Converse Green Book...that's it! On to Buckley 1868.

[Tim Twiss]

Okay, thanks for putting up with the constant posting of those Converse tunes, but I am making a concerted effort to play 'em all. With the addition of "Daisey Polka" today, that completes the Green Book "New And Complete Method for the Banjo With Or Without A Master" by Frank Converse. At this point, I have done all the instrumental tunes in Briggs', Rice, Buckley 1860, Converse Yellow 1865 and Converse Green 1865. I thought I had most of them in the Green book, and was surprised to find 36 I had not done...jeez. I sure am learning a lot by experiencing these, and I will get them better organized in the Banjo Clubhouse soon, so each tutor is easily navigated. Okay...on to my favorite book, Buckley's Banjo Guide of 1868. Although Tuckahoe never published it, I consider it to be part of the Minstrel Canon. Man oh man, the good songs that are in there. I'm certain I will be shocked at the ones I haven't tried yet. Stay tuned!!

 

For more Minstrel Banjo tunes not on the Ning site, this is my YouTube site. There are more here.

https://www.youtube.com/user/giggletoot?feature=mhum 

[Tim Twiss]

There have been a few tunes in this book where you are instructed to retune, but they write it out as though you had not. So, you look at an "A" in the bass, but in reality, you are sounding the "B". There were 2 I did recently, but I forget...it is notated in the side of the piece.

[Trapdoor2]

I guess I ain't got a clue. I tabbed it out tuned eAEG#B and it sounds "wrong"; the bass obviously needs to be a B. That d# is the 7 note (in the scale of Emaj) and it just sounds wrong as a drone...but so does the E. The best version (using alternative tuning) I can come up with is c#BEG#B. The c# seems to work across the board...but it still sounds strange.

I don't know what to do with the G natural (in the suggested tuning). I'm not schooled enough in the method to know what notes would have been played on the 2nd string (and therefore which notes would nominally be dropped a half-step).

I don't really like the B part at all anyway. That series of arpeggios (first measure or three in the B part) seems to be missing something. I'm not enough of a music theory person to sort this one out. I imagine if you looked into the harmony, something might leap out.

[Greg Adams]

I wish I were at home with a banjo, but I wonder if this is not a formal scordatura treatment for the banjo: i.e,., retune the banjo as suggested d#BEGB, but play it as if you were in eAEG#B. I can partially envision the melody/fingering in my head and wish to suggest it *might* make more musical sense that way. I might be completely off base here, but I think it's worth a try.

[Greg Adams]

Duh...I just read Marc's previous post earlier in this thread where he said he was going to try what I just suggested. Sorry Marc--looking forward to reading/hearing what you think about that!

Greg Adams said:

I wish I were at home with a banjo, but I wonder if this is not a formal scordatura treatment for the banjo: i.e,., retune the banjo as suggested d#BEGB, but play it as if you were in eAEG#B. I can partially envision the melody/fingering in my head and wish to suggest it *might* make more musical sense that way. I might be completely off base here, but I think it's worth a try.

[Ian Bell]

I can't wait to see/hear how this all turns out!


Greg Adams said:

Duh...I just read Marc's previous post earlier in this thread where he said he was going to try what I just suggested. Sorry Marc--looking forward to reading/hearing what you think about that!

Greg Adams said:

I wish I were at home with a banjo, but I wonder if this is not a formal scordatura treatment for the banjo: i.e,., retune the banjo as suggested d#BEGB, but play it as if you were in eAEG#B. I can partially envision the melody/fingering in my head and wish to suggest it *might* make more musical sense that way. I might be completely off base here, but I think it's worth a try.

[Trapdoor2]

LOL. Greg, if you read my post just prior to your first one, you'll find that I couldn't make it work. Ah well, at least I now know the Italian term for "transpose via tuning". ;-)

Greg Adams said:

Duh...I just read Marc's previous post earlier in this thread where he said he was going to try what I just suggested. Sorry Marc--looking forward to reading/hearing what you think about that!

Greg Adams said:

I wish I were at home with a banjo, but I wonder if this is not a formal scordatura treatment for the banjo: i.e,., retune the banjo as suggested d#BEGB, but play it as if you were in eAEG#B. I can partially envision the melody/fingering in my head and wish to suggest it *might* make more musical sense that way. I might be completely off base here, but I think it's worth a try.

[Tim Twiss]

Okay, I guess we're all still stuck on Lon Morris. Something with surface with thought and experimentation. Today, the diamond I found was "Sally Come Up". Really nice, and ever so slightly different. 4 sections keeps it rolling along. For beginners, I recommend trying "Picayune Butler". Solid, tastey, and easy. Give it a try.

[Tim Twiss]

I mean "something will surface"...sorry

Tim Twiss said:

Okay, I guess we're all still stuck on Lon Morris. Something with surface with thought and experimentation. Today, the diamond I found was "Sally Come Up". Really nice, and ever so slightly different. 4 sections keeps it rolling along. For beginners, I recommend trying "Picayune Butler". Solid, tastey, and easy. Give it a try.

[Greg Adams]

Double-Duh on my part!

Trapdoor2 said:

LOL. Greg, if you read my post just prior to your first one, you'll find that I couldn't make it work. Ah well, at least I now know the Italian term for "transpose via tuning". ;-)

Greg Adams said:

Duh...I just read Marc's previous post earlier in this thread where he said he was going to try what I just suggested. Sorry Marc--looking forward to reading/hearing what you think about that!

Greg Adams said:

I wish I were at home with a banjo, but I wonder if this is not a formal scordatura treatment for the banjo: i.e,., retune the banjo as suggested d#BEGB, but play it as if you were in eAEG#B. I can partially envision the melody/fingering in my head and wish to suggest it *might* make more musical sense that way. I might be completely off base here, but I think it's worth a try.

[Tim Twiss]

Lon Morris's Jig: It's hard to justify it by doing the suggested tuning, and playing as written, or regular tuning and playing as written...it just doesn't work out either way.
What I do hear is a simple I / V / V / I / I / V / V / I / ( in the "A" section) harmony implied against the melody. It would be easy to adjust the melody as such, but I sure wonder what the intent was. The thumb string logic just doesn't click.

[Tim Twiss]

Okay, here comes an experiment. I am going to try 3 versions of this...1.Played as is with new tuning 2.Played as is without tuning 3.Played without tuning, and adjusted harmonically as I deem it to be appropriate.
See ya tommorrow...

[Greg Adams]

That sounds like a wonderful musical experiment to me!!! Can't wait to hear it!

Tim Twiss said:

Okay, here comes an experiment. I am going to try 3 versions of this...1.Played as is with new tuning 2.Played as is without tuning 3.Played without tuning, and adjusted harmonically as I deem it to be appropriate.
See ya tommorrow...