pattern for a few consecutive notes, rather than trying
to move your left fingers every time in search of the next note. Some people can do this entirely by feel;
others see visual patterns and associate sounds with those patterns. Do whichever works best for you, and
you’ll quickly find yourself incorporating these patterns into other tunes.
It’s important from here on in to start to develop your own style. I arrange these tunes to suit the way the
notes quite naturally fall under my fingers. I have a strong right index finger, and so the alternated right
middle and index patterns used from bar 11 come relatively easily to me. If you find them tricky, there are
two possibilities—practise them until you don’t (!) or change the fingering and the note choices a little to
suit your own developing style. For example, at bar 11 you might try:
Winter 2012
B.M.G.
125
In a bluegrass jam session I was once told that I ‘punished every bar’! Sometimes it’s good to introduce a
little space into the music, instead of incessant picking. You could try this:
If you have a chance to play this with other players, you may find that they play it in the key of A. You’ll
need a capo at the second fret and a fifth string capo (sliding capo or thumb tacks). Alternatively, you may
want to work out a version in A without a capo. We’ll look at how you can do this in a future article, using
some aspects of the single string technique which we looked at in article 7.
Finally, I have taken a liberty with the original tune in the final repeat bars, adding a couple of bluesy notes
for added colour. To emphasis the blues feel you may want to bend the Bb played on the third string, third
fret in the final bar.
For a different slant on the tune, watch guitar master, Tony Rice on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQciomrswQ&feature=related or Casey Henry playing a straight-ahead bluegrass banjo version at two
different speeds at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DNNW4BZAPk. Jon Meek presents an alternative
melodic version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCMi8eLSsYc&feature=related which may give you
further ideas about how to spice up the tune. Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and of course:
Happy picking!
BOB SHANK
For more than three decades Bob
Shank has been a benchmark for
American banjo players. Not
bluegrass or old-time, or
classical or ragtime, but all that
and more.
A s ixt h- generat io n West
Virginian, Bob began his
musical journey at age 5 with
drums and piano and by age 13
he was firmly hooked on banjo.
Then guitar, hammered dulcimer
and an abiding rock and roll
sensibility. Bob’s new CD
‘Don’t Worry About the Moon’
is an ambitious exploration of
musical genres on solo banjo
and more complex arrangements
performed by his one-man-band,
the Big Otter Orchestra.
He plays several banjos on the
CD including a vint age
Weymann, a thoroughly modern
Nechville Phantom, and a cello
banjo with a Gold Tone pot and
Wyat t Fawley neck. An
excellent rendition of Joe
Morley’s ‘Dream Dance’ is
featured on the CD, played on
steel strings using finger picks.
Bob’s CD is well worth a listen
and can be purchased at:
(www.bobshank.com)
Over the last several years Bob
has performed on WV Public
Radio’s internationally broadcast
Mountain Stage, at West
Virginia University’s annual
World Music Concert, and has
been a Master Artist at the
Upper Poto mac Dulcimer
Festival, the Augusta Heritage
Centre’s Spring Dulcimer Week,
and West Virginia’s traditional
music camp, Allegheny Echoes.
He also won first place old-time
banjo at West Virginia’s
celebration of traditional arts,
the Vandalia Gathering. He can
also tell a story as only an
Appalachian can. He’d love you
to hear ‘Don’t Worry About the
Moon’, and he’d love to hear
from you.
shank.bob@gmail.com
DREAM DANCE
by Joe Morley
is available from Clifford Essex
in Notation and Tablature
‡3.00 post free worldwide
or download from our website
See details at www.cliffordessex.net
B.M.G.
126
Winter 2012
THE EDDIE PEABODY PROJECT
PART 4
by America’s Queen of the Banjo, Georgette Twain
My first banjoline
was a Vega which I
regrettably sold at a later date.
