Casey Henry
Today’s Super Bowl Blog is all about Pro-Bowl. Go Figure. http://tinyurl.com/ydrjj5t
Archive for January, 2010
Sunday’s Super Bowl Blog Post
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Saturday’s Super Bowl Blog Post
Saturday, January 30th, 2010Casey Henry
Here’s the link to today’s post, which recounts such exciting events as our production meeting and our first in-stadium rehearsal. http://tinyurl.com/ygyq6uy
Today’s Super Bowl Blog Post
Friday, January 29th, 2010Casey Henry
Here ’tis: Super Bowl 44 Day 5 – Cuban Food.
Right Hand Position, Again
Friday, January 29th, 2010Casey Henry
Back on January 11th Murphy blogged about the dangers of changing your right hand position. The quote below appeared in the comments on that post, but Murphy thought it was important enough to give it its own post. (It’s been edited slightly.):
I would have to agree with you on that one Murphy. I’ve been learning now for two years (back again after 25 years) and just last year I changed my right hand position, which was a big mistake. (Every thing was woking fine til then.) After that I got caught up in all the hype on the Banjo Hangout and thought it would be good to try and have “PROPER HAND POSITION”, it would help me to play better. Well I can tell ya it put me right back to the first year. I had to just about learn everything all over again. I’m just now getting back to where I was before I changed. And let me tell ya once you change it is stuck in your mind and there is no going back. The relaxing part is hard as well…So like Murphy said “DON’T DO IT”. It will set ya way back. –Dave in Savanna, Il.
Players’ right hands look all sorts of different ways. There are three common elements necessary in right hand position:
1. Finger(s) anchored on the head. You don’t have to have both, but you do have to have at least one, either pinky or ring, to play bluegrass.
2. Forearm resting on the armrest.
3. Wrist arched. This is where you’ll see the most variation. Some players, like J.D. Crowe, have a very arched wrist. Others, like Blake Williams, have a nearly flat wrist. (I personally don’t see how he can play like that, but he does. And it works for HIM, which is the important thing.)
And, overall, your hand must be relaxed. If you’re holding any tension in your setup, it will translate to your playing and hold you back, or maybe even cause injury in the long run.
You, as a student, may not be in the best position to judge whether your right hand position is alright. Trust what your teacher says and be very wary about making changes!
To hear Murphy’s explanation of right hand setup, consult your Beginning Banjo Vol. 1 introductory lesson.
Who’s Phil?
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Murphy Henry
So, I’ve just finished giving two-days worth of marathon banjo lessons to Andy, who drove up from the Charlotte, N.C., area. We’ve had four hours of extremely good playing on his part and I’ve provided an outline—at his request—of what I think he should be learning for the next six months. I’ve just met his wife and his two lovely young daughters who play violin and cello Suzuki style. We are saying our good-byes, preparatory to Andy walking out of the studio.
Then out of the blue he says, “Who’s Phil?”
I’m totally caught off guard and not understanding the question, so I say, “What do you mean?”
He says, “You know, in the DVDs you’re always talking about Phil. You’re always saying, ‘Put in a fifth string for Phil.’ I was just wondering who Phil was.”
I’m going, “You’re kidding, right? This is a joke.”
And he’s going, “No, I’m serious. Who is this Phil guy?”
Then I realize that he IS serious. And I say, “Ohhhhhh…..That’s just a miscommunication, a misunderstanding. What I mean is put in a fifth string for fill-in. It’s just a fill-in note….and so I just say ‘fill’—put in a fifth string for fill. But, of course, I totally understand, if you’re just hearing it, that there’s no reason you shouldn’t be thinking of Phil.”
And then we had a good laugh, and Andy gave me permission to blog about this, because, of course, now I’m thinking about how many other people are wondering who Phil is.
And I can guarantee the next time I say, “Put in a fifth string note….I’ll be thinking of Phil, too!”
Traveling with the Banjo
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010Casey Henry
Today I’m answering a question from yesterday’s comments, because it is a question worthy of its own entry:
Dear Casey,
Did you bring your banjo (I’m sure you did). If you did, do you do anything special when you carry it on a plane or do you take the “United Breaks guitars” approach. Are you going to give a banjo show like you did last year (if so, post pictures). Keep having fun.
Marty
First of all, just to clarify, Marty is asking about me bringing my banjo down here to Miami while I work on the Super Bowl halftime show (details here). I did not. It is so freeing not to have to carry a heavy banjo case through the airport that if I don’t have to take my banjo, I don’t. Plus, if I get desperate, Cap Spence (my boss on this gig) has one that I can play.
In answer to the second sentence, I always carry it with me on the plane if at all possible. I have a Calton case, and the few times I’ve had to check it, it has survived just fine. I don’t do anything special to the banjo itself, but when I do have to check it, I always make sure to lock or tape the latches after security has inspected it. Those latches are surprisingly easy to knock open. (I’ve never done it myself, but baggage handlers apparently find it a very easy thing to do.) Now that I travel with my Kel Kroydon I don’t worry about it nearly as much, since everything on that banjo is replaceable. When I flew with my TB-11 and had to check it, I worried to death the whole trip. Even my travel case will fit in the overhead bins on all domestic flights, except little commuter planes where they will let you gate check it. But don’t ASK anyone if it’s OK to carry it on. They’ll say no. Just do it. And act like you know what you’re doing.
