Setting Bluegrass Standards

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Phill Gibson

Not everyone can set standards for how we do things in this world. If we all did, then there would by definition no longer be any standards. Both famous and not-so-famous people have contributed in creating most of the standards that we all use today. For bluegrass banjo, that would include such well-known folks as Joel Sweeney, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith. This list goes on for a long way, and I wish I could add the names of those not-well-known who have had their influence on me as a banjoist.

If we like, we could draw a diagram, sort of like a tree, that details the important historical events in our little banjo corner of the world. This would include innovations made by the above mentioned folks; adding a fifth string (accepting the fact that there is plenty of debate about when this really occurred – the point is somebody had to do it), playing with three fingers, adding a tone ring, etc. It could also maybe show branches of how these individuals have further influenced others, and how they in turn have had contributions and influences of their own.

But one thing such a tree diagram could never show, which is perhaps the most important detail of all, is this: Such ideas and innovations must be picked up by the ordinary person in order for them to succeed. It has taken the ordinary rank-and-file musician – you and me – in order to have these new musical directions succeed and so become more than just experiments in sound; to actually become a standard for how it’s done. It is vital to have ordinary people take an idea, such as Scruggs style banjo, and like it, embracing it and making it their own. To do so not only adds a sort of world-wide ‘vote of approval’ to whatever the idea is, but it also adds, by sheer weight of numbers, a definite refining of the idea; a testing and trying of the hypothesis so as to make sure this isn’t a half-baked scheme that will eventually fade out or be found lacking somehow. Although marketers may disagree, neither fame nor any amount of wealth can do this. It’s true that advertising can influence us, but individuals put advertising to the test as well, just as with ideas themselves. Ultimately, it is the sole prerogative of individuals in society to accept or deny.

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Some of My Musical Influences – Intro

Posted on June 6, 2009 by Phill Gibson

Among other series of blogs I’ve been thinking of writing has been one about already well-known musicians who have been influential on my own musical development. Some are obvious bluegrass musicians (Bill Monroe, Frank Wakefield, among others), some banjo pickers (Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Arnold, Eric Weissberg, Alison Brown, Bobby Thompson). A few are way off the map in terms of traditional acoustic music (Carlos Santana, Count Basie, James Taylor, Pat Metheny, etc.), but I’ve always liked them anyway, for various reasons.

So here’s where I’ll start blogging on these folks. I’ll post something new from time to time here as an open-ended series.

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Originality in Music

Posted on June 5, 2009 by Phill Gibson

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed from one another.” – Voltaire

So it goes with music, too. We start out learning ‘Cripple Creek’ on the banjo, for instance, then advance to learning other songs by rote. Next comes learning various licks, runs and techniques and how to arrange them to the point of being able to improvise, then on to defining our own style and trying to make a statement to the world: “This is what I’m all about musically”.

From humble beginnings to lofty heights, we have to pay due respect to those who have assisted us along the way. I believe this process of ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ as it is described in another context, is more an unconscious that deliberate thing. It involves more unknown musicians than those known who have helped us.

So is anything ever truly original? Is anything really new under the sun as the Bible talks about in Ecclesiastes? Of course, Solomon had no banjos in his court that we know of, so maybe we have a case to make here.

I think originality is an incremental thing. We have something in computer programming called a spiral development lifecycle. What that means is that you don’t try to complete everything in one go-round. You basically break it up into several spirals, or phases, each building upon the previous cycle. I think such a spiral cycle also describes well a lot of what we do artistically with music. We start with whatever base we wish to and further build upon it, adding our own interpretation to it and in the process not only revising what exists, but also adding our own extensions to what exists. We build up and add to what is already there.

Actually, Solomon wasn’t talking about such things as artistic originality when he said there is nothing new under the Sun. He was talking about man’s penchant for constantly getting into trouble. Here, we see that we do have originality, in the artistic sense, that we can add to the mix.

Posted in Banjos and Society, Philosophical Ramblings | Leave a comment

When the Going Gets Tough

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I’ve often had students come to me and say they’ve hit a wall in terms of their practice. They keep trying, but it just seems like they are not making any progress.

First, I always try to eliminate a few possibilities.

  • Are they doing the various techniques properly?
  • Is it one thing specifically, several things, or just everything that seems to have gone awry?
  • Is this a long term thing or just the past week?

After this narrowing-down process, I’m actually a bit pleased if it is just a recent thing, even though they have been practicing a good amount of time. In other words, the student has been practicing, but has been getting worse, not better, recently. Why be pleased with it? Because in my own experience, this indicates that the student is probably about to make a noticable improvement jump shortly! If you’re a music instructor, watch this over time yourself and see if it isn’t true.

