Harry Reser for the Plectrum Banjo

I’ve always loved Harry Reser; he of course is famous for his Novelty Ragtime compositions for the tenor banjo. I worked up The Cat and The Dog on the plectrum 25 years ago (I would now estimate at about the 75% accuracy level) after hearing Doug Mattocks play it, but I didn’t go any further with his music at that time. When I was stationed in Germany 16 years ago, I met Juergen Kulus, and he got me hooked on the idea that many of Harry’s 1920s recordings were actually done on the plectrum, not the tenor as widely assumed (including The Cat and The Dog).
Click here for easy-goin transcription

Juergen—strictly a tenor player at the time—had done some transcribing for his own educational benefit (there is no better way to learn a style!), and realized that something wasn’t quite “right”; suspecting that the recordings were actually on plectrum (all the promo pictures of Reser with that instrument were a strong clue!), he began to learn the tuning himself to find out, and sure enough!

Juergen planted the seed in my head, but it wasn’t until several years later that I finally began to listen intently and to realize that he was right! I would never have been curious enough myself to listen that deeply (but once you get it, you can’t let go!). It is with his technical guidance and blessing that I produce this transcription now (the first of many to come). I hereby dedicate this work to him; I would have literally not been able to do this without him.

Again, as I’ve stated in previous blogs, this is an important distinction to me—as I believe it should be to all plectrum banjoists! This is a fascinating banjo plot twist (to a banjo geek like me)! Those few of us who play it should be proud of our unique instrument’s history and musical heritage—and know everything there is to know about it! Don’t get me wrong; I play tenor also (though I am certainly a plectrum specialist), and believe they are equally important.

The plectrum has little recorded reference from the Jazz Age (the original source!); if Juergen and I (and a few others who seem to be in the know) are right, Reser gives the plectrum a much richer history than previously thought, and a much more challenging repertoire to choose from; he “broadens our limited horizons!” Though I sincerely believe this to be indisputable fact, I present these transcriptions as mere evidence; until you believe it for your own ears, it is a pointless argument. At any rate, learning these pieces for yourself, and comparing your results with the recordings is the ultimate proof. I hereby offer my encouragement and the possible means to try.

If you have never listened to Reser with intent to learn—because “everyone knows he’s a tenor player”—then you will have no idea of what the plectrum is actually capable of. If you have never listened with intent to learn because you believe yourself to be incapable of duplicating it (regardless of tuning), then you will have no idea of what you are capable of. I am doing this for my own good of course, but I figure I should at least share it with others; I would love to have more company and mutual encouragement on this quest!

I have found the process of trying to play it “exactly like Harry did”—overcoming my own habits and ego along the way—to be a great banjo education; this goal will likely take me the rest of my life to even come close to achieving! Every couple of years I revisit the project and find that I can hear more and more detail, and am able to play more and more of the music. The two go hand in hand of course; I won’t be able to hear it until I can play it, and vice-versa. I will be revisiting these transcriptions periodically in the future, and adding in any detail I may have missed (as my ear and playing skills improve—which is exactly why I’m doing this!). You should consider this to be a living, evolving document (as we are living, evolving human beings). You are encouraged to have a credited hand in this evolution; please, improve on my work!

I do not—and never will—guarantee 100% accuracy in my transcriptions! There are many reasons for this:

• Writing down someone else’s style is daunting work indeed! If he played it exactly as he wrote it, there would be no issue (or reason to transcribe!), but he didn’t. There are differences between what Harry wrote/published for the tenor and actually recorded on the plectrum (this was Juergen’s tip-off). Of course he took liberties from the written page—throwing in the little stylistic tricks that make him Harry Reser; he probably never played any of his pieces the same way twice! And I have not tried to correct his occasional mistakes; who am I to judge the greatest? I strive for “as accurate as humanly possible” to the actual recording—warts and all.
• Maybe someday, I will be perfect! For now, you and I will have to settle with the skill level I currently have. I don’t mean this to sound like an arrogant challenge, but “if you can do it better,” please do! I am doing this to learn; somebody needs to put the ball in play, and it may as well be me—even though I may not be the one who scores the winning basket.
• All of his recordings were made with piano or band accompaniment, meaning he didn’t have to play complete chords; in some cases it’s hard to hear where the banjo leaves off and the accompaniment takes over. This is also due in part to the scratchy early-1920s recordings! Fortunately, he had very precise and clean technique with clear, logical voicings.

For a plectrum player like me, Reser techniques are hard to come by—without copying a recording that is! He unfortunately did not produce a plectrum method book, though he hinted at one in another publication. At the same time, there are things he did on tenor that are quite “impossible” to play on plectrum (oh, it can be done note-for-note in most cases, but the sound will be noticeably different); you won’t see me trying to pass off Crackerjack or Lollipops as “plectrum” recordings! This is a big part of my “proof”; I can hear the difference between plectrum and tenor banjo (and can usually pick out guitar tuning for that matter), and I understand the limitations of both.

I have decided not to try to enumerate the “Reserisms” in his music here (although I do explain a couple of things regarding notation in the text accompanying the transcription); I will save the technical analysis until I have produced several transcriptions, and have a clearer picture—and useful description—of the patterns that he favored. For now, it’s enough to just play them, and recognize them as distinctly Reser. I will tell you that a lot of this is not easy! Is it worth the effort? Well, how else do you improve than by attempting things that are beyond your current ability? I couldn’t have played this at all ten years ago, and I’ll probably play it better in another ten years. Set your sights high and get to work!

I have also decided against putting in chord symbols or diagrams; the temptation would then be to simplify this to chord melody, which it most certainly isn’t. Read the TAB carefully and literally; every note is exactly where it’s supposed to be! The typical chord diagram approach to learning the plectrum banjo only works for chord melody; TAB is seen by some as a crutch, but it works great for getting exact fingerings, especially in single-note passages (something diagrams cannot do). You should also use it as a back-door method of learning to read standard notation; that’s why they are both there!

If you find a better way to execute a particular passage (play/notate a complex stroke, for example), bring it to my attention, and we’ll discuss it. There is almost always a different way; in most cases I have already explored many options (and discussed them with Juergen), looking for the most logical. Again, I am in this to learn; I would dearly love to get into a discussion about this (and would love to be corrected)!

If you are at all serious about the four-string banjo, you should have all of Harry’s recordings; if you do not have this one, I would be glad to send you an MP3 by email. I sincerely hope you will join us in our quest to correct some historical assumptions and establish Harry Reser as a plectrum banjo hero! Again, my undying gratitude goes out to Juergen Kulus!