Eddie sat me down and said:
“Georgette, I designed this
instrument as a banjo with a new
sound, it should not be played as
a guitar or bass guitar. It has to
be handled carefully, watch
while I demonstrate and you will
see how my technique differs
from my Vega Vox technique”. I
turned on the reel to reel tape
recorder and he played ‘Let Me
Call You Sweetheart’.
“Note, I am not using any
aggressive strumming” he said,
and continued “I am gently
striking my bass string before I
play the chord. The double
unison strings make the sound of
this instrument unique. I prefer
numbers with a slower tempo for
the instrument, it lends itself to
songs like ‘The Harry Lime
Theme’ or ‘Around The World
In Eighty Days’ and it will
c e r t a in l y f it i nt o yo u r
performances Georgette”. So
Eddie taught me ‘Let Me Call
You Sweetheart’ and we adapted
my Hawaiian medleys for the
banjoline.
I soon found that most banjo
players preferred the sound of a
conventional banjo. They were
not ready for this sound and
compared it to the electric guitar.
Nevertheless, many well known
ba n jo so lo ist s do ha ve a
banjoline in their collection and
regularly feature it. The electric
banjo has a totally different
sound from t he banjoline. I
bought my 1937 Gibson electric
banjo in 1964 from a collector
who could not play it. I also
have Jad Paul’s (Jad Paul was
the banjoist with ‘Spike Jones
and his City Slickers’) which I
bo ught from ‘Mast er o f t he
Banjo’ Danny O’Donnell, in
Pennsylvania.
I mentioned Roy Smeck in the
last issue, and it was he who
endorsed Gibson’s 1937 electric
banjo. At the birth of electrical
amplification, nobody knew
where the new technology would
take stringed instruments. As the
electric Hawaiian guitar caught
on and changed the sound of
Hawaiian music, instrument
makers realized that the future of
electric instruments was wide
and unpredictable, they decided
to develop electric versions of
all inst rument including:
keyboards, guitars, mandolins,
violins, basses and banjos.
Reads
Roy Smeck
Smeck 1937 Gibson Electric
Tenor Banjo.
Roy Smeck was known to
millions of Americans in the
1920s and 1930s as ‘The Wizard
of the Strings’. History has not
given him the recognition he
deserved for several reasons.
Although he was a virtuoso on
ukulele, guitar, tenor banjo, and
Hawaiian guitar, he was featured
in vaudeville as a novelty act.
He did not sing, so he
highlighted his performance
with musical gags, such as
tapping on his ukulele to recreate the sound of one of Bill
‘Bojangles’ Robinson’s dance
routines, as well as visual gags,
such as tossing his ukulele
around and playing it upside
down. He was probably the most
successful endorser of musical
instruments prior to Les Paul.
The ‘Smeck’ was intended to
create a grand entrance for a new
t ype of t enor banjo. But, it
t r a n s p i r e d , it m a r k e d t h e
beginning of the end for Gibson
electric tenor guitars, as well as
their electric tenor banjos.
The last time I saw Eddie
Peabody he was putting his
equipment into his car after the
1970 Banjorama in Sacramento.
I asked him if I should keep
playing the Gibson electric
banjo. “That’s fine”, he said
“It’s just as good, keep playing
it”. I never saw him again, he
passed away the same year. But
the banjoline is making a
reappearance, Dave Marty, Sean
Moyses, myself and others are
featuring it again. The banjoline
needs to be played and heard
again, but played correctly, not
played like an electric guitar.
Eddie’s banjoline ‘Smoothie’
album should be in the home of
every fretted instrument player.
It is very musical and a joy to
listen to.
B.M.G.
Winter 2012
127
Fun with the Bass!
Here we go again with another handful of riffs to build your chops!
Crank it up and make it wobble
Keep it smooth and just let it come rolling in with the Beatles ‘Money’
Better learn to count it well - here’s more ‘Money’ from Pink Floyd
Don’t get caught up in the Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Crossfire’
‘Come Together’ with the Beatles
And remember - keep it ‘fun’ - don’t make it ‘work’.