For more info about travel banjo options, consult this post from 2008.
And in answer to Marty’s third sentence, I doubt that this year there will be time for me to do a banjo show. The stage is SO big, and there are SO many volunteers that there is little time for the extras we had last year. If you don’t know what Marty is referring to, here and here are some posts that explain.
Super Bowl 44 – Day 2
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010Casey Henry
Here’s the link to today’s Super Bowl Blog post: Day 2.
Listening with Your Eyes
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Red Henry
Folks, that might seem like a strange title for a post, but I just wanted to point out how musicians sometimes seem to evaluate instruments on the basis of what they look like, rather than what they sound like.
This really comes into play with banjos, and the musicians are well aware of it. They know that others will evaluate their music partly on the basis of what kind of instrument they play. For example, I recently saw a band photo session where the banjo player hadn’t brought her banjo, and she was going to have to hold a banjo brought by one of the other band members. She was a bit alarmed by that, and said, “Is it a crummy banjo? I’m not having my picture taken holding a crummy banjo!” Fortunately, this banjo had ‘Gibson’ on the peghead and looked even older than the one she’d left at home. So she held it happily in the photo. That was a banjo she didn’t mind being seen with.
I was reminded of this another time at a big picking party. A friend of ours owned one of the quite valuable Gibson F-5 mandolins from the early 1920s. He couldn’t come to the party, but sent the mandolin there with another friend of ours, who handed it to me to play.
Now, the jam session had been going loud and long at this point. I had no problem with that, since my two mandolins (Randy Wood #1 and #3) will cut through any number of banjo and guitar players, and the pickers certainly weren’t giving me any slack. But then I started playing that old F-5, and suddenly everything changed. The whole jam session quieted down to hear that $100,000 Gibson mandolin– and they needed to. The instrument was not remarkable either for tone or for volume, and it couldn’t have been heard otherwise. So the pickers were using their eyes, not their ears, to evaluate that mandolin, and they quieted down to let it be heard. They hadn’t done that when I was playing my Randy Wood, which was frankly a much better instrument.
So, next time you’re in a group of pickers, really pay attention to what the other people’s instruments sound like. Don’t listen with your eyes, listen with your EARS!
Red
Super Bowl 44 – Day 1
Monday, January 25th, 2010Casey Henry
Here’s the link to today’s Super Bowl Blog post.
Those Rawhide Chords
Monday, January 25th, 2010Murphy Henry
Portland Patty asked me to elaborate a little bit on those troublesome chords in the bridge of “Rawhide”. I will try, but it’s so hard on paper!
“Rawhide” is played in the Key of C. So, let’s take a look at the “bridge” of the song. (For info on what a “bridge” is, see below.)
The chords for the bridge are: 8 beats of E, 8 beats of A, 8 beats of D, and finally 8 beats of G. Then you go back into C chord and the regular part of the song.
Aside: (If you were doing it by the numbers—which are not useful to me in this case—it would be—I’ve got to stop and figure this out now—III, VI, II, V—or in regular numbers: 3, 6, 2, 5.)
I suggest you get your banjo out and find these as vamp chords on the neck. Just get a feel for them. It definitely helps if you’ve heard the song before!
Now, if this is all you had to do, we could stop here. But the banjo normally capoes up to the fifth fret to play Rawhide (unless you are Craig Smith or Casey Henry), playing out the G, C, and D positions. (Five G, as we say in Virginia.) So if you continue to think in “positions” and not “real” chords, the bridge chords will now be: B, E, A, D. (The numbers, of course, stay the same, 3, 6, 2, 5, which is why they can be useful.) These four-finger chords are for vamping. When you take the lead, the chord positions shift slightly so you can get a “seventh chord” sound, just like Rudy Lyle did on the original recording. But for that, I’ll have to refer you to the video!
USEFUL STUFF TO KNOW:
WHAT IS A BRIDGE? To me, it’s just a part of a song that has a totally different chord pattern than the main or regular part of the song. The dictionary says: “A transitional modulatory passage connecting sections of a musical composition.” My definition is easier!
WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF “RAWHIDE”? The first part (the A part) is played through twice, usually once low and once high, and then comes the “bridge.” After the “bridge” another instrument takes over and plays the same thing, A part twice, then the bridge. When it’s time to end the song, usually the mandolin will take a final A part after the bridge and put an ending on.
WHAT ARE THE CHORDS IN THE A PART? In the key of C, they are C, F, and G. If you capo up five and play out of G, the positions are G, C, and D. Note: the A part has the same chords as “Lonesome Road Blues” and you can actually use the “Lonesome Road Blues” breaks—low and high—for the A parts of “Rawhide”.
But please: check out the Rawhide DVD and listen to the original recording by Bill Monroe! Also, Red has two versions of this song (with moi playing banjo)—live and studio—on his CD Bluegrass Mandolin and Other Trouble. Logan said my break to “Rawhide” was “awesome”!