When this happens, I like to think of it like our brains are finally starting to ‘get it’ in terms of what we are asking our fingers and ears to do. And then the brain says ‘Well, in order to do THAT, I’m going to have to change THIS other thing first, then give it another try…’ And so it does, and it takes a little while for our brains to process it all and come up with a suitable solution. And if we will simply keep at it through this difficult process, we will come out much improved and able to finally do whatever that technique was.

And even though it’s really talking about something different from banjo lessons, I also like to think of it like James says in the New Testament in James 1:2-4:

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

So if you’re having this problem with practice going nowhere recently, or know a student who is, then don’t stop practicing – that’s the worse thing you could do! Be persistent and it will pay off shortly!

When the going gets tough, the tough keep practicing!

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A Bit of Banjo History – Part 2

Posted on May 30, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I did a brief article to summarize the history of the  Banjo a while back – here is the last in this series.

The years between about 1910 and 1945 saw a sea-change in society and culture, begun in the post-victorian days of the late 1800s. Central to musical expression was the question: ‘What shall we do with our roots?’ Thus was the birth of the blues and jazz. This brought the 4-string banjos, tenor and plectrum to the forefront of popular music. The 5-string banjo was almost forgotten.

1945 was a year that bluegrass banjo pickers will always remember. That’s the year Earl Scruggs, newly joined to Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, would introduce the world to Scruggs style banjo playing at the Grand ‘Ol Opry. Three-finger Scruggs style was ripe for exposure to the world by this time; some players were already adopting this style, especially around the area of North Carolina where Earl was from. Earl Scruggs was the first to bring it to a national audience, hence its name.

Since that day in 1945, banjoists have continued to improve and innovate stylistic changes in the banjos’ repertoire. Although Scruggs style continues to dominate on the 5-string, others have contributed much to further development of techniques. Don Reno gave us Reno style with its single string techniques; Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith independently introduced melodic style in the 60’s. And so styles of playing the banjo continue to advance and improve.

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Growing Older & Laying Off Less

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Phill Gibson

When I was younger, there were a couple of periods of time that spanned longer than I care to remember. Times when I didn’t practice the banjo. No guitar, mandolin, dulcimer or drums, either. I didn’t even think much about them, other than to wistfully remember, as though they were far away in a distant, blissful scene, how nice it would be to devote some time, once again, to diligently playing. Maybe when I get some more time, I would tell myself, then go about my busy life and promptly forget again for weeks and months on end.

If you’ve been playing very long, then this has most likely happened to you as well. Of course, if you turn professional at a very early age, then you have no options other than to play – that is now your livelihood. But otherwise, it is all to easy to let things slip.

But why? Why does this happen? Are we not serious about playing? Or is it that we get lost in a sea of activity and this is just another such activity; all of which are destined to go through cycles of sinking and rising again to the top of this ‘Interest Sea’?

Here are a few observations I have made over the course of playing musical instruments for the past 40 years. (I’ve been playing the banjo since about 1977, but I started with drums, then mandolin, back around 1968 or 1969.) I’ve not lost interest in quite a few years ( knock on wood!) and hope I never will.

1 – Some of us tend to ‘collect’ neat activities. I know I’m that way. Soon, we have so many, there is no way to do any of them effectively! I know that what I have to do is stay focused on just a few interests, and I have to do this deliberately and effectively. Otherwise, I’ll be spinning my wheels. I have learned how to tell when this is happening, and even though it is not a pleasant task, I know that it signals the time to pare things down once again.

2 – Even if you don’t collect activities / hobbies, you have to make sure your priorities are straight. This doesn’t mean putting the banjo at the top; it’s not for me. I’ll tell you what my top 5 priorities are, in this order:

  1. God
  2. Family
  3. Work
  4. Music
  5. Martial Arts

When I retire, then work will be music, I might add; slightly simplifying things. But you see you have to keep to this pecking order, even as whims and temporary emotions sway back and forth. This does take some discipline, and it is well worth the effort.

3 – I believe that as you get older, somehow you simply learn to balance disparate tasks better. I don’t stray too far left or right in my pursuits these days as I did when I was younger. If you’re like me, then you have this to look forward to!

4 – Examine what your goals are in playing the banjo. Is it your goal to simply play well enough to sit on the front porch and sound decent? That’s a noble goal, and it doesn’t take as much effort as for someone whose goal is to play professionally. But don’t expect to play professionally with a ‘Front Porch’ amount of practicing. Be sure you have the right goal – one that is reachable.

