The First Gospel

[Tim Twiss]

I've had my head in the Briggs' book. I'll be sweeping the corners of it this weekend, trying to play all the ones I've skipped. There's a lot of tunes in there. No doubt, this book, though not perfect, is THE foundation for solid Stroke play. Anybody else Briggsing it lately?  

[Tim Twiss]

Well, I think that's it (less the vocal songs for now). One can go batty when absorbing all these at once...so much "sameness" in them. Gotta pick a few distinctive favorites to hang on to for memory and performance, but there's a lot to be learned by trying them all. I think "Jim Crow Polka" stumped me the most...really got stuck on it. Not sure why...just did. Anyway, that's all folks.

[Rob MacKillop]

Great stuff, Tim. Inspired me to dig the gourd banjo out of the cupboard and try a few. Once I got used to reading in D/G again (it has been a while) I started getting some results. But, yes, they are all of a style. I might pick half a dozen and stick to them. My attempts at stroke style are too occasional to get anything worth sharing, and I still find the triplets immensley difficult. But it's a nice area to spend some time in, and your videos help a lot - actually I'm not sure if they do. Mostly they want to make me give up and do something else!

On a gourd banjo, the strings seem quite close together (bridge end) for stroke style. I imagine there would be more space on a 'proper' minstrel banjo. Must get a me a Stichter!