I tried not to be Rude
I wrote a letter to the
government
About the soaring price of food
And escalating heating bills,
I tried not to be rude.
Last week my wife and I went out Our anniversary celebration,
She said - “Take me somewhere
expensive darling”
So I took her to the filling station.
They say it’s nought to do with tax
It’s the rising cost of crude
And the worldwide fiscal market,
by Richard Crabtree
I tried not to be rude.
I’ll bet those energy company
chiefs
Buy boats off the Florida Keys
And sun themselves all Winter
Whilst the rest of us bloomin’
freeze
And the bankers still take bonuses
For debts that they’ve accrued,
When public money bailed them
out. I tried not to be rude.
I paid for my old age pension
All my working life -
Awarded mine at sixty-five
But then they robbed my wife!
All of our retirement plans,
To which I now allude Are put on hold ‘til we’re too old,
I tried not to be rude.
Even funeral costs are rising Can’t afford the cost of living
Can’t afford the cost of dying
No one seems to listen,
Hope I won’t be misconstrued I’ve really had it up to here
But ........ I tried not to be rude
Richard subscribes to BMG,
playing banjo cheers him up! Ed.
B.M.G.
128
Winter 2012
Remembering Bert Bassett 1894 - 1937
Bert Bassett whose full name
was Albert Thomas Bassett was
born in London in 1894. As a
youth, he was employed on the
regular staff of Clifford Essex, to
whom he was introduced by his
father, who played banjo.
Bert first appeared in public at a
Kensington Town Hall concert
in 1905. In 1910 he was prima
balalaika player in the ‘Clifford
Essex Ru ssian Bala la ik a
Orchestra’ and in 1912, became
a star artiste with Joe Morley,
Will Blanche and George Morris
in the ‘Palladium Minstrels’,
which featured a team of 34
banjoists.
The Plectrum Banjo
In 1913, Bert Bassett appeared at
the ‘400 Club’ in New Bond
Street, London, in the first dance
band in England to include
p lect rum banjo s. Playing
plectrum banjo with him in the
band was Nicholas Kovac, who
later became a leading member
of the ‘Classic Guitar Society’ of
New York.
Later, Bert Bassett, who was
also a fine player of the cello
and piano, appeared on the
Music Halls in a double act with
George Morris. One of their
suc ce ss e s wa s Mo r le y’ s
‘Bagpipe Patrol’, in which Bert
played a cello obbligato to
George’s solo. George Morris,
writing in the April 1957 edition
of BMG said:
“Our fir st week was t he
Camberwell Empire and our
debut followed the ‘Six Brothers
Luck’ who had been given a
really rough house on their first
appearance. Music Halls were
different in those days. If ‘the
gods’ were displeased with your
offering, they told you in no
uncertain terms. Our act started
off to cat-calls from the front of
A photograph taken when he
was playing with Jack Hylton
at the Queen’s Hall Roof.
the house, but the audience
gradually quietened down as we
finished our first number - ‘The
Mountaineers March’. The
second number I had to
announce, and as I said that we
would give an imitation of the
bagpipes, someone from ‘up
aloft’ blew me the father of all
raspberries. This seemed to
please the rest of the audience
and we started our number at a
disadvantage.
‘Bagpipe Patrol’ starts very
quietly, too quietly for that
audience! Someone shouted out
that they would call a blacksmith
to bring his bellows round to fill
the bagpipes. This was followed
by loud laughter and more
raspberries. As our playing
increased in volume, the uproar
from the audience gradually
ceased and we were able to
finish the number to satisfying
applause.
Our final number was ‘Big Guns
March’, which we played
plectrum style, accompanied by
the pit orchestra. We had the
satisfaction of leaving the stage
to thunderous applause”.
