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Instruments and all things musical
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Believe it or not, Jung, Steve Martin has won three Grammy awards for his banjo playing!
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I’ve known for awhile Steve did Banjo besides acting, comedy, nevis quite the banjo player, I was impressed whenever it was I first saw him on tv play….
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Yes, them lefties of Jimi Hendrix’s…very cool??
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Before the lock down I use to dream of getting another sexy red Mustang, but lately a shiny black Steinway is just as appealing.
Lang Lang is one of the new breed of modern classic pianists, and he certainly shows how beautiful a piano can be.
Canadian Glenn Gould has always been in my mind the greatest Bach interpreter of all time, especially the iconic Goldberg Variations, but Lang Lang interprets it slightly differently and gives it his own character.
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This is what I’d call Bach with a twang! Banjo sure sounds nice! Who says banjo is only for country music.
I learned there are 5 string and 6 string version of banjos. Anyone know what the difference is?
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We can’t talk banjo without remembering the dueling banjos from the movie Deliverance. Here is the banjo in all it’s glory keeping pace with the great Glenn Cambpell on the acoustic guitar.
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Hi Jung;
I just wanted to point out that Glen was a terribly underrated guitarist. Once in awhile you see his brilliance on videos. Before he gained his own fame he was a member of the LA Wrecking Crew playing guitar on several hits. The Wrecking Crew was a group of studio musicians who played the real music for several songs during the 1960s. Songs by the Beach Boys, the Association, and several others. And Glen was the lead guitarist of the Crew. Then he went on to join the Beach Boys and then there came By The Time I Get Phoenix… Mike.
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You’ve got to wonder what Bach might have thought of his work being played on the banjo. I don’t think the banjo was even known in Europe in his time.
I’m going to take a stab at answering your question, Jung. The difference is… one string.
As with many things, my first exposure to banjo music came from Sesame Street. I mostly remember this clip for the mind-blowing (to a five-year-old) demonstration of video editing, but the audio is pretty cool too. I just looked it up, and the name of the song is The Pony Express, a version of which was included (later) on the Deliverance soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqyHzVVPx0g
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Wow David you are right, I was overthinking it, the difference is so simple. 🙂 The question is what can can you do with one extra string?  I noticed on a picture of Lisa with a banjo, hers has 6 strings vs 5 on the ones in this video. Did a quick Wikipedia and it looks like there are 5 and 6 string versions.
Interesting question as to what Bach might have thought about the banjo if he heard it. I think it sounds like a harpsichord with a twang to me. The banjo compared to the guitar seems to have a sharper more dominant sound whereas the guitar goes from soft mellow tones to sharp loud tones, maybe more dynamic. Kind of like the same difference between a harpsichord and piano. Just my guess. That’s the difference I could distinguish anyway between Glenn Campbell’s acoustic guitar and the banjo in that dueling banjos video.
Seeing that Sesame street video, those little kids then are probably in their 50s now.  It’s amazing now what we can do with digital video, and how mind blowing it would have been to kids back then to be able to do that at home on their tablet with the right software. However, nowadays I guess kid are more into high tech computer games, so seeing video images going back and forth and slowing down wouldn’t have the same amazement we would have had as kids back then.
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Real simple question for me – I’d play Ringo’s drums.
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John;
Between FaceBook and here I have told this story probably a dozen or so times…..so here goes. When I was around 12 years old in 1965 (yes, I am old….), the only music store in town had a set of the Ludwig Black Pearl drum kit just like the one Ringo had on Ed Sullivan. I would go into the store and just look at it. Well, it was getting close to Christmas and I just went in and looked at it day after day. Usually on Christmas Day my brother and I would receive several small gifts of equal value. But on Christmas Day 1965 my parents told me I had only one gift and it was in another room. So, a little disappointed about only getting one gift (hey, I was only 12) I walked into the room and there was the Ludwig Black Pearl drum kit from the music store. I was speechless……I had not told my parents about it. But, I was told later that my dad went to the store not knowing what to get a 12 year old and the owner of the store told him of my trips into the store just staring at the drums. So, my musical stuff started with this drum kit. But, my parents, brother, and not a few neighbors likely regretted the day I got the kit and for years after that day. Mike.
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Cowbell!
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Banjo makes me think of Roy Clark, and Hee Haw TV show and Bugs Bunny cartoons… Did Sesame Street have banjo stuff… I don’t recall much of Sesame Street earlier stuff now… Just recall store keeper Mr Hooper and the intro of Snuffy…. Lol
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Sesame Street didn’t emphasize the banjo in particular, but it introduced me to a lot of musical sounds that I otherwise wouldn’t have heard until many years later. I’ll never forget this magical combination of steel drum and horse hooves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJkNDMUidYo
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Some good musical lessons David they did on Sesame Street. I missed getting into Sesame Street by a couple of years I think. The earliest non cartoon TV show I really got into I remember at about age 7 was “Batman” with Adam West. And also the Banana Splits! At about 6 I remember getting up early at 5:30AM on Saturday mornings to watch the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner hour. Use to have some good music in those cartoons I remember.
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I remember that Bugs Bunny intro, Jung! One of the highlights of my Saturday mornings to be sure. I always sang along with it, despite not being familiar with the word “overture” at the beginning, and just making something up there that sounded similar.
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I’ve always been fascinated with bagpipes. It’s sounds is so stirring and in ceremonies or memorials it raises goose bumps in me.
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