Warning: Product may contain biased opinions; those with an allergy to (and/or an aversion to) biased opinions should proceed with caution. Symptoms of Biased Opinionitis may include sudden unexplainable anger, spike in blood pressure, dizziness, and/or nausea. Consult with your doctor if any of these symptoms persist for more than four hours.
Of course, I have biased opinions; I am only human after all (aren’t you?)! I don’t know everything (who does?), so sometimes when confronted with an unfamiliar subject (if it can’t be outright avoided/ignored), I respond to it the only way I know how; in a biased manner, informed more by ignorance than by knowledge. If it is a subject that I believe warrants my attention, then I will devote some of my precious time to further study before venturing an opinion on it. This is why I stay away from politics; I know too little (and care even less!). By the way, I apologize for the length of this blog; please bear with me.
I even harbor some biased opinions regarding my favorite subject; the four-string banjo. You might say I have a “four-string banjo bias.” While I love and respect the other banjo variants as well, they just aren’t my cup of tea; I have chosen to concentrate on one thing, in an effort to maximize my potential on that. While I know much more about the banjo then say, medicine or nuclear physics, I also realize how little I know—compared with what there is to know; this drives me forward.
Sometimes the only way I can unmask an unconscious bias—and thus learn and grow as a banjoist/human being—is to yell an opinion into the abyss and wait for the echo. I occasionally forget that this process may anger or even offend someone else. I am truly sorry for this unfortunate side effect; the last thing I intend to do with my writing is to upset another person. When it happens, I spend a sleepless night worrying (“what have I done now?”), then wake up determined to make amends and learn from the experience.
Recent case in point (which has prompted this blog): I gleefully joined into a comment thread on a video of a very good banjo player; I thought I was being clever by pointing out that he was using guitar tuning (did anyone else notice? Does it really matter?). I ended up offending one of my favorite players, who uses guitar tuning also. Oops, should have thought of that before I made the comment! Well, you know, it happens. I apologized—and it was accepted—but I just can’t leave it alone; exactly why do I seem to have a bias against guitar tuning? It’s time I figured out this silly little bias once and for all!
Let me preface this a bit: I get so wrapped up in my little biases that I can come across as intolerant of other things (like guitar tuning); nothing could be further from the truth. “Not my cup of tea” is a good description of my feelings, but that doesn’t mean I consider a guitar-tuned player to be inferior. A good musician is a good musician, regardless of instrument or tuning.
Let me start by saying that I freely admit to having an unabashed, elitist bias for banjo tuning. That’s how my heroes—Reser, Bechtel, and Peabody (in that order)—played it, and by golly that’s how I’m going to play it! In my opinion, true forward progress for the traditionally-tuned four-string banjo can only come by using it and maximizing it’s potential within it’s obvious limitations.
Buddy Wachter once told me that he loved the banjo because of the challenge of making great music on it; he’s a great guitarist also and could have chosen to play that tuning—but he didn’t. The world’s greatest guitarist could pick up a banjo, tune it like guitar, and blow us all away—proving what? I would be asking (as I have in the past), “yes, but can he/she play like Reser [much less know who he was. . .that should matter to us, shouldn’t it?], tuning and all?”
I would love it if more guitarists would join the banjo ranks; we need all the players we can get! But let me ask a hypothetical question: What would happen to the “traditional” banjo if they all stuck with guitar tuning and/or technique, and eventually outnumbered us? Would it still be a “banjo?” Would the nearly-lost artform of high-level plectrum/tenor playing—which has already taken a serious nosedive—survive? I’m proud to be ranked among the very few in the world who plays the four-string banjo—with the original tunings!
The same holds true for the new crop of young ukulele players (exciting times ahead!); come join the banjo party, but please, at least consider learning the tuning and the traditional methods and history. I admit that I first played uke with a “plectrum-up a fourth” tuning (basically, a little plectrum banjo—“you cheater you!”), but out of respect for the instrument and its unique sound (a direct byproduct of its tuning), I am now learning to play it “correctly.”
Part of my “problem” is that I can hear the difference, just like I can hear the difference between plectrum and tenor tuning. Having—and being rightfully proud of—that gift, the true sound of the banjo is important to me.
Where did this snobbish attitude come from? That’s just the way I am! I get intellectual satisfaction from hearing and playing the banjo in historic ways (just as I am attracted to un-customized vintage cars). I love authentic history! I love the idea of music groups using original instruments and historical methods (to include instrument tuning or a period understanding of tuning in general); this is a true musical time capsule, the more “authentic” the better! I’m not “The Banjo Snob” for nothing!
A powerful, modern big band playing an “updated” version of Glen Miller (one of my faves!)—no matter how exciting—doesn’t do much for me; you can’t beat the original, especially not by overpowering it. By the same token, I would much rather hear Mozart played by a small chamber group than by a modern, over-wrought orchestra (and vice-versa; Mahler and Berlioz require that huge orchestra to do credit to their incredible music).