In 1915, Bert was entertaining
the troops with his banjo, and a
year later became lead banjoist
in ‘La Belle Leonora’s Ragtime
Band’ at the London Colliseum,
an act that subsequently went to
Paris.
Sho rt ly aft erwards, back in
England, Bert was employed by
the Admiralty, but in 1917 he
jo ined Mis s Jenk inso n’s
fashionable dance band in
Eastbourne. During his career
he appeared in two Gaumont
British and Path† films, and he
made dozens of records for the
old ‘Jumbo Record Co’.
Bert Bassett, who died from
tuberculosis on April 21st, 1937,
was editor of BMG from March
1933 until April 1937. As a
mark of respect, the June 1937
issue listed no editor; instead
Clifford Essex used the editorial
page to pay him a glowing
tribute.
A P. Sharpe had been ‘Associate
Editor’ since October 1935 and
along with Clifford Essex did
everything he could to help Bert,
who had suffered from bad
health all his life.
Some American banjo historians
talk of rumours that AP did a lot
to undermine Bert so that he
could take over BMG, and there
seems to be a desire to discredit
him. There is no doubt that A.P.
Sharpe was always loyal to
C liffo r d E ssex and t he
Company, and worked tirelessly
for the benefit of the fretted
instrument world, and the fact is
that everybody at Clifford Essex
had tremendous respect for Bert
Bassett. We will publish the full
tribute written by Clifford Essex
in our next issue. For now, it is
worth quoting this sentence from
it.
“He had a charming nature and a
great sense of humour, while in
all the years I knew him I never
heard him say an unkind word
about anyone”.
Perhaps the American historians
who appear to base so much on
rumours, would be well advised
to take a leaf out of Bert’s book.
Winter 2012
Correspondence
Dear Sir,
I thought perhaps BMG readers
may be interested in my
beautiful old Clifford Essex
‘Ace’ guitar, which I still play
regularly.
As you can see it is quite a
simple guitar, finished in a small
Gibson style sunburst, front,
back and on the neck.
The body is constructed in flame
maple with a solid spruce top.
The body is lined inside with
beech and the bracing is a
mixture of ladder and fan
bracing rather like old Paris
Selmer guitars.
The serial number and label are
all intact inside the body and the
address o n t he label wou ld
indicate it was built before the
mo ve fr o m Gr aft o n St r eet ,
before 1936. Under the top is a
stamp and the initials ‘M R’
wr it t e n in p e nc i l, per hap s
meaning Marco Roccia either
built the guitar, or signed it off
B.M.G.
after completion. It’s a true flat
top guitar with a pin bridge
made from rosewood, bone pins
with pearl dots, bone bridge
insert and a bone end pin, also
with a mother-of-pearl dot inlay.
The long scale neck is a
sandwich of what appears
maple/ebony/maple with a
rosewood fingerboard. Nicely
inlayed mother-of-pearl dots and
a bone nut. The frets are
absolutely tiny but original. The
neck joins the body at the
twelfth fret, the nut width is 1ˆ”,
and the neck has a nice deep C
profile. The slotted headstock
has a faceplate of rosewood,
plain with no inlay. The tuners
are three on a plate, simple with
no engraving.
All in all she is a beautifully
made little guitar, all original
and in fantastic nick for being
the best part of 80 years old. She
has a lovely sound with lots of
sustain.
The guitar still has its original
case but the small ‘Clifford
Essex, Grafton Street’ makers
plate fitted with two pins is
missing.
If you know of anyone who has
one spare I would be very
interested in buying it.
I bought the guitar from a
gentleman in York who in turn
purchased the guitar from the
original owner who was a jazz
guitarist and lived in Welwyn
Garden City.
The photographs are courtesy of
Mr. Barenthien who was the
previous owner.
Marc Jones
Switzerland
SMALL HANDS OR
ARTHRITIS ?
Over seventy years ago I found
my father’s old Temlett zitherbanjo in the attic and annoyed
t he ho u s e h o ld b y p l a y i n g
‘There’ll always be an England’
129
on the one remaining string. An
ultimatum from my father, and
an agreement from me, led to
him buying a set of strings, and
me ploughing through his ‘Ellis’
Tutor’ with his help. Eventually
we realised that the Temlett, —
a ‘Student’ model — was too
small for me, and so we found a
12” wood hoop Weaver banjo,
which I have enjoyed playing for
well over sixty years.
Until recently, that is. About
two years ago I found that some
of the long stretches lower down
the fingerboard were becoming
more difficult to reach. The
notes of the A, C, F sharp chord,
were not always very clear, and
other chords could be quite
painful to finger, so that I finally
realised that arthritis was setting
in.
It occurred to me that it might be
easier to play the old Temlett
‘Student’ zither-banjo which,
fortunately, I still have, so it was
cleaned up, given a new vellum
and strings, and those difficult
stretches were found to be well
within my reach.
I still prefer an open-back
instrument, and the Temlett is a
very cheap model, so I measured
its scale length (25 inches) and
compared it with my Weaver,
which is 27 inches.
The answer to arthritis, or small
hands, is to do what I did, —
order a custom-built new
Clifford Essex Weaver with a
scale length of 25 inches.
Mine has an 11 inch hoop,
against the 12 inches of the old
Weaver, but it has greater
volume, and is much, much
easier to play.
Alan Middleton
Devon
P.S. I know this sounds like an
advert, and perhaps it is, but I
assure you, my feelings are
genuine. AVM.
B.M.G.
130
Musical Terms by Al Molina
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Obbligato -- being forced to practice
Rit/Rall -- coming to the part you haven’t practiced
Con Moto -- yeah baby, I have a car
Allegro -- a little car
Metronome -- short, city musician who can fit into a Honda Civic
Lento -- the days leading up to Easter
Largo -- beer brewed in Germany
Piu Animato -- clean out the cat’s little box or it goes
Interval -- time to meet the other players at the bar
Perfect Interval -- when the drinks are on the house
Cantabile -- singing while drunk
Con Spirito -- drunk again
Chords -- things organists play with one finger
Dischords -- things that organists play with two fingers
Suspended Chords -- things to lynch the vocalist
Subdominate -- “I can’t play unless I’ve asked my wife”.
Syncopation -- bowel condition brought on by an overdose of jazz
Quaver -- the feeling brought on when you haven’t practiced
Key Signatures -- silly things put in music to frighten you (ignore
them and they will go away -- along with your audience)
 Time Signatures -- things for drummers to ignore
 Colla Voce -- this shirt is so tight I can’t sing
 Professional -- anyone who can’t hold down a steady job
 Flats -- apartments
 A tempo de cafe -- Ah, coffee time!
 Improvisation -- what you do when the music falls down
 Fugue -- clever stuff
 Prelude -- warm-up before the clever stuff
 Acciaccatura/appoggiatura -- insects
 Opus -- exclamation made when the cat wets on the new rug
 Virtuoso -- a person who can work wonders with easy-play music
 Melody -- an ancient, now extinct, art form in song writing
● Music -- happiness
Winter 2012
For Sale
Buscarino ‘Jazzcaster’ 7 string
semi acoustic/electric jazz
guitar. All original; Blonde;
single ‘F’ hole; as new
condition; original hard case.
Tel: Phil on 07800 803599 or
02393 112364.
Gibson ‘Byrdland’ 6 string
electric archtop guitar
By The Way from David Wade, do support:
The Midlands Fretted Orchestra : Christmas Celebration
Saturday 8th December 7.30pm The Bonded Warehouse Canal Street Stourbridge Contact: 0121 422 7884. Website: www.m-f-o.co.uk/
The George Formby Society
17th – 18th November next Quarterly Convention at the Imperial Hotel,
North Promenade, North Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 2HB.
Contact: Tel: 01253 623971. Website: www.georgeformby.co.uk
Winners of the free draw
funded by Clifford Essex
at the
Midlands Banjo Festival
held on
October 13th.
1st prize. Banjo Case. Won by
Daphne Cusick of Tamworth.
2nd prize. Six sets of strings.
Won by Jill Friendship of
Bristol.
3rd prize. Two bottles of wine.
Won by Colin Braddock.
Serial number 554059 mostly
o r ig ina l, so me har dwar e
replaced, but no damage/repairs,
sunburst, twin humbuckers with
original hard case. Designed for
Gibson by Billy Byrd and Hank
Garland. Collectors item. Call
Phil on 02393 112364 or 07800
803599.
THE ARIA MM20 MACCAFERRI STYLE
GYPSY JAZZ GUITAR
Specifications
Top: Solid Spruce
Back and Sides: Rosewood
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Number of Frets: 21
Scale Length: 670mm
Soundhole: 57-75mm (Oval-hole)
Finish: Semi Gloss
These instruments have a clear beautiful
sound. They are built by experienced
craftsmen so that all guitarists from beginners
to advanced players can play comfortably.
Moreover, all people who take these guitars
in their hands are enchanted by their artistic
beautiful shape. Clifford Essex stocked Aria
guitars in the sixties, simply because of their
sheer excellence. Nothing has changed.
€350.00 including case
Postage UK including
insurance, €25.00
THE ARIA AW-45TN TWELVE STRING GUITAR
The Aria AW-45TN twelve string guitar has
amazing volume and excellent tonal qualities for
Top: Solid Sitka Spruce
Back
and
S i d e s : the price. The Sitka Spruce and Rosewood
combination makes for a good rich brightness,
Rosewood
with plenty of that famous 12-string jangle!
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
INCLUDED FREE: Superior
Number of Frets: 20
TrailPak jumbo size guitar gig
Scale Length: 650mm
bag with unique design features.
Bridge: Rosewood
High quality ballistic nylon;
Hardware: Chrome
durable reinforced interior
Finish: Natural
lining; multi pocket, stacked
Specifications
accessory pockets; adjustable,
padded backpack-style, webbed
nylon handles.
€225.00
Postage UK including
insurance, €25.00
Palma Student Classical Guitar
As an introduction to playing classical guitar, this finely
crafted 30" Palma instrument will reward the novice
with many enjoyable hours of playing pleasure.
Available in a traditional natural finish, the 1/2 size
Palma offers young hands the chance to get to grips with
the classical guitar. Suitable for ages five to eight.
A perfect action guaranteed
€40.00
Post Free
Complete with a ‘Fusion’ designer gig bag
THE CLIFFORD ESSEX WEAVER
Clifford Essex - Making the world’s finest banjos - Established in 1900
We personalise our logo shield with
your initials
This beautiful, completely hand made banjo has a 12” hoop,
22 frets, nylon/gut strung, English oak hoop with integrated
Chakte Viga tone ring, producing a brilliant tone. Neck mahogany; geared pegs with real ebony buttons; position
markers - mother of pearl or abalone dots. Width at the nut
1-5/16". Scale length 26-3/16".
The heart of this banjo is the Chakte Viga (scientific Name:
Caesalpinia Platyloba) tone ring. Chakte Viga is a tropical
hardwood from Mexico. The hardwood colour varies
slightly from pale to rich reddish orange/brown. Chakte
Viga is sometimes referred to as Paela. The grain is
typically straight, but can be interlocking. It has excellent
tonal qualities and is popular in both instrument building
and wood turning. To the best of our knowledge, until now,
it has never before been used in banjo construction.
€950.00 including a
plush-lined hard case
A deposit of ‡350.00 is required,
please allow three months for
completion.
Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd.,
7, Rose Walk,
Fakenham,
Norfolk,
NR21 7QG
Tel: 01485 529323
Email: cliffordessex@msn.com