Nicholas A Bechtel's Blog (13)

Does anyone know weather there would have been Banjos with steel strings during the Civil War Period.

I will take my answers off the air...thank you.

Nick

Just curious,.. do gut strings eventually loose their Punch? Mine sound good with little fraying on the 1st string, but have had these on since I got may banjo two years ago. SO maybe I am not noticing a slow decrease in available frequency due to age. Should Gut strings be changed out every..1, 2, 3, years?

Hey all you banjo pickers that served our Country,...THANK YOU!

Glad your hear with the rest of us sharing and playing this great music.

Cheers!

This was a surprise. I was sunning my banjo outside to tighten up the head, getting ready to play..had Bully for All in my head. went inside to turn on the radio and listen to the show, and St Patrick's Day was playing...WHAT ?, then "Bully for All", then it was reveled to be Bill Evans. There are a few other players. I caught the show in the middle. Here is the link below, you can listen to the whole show or pick the parts. Enjoy!…

Mark Weems posted this comment of Ian Bells video. As a new player to this music I get confused what is a proper tempo. Some songs sound great and bring that 19th century feel, or what stimulates that feel to me when listening to a piece in a particular Tempo.  Then some, for me, are too slow, then some are too fast. My question to all you seasoned players of this music; What is the typical tempo, or is that something that is up to the musician him or herself to decide. Some sheet music will…

Can anyone tell me if there is a version written specifically for stroke style somewhere or does everyone just go off the standard notation?

Still don't have the concept of how to take a standard piece and make it apply to the banjo style we are playing.

Thanks!

Does anyone know the origin of this song. I really like it and upon playing it for some friends that used to live in the Sonoma Valley, said of the town there named Sebastopol. Some rumers that it got it's name sake from;

" The town was originally called Pinegrove, and how the name change occurred is rumored to have something to do with a bar fight in the late 1850s which was likened to the long British siege of the then-Russian seaport of …

Needed a coffin Case for  my new sweet Banjo from Jay Moschella. it sounds sooo sweet. I have a reenactment event this weekend at Ft Tejon, Lebec CA.

 http://www.pinemountainclubrealestate.com/Local-Area/FORT-TEJON/fort-tejon-california.html

 Figured I could make my own. Took me 4 days, made a couple measurement errors...nothing that the belt Sander could not fix. This was…

Putting a call out to anyone out here in Southern California that is particularly into this style of Banjo Playing.

I live in Santa Barbara, and have not seen anyone so far on the website that is out here. I read on with envy at all of you that get to get to get together. A lot of cool stuff going on out there.

standing by...

This may be old news to some, but I wanted to share this npr piece on Poke Miller.

The piece gives the history and some of the recordings. 

I only recently was introduced to poke miller by mention of him on the 2nd Carolina Stringed Band's CD " Lightning in a Jar". You can purchase his rare recording of 1909. http://www.polkmiller.com/

Enjoy1

This Saturday and Sunday I am finally participating in my first reenactment. Here in what is supposed to be the biggest Civil War reenactment on the West Coast, well I will have to take them at their word at it, it's my first. I was driven to this because of wanting to play this style of music. I have a Tackhead from Eric Prust, and have a few songs memorized. I'm also bringing my fiddle. We have rain in the forecast so I bet keeping my banjo in tune will be a challenge. 

Should i go…