We got approval from Geoff Stelling to use the Stelling Trademarked logo and banjo design (flange and peghead design) for our 23' banjo sign. This is so exciting!!! Terry and I have some more work to do before it's ready to be put up, but it's more than half way done. I am hoping that we can get it up within two weeks, but you never know...
While I'm thinking about it, I want to mention something about instruments playing in tune. James came and saw me last week, and he's certainly not the first to talk about this, but we were discussing the intonation of his banjo. I think it's a common misconception that instruments are perfect in pitch and that electronic tuners will tune them perfectly. In reality, neither of these two statements is true. For instance, James and I noticed that after tuning the 3rd string to the tuner, we then changed the pitch slightly and the tuner still read the same. We could both hear a slight difference, but the tuner did not reflect this. Secondly, after tuning the banjo to the tuner and re-checking bridge placement, not all the strings were perfectly in tune when using the string to string tuning method. This is especially true with 2nd and 3rd strings on all banjos, in general. Some banjos are better than others, even within the same model and brand, and some brands (like Stelling, which compensates the nut) make adjustments on their banjos to try to correct this.
Anyway, this out of tune G string was driving James crazy. It's the kind of thing when you hear it, you just start listening for it and you can't seem to concentrate on anything except waiting for that out of tune string to be played again. These are the suggestions I made to James, and I would make these to anyone that is concerned with banjo intonation:
1. First off, make sure you're not using old strings.
2. When fretting, put your finger as close to the fret as possible.
3. Don't use more pressure than necessary to fret the string.
4. Change to a thicker gauge of strings. These won't be as sensitive to stretching or pulling.
5. Make sure you are not pushing or pulling the string up or down as you fret.
6. Most important - don't rely entirely upon your tuner to tune your instrument. On a banjo, the 2nd string when fretted at the 3rd fret is inherently sharp when compared to the 1st string open. Tune the 2nd string down slightly so that when fretted at the 3rd fret, it matches the 1st string open. There are too many songs that use that fret position for it to not match the 1st string. The 3rd string also tends to be sharp, which is the very reason why compensated bridges came into being. A compensated bridge can help somewhat, but you will probably also have to do some pitch adjustment when tuning. I try to go up slightly with one string and down slightly with another to get a "happy medium."
Hopefully, these tips will help out anyone who is experiencing intonation problems.
We had a good jam last night, but I don't have time right now to write about it. I'll post about it later this week.
Showing posts with label banjo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label banjo. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Busy, Rainy Saturday
Have you ever noticed how people come out of the woodwork when the weather is bad? I know it doesn't always happen like that, but many times it does. This Saturday was just such a day. It was cold, windy and rainy, but WARM inside the Shack. Between lessons and various other small item sales, we had Greg from St. Charles, MO trading up a mandolin, Suzanne and Janice from Belleville picking out a vintage fiddle and bow, and two repair drop-offs for the workshop. It's a good thing Mike was here to help, because I could not have done it by myself!
Even though I usually don't teach on Saturdays, I actually had three lessons this Saturday. Rachel is working on Sally Goodin, Billy in the Lowground and Golden Anniversary Waltz. She's a fast learner and one of my best students.
Next was 2-year old Audrey. Audrey is my youngest student. She takes a 5-minute lesson every other week. She is able to play one string at a time now, can put down one finger at a time on the E string now, and can count bow strokes. We are working up to Hot Cross Buns. Lastly, I had a new student that will not be a regular that I agreed to take on for the next couple of weeks.
Martin is 11 years old and is from Red Bud. He wanted to learn Orange Blossom Special. We worked on the hokum bow, train whistles, general "fluff" for the first part of OBS, and then we worked on how to get into the hokum bow and what comes after that. He, too, is a very fast learner and we were able to get through all of that in one hour. I sent him home with a CD to practice with, and four different versions of OBS to listen to for ideas. Martin came in again today during a cancellation and we put the guitar to all that he has been working on. He's doing marvellously!
Late Saturday afternoon, I worked on putting songbooks on our internet website. I managed to get 11 of them scanned in and posted with my sloooooower than molasses, 10-year old scanner. It's actually amazing that the scanner even works still. It is so old that it doesn't even have a USB connection. It literally takes 5 minutes from scan to preview, so it took me two hours to get those songbooks up on the website. Saturday evening, I took a trip to our local Office Depot and picked out a new scanner. I'm so excited! It is 3 seconds from scan to preview! Woo hoo! High speed scanning, here I come! Unfortunately, it's been high speed working today, so I haven't had a chance to plug the scanner in and get it up and running. I can hardly wait, though.
Today is Monday and things have been no less busy here. We had customers spot us when we were stopping by Gary's Restaurant for lunch around 11:30 a.m. They pulled into Gary's and had lunch with us, then we all drove the 1/2 mile to the Shack. It was about 12:30 by then, and there was another customer waiting in the parking lot, even though we don't actually open until 1:00 p.m.! When I get here early, I open the store anyway. There's no sense being here and locking everyone else out.
I placed new orders with Mel Bay and Hal Leonard today. We should be receiving new and replacement books and DVDs by the end of the week. I love looking at the new books that come in. I like to see who I think would benefit from them, whether or not I think they are any good, what difficultly level they are, etc. Both companies have some really great inventory for bluegrass and folk genres.
Al, my oldest student, had his banjo lesson today. Al is working on quite a few different songs right. He has a CD full of bluegrass gospel tunes that he is playing backup with. I am amazed at how well he is doing with the chord changes. His picking isn't real fast still, but his backup is great. I played guitar for Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek, and Blackberry Blossom.
Even though I usually don't teach on Saturdays, I actually had three lessons this Saturday. Rachel is working on Sally Goodin, Billy in the Lowground and Golden Anniversary Waltz. She's a fast learner and one of my best students.
Next was 2-year old Audrey. Audrey is my youngest student. She takes a 5-minute lesson every other week. She is able to play one string at a time now, can put down one finger at a time on the E string now, and can count bow strokes. We are working up to Hot Cross Buns. Lastly, I had a new student that will not be a regular that I agreed to take on for the next couple of weeks.
Martin is 11 years old and is from Red Bud. He wanted to learn Orange Blossom Special. We worked on the hokum bow, train whistles, general "fluff" for the first part of OBS, and then we worked on how to get into the hokum bow and what comes after that. He, too, is a very fast learner and we were able to get through all of that in one hour. I sent him home with a CD to practice with, and four different versions of OBS to listen to for ideas. Martin came in again today during a cancellation and we put the guitar to all that he has been working on. He's doing marvellously!
Late Saturday afternoon, I worked on putting songbooks on our internet website. I managed to get 11 of them scanned in and posted with my sloooooower than molasses, 10-year old scanner. It's actually amazing that the scanner even works still. It is so old that it doesn't even have a USB connection. It literally takes 5 minutes from scan to preview, so it took me two hours to get those songbooks up on the website. Saturday evening, I took a trip to our local Office Depot and picked out a new scanner. I'm so excited! It is 3 seconds from scan to preview! Woo hoo! High speed scanning, here I come! Unfortunately, it's been high speed working today, so I haven't had a chance to plug the scanner in and get it up and running. I can hardly wait, though.
Today is Monday and things have been no less busy here. We had customers spot us when we were stopping by Gary's Restaurant for lunch around 11:30 a.m. They pulled into Gary's and had lunch with us, then we all drove the 1/2 mile to the Shack. It was about 12:30 by then, and there was another customer waiting in the parking lot, even though we don't actually open until 1:00 p.m.! When I get here early, I open the store anyway. There's no sense being here and locking everyone else out.
I placed new orders with Mel Bay and Hal Leonard today. We should be receiving new and replacement books and DVDs by the end of the week. I love looking at the new books that come in. I like to see who I think would benefit from them, whether or not I think they are any good, what difficultly level they are, etc. Both companies have some really great inventory for bluegrass and folk genres.
Al, my oldest student, had his banjo lesson today. Al is working on quite a few different songs right. He has a CD full of bluegrass gospel tunes that he is playing backup with. I am amazed at how well he is doing with the chord changes. His picking isn't real fast still, but his backup is great. I played guitar for Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek, and Blackberry Blossom.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Here we go!
I've never done this before, so we'll just see how this all works out. I intend to post regularly here so folks can see what we do here at The Bluegrass Shack in New Athens, Illinois.
If you don't know about New Athens, here is a little bit of information. It is a very small town in southern Illinois. There are no fast food restaurants, but several nice family style restaurants and a few bar & grills. We even have a pizza place, but there's no delivery service here. The only stoplight in New Athens is out on the main highway. The town sits right on the Kaskaskia River, so there's a marina just one mile from our shop. You can eat at the marina, or you can rent a boat and go fishing. Every year, the marina celebrates the new year with a jump into the river. (Not for me!)
Now, onto our shop. The Bluegrass Shack is a music store that specializes in acoustic, namely bluegrass, music. We also deal with band instruments, and we have a complete repair shop. We do not work on electric instruments, but we do keep a few of these in stock for "other" folks. We carry lots of vintage, used and new instruments. There are more than 100 fiddles/violins hanging on the wall in the shop, most of which are vintage. We are the only Illniois dealer for Stelling banjos, of which only three a week are made. Geoff Stelling (www.stellingbanjo.com) personally inspects and sets up every banjo that leaves his workshop. We also carry Gold Tone (www.goldtone.com) banjos and many more. You just never know what you'll find here because we're always buying and trading. You'll even find some vintage Martin guitars here!
The Bluegrass Shack hosts regular jam sessions. These are every other Tuesday night starting at 7:30 p.m. For a listing of the next jam, visit www.thebluegrassshack.com. We try to keep that up-to-date and also post video clips of jam sessions. On average, we have 20-30 jammers here. Everyone gets a turn to pick or lead a song if they want to. Some folks come to sing, some just to listen, and others do it all! Skill levels run the gamut from rank beginner to seasoned professionals. Everyone is welcome and there is no cost.
If you don't play an instrument but would like to learn, we also have six experienced teachers here to help you learn to play banjo, guitar, dulcimer, fiddle, upright bass, mandolin or band instruments. The good news about learning to play a musical instrument is that it is never too late to learn. My oldest banjo student is Al. Al is 77 years old and is learning to play 5-string banjo (Scruggs, 3-finger style). He's doing great! He's been at it for about 6 months now and knows how to pick 5-6 songs, but he can play backup to many more. My youngest student is Audrey, who is 2 years old. Audrey is learning fiddle.
Contrary to what you might have heard, most people are not born with musical talent. Oh yes, there are those that are, but many are not. This does not mean you cannot learn! I've been teaching for almost 30 years, and believe me, most of the folks who come to see me weren't born with oodles of natural talent. They develop it through practice and perseverence. I've taught people with missing fingers or fingertips, fingers that don't bend, arthritic fingers, and physically and mentally challenged folks. Everyone can learn to play if they have the desire. Success is found in determination and desire, NOT natural talent. My hope is that everyone who has ever wanted to learn to play something will actually go out and do it! It's so much fun!
Over the next few days, weeks, months and years, I'm going to post all kinds of information about learning instruments, instrument repairs, jam sessions, interesting musical information, etc. I hope you'll find this a place that you enjoy coming to!
If you don't know about New Athens, here is a little bit of information. It is a very small town in southern Illinois. There are no fast food restaurants, but several nice family style restaurants and a few bar & grills. We even have a pizza place, but there's no delivery service here. The only stoplight in New Athens is out on the main highway. The town sits right on the Kaskaskia River, so there's a marina just one mile from our shop. You can eat at the marina, or you can rent a boat and go fishing. Every year, the marina celebrates the new year with a jump into the river. (Not for me!)
Now, onto our shop. The Bluegrass Shack is a music store that specializes in acoustic, namely bluegrass, music. We also deal with band instruments, and we have a complete repair shop. We do not work on electric instruments, but we do keep a few of these in stock for "other" folks. We carry lots of vintage, used and new instruments. There are more than 100 fiddles/violins hanging on the wall in the shop, most of which are vintage. We are the only Illniois dealer for Stelling banjos, of which only three a week are made. Geoff Stelling (www.stellingbanjo.com) personally inspects and sets up every banjo that leaves his workshop. We also carry Gold Tone (www.goldtone.com) banjos and many more. You just never know what you'll find here because we're always buying and trading. You'll even find some vintage Martin guitars here!
The Bluegrass Shack hosts regular jam sessions. These are every other Tuesday night starting at 7:30 p.m. For a listing of the next jam, visit www.thebluegrassshack.com. We try to keep that up-to-date and also post video clips of jam sessions. On average, we have 20-30 jammers here. Everyone gets a turn to pick or lead a song if they want to. Some folks come to sing, some just to listen, and others do it all! Skill levels run the gamut from rank beginner to seasoned professionals. Everyone is welcome and there is no cost.
If you don't play an instrument but would like to learn, we also have six experienced teachers here to help you learn to play banjo, guitar, dulcimer, fiddle, upright bass, mandolin or band instruments. The good news about learning to play a musical instrument is that it is never too late to learn. My oldest banjo student is Al. Al is 77 years old and is learning to play 5-string banjo (Scruggs, 3-finger style). He's doing great! He's been at it for about 6 months now and knows how to pick 5-6 songs, but he can play backup to many more. My youngest student is Audrey, who is 2 years old. Audrey is learning fiddle.
Contrary to what you might have heard, most people are not born with musical talent. Oh yes, there are those that are, but many are not. This does not mean you cannot learn! I've been teaching for almost 30 years, and believe me, most of the folks who come to see me weren't born with oodles of natural talent. They develop it through practice and perseverence. I've taught people with missing fingers or fingertips, fingers that don't bend, arthritic fingers, and physically and mentally challenged folks. Everyone can learn to play if they have the desire. Success is found in determination and desire, NOT natural talent. My hope is that everyone who has ever wanted to learn to play something will actually go out and do it! It's so much fun!
Over the next few days, weeks, months and years, I'm going to post all kinds of information about learning instruments, instrument repairs, jam sessions, interesting musical information, etc. I hope you'll find this a place that you enjoy coming to!
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