Okay, so what about my bias against guitar tuning? This is a more complicated puzzle with no easy answer. I am well aware of the historical significance (and legitimacy) of the “Chicago” tuning for the banjo. The question must be asked however; “how did it start?” It probably started (I say probably, because, well, “who really knows?”) because working guitarists felt a financial need to add the banjo to their instrument array and didn’t want to learn a different tuning or get confused when making a quick on-stage instrument swap! Can’t blame them for that. I believe this is still true today.
This is ironic, because the tenor and plectrum guitars came about for the opposite reason; banjoists—who suddenly found themselves out of work when music progressed beyond the banjo—needed a way to “play guitar.” Today, the four-string guitar stands apart as its own unique and wonderful thing (separate from both the guitar and banjo), but there are guitar purists who don’t see them as separate entities and consider them to be an inferior version; “Shoot, that’s just a little tenor!” That’s the same reaction a five-stringer has to seeing a banjo that’s “missing a peg” (whether plectrum or tenor). Or the same as a French Hornist who sees a Descant horn in the pawnshop window; “Shoot, that’s just a little Descant horn!” (been there, heard that). Believe me, we are not the only ones with an instrument bias!
Let me qualify something here: I can usually tell within a few measures of music if a banjoist is using guitar tuning (I don’t actively listen for that—it just pops out). I love it when I am occasionally “fooled!” The reason for said fooling is that the player is using “proper” chord voicings (proper for the era, that is), and “sounds” like a banjo! This is impressive to me; it tells me that the musician is aware of how a banjo and its characteristic music should sound and is able to make it happen. Even when I realize it, I still enjoy their playing because they sound like a banjo!
When I hear a different kind of music played on a banjo-tuned instrument, it catches my ear; when I hear the same thing and I can tell its guitar-tuning, it just takes something away—like it waters down the achievement. Here’s yet another great guitarist, adapting yet another instrument to their tuning and applying their high level of training/skill. There is still much musical progress to be made for the traditional banjo!
Again, the world’s greatest guitarist could shred the banjo in guitar tuning, and I would not be impressed—unless they could also tune to banjo and channel the historic banjo greats (then I would be simply agog! There are a few players of course who are equally amazing on both). Let me ask a question: Which instrument is better suited for single-string work, as in Jazz Improvisation? The guitar of course! But: The plectrum banjo is nearly as good at that style; it just isn’t known for that.
To me, playing guitar tuning is “cheating,” simply because the guitar is more-easily taken as a legitimate instrument worthy of serious study (and not a simple-minded novelty like the banjo)—and tends to attract more serious-minded students because of this. Plus, it has certain technical advantages. I wish more of those gifted students would choose the challenge of the banjo.
If you don’t already realize it, I’m in it for the music (and of course the historical interest), not for the entertainment aspect of the banjo. I have no issue listening to a good musician playing guitar-tuned banjo; a banjo is a banjo, after all, just as music is music. But just like Buddy, I love the challenge of making great music on it—weird tuning and all. As I stated before, I believe that honest forward progress for the four-string banjo can only happen with four-string banjo tuning. I apologize if it seems I am looking down my nose at you.
Timbre is important and should be respected. Thank goodness we have different instruments in an array of keys! I agree, respect the instrument and its contribution to the music!
Ron,
Thanks for writing the above article regarding banjo tuning. I’ve played tenor banjo since 1968 (- OK, I’ve attempted to play tenor banjo), and I feel the same about banjo tuning vs. a guitar tuned banjo. I too can distinguish between the aforementioned tunings most of the time. About 3 years ago I decided to learn to read music and found an ‘alleged’ tenor banjo teacher who was located about 150 miles, or timewise – 3 hours (one way) from my home. Distance and time notwithstanding, I set out to meet with this person with the intent to learn to read music and to further my skills as a banjo player – the skills that only a good banjo player could impart. Following my brief ‘audition’, I was asked, ” Did you know that you can tune your banjo like a guitar?” He then went on to pontificate about the advantages of guitar tuning. The bottom line was that he was not a banjo player, but a guitarist with a guitar tuned 5 string banjo (5th string removed). He ended his sales pitch about a guitar tuned tenor/plectrum banjo with, “Look, no one will ever really know the difference”. I’ve often wondered how many people who were seeking to learn to play banjo – either tenor or plectrum as this person taught both (- provided they were guitar tuned), that were now corrupted by this imposter? Like many others, I feel that playing banjo tuned in anything other than traditional tuning compromises the integrity of the instrument and is tantamount to ‘lip-syncing” a song performed by Luciano Pavarotti. So, thanks for being ‘The Banjo Snob’ and please continue to develop a large population of followers – true banjo purists.
Thank you Dennis! While I believe that “music is music”–and I appreciate good musicians regardless of tuning–I believe there is something to be said for the “traditional” banjo; it must be preserved in it’s original state, or it just becomes yet another guitar-tuned instrument.