5 – Are you burnt-out? I think that’s the main reason folks stop practice – whatever it is they are doing. Ironically, I think having more than one activity can help this. In my own life, I see burn-out when I concentrate on one thing only for too long a period of time, with no let-up. To have several priorities (like my top 5 above) means I’m not thinking about any one too much. Each is an enjoyable activity and when the next comes along, it is a most welcome change. I think this is exactly what people mean about being balanced. Dwell on this concept a while and see if it fits you; tweak things if it does.

I hope this rather personal glimpse of my thoughts on ‘falling off the wagon’ will help you. Let me know if it does!

Posted in Philosophical Ramblings | Leave a comment

The Blog is Back up!

Posted on May 24, 2009 by Phill Gibson

After being down for a few days, this blog is back up and upgraded to the latest version of WordPress as well!

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Notes on Reno Style, 2009-05

Posted on May 24, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I’ve not written on my own progress with Reno style lately and I should.

I found a nice series of informative articles on playing Reno style in Banjo Newsletter by Jason Skinner, the last of which just completed in the May, 2009 issue. For one thing, I’ve always used the terms ‘Reno style’ and ‘Single String’ interchangably, which isn’t as precise as it should be. Of course, Don Reno played single string style, but he also did so many other interesting techniques that went beyond simply playing two or more fingers on the same string sequentially.

As I’ve mentioned before, starting to learn single string style means having to start all over again; at least it did for me. I started playing at about 4 notes per second. I’m up to about 8 notes per second now if I’m really warmed up. That’s almost as fast as Earl Scruggs playing ‘Cripple Creek’ on the Flatt & Scruggs Carnegie Hall recording. But it’s still a good deal slower than a lot of recordings I’ve heard of single string playing. I wonder how Eddie Adcock and Don Reno were able to go so fast!

I know – it’s the very same thing I tell my Scruggs and melodic style students: practice!

One variation I need to explore is using all three fingers on a single string. Rather than going TITITI, try TITMTITM on the same string. That introduces an extra finger into the process and, I suspect, will increase speed as well. But it’s starting all over again, once again.

Nevermind – it will be an interesting experiment, and well worth it to gain some new right (and left) -hand skills.

Besides, playing three fingers on the same string isn’t unheard of; think about Irish fiddle music. Often, you’ll hear a triplet being played on the same string. To do this requires all three fingers.

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A Fitting Quote on Teaching

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I was reading a book on SQL Server the other day and found this quote on teaching that I thought was worth sharing:

In life, we encounter two classes of masters, those who share their mastery solely through their work and those who take on apprentices to further their craft–to pass it on and share it with others.

David Campbell
General Manager, Microsoft SQL Server

I think that’s also exactly what we try to do when we strive to teach music – we take on apprentices in our craft and pass on knowledge to them.

Then every once in a while, we teach a student who in turn takes it to heart to such an extent that he/she also becomes a teacher one day and passes it on the the next generation.

That’s just the way it should be!

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Going to 16th Avenue

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I’m going to visit 16th Avenue in Nashville soon. I need to get some repairs done to several of my instruments:

1. Fret work on my Stelling Red Fox.
2. Fix a separated neck (no truss rod) on my very first stringed instrument; a ‘taterbug’ mandolin my brother and I had bought when we were teenagers from a small music store. The proprietor’s name was Gus Miesel, a very courteous and formal man and a German immigrant, if I recall correctly. We paid $40 for it and had a great time just learning how to make chords and pick some simple tunes.
3. Fix my second mandolin, a Harmony H-8025. This one is rather distinctive as you could call it a ‘semi-F series’. The scrolls on the body and peghead look more like horns than scrolls. The body has buckled slightly on both the front and back. I suspect I had put some heavy gauge strings on it years ago and it wasn’t made for them. I bought this one at Hornbuckle’s Music Store for $225 I had from selling my drums. Yes, my very first musical instrument was the drums!
4. Repair my first banjo, a Lark. It is a very standard beginners model like many others you see even today. Although I must admit, the beginners models today do have fancier inlays, probably brought about by CNN-capable (i.e., computerized) machining processes. Anyway, I used to lend this banjo out to folks and at some point, someone tried to adjust it and messed up the threads where the neck connects to the pot. I bought this one in 1977 at the same place Gus Miesel used to have his small shop. I paid $125 for it from the sale of a guitar back to my brother.

You’ll notice three of these repairs are on pretty cheap instruments. They’ll most likely cost a good bit more than they are worth, but I’m a sentimental old guy. And I’ve been meaning to get these tasks done for many years, no, decades, now.

I’ll take them to Classic Ax on 16th avenue in the heart of Music Row in downtown Nashville. If they can fix these instruments for a reasonable price, then it will be so great to be able to play on these same instruments once again!

Posted in Banjos in General | 2 Comments