Chubby Parker-The Year Of Jubilo

Comment by Wes Merchant on July 18, 2015 at 11:04am

I was digitizing some old cassettes I have and ran across Mr. Parker, he seems to do this song very close to what I've seen in books.

Comment by Joel Hooks on July 18, 2015 at 12:28pm

Except that he plays with a plectrum on a regular banjo with the fifth string removed.

Never the less, there is a collection of his recordings available that is very enjoyable. 

Comment by Wes Merchant on July 18, 2015 at 3:11pm

Thanks Joel, I hadn't realize he was flat picker, but I have enjoyed the recordings of his that I've heard. 

https://archive.org/details/ChubbyParker-01-20

Comment by Strumelia on July 19, 2015 at 1:49pm

That clip sure sounds like he's pinching, not flatpicking...to me anyway.

Comment by Joel Hooks on July 19, 2015 at 5:43pm

Yes, but he is playing with a plectrum sans fifth string.

Comment by Strumelia on July 19, 2015 at 5:54pm

Oh, i thought you mean he was playing with a plectrum (a pick) on a regular banjo without the 5th string.

I see now you meant he was playing a plectrum banjo with the 5th string.   What then do you mean by "plays with a plectrum on a regular banjo"- is a plectrum banjo a 'regular' banjo?

Sorry, this is confusing.

Comment by Strumelia on July 19, 2015 at 5:55pm

Went to a Dom Flemons concert last week and he plays the dickens out of a plectrum banjo.

Comment by Joel Hooks on July 19, 2015 at 9:13pm

He is playing a five string banjo. The fifth string has been removed and the other four have been replaced with wire. He is using a plectrum on those remaining four strings. "Regular Banjo" = five string banjo. "Plectrum Banjo"= a four string banjo with the neck length of a regular banjo but built without a fifth string peg section. The plectrum banjo has wire strings and is played with a plectrum. A regular banjo has gut strings and is played with fingers. (Good five string banjos were factory shipped and cataloged with gut strings well into the 1920s.)

Comment by Strumelia on July 19, 2015 at 9:41pm

Ok, thanks Joel!  

But...to me he still sounds in that recording like he is using a up picking pinching right hand technique rather than a flatpick or flatpicking with plectrum.  Does anyone else hear that?  Maybe I'm misinterpreting the sound.

Comment by Stuart Mason on July 24, 2015 at 2:40pm

I hear the pinching too. It doesn't sound like a plectrum to me.

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