Old Folks Jig.wmv

Comment by Sylvia on August 23, 2011 at 11:03am

Hi Tim, I have just listened to " Old Folks Jig "  and like the arrangement.    Are you using the " d" tuning? the music seems to be written in a different tuning though " e " ?

Comment by Tim Twiss on August 23, 2011 at 11:15am

I am tuned to "D". It's that crazy thing about written vs. actual pitch. It is read like I am tuned to "E"....meaning the thumb string is now the note "e". 

Comment by Sylvia on August 23, 2011 at 4:23pm

So  I tune down to " D "  but play it as if I were playing it in the Key of E .  Hey that is brilliant, I think the "penny's dropping", ( the fog is lifting ). Will it work for  other keys as well ? Anyway I will give it a go.  Thank you.

Comment by Tim Twiss on August 23, 2011 at 4:30pm

You can tune to anything you want...the key is to reference the thumb string and all subsequent notes from either "D" or "E" as indicated by the direction of the flag stem on either of those 2 notes. Usually, one and two sharps are D, and three and four sharps are E. Inconvenient and odd I know, but that's the system. Look at my Banjo Rosetta Stone to clarify that.  

Comment by Sylvia on August 23, 2011 at 4:50pm

Just tried a Classic piece that I have been learning in the Key of " C " with the Banjo tuned to " E "and it works fine , obviously sounds lower but still ok. It opens up possibilities re  vocals if the piece is written too high or too low for a paticular range of voice.   Sorry it has taken me so long to understand this.

Will look at your Banjo Rosetta Stone.  Many Thanks.

Comment by Strumelia on August 23, 2011 at 6:28pm

I've been doing this with my new gourd banjo too.  Though I'm currently still a total clawhammer player, the gourd needs to be tuned lower tension.  So I just take my normal G or A banjo tuning and bring it down 1-3 steps across the board so I'm in E or F but I'm using my familiar 'feels like G' playing patterns.  In a way it's a concept that also comes into play when one uses capos (which I don't).

 

It's about keeping the same relationships between the strings in one tuning you know, and just bringing everything up or down to the key you want.

Works with my normal banjo G 'sawmill tuning' modal and A modal tuning too- so I'm actually playing my gourd in E modal and F modal.  i plan on experienting further with my familiar double D banjo tuning but tuned down so I'll actually be in B flat instead of D.

Comment by Sylvia on August 24, 2011 at 2:23am

Hi Strumelia, it's going to be a while before I will be able to experiment with the other tunings as I am just a beginner with the banjo and will have to dig out my Theory books on the modals..... Have only just  now decided to try and read notation instead of using Tab. so I guess slow and steady, one thing at a time etc.... but the fog is lifting regarding the "same relationship between the strings.".....   Mind you it has taken some time    : )

Comment by Tim Twiss on August 24, 2011 at 6:27am

My tip on reading banjo music is this...start, and stick with one or the other for the time being. Let's call it "Briggs" or "Rice" and that will suffice for "D" and "E". After you are really comfortable with one, the shift will not seem do strange. My best advice...read all the Briggs' in "D" first. There are Winner's books with more of that also.  It is difficult to have your head in 2 places at once.  

Comment by Sylvia on August 25, 2011 at 12:25am

Thanks for the tip Tim.  Will take your advice.

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