Transposition In General - Jersey Lighting in Particular

[Ian Bell]

Dear Abby,

I'm wondering if there are usual "default" banjo keys for tunes written out in minor keys.

There's a great piece in Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (aka Ryan's) called the Jersey Lightning Jig. It's a mildly crazed-sounding Am/C tune. I used to play it in a band I was in - except I played it on the button accordion. (along with fiddle, clawhammer banjo, trumpet and guitar - yikes)

I've been trying to work it up stoke style on the banjo but haven't successfully settled on a practical key.  With the bottom string tuned up,  (I'm thinking in modern banjo tuning) Am and C are mostly OK but make almost no use of the 5th string. Gm and B flat make better use of the 5th string but...well....it's Gm & B flat - a lot of "closed" playing.  Maybe it's just not a "banjoistic" tune.

Any thoughts?

Perplexed in Paris, Ontario

[Tim Twiss]

Great tune...play it as is. Use the 5th string as an "E" ala Rice.
See any of the cool minor key tunes...Union Jig, Blue Eagle, Lion etc.
Let's play it!

[Tim Twiss]

Well, there's my take on it....(in the video spot). I enjoyed it very much. It is a welcome additon to the banjo repertoire. A Natural. I think about the only thing I left out was an ornament on an "E"...done so to take advantage of the thumb string. In my opinion, good banjo arrangements are not difficult and strained efforts to duplicate another instrument exactly, but rather to capture the basic spirit and intention of the tune while using as many characteristics of the banjo as one can...pulls, thumb string notes, etc.

[Ian Bell]

Thanks Tim, It's fun to hear somebody else play it. Seems to work well there for you. I'll give it a try. Goes up pretty high, but I'm not really entitled to complain 'cause at least I've got frets.

Tim Twiss said:

Well, there's my take on it....(in the video spot). I enjoyed it very much. It is a welcome additon to the banjo repertoire. A Natural. I think about the only thing I left out was an ornament on an "E"...done so to take advantage of the thumb string. In my opinion, good banjo arrangements are not difficult and strained efforts to duplicate another instrument exactly, but rather to capture the basic spirit and intention of the tune while using as many characteristics of the banjo as one can...pulls, thumb string notes, etc.

[Tim Twiss]

My thoughts on transposition are: (and I am speaking mainly of fiddle tunes)

If a tune has the key signature of "G" or "D", treat it like Briggs' and use the "D" note for a thumbstring.
If a tune has the key signature of "A" or "E", treat it like Rice and forward, with "E" becoming the thumbstring.
For others...such as "C", "F", or "Bb" read it as is, using the Rice ("E" thumbstring) concept of tuning.

In other words, there is not much transposition going on, only thinking through completely where it lies best on the instrument. Piano tunes generally require transposition. In that case, I usually think of how to move it to one of the 4 principal banjo keys for the best use of open strings.

[Greg Adams]

Great assessment Tim (and performance); that's a great rule of thumb (pun intended). Similarly, do keep in mind that a number of the tutors also recommend that the player can retune the entire instrument according to their tastes. So, in some cases, it might be more meaningful to learn a tune based on the technical form you wish to use as opposed to the exact key notated in the original source (e.g., Briggs' Annie Lawrie; if memory serves me correctly the sheet music is in D major, but suggests that the player can retune the banjo to C).

Happy Sunday,
Greg (who wishes he were playing banjo right now while he is taking a break from reading Stigmas of the Tamil Stage: An Ethnography of Special Drama Artists in South India)

Tim Twiss said:

My thoughts on transposition are:
If a tune has the key signature of "G" or "D", treat it like Briggs' and use the "D" note for a thumbstring. If a tune has the key signature of "A" or "E", treat it like Rice and forward, with "E" becoming the thumbstring.
For others...such as "C", "F", or "Bb" read it as is, using the Rice ("E" thumbstring) concept of tuning.

[Ian Bell]

Thanks for the advice, Tim. It tried it "as is" and of course it works just fine. I guess I just needed to shut off my "folkie brain" that was telling me, "Hey, that's C minor - nobody plays in C minor..."
I should have trusted Mr. Ryan (or done the pitch math better) Another case of: "The past is a foreign county, they do things differently there."

Tim Twiss said:

My thoughts on transposition are: (and I am speaking mainly of fiddle tunes)

If a tune has the key signature of "G" or "D", treat it like Briggs' and use the "D" note for a thumbstring.
If a tune has the key signature of "A" or "E", treat it like Rice and forward, with "E" becoming the thumbstring.
For others...such as "C", "F", or "Bb" read it as is, using the Rice ("E" thumbstring) concept of tuning.

In other words, there is not much transposition going on, only thinking through completely where it lies best on the instrument. Piano tunes generally require transposition. In that case, I usually think of how to move it to one of the 4 principal banjo keys for the best use